Daniel 9
Living Bible
9 It was now the first year of the reign of King Darius, the son of Ahasuerus. (Darius was a Mede but became king of the Chaldeans.) 2 In that first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the book of Jeremiah the prophet that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.[a] 3 So I earnestly pleaded with the Lord God to end our captivity and send us back to our own land.[b]
As I prayed, I fasted and wore rough sackcloth, and I sprinkled myself with ashes 4 and confessed my sins and those of my people.
“O Lord,” I prayed, “you are a great and awesome God; you always fulfill your promises of mercy to those who love you and keep your laws. 5 But we have sinned so much; we have rebelled against you and scorned your commands. 6 We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, whom you sent again and again down through the years, with your messages to our kings and princes and to all the people.
7 “O Lord, you are righteous; but as for us, we are always shamefaced with sin, just as you see us now; yes, all of us—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel, scattered near and far wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. 8 O Lord, we and our kings and princes and fathers are weighted down with shame because of all our sins.
9 “But the Lord our God is merciful and pardons even those who have rebelled against him.
10 “O Lord our God, we have disobeyed you; we have flouted all the laws you gave us through your servants, the prophets. 11 All Israel has disobeyed; we have turned away from you and haven’t listened to your voice. And so the awesome curse of God has crushed us—the curse written in the law of Moses your servant. 12 And you have done exactly as you warned us you would do, for never in all history has there been a disaster like what happened at Jerusalem to us and our rulers. 13 Every curse against us written in the law of Moses has come true; all the evils he predicted—all have come. But even so we still refuse to satisfy the Lord our God by turning from our sins and doing right.
14 “And so the Lord deliberately crushed us with the calamity he prepared; he is fair in everything he does, but we would not obey. 15 O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by removing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. Lord, do it again! Though we have sinned so much and are full of wickedness, 16 yet because of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn away your furious anger from Jerusalem, your own city, your holy mountain. For the heathen mock at you because your city lies in ruins for our sins.
17 “O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead! Let your face shine again with peace and joy upon your desolate sanctuary—for your own glory, Lord.
18 “O my God, bend down your ear and listen to my plea. Open your eyes and see our wretchedness, how your city lies in ruins—for everyone knows that it is yours. We don’t ask because we merit help, but because you are so merciful despite our grievous sins.
19 “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen to me and act! Don’t delay—for your own sake, O my God, because your people and your city bear your name.”
20 Even while I was praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people, desperately pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain, 21 Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, flew swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice 22 and said to me, “Daniel, I am here to help you understand God’s plans. 23 The moment you began praying a command was given. I am here to tell you what it was, for God loves you very much. Listen and try to understand the meaning of the vision that you saw!
24 “The Lord has commanded 490 years[c] of further punishment upon Jerusalem and your people. Then at last they will learn to stay away from sin, and their guilt will be cleansed; then the kingdom of everlasting righteousness will begin, and the Most Holy Place in the Temple will be rededicated, as the prophets have declared. 25 Now listen! It will be 49 years plus 434 years[d] from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes! Jerusalem’s streets and walls will be rebuilt despite the perilous times.
26 “After this period of 434 years, the Anointed One will be killed, his kingdom still unrealized . . . and a king will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. They will be overwhelmed as with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. 27 This king will make a seven-year treaty with the people, but after half that time, he will break his pledge and stop the Jews from all their sacrifices and their offerings; then, as a climax to all his terrible deeds, the Enemy shall utterly defile the sanctuary of God. But in God’s time and plan, his judgment will be poured out upon this Evil One.”
Footnotes
- Daniel 9:2 Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years, see Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10. This interval had now almost expired.
- Daniel 9:3 to end our captivity and send us back to our own land, implied.
- Daniel 9:24 490 years, literally, “seventy weeks” or “seventy sevens” (of years). These were not in uninterrupted sequence. See vv. 25-27.
