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.”