Daniel 9 (New American Standard)

Daniel's Prayer for His People

1 In the first year of ¹Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans - 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to ²Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, ³seventy years. 3 So I ^agave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, "Alas, O Lord, the ⁴great and awesome God, who ⁵keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 ⁶we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and ⁷rebelled, even ⁸turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 "Moreover, we have not ⁹listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 "¹⁰Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us ^b11open shame, as it is this day -to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in ¹²all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 "^cOpen shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 "To the Lord our God belong ¹³compassion and forgiveness, ^dfor we have ¹⁴rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His ^eteachings which He ¹⁵set before us through His servants the prophets. 11 "Indeed ¹⁶all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice ; so the ¹⁷curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12 "Thus He has ¹⁸confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our ^f19rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity ; for under the whole heaven there has ²⁰not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. 13 "As it is written in the ²¹law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have ²²not ^gsought the favor of the LORD our God by ²³turning from our iniquity and ^hgiving attention to Your truth. 14 "Therefore the LORD has ⁱ²⁴kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is ²⁵righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. 15 "And now, O Lord our God, who have ²⁶brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have ²⁷made a name for Yourself, as it is this day -we have sinned, we have been wicked. 16 "O Lord, in accordance with all Your ^jrighteous acts, let now Your ²⁸anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your ²⁹holy mountain ; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a ³⁰reproach to all those around us. 17 "So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for ^kYour sake, O Lord, ³¹let Your face shine on Your ³²desolate sanctuary. 18 "O my God, ³³incline Your ear and hear ! Open Your eyes and ³⁴see our desolations and the city which is ³⁵called by Your name ; for we are not ^l36presenting our supplications before You on account of ^many merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19 "O Lord, hear ! O Lord, forgive ! O Lord, listen and take action ! For Your own sake, O my God, ³⁷do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

Gabriel Brings an Answer

20 Now while I was ³⁸speaking and praying, and ³⁹confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and ⁿpresenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man ⁴⁰Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision ^opreviously, ^pcame to me ^qin my extreme weariness about the time of the ⁴¹evening offering. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with ⁴²understanding. 23 "At the ⁴³beginning of your supplications the ^rcommand was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are ^s44highly esteemed ; so give heed to the message and gain ⁴⁵understanding of the vision.

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah

24 "Seventy ^t46weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to ^ufinish the transgression, to ^vmake an end of sin, to ⁴⁷make atonement for iniquity, to bring in ⁴⁸everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and ^wprophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a ^x49decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until ^y50Messiah the ⁵¹Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks ; it will be built again, with ^zplaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the ^aaMessiah will be ⁵²cut off and have ^bbnothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will ⁵³destroy the city and the sanctuary. And ^ccits end will come with a ⁵⁴flood ; even to the end ^ddthere will be war ; desolations are determined. 27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering ; and on the wing of ^ee55abominations will come one who ^ffmakes desolate, even until a ⁵⁶complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who ^ggmakes desolate."