Daniel 9
1 Darius was the son of Ahasuerus, a descendant of the Medes. It was Ahasuerus who had been made king over the realm of the Babylonians.
In the first year of Darius the son of Assuerus of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:
2 Now in the first year of Darius' reign I, Daniel, was studying the books containing Yahweh's word, the word that had come to Jeremiah the prophet. I observed that there would be seventy years until Jerusalem's abandonment would end.
The first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem.
3 I turned my face to the Lord God, to seek him with prayer and requests, with fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.
And I set my face to the Lord my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
4 I prayed to Yahweh my God, and I made confession of our sins. I said, “Please, Lord—you are the great and awesome God—you are the one who keeps the covenant and is faithful to love those who love you and keep your commandments.
And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.
5 We have sinned and have done what is wrong. We have acted wickedly and we have rebelled, turning aside from your commands and decrees.
We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and thy judgments.
6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our leaders, our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
We have not hearkened to thy servants the prophets, that have spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 To you, Lord, belongs righteousness. To us today, however, belongs shame on our faces—for the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, and to all Israel. This includes those who are near and those who are far away in all the lands where you scattered them. This is because of the great treachery that we committed against you.
To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel to them that are near, and to them that are far off in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities by which they have sinned against thee.
8 To us, Yahweh, belongs shame on our faces—to our kings, to our leaders, and to our ancestors—because we have sinned against you.
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers that have sinned.
9 To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him.
But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from thee:
10 We have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God by walking in his laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.
And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. The curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, for we have sinned against him.
And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him.
12 Yahweh has confirmed the words that he spoke against us and against our rulers over us, by bringing on us a great disaster. For under the whole of heaven there has not been done anything that could compare with what has been done to Jerusalem.
And he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that which hath been done in Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not begged for mercy from Yahweh our God by turning away from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth.
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: and we entreated not thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and think on thy truth.
14 Therefore Yahweh has kept the disaster ready and has brought it on us, for Yahweh our God is righteous in all the deeds he does, yet we have not obeyed his voice.
And the Lord hath watched upon the evil, and hath brought it upon us: the Lord our God is just in all his works which he hath done: for we have not hearkened to his voice.
15 Now, Lord our God, you brought out your people from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and you have made a famous name for yourself, as in this present day. But still we sinned; we have done wicked things.
And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought forth thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity,
16 Lord, because of all your righteous deeds, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins, and because of the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to all those around us.
O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people are a reproach to all that are round about us.
17 Now, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy; for your sake, Lord, make your face shine on your sanctuary that is desolate.
Now therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary which is desolate, for thy own sake.
18 My God, open your ears and listen; open your eyes and see. We have been devastated; look at the city that is called by your name. We do not beg for your help because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but for the multitude of thy tender mercies.
19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay attention and take action! For your own sake, do not delay, my God, for your city and your people are called by your name.”
O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken and do: delay not for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people.
20 While I was speaking—praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my requests before Yahweh my God on behalf of God's holy mountain—
Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God:
21 while I was praying, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, flew down to me in rapid flight, at the time of the evening sacrifice.
As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice.
22 He gave me understanding and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand.
23 When you began pleading for mercy, the order was given and I have come to tell you the answer, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider this word and understand the revelation.
From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore do thou mark the word, and understand the vision.
24 Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to end the guilt and put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring everlasting righteousness, to carry out the vision and the prophecy, and to consecrate the most holy place.
Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the saint of saints may be anointed.
25 Know and understand that from the issuing of the order to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one (who will be a leader), there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and a moat, despite the times of distress.
Know thou therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls in straitness of times.
26 After the sixty-two sevens, the anointed one will be destroyed and will have nothing. The army of a coming ruler will destroy the city and the holy place. Its end will come with a flood, and there will be war even to the end. Desolations have been decreed.
And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people with their leader that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation.
27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to the sacrifice and the offering. On the wing of abominations will come someone who makes desolate. A full end and destruction are decreed to be poured out on the one who has made the desolation.”
And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fall: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.
