Daniel 9
1 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, —who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:
[Now I am going to tell you about what happened] when Darius, who was from the Mede people-group and who was the son of Xerxes, ruled as the King of Babylonia.
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived by the writings, —the number of the years, as to which the word of Yahweh came unto Jeremiah the prophet, to fulfil the desolations of Jerusalem, seventy years.
During the first year that he was the king, I, Daniel, was studying/reading the [holy] books/Scriptures the message that Yahweh had given to the prophet Jeremiah. In that message Jeremiah had written that Jerusalem would [be destroyed and] remain ruined for seventy years.
3 So I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek [him] by prayer, and supplication, —with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes;
[After I read that], I pleaded to Yahweh my God [to help us], praying and (fasting/abstaining from eating food). [While doing that, I was wearing] rough cloth and [sitting in] ashes [to show that I was very sad about what was going to happen to us].
4 yea I prayed unto Yahweh my God, and made confession, —and said—I beseech thee, O Lord, the GOD great and to be revered, keeping the covenant and the lovingkindness, to them who love him, and to them who keep his commandments.
I confessed [the sins that we had committed], and [this is what I] prayed: Lord, you are great and awesome! You have faithfully done what you said that you would do for us. You faithfully love those who love you and who do what you have commanded [that they should do].
5 We have sinned and committed iniquity, and been guilty of lawlessness and been rebellious, —even departing from thy commandments, and from thy regulations;
But we [Israelis] have sinned. We have done things that are wrong. We have done wicked things, and we have rebelled [against you]. We have turned away from [obeying] your commands [DOU].
6 and have not hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spake in thy name, unto our kings, our rulers, and our fathers, —and unto all the people of the land.
Your prophets spoke for you [MTY], [giving your messages to] kings, to our other rulers, to our [other] ancestors, and to all the Israeli people, but we have refused to (pay attention to/heed) those prophets.
7 To thee, O Lord, belongeth righteousness, but, to us, the shame of faces, as at this day, —to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, the near and the far off, throughout all the lands whither thou hast driven them, in their treachery, wherewith they had been treacherous against thee.
Lord, you always do what is righteous/just/fair, but we have caused ourselves to be ashamed [IDM]. This is [still] true about all of the Israelis who live in Jerusalem and who live in other places in Judea. It is [also] true about all us Israelis whom you scattered, who [were taken to] other countries, some near [Israel] and some far away, because we were very unfaithful/disloyal to you.
8 O Yahweh, to us, belongeth the shame of faces, to our kings, to our rulers, and to our fathers, —in that we have sinned against thee.
Lord, we and our kings and our other rulers and our [other] ancestors have done very shameful things and have sinned against you.
9 To the Lord our God, belong compassions, and forgivenesses, —for we have rebelled against him;
Although we have rebelled against you, you act mercifully [toward us] and you [are willing/ready] to forgive us.
10 and have not hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh our God, —to walk in his instructions which he set before us, through means of his servants the prophets;
Yahweh our God, when you gave your laws to your prophets who served you, and they told us to conduct our lives according to those laws, we did not (listen to/heed) you.
11 yea, all Israel, have transgressed thy law, even going away, so as not to hearken unto thy voice, —therefore, were poured out upon us, the curse and the oath which had been written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we had sinned against him.
All [of us] Israeli people have disobeyed your laws, and we have turned away from [obeying] what you said. We have sinned against you. As a result, [you] have caused us to experience the terrible things that your servant Moses said/wrote [would happen to us] if we sinned against you.
12 Thus hath he confirmed his words which he had spoken against us, and against our judges who had judged us, by bringing in upon us a great calamity, —as to which there had not been done, under all the heavens, as hath been done unto Jerusalem.
You warned us and our rulers that you would punish Jerusalem severely by causing a great disaster there, a disaster that would be worse than any disaster that any other city had ever experienced, and you have done what you said that you would do.
13 Even as written in the law of Moses, hath, all this calamity, come in upon us, —yet entreated we not the face of Yahweh our God, by turning away from our iniquities, and by getting intelligence in thy truth.
[You] punished us just like Moses wrote [that you would do]. But, Yahweh our God, we still have not tried, by turning away from our sinning and by heeding your truth, to persuade you to act mercifully toward us.
14 Therefore hath Yahweh, kept watch, for the calamity, and brought it in upon us, —for righteous is Yahweh our God concerning all his deeds which he hath done, seeing that we had not hearkened unto his voice.
So, because we did not obey you, you prepared to punish us, and [then] you did punish us, because you always do what is righteous/just/fair.
15 Now, therefore, O Lord our God, who didst bring forth thy people out of the land of Egypt with a firm hand, and didst make for thyself a name, as at this day, —we have sinned, we have been guilty of lawlessness.
O Lord our God, you brought your people out of Egypt by your great power [MTY], and by doing that you have caused people from that time until the present time to know that you are great [IDM] [even though] we have sinned and done wicked things.
16 O Lord! according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thine indignation turn away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, —for, by reason of our sins, and by reason of the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people, have become a reproach, to all who are round about us.
