Daniel’s Prayer for His People

9 It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, who became king of the Babylonians.^{[a] 2} During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.^{[b] 3} So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:

Gabriel’s Message about the Anointed One

²⁰ I went on praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain. ²¹ As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. ²² He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. ²³ The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God. Listen carefully so that you can understand the meaning of your vision.

²⁴ “A period of seventy sets of seven^[c] has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.^{[d] 25} Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven^[e] will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One^[f]—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses,^[g] despite the perilous times.

²⁶ “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven,^[h] the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. ²⁷ The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven,^[i] but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds,^[j] he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration,^[k] until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”