Daniel 9
Revised Geneva Translation
9 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes; who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books of Jeremiah, the Prophet, the number of the years in which the LORD said He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 And I turned my face to the Lord God, and sought by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made my confession, saying, “Oh Lord God, Who are great and fearful, and keep Covenant and mercy toward those who love You, and toward those who keep Your Commandments,
5 “we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly. Yea, we have rebelled, and have departed from your Precepts, and from your Judgments.
6 “For we would not obey your servants, the Prophets; who spoke in your name to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 “O Lord, righteousness belongs to you; and to us, open shame, as appears this day to every man of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; yea, to all Israel, both near and far off, through all the country where you have driven them because of the offenses they have committed against you.
8 “O Lord, to us belongs open shame – to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers - because we have sinned against You.
9 “Yet compassion and forgiveness is in the Lord our God, even though we have rebelled against him.
10 “For we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God; to walk in his laws, which he has laid before us, by the ministry of his servants, the Prophets.
11 “Yea, all Israel has transgressed your Law, and has turned back, and has not heard your voice. Therefore, the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 “And he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great plague. For under the whole heaven has there not been such as has been brought upon Jerusalem.
13 “All this plague has come upon us, as it is written in the Law of Moses. Yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth.
14 “Therefore, the LORD has made ready the plague, and brought it upon us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he does. For we would not hear his voice.
15 “And now, O Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand - and has gotten yourself renown, as appears this day - we have sinned. We have done wickedly.
16 “O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I beg you, let your anger and your wrath be turned away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy Mountain. Because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all that are around us.
17 “Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of your servant, and his supplications. And for the Lord’s sake, cause your face to shine upon your Sanctuary, which lies in ruins.
18 “O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city whereupon your Name is called. For we do not present our supplications before you for our own righteousness, but for your great tender mercies.
19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, consider, and do it! Do not delay, for your own sake, O my God. For your Name is called upon your city, and your people.”
20 And while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presented my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy Mountain of my God;
21 Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen before in the vision, came flying, and touched me about the time of the evening offering.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you knowledge and understanding.
23 “At the beginning of your supplications, the commandment came forth. And I have come to show you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, understand the matter and consider the vision.
24 “Seventy weeks are determined upon your people, and upon your holy city; to finish the wickedness, and to seal up the sins, and to reconcile the iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to build and restore the people, and to build Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. And the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in a troublesome time.
26 “And after sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be killed, and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the Sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a flood. And until the end of the battle, it shall be destroyed by desolations.
27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. And on the wing of the abominations, shall he make it desolate; even until the consummation determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Daniel 9
New Catholic Bible
The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks[a]
Chapter 9
According to the Word Revealed to Jeremiah . . . 1 In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who became ruler of the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was studying the Scriptures and reflecting on the seventy years that, according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, had to pass before the desolation of Jerusalem would come to an end.
3 Then I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord, my God, and made this confession, saying:
Lord, Have Mercy.[b] “O Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and show your steadfast love to those who love you and observe your commandments: 5 we have sinned and done what is wrong, we have acted wickedly and rebelled, we have rejected your commandments and your laws. 6 We 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.
7 “Righteousness is on your side, O Lord. As for us, we are filled with shame even to this day—we, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the countries to which you have dispersed us because of the treachery that we have committed against you.
8 “O Lord, we are filled with shame—our kings, our princes, and our fathers—for having sinned against you. 9 But you, O Lord, our God, are always prepared to show compassion and forgiveness. Yet we rebelled against you 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, by following your laws that you have given to us through your servants the Prophets.
11 “All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away from you, refusing to obey your commands. Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down upon us because we have sinned against you. 12 You confirmed your threats, which you made against us and our rulers by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that the world has ever experienced.
13 “Just as it is written[c] in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us. We failed to entreat the favor of the Lord, our God, by renouncing our wickedness and reflecting upon his fidelity. 14 Therefore, the Lord has watched us carefully, and now he has brought this disaster upon us. The Lord is just in all of his dealings with us, but we have not listened to his voice.
15 “And now, O Lord, our God, who led your people out of the land of Egypt with your mighty hand and caused your name to be renowned, even to this very day: we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. 16 Lord, in keeping with your saving deeds, we beg you to allow your anger and wrath to turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. As a result of our sins and the crimes of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to all those who surround us.
