1It was the first year that Darius was king of Babylon. He was from Media and was the son of Xerxes.2In that year I learned from the Scriptures that Jerusalem would remain destroyed for 70 years. That was what the LORD had told Jeremiah the prophet.3So I prayed to the Lord God. I begged him. I made many appeals to him. I didn’t eat anything. I put on the rough clothing people wear when they’re sad. And I sat down in ashes.4I prayed to the LORD my God. I admitted that we had sinned. I said, ‘Lord, you are a great and wonderful God. You keep the covenant you made with all those who love you and obey your commandments. You show them your love.5We have sinned and done what is wrong. We have been evil. We have refused to obey you. We have turned away from your commands and laws.6We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets. They spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our people of long ago. They also brought your message to all our people in the land.7‘Lord, you always do what is right. But we are covered with shame today. We are the people of Judah and Jerusalem. All of us are Israelites, no matter where we live. We are now living in many countries. You scattered us among the nations because we weren’t faithful to you.8LORD, we are covered with shame. So are our kings and princes, and our people of long ago. We have sinned against you.9You are the Lord our God. You show us your tender love. You forgive us. But we have turned against you.10You are the LORD our God. But we haven’t obeyed you. We haven’t kept the laws you gave us through your servants the prophets.11All the people of Israel have broken your law and turned away from it. They have refused to obey you. ‘Curses and warnings are written down in the Law of Moses. He was your servant. Those curses have been poured out on us. That’s because we have sinned against you.12The warnings you gave us and our rulers have come true. You have brought great trouble on us. Nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever happened anywhere else on earth.13The curses that are written in the Law of Moses have fallen on us. We have received nothing but trouble. You are the LORD our God. But we haven’t asked for your favour. We haven’t turned away from our sins. We’ve refused to pay attention to the laws you gave us.14LORD, you didn’t hold back from bringing this trouble on us. You always do what is right. But we haven’t obeyed you.15‘Lord our God, you used your mighty hand to bring your people out of Egypt. You made a name for yourself. It is still great to this day. But we have sinned. We’ve done what is wrong.16Lord, you saved your people before. So turn your great anger away from Jerusalem again. After all, it is your city. It’s your holy mountain. You have made those who live around us think little of Jerusalem and your people. That’s because we have sinned. Our people before us did evil things too.17‘Our God, hear my prayers. Pay attention to the appeals I make to you. Lord, have mercy on your temple that has been destroyed. Do it for your own honour.18Our God, please listen to us. The city that belongs to you has been destroyed. Open your eyes and see it. We aren’t asking you to answer our prayers because we are godly. Instead, we’re asking you to do it because you love us so much.19Lord, please listen! Lord, please forgive us! Lord, hear our prayers! Take action for your own honour. Our God, please don’t wait. Your city and your people belong to you.’
Gabriel tells Daniel about seventy ‘weeks’
20I was speaking and praying. I was admitting that I and my people Israel had sinned. I was making my appeal to the LORD my God. My appeal was about his holy mountain of Zion.21While I was still praying, Gabriel came to me. I had seen him in my earlier vision. He flew over to me very quickly. It was about the time when the evening sacrifice is offered.22He helped me understand. He said, ‘Daniel, I have come now to help you know and understand these things.23You are highly respected. So as soon as you began to pray, the LORD gave you a message. I have come to tell you what it is. Here is how you must understand the vision.24‘The LORD has appointed 70 “weeks” for your people and your holy city. During that time, acts against God’s law will be stopped. Sin will come to an end. And the evil things people do will be paid for. Then everyone will always do what is right. Everything that has been made known in visions and prophecies will come true. And the Most Holy Room in the temple will be anointed.25‘Here is what I want you to know and understand. There will be seven “weeks”. Then there will be 62 “weeks”. The seven “weeks” will begin when an order is given to rebuild Jerusalem and make it like new again. At the end of the 62 “weeks”, the Anointed King will come. Jerusalem will have streets and a water system when it is rebuilt. But that will be done in times of trouble.26After the 62 “weeks”, the Anointed King will be put to death. His followers will desert him. And everything he has will be taken away from him. The army of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the temple. The end will come like a flood. War will continue until the end. The LORD has ordered that many places be destroyed.27A covenant will be put into effect with many people for one “week”. In the middle of the “week” sacrifices and offerings will come to an end. And at the temple a hated thing that destroys will be set up. It will remain until that ruler who will come is destroyed. Then he will experience what the LORD has ordered.’