Lord, Jerusalem is your city, and [your temple was built there] on your sacred hill. Now all the people who live in nearby [countries/nations] despise Jerusalem and [us] your people because of our sins and because of the evil things that our ancestors did. But [now], because you do what is righteous/just, [we ask you to] not be angry with Jerusalem any longer.
17 Now, therefore, hearken, O our God, unto the prayer of thy servant, and unto his supplications, and let thy face shine, upon thy sanctuary, that is desolate, —for the sake of thy servants, O Lord.
O Lord our God, listen to what I am praying and pleading [for you to do]. (For your own sake/In order that people will know that you are very great), act kindly [IDM] concerning your temple, which was destroyed [by the armies of Babylonia].
18 Incline, O my God, thine ear, and hearken, open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city on which hath been called thy name; for, not on the ground of our own righteousnesses, are we causing our supplications to fall down before thee, but on the ground of thine abounding compassions.
My God, listen [to my prayer]. Look [at us] and see our troubles, and see that this city that belongs to you [MTY] has been ruined/destroyed. We are praying to you because you are merciful, not because we have done what is right/good.
19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hearken and perform! Do not delay! For thine own sake, O my God, because, thine own name, hath been called, upon thy city, and upon thy people.
Lord, listen [to us]! Lord, forgive us! Lord, this city and these people belong to you, so [we plead with you to] heed what we are saying and act [to help us] right now, (for your own sake/in order that people will know that you are very great)!
20 And, while yet I was speaking, and praying, and confessing mine own sin, and the sin of my people Israel, —and causing my supplication to fall down before Yahweh my God, concerning the holy mountain of my God;
I continued praying and confessing the sins that my people and I had committed, and pleading with Yahweh my God that he would restore [the temple on] the sacred hill [in Jerusalem].
21 while yet I was speaking in prayer, then, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in vision at the beginning, wearied with rapid flight, touched me, about the time of the evening present.
While I was praying, Gabriel, the angel/one whom I had seen in the vision previously, came flying rapidly to me, at the time in the evening when [the priests] offered sacrifices.
22 Yea he came, and spake with me, —and said—O Daniel! now, have I come forth, to teach thee understanding.
He said to me, “Daniel, I have come to you to enable you to understand [DOU] clearly [the message that God gave to Jeremiah].
23 At the beginning of thy supplications, came forth a word, I, therefore, am arrived to tell, because, a man delighted in, thou art, —mark then the word, and have understanding in the revelation: —
When you began to plead [with God], he gave me a message [to pass on to you]. He loves you very much, so [he has sent me] to tell you what he said to me. So [now] (pay attention/listen carefully) in order that you may understand the meaning of what he revealed [to Jeremiah].
24 Seventy weeks, have been divided concerning thy people and concerning thy holy city—to put an end to the transgression, and fill up the measure of sin, and put a propitiatory-covering over iniquity, and bring in the righteousness of ages, and affix a seal the vision and prophecy, and anoint the holy of holies.
[God] has determined/declared that there will be 490 years until he frees/saves your people from [the guilt of] their sins and to atone for the evil things that they have done. Then [God] will rule everyone justly, and he will do that forever. And [what you saw in] the vision and what [Jeremiah] prophesied will (come true/be fulfilled), and the sacred temple will be dedicated [to God again].
25 Thou must know, then, and understand: From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem—unto the Anointed One, the Prince, [shall be] seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks, —the broadway and the wall, shall again be built, even in the end of the times.
You need to know and understand this: There will be 49 years from the time that [the king] commands that Jerusalem should be rebuilt until the leader/king that God has chosen will come. Then 434 years later, Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and it will have streets and will have a (moat/deep ditch filled with water) around it [to protect the city]. But that will be a time when [God’s people] will have [a lot of] troubles/difficulties/suffering.
26 And, after the sixty-two weeks, shall the Anointed One, be cut off, and have, nothing, —and, the city and the sanctuary, will one destroy with the Prince, and so will his own end come with an overwhelming flood, howbeit, up to the full end of the war, are decreed astounding things.
After those 434 years, the leader/king whom God has appointed will be killed [when it seems that] he will have accomplished nothing (unjustly/without having done anything wrong). After that, the temple will be destroyed by [the army of] a powerful ruler. The city and the temple will be destroyed like a flood [MET] [destroys everything]. That will be the beginning of the war and destruction that [God] has decreed [will happen].
27 And he will confirm a covenant to the many, for one week, —but, in the middle of the week, will cause sacrifice and present to cease, and, in his stead, [shall be] the horrid abomination that astoundeth, even till, a full end, and that a decreed one, shall be poured out on him that astoundeth.
That ruler will make a strong agreement with many people. He will promise to do for seven years what he has said in that agreement. But when that time is half finished, he will prevent [priests from] giving any more offerings and sacrifices [to God]. A disgusting idol will be put on the highest part of the temple, and it will stay there until [God] gets rid of the one who put it there, which is what he said that he would do.”