- Daniel 9:25 It will be 49 years plus 434 years. This totals 483 years, instead of the 490 years mentioned in v. 24, leaving 7 years unaccounted for at the time of Messiah’s death. For their future fulfillment, see v. 27 and the Revelation. Or, consider the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Titus and the subsequent slaughter of one million Jews during the following three and a half years as at least a partial fulfillment of this prophecy.
Daniel 9
Wycliffe Bible
9 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of Medes, that was emperor on the realm of Chaldees, (In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, or of Xerxes, of Media/a Mede, who was the emperor over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,)
2 in the first year of his realm, I, Daniel, understood in books the number of years, of which number the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, the prophet, that seventy years of (the) desolation of Jerusalem should be [ful]filled. (in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of years, of which number the word of the Lord was made to the prophet Jeremiah, yea, the seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem that would be fulfilled.)
3 And I setted my face to my Lord God, to pray and beseech in fastings, in sackcloth, and ashes. (And I set my face before the Lord my God, to pray and to beseech him, with fasting, in sackcloth, and ashes.)
4 And I prayed my Lord God, and I acknowledged, and said, I beseech, thou Lord God, great and fearedful, keeping covenant and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments. (And I prayed to the Lord my God, and I acknowledged, and said, I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and fearful, keeping covenant and giving mercy to those who love thee, and who obey thy commandments.)
5 We have sinned, we have done wickedness, we did unfaithfully, and went away, and bowed away from thy commandments and dooms. (We have sinned, we have done wickedness, we did unfaithfully, and rebelled, and turned away from thy commandments and thy judgements/and thy laws.)
6 We obeyed not to thy servants, (the) prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. (We did not obey thy servants, the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, to our leaders, to our forefathers, and to all the people of the land.)
7 Lord, rightfulness is to thee, forsooth shame of face is to us, as (it) is today to a man of Judah, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem (and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem), and to all Israel, to these men that be nigh, and to these men that be afar in all lands, to which thou castedest them out for the wickednesses of them, in which, Lord, they sinned against thee.
8 Shame of face is to us, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, that sinned; (Shame is to us, to our kings, to our rulers, and to our forefathers, who sinned;)
9 but mercy and benignity is to thee, our Lord God (but mercy and generosity of spirit, or forgiveness, is to thee, O Lord our God). For we went away from thee,
10 and heard not the voice of our Lord God, that we should go in the law of him, which he setted to us by his servants, (the) prophets. (and did not listen to the voice of the Lord our God, that we should go in his Law, which he gave to us by his servants, the prophets.)
11 And all Israel brake thy law, and bowed away, (so) that they heard not thy voice; and (the) cursing and (the) loathing, which is written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, dropped on us, for we sinned to him (for we have sinned against him).
12 And he ordained his words, which he spake on us, and on our princes, that deemed us, that they should bring in on us great evil, what manner evil was never under all heaven, by that that is done in Jerusalem, (And he ordained his words, which he spoke against us, and against our rulers, who judged us, so that they would bring in upon us great evil, what manner evil was never under all heaven, by that which is done in Jerusalem,)
13 as it is written in the law of Moses. All this evil came [up]on us, and, our Lord God, we prayed not thy face, that we should turn again from our wickednesses, and should think (on) thy truth. (as it is written in the Law of Moses. All this evil came upon us, and, O Lord our God, we did not pray to thee, that we should turn back from our wickednesses, and should think upon thy truth.)
14 And the Lord waked on malice, and brought it on us; our Lord God is just in all his works which he made, for we heard not his voice. (And the Lord watched, and then brought in this malice upon us; for the Lord our God is just, and right, in all his works which he made, but we did not listen to him, or obey him.)
15 And now, our Lord God, that leddest thy people out of the land of Egypt in strong hand, and madest to thee a name by this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedness, (And now, O Lord our God, who leddest thy people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and madest to thee a name by this day, we have sinned, yea, we have done wickedness.)
