Daniel 9
1 In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who hath been made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,
It was the first year of Darius the Mede, son of Ahasuerus, after he had become king of the Babylonians.
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, have understood by books the number of the years, (in that a word of Jehovah hath been unto Jeremiah the prophet, ) concerning the fulfilling of the wastes of Jerusalem — seventy years;
During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures as given to the prophet Jeremiah that the time of seventy years for Jerusalem to lie desolate would soon be fulfilled.
3 and I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek [by] prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
So I turned to the Lord God in prayer. I fasted and wore sackcloth and ashes, and I pleaded with him in prayer to act.
4 And I pray to Jehovah my God, and confess, and say: 'I beseech Thee, O Lord God, the great and the fearful, keeping the covenant and the kindness to those loving Him, and to those keeping His commands;
I prayed to the Lord my God, and confessed, saying, “Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always keep your promises and show your trustworthy love to those who love you and keep your commandments.
5 we have sinned, and done perversely, and done wickedly, and rebelled, to turn aside from Thy commands, and from Thy judgments:
But we have sinned, we have done wrong. We have acted wickedly, we have rebelled against you. We have turned away from your commandments and your laws.
6 and we have not hearkened unto Thy servants, the prophets, who have spoken in Thy name unto our kings, our heads, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and leaders and forefathers, and to everybody in the country.
7 'To Thee, O Lord, [is] the righteousness, and to us the shame of face, as [at] this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, in all the lands whither Thou hast driven them, in their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee.
Lord, you always do what is right, but we continue to be ashamed to this very day—we the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those nearby and those far away, those of every country where you have driven them because of their unfaithfulness to you.
8 'O Lord, to us [is] the shame of face, to our kings, to our heads, and to our fathers, in that we have sinned against Thee.
Public shame is ours Lord, and on our kings and princes and forefathers, because we have sinned against you.
9 'To the Lord our God [are] the mercies and the forgivenesses, for we have rebelled against Him,
Yet you, the Lord our God, are compassionate and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against you.
10 and have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in His laws, that He hath set before us by the hand of His servants the prophets;
We have not obeyed what you, the Lord God, have told us. We have not followed your law that you gave us through your servants the prophets.
11 and all Israel have transgressed Thy law, to turn aside so as not to hearken to Thy voice; and poured on us is the execration, and the oath, that is written in the law of Moses, servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.
The whole of Israel has broken your law and turned away from you, not listening to what you had to say. That's why the condemnation that comes from our broken promise has been poured out on us—because of our sin, as made clear in the Law of Moses, the servant of the Lord.
12 'And He confirmeth His words that He hath spoken against us, and against our judges who have judged us, to bring in upon us great evil, in that it hath not been done under the whole heavens as it hath been done in Jerusalem,
You have carried out what you warned us about, against us and against our rulers—such a terrible punishment brought upon Jerusalem, the worst that has ever happened in the whole world.
13 as it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil hath come upon us, and we have not appeased the face of Jehovah our God to turn back from our iniquities, and to act wisely in Thy truth.
Just as the Law of Moses said, all this punishment has fallen on us, but we still have not asked you, the Lord our God, to be favorable to us, turning away from our sins and paying attention to your truth.
14 And Jehovah doth watch for the evil, and bringeth it upon us, for righteous [is] Jehovah our God concerning all His works that He hath done, and we have not hearkened to His voice.
You were ready to punish us, and you were right to do everything you have done, for we didn't listen to you.
15 And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought forth Thy people from the land of Egypt by a strong hand, and dost make for Thee a name as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
You, our Lord God, by your great power brought us out of Egypt, making a name for yourself that lasts even until now. But we have sinned, we have done wicked things.
16 'O Lord, according to all Thy righteous acts, let turn back, I pray Thee, Thine anger and Thy fury from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mount, for by our sins, and by the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people [are] for a reproach to all our neighbours;
So Lord, because you are so good, please turn away from your anger and fury against Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins and those of our forefathers, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors.
17 and now, hearken, O our God, unto the prayer of Thy servant, and unto his supplication, and cause Thy face to shine on Thy sanctuary that [is] desolate, for the Lord's sake.
Now, our Lord, please listen to the prayer and pleading of your servant, and for your own sake look kindly on your abandoned sanctuary.
18 'Incline, O my God, Thine ear, and hear, open Thine eyes and see our desolations, and the city on which Thy name is called; for not for our righteous acts are we causing our supplications to fall before Thee, but for Thy mercies that [are] many.
Please listen carefully and open your eyes and see the terrible state we are in, and the city that bears your name. We're not making these requests to you for this because of our goodness, but because of your great mercy.
19 O lord, hear, O Lord, forgive; O Lord, attend and do; do not delay, for Thine own sake, O my God, for Thy name is called on Thy city, and on Thy people.'
Lord, please listen! Lord, please forgive! Please pay attention and do something! For your own sake, my God, don't delay, for your city and your people are identified by your name.”
20 And while I am speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and causing my supplication to fall before Jehovah my God, for the holy mount of my God,
I continued speaking, praying and confessing my sins and those of my people Israel, pleading before the Lord my God on behalf of Jerusalem, his holy mountain.
21 yea, while I am speaking in prayer, then that one Gabriel, whom I had seen in vision at the commencement, being caused to fly swiftly, is coming unto me at the time of the evening present.
While I was still praying, Gabriel, whom I'd seen previously when I'd had the vision, came flying rapidly towards me at the time of the evening sacrifice.
22 And he giveth understanding, and speaketh with me, and saith, 'O Daniel, now I have come forth to cause thee to consider understanding wisely;
He gave me the following explanation, saying, “Daniel, I've come to give you insight and understanding.
23 at the commencement of thy supplications hath the word come forth, and I have come to declare [it], for thou [art] greatly desired, and understand thou concerning the matter, and consider concerning the appearance.
As soon as you started praying, the answer was given, and I have come to explain it to you because God loves you very much. So please listen to the explanation and understand the meaning of the vision.
24 'Seventy weeks are determined for thy people, and for thy holy city, to shut up the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to cover iniquity, and to bring in righteousness age-during, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies.
Seventy weeks has been allotted to your people and your holy city to deal with the rebellion, to put an end to sin, to forgive wrongdoing, to bring in everlasting goodness, to confirm the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
25 And thou dost know, and dost consider wisely, from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem till Messiah the Leader [is] seven weeks, and sixty and two weeks: the broad place hath been built again, and the rampart, even in the distress of the times.
You need to know and understand that from the time the command is given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks will elapse. It will be built with streets and defenses, in spite of the difficult times.
26 And after the sixty and two weeks, cut off is Messiah, and the city and the holy place are not his, the Leader who hath come doth destroy the people; and its end [is] with a flood, and till the end [is] war, determined [are] desolations.
After sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be put to death, and will be brought to nothing. A ruler will come to power whose army will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come like a flood. War and devastation will continue until that period of time is completed.
27 And he hath strengthened a covenant with many — one week, and [in] the midst of the week he causeth sacrifice and present to cease, and by the wing of abominations he is making desolate, even till the consummation, and that which is determined is poured on the desolate one.'
He will confirm the agreement with many people for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifices and offerings. The idolatry that causes devastation will be supported until the end when the same fate is poured out on the one who devastates.”
