Daniel 9

Legacy Standard Bible

Daniel’s Prayer of Supplication

9 In the first year of ^(A)Darius the son of Ahasuerus, from the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the ^(B)number of the years concerning which the word of ^[a]Yahweh came to ^(C)Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, ^(D)seventy years. ³ So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴ And I prayed to Yahweh my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the ^(E)great and awesome God, who ^(F)keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ^5 (G)we have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly and ^(H)rebelled, even ^(I)turning aside from Your commandments and judgments. ⁶ Moreover, we have not ^(J)listened to Your slaves the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

⁷ “^(K)To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us ^[b](L)open 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 ^(M)all the countries to which You have banished them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. ⁸ O Yahweh, to us belongs ^[c]open shame, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong ^(N)compassion and forgiveness, ^[d]for we have ^(O)rebelled against Him; ¹⁰ nor have we listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in His ^[e]laws which He ^(P)put before us through His slaves the prophets. ¹¹ Indeed ^(Q)all Israel has trespassed against Your law, even turning aside, not listening to Your voice; so the ^(R)curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the ^[f]law of Moses the ^[g]servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. ¹² Thus He has ^(S)established His words which He had spoken against us and against our ^(T)judges who judged us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has ^(U)not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the ^[h](V)law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have ^(W)not ^[i]entreated the favor of Yahweh our God by ^(X)turning from our iniquity and acting wisely in Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore Yahweh has ^(Y)watched over the calamity and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is ^(Z)righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not listened to His voice.

¹⁵ “So now, O Lord our God, who have ^(AA)brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and have ^(AB)made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned; we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶ O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteousness, let now Your ^(AC)anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your ^(AD)holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a ^(AE)reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷ So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your slave and to his supplications, and for ^[j]Your sake, O Lord, ^(AF)let Your face shine on Your ^(AG)desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ O my God, ^(AH)incline Your ear and listen! Open Your eyes and ^(AI)see our desolations and the city which is ^(AJ)called by Your name; for we are not ^[k](AK)presenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion. ¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, ^(AL)do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Gabriel Brings Understanding

²⁰ Now while I was ^(AM)speaking and praying, and ^(AN)confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and ^[l]presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, ²¹ and while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man ^(AO)Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision ^[m]previously, ^[n]touched me ^[o]in my extreme weariness about the time of the ^(AP)evening offering. ²² Then he made me understand and spoke with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with ^(AQ)understanding. ²³ At the ^(AR)beginning of your supplications the word was issued, so I have come to tell you, for you are ^[p](AS)highly esteemed; so understand the message and gain ^(AT)understanding in what has appeared.

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah

²⁴ “Seventy ^[q](AU)weeks have been determined for your people and for your holy city, to ^[r]finish the transgression, to ^[s]make an end of sin, to ^(AV)make atonement for iniquity, to bring in ^(AW)everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and ^[t]prophecy, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. ²⁵ So you are to know and have insight that from the going out of a ^[u](AX)word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until ^[v](AY)Messiah the ^(AZ)Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be restored and rebuilt, with ^[w]plaza and moat, even in times of distress. ²⁶ Then after the sixty-two weeks the ^[x]Messiah will be ^(BA)cut off and have ^[y]nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will ^(BB)destroy the city and the sanctuary. And ^[z]its end will come with a ^(BC)flood; even to the end ^[aa]there will be war; desolations are decreed. ²⁷ And he will make a ^[ab]firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will make sacrifice and grain offering cease; and on the wing of ^[ac](BD)abominations will come one who ^[ad]makes desolate, even until a ^(BE)complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who ^[ae]makes desolate.”