16 Lord, against all thy rightfulness. I beseech, thy wrath and thy strong vengeance be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy hill; for why for our sins, and for the wickednesses of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people be in shame, to all men by our compass. (O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thy anger and thy strong vengeance be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy hill; and because of our sins, and the wickednesses of our forefathers, Jerusalem and thy people be in shame, to all those who live all around us.)
17 But now, our God, hear thou the prayer of thy servant, and the beseechings of him, and show thy face on thy saintuary, which is forsaken. (But now, our God, hear thou the prayer of thy servant, and his beseechings, and for thy own sake, let thy face shine upon thy sanctuary, which is deserted.)
18 My God, for thyself bow down thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and see our desolation, and the city, on which thy name is called to help. For not in our (own) justifyings we set forth meekly prayers before thy face, but in thy many merciful doings. (My God, bow down thy ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and see our desolation, and the city, which is called by thy name. For not in our own justifyings do we humbly put forth our prayers before thee, but for thy many merciful doings.)
19 Lord, hear thou; Lord, be thou pleased, perceive thou, and do; my Lord God, tarry thou not, for thyself, for thy name is called to help on the city, and on thy people. (Lord, hear thou; Lord, forgive thou; Lord, perceive thou, and do; for thy own sake, my God, tarry thou not, for this city and thy people be called by thy name.)
20 And when I spake yet, and prayed, and acknowledged my sins, and the sins of my people Israel, that I should set forth meekly my prayers in the sight of my God (that I should humbly put forth my prayers before my God), for the holy hill of my God,
21 the while I spake yet in my prayer, lo! the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in vision at the beginning, flew soon, and touched me in the time of eventide sacrifice; (and yet while I spoke my prayer, lo! the angel Gabriel, whom I had seen in vision before, or at the beginning, flew swiftly, and touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice;)
22 and he taught me, and he spake to me, and said, Daniel, now I went out, that I should teach thee, and thou shouldest understand. (and he taught me, and he spoke to me, and said, Daniel, I have come now to teach thee, so that thou wouldest understand.)
23 From the beginning of thy prayers a word went out. Forsooth I came to show to thee, for thou art a man of desires (And I came to show thee, because thou art a man much beloved); therefore perceive thou the word, and understand thou the vision.
24 Seventy weeks of years be abridged on thy people, and on thine holy city, that trespassing be ended, and sin take an end (and sin is brought to an end), and that wickedness be done away, and everlasting rightfulness be brought, and that the vision and prophecy be [ful]filled, and the Holy (Place) of (the) saints be anointed.
25 Therefore know thou, and perceive; from the going out of the word that Jerusalem be builded again, till to Christ, the duke, shall be seven weeks of years and two and sixty weeks of years; and again the street shall be builded, and walls, in the anguish of times. (And so know thou, and understand; from the going out of the word that Jerusalem be rebuilt, until the Anointed One, yea, the Prince, or the Ruler, shall be seven weeks of years and sixty-two weeks of years; and the streets and the walls shall be rebuilt, in the time of anguish.)
26 And after two and sixty weeks of years Christ shall be slain. And it shall not be his people, that shall deny him. And the people with the duke to coming shall destroy the city, and the saintuary; and the end thereof shall be destroying, and after the end of battle shall be ordained desolation. (And after sixty-two weeks of years the Anointed One shall be killed. And it shall not be his own people, who shall deny him life, that is who shall kill him. Yea, other people, coming with their own ruler, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary; and its end shall be in utter destruction, and after the end of the battle there shall be ordained a desolation.)
27 Forsooth one week of years shall confirm the covenant to many men, and the offering and sacrifice shall fail in the midst of the week of years; and abomination of desolation shall be in the temple, and the desolation shall continue till to the performing and end. (And one week of years shall confirm the covenant to many people, and the offering and the sacrifice shall be stopped in the midst of the week of years; and the abomination that maketh desolation shall be placed in the Temple, and the desolation shall continue until the performing and the end of it.)
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
2001 by Terence P. Noble