17 “Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayers and supplications of your servant, and for your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary. 18 Incline your ear, O my God, and listen. Open your eyes and look upon our desolation and upon the city that bears your name. We present our petition to you, relying not upon our upright deeds but rather upon your great mercy.
19 “Listen to us, O Lord! Forgive us, O Lord! Do not delay, O my God, for your own sake, because your city and your people bear your name.”
20 Seventy Weeks Are Decreed.[d] While I was still speaking, still occupied with my prayer and confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel and presenting my supplication to the Lord, my God, on behalf of his holy mountain— 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously in a vision, swooped down on me in rapid flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
22 He then spoke these words to me: “Daniel, I have now come down to you to give you understanding. 23 As you began your supplications, an answer was given, and I have come to make it known to you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider carefully the answer and comprehend the vision.
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed
for your people and your holy city:
for bringing an end to transgression,
for putting an end to sin,
for expiating iniquity,
for introducing everlasting righteousness,
for ratifying vision and prophecy,
and for anointing the Holy of Holies.
25 “Know therefore, and understand this:
From the time that the message was sent:
‘Return and rebuild Jerusalem,’
until the coming of an anointed prince,
there shall be seven weeks.
During sixty-two weeks
it shall be rebuilt and restored
with streets and trenches
in a troubled time.
26 “After the sixty-two weeks
an anointed one will be cut off
and have nothing.
And the troops of a leader who is to come
will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
Then the end will come like a torrent,
and until the end there will be war,
the devastation that has been decreed.
27 “During the space of one week
he will make a firm alliance with many people,
and for the space of half a week
he will put a stop to sacrifice and oblation.
And on the temple wing
will be the terrible abomination
until the end that has been decreed
is poured out upon the desolate city.”
Footnotes
- Daniel 9:1 By means of this prediction, the author, who is writing for the contemporaries of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, seeks to shore up the courage of the persecuted until the end of the oppression, which will not be long in coming. But the deeper insight goes beyond the immediate circumstances of the passage, for it is a call to persevere in faith while awaiting the coming of the Lord.
- Daniel 9:4 This prayer recalls the canticle of Azariah (included in the Septuagint as Dan 3:26-45) and the liturgies of repentance after the Exile (Ezr 9; Neh 9).
- Daniel 9:13 Just as it is written: first usage of this formula of Scripture citation in the Bible.
- Daniel 9:20 This prophecy is one of the best known and most difficult of the Old Testament. In this coded and therefore obscure passage some think they discover figures that correspond to the coming of the Messiah and provide a means of calculating the end of the world. But the author, who is a contemporary of Antiochus IV and caught up in the daily tragedy of persecution, has other concerns than to offer hidden calculations. His purpose is to proclaim the proximate end of the oppression. His counting, like that of Jeremiah, starts with the beginning of the Exile in 587 B.C.; but the years become weeks of years, that is, periods of seven years. Thus, what was originally thought of in relation to the return from exile and the rebuilding of the temple is now shifted to apply to the age of Antiochus IV. The first seven weeks, or forty-nine years, cover rather well the duration of the Exile, since it was in 538 B.C. that the priest Joshua presided over the reestablishment of the Jewish community in Palestine; but the rebuilding of the temple came in 515 B.C. (see Ezr 3–6) and the rebuilding of the city walls in 445 B.C. (Neh 1–7). And the following sixty-two weeks no longer correspond to history; in fact, from the edict of Cyrus in 538 B.C., to the assassination of Onias III the high priest in 170 B.C. (he is the anointed one of v. 26), sixty-seven years are lacking for the figures to match. Did the author perhaps make a mistake in counting? For the final week, however, and this is the one that interests the author (v. 27), the prediction turns out well. The alliance of the intriguers and apostates around the tyrant, and the disorders introduced into Jewish life by the complicity of the upper clergy after the death of Onias, lasted a week, or about seven years, from 171–164 B.C. In 167 B.C., the daily sacrifice in the temple was suppressed and replaced by the worship of Zeus; this was the abomination that causes desolation or supreme horror (1 Mac 1:54). Three and a half years, or a half-week, later, Jewish worship will be restored by Judas Maccabeus, while Antiochus dies.
Daniel 9
King James Version
9 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
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