Daniel 9
English Standard Version
Daniel’s Prayer for His People
1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— (Da 5:30; Da 5:31; Da 8:20; Da 11:1)2in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. (Ezr 1:1; Jer 25:12)3Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. (Ne 1:4; Da 9:17; Da 9:23)4I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, (De 7:9; Ezr 10:1; Ne 1:5; Ne 1:6; Ne 9:32; Da 9:20)5we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. (La 3:42; Da 9:15)6We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. (2Ch 36:15; Ezr 9:7; Ezr 9:11; Ne 9:34; Zec 1:6)7To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. (Le 26:40; Es 9:20; Jer 8:3; La 1:18; Da 9:14)8To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. (Da 9:5)9To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him (Ne 9:17; Ps 86:15)10and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. (Da 9:6)11All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. (Le 26:14; De 28:15; 1Ch 6:49; 2Ch 24:9; Ne 10:29; Isa 1:4; Jer 40:3; Jer 44:22; Jer 44:23; Da 9:5)12He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us,[1] by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. (Ps 82:2; Jer 39:16; La 1:12; Eze 5:9)13As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. (Da 9:11; Ho 7:10)14Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. (Ne 9:33; Jer 1:12; Da 9:7; Da 9:10)15And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. (Ex 6:1; Ex 14:18; Ex 32:11; Ne 1:10; Ne 9:10; Da 9:5)16“O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. (Ex 20:5; Ps 31:1; Ps 44:13; Ps 71:2; Ps 79:4; Jer 31:23; La 1:5; La 2:15; Eze 36:4; Da 9:20; Da 11:45; Mic 6:16; Zec 8:3)17Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord,[2] make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. (Nu 6:25; La 5:18)18O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. (2Ki 19:16; Isa 37:17; Jer 25:29; Da 9:26; Da 9:27)19O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” (Ps 25:11; Ps 40:17; Ps 70:5; Ps 79:9; Jer 14:9; Da 9:18)
Gabriel Brings an Answer
20While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, (Isa 65:24; Da 9:16)21while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. (Ex 29:39; 1Ki 18:36; Ezr 9:4; Da 8:16; Da 8:18)22He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. (Da 1:4; Da 1:17; Da 8:16)23At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision. (Da 9:20; Da 10:11; Da 10:12; Da 10:14; Da 10:19; Mt 24:15; Mr 13:14)
The Seventy Weeks
24“Seventy weeks[3] are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.[4] (Ne 11:1; Ps 45:7; Ps 78:38; Isa 61:1; Jer 23:5; Jer 31:34; Eze 4:6; Da 8:13; Ac 4:26; Ro 3:25; Heb 2:17)25Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again[5] with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. (2Ch 36:23; Ezr 1:3; Ezr 4:24; Ezr 6:15; Ne 4:7; Ne 4:16; Ne 6:15; Ps 51:18; Isa 55:4; Da 9:23; Joh 1:41)26And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its[6] end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. (Isa 53:8; Da 9:18; Da 9:27; Da 11:10; Da 11:22; Da 11:26; Da 11:40; Na 1:8; Mt 24:2; Mt 24:6; Mt 24:14; Mr 9:12; Mr 13:2; Lu 19:43; Lu 24:26)27And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,[7] and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” (Isa 10:23; Mt 24:15; Mr 13:14; Lu 21:20)