Daniel’s Prayer for the People

9 In the first year ^(A)of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage 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 the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through ^(B)Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

^3 (C)Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O ^(D)Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, ^5 (E)we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. ^6 (F)Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. ⁷ O Lord, ^(G)righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

⁸ “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ^9 (H)To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, ^(I)all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the ^(J)Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. ¹² And He has ^(K)confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; ^(L)for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

^13 (M)“As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; ^(N)yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has ^(O)kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for ^(P)the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. ¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, ^(Q)who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself ^(R)a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

¹⁶ “O Lord, ^(S)according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, ^(T)Your holy mountain; because for our sins, ^(U)and for the iniquities of our fathers, ^(V)Jerusalem and Your people ^(W)are a reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷ Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, ^(X)and ^(Y)for the Lord’s sake ^[a]cause Your face to shine on ^[b]Your sanctuary, ^(Z)which is desolate. ^18 (AA)O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes ^(AB)and see our desolations, and the city ^(AC)which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

The Seventy-Weeks Prophecy

²⁰ Now while I was speaking, 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 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man ^(AD)Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, ^[c]being caused to fly swiftly, reached 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 skill to understand. ²³ At the beginning of your supplications the ^[d]command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly ^(AE)beloved; therefore ^(AF)consider the matter, and understand the vision:

²⁰ And ^(A)those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, ^(B)where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of ^(C)Jeremiah, until the land ^(D)had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate ^(E)she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

End of the Babylonian Captivity^(A)

1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord ^(B)by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, ^(C)so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

⁵ Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits ^(F)God ^[b]had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ⁶ And all those who were around them ^[c]encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was ^(G)willingly offered.

^7 (H)King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, ^(I)which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the ^[d]temple of his gods; ⁸ and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to ^(J)Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹ This is the number of them: thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twenty-nine knives, ¹⁰ thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins of a similar kind, and one thousand other articles. ¹¹ All the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar took with the captives who were brought from Babylon to Jerusalem.

The Captives Who Returned to Jerusalem^(A)

2 Now ^(B)these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, ^(C)whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city.

² Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, ^[a]Seraiah, ^[b]Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, ^[c]Mispar, Bigvai, ^[d]Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: ³ the people of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two; ⁴ the people of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two; ⁵ the people of Arah, ^(D)seven hundred and seventy-five; ⁶ the people of ^(E)Pahath-Moab, of the people of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve; ⁷ the people of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; ⁸ the people of Zattu, nine hundred and forty-five; ⁹ the people of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty; ¹⁰ the people of ^[e]Bani, six hundred and forty-two; ¹¹ the people of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-three; ¹² the people of Azgad, one thousand two hundred and twenty-two; ¹³ the people of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six; ¹⁴ the people of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six; ¹⁵ the people of Adin, four hundred and fifty-four; ¹⁶ the people of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety-eight; ¹⁷ the people of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-three; ¹⁸ the people of ^[f]Jorah, one hundred and twelve; ¹⁹ the people of Hashum, two hundred and twenty-three; ²⁰ the people of ^[g]Gibbar, ninety-five; ²¹ the people of Bethlehem, one hundred and twenty-three; ²² the men of Netophah, fifty-six; ²³ the men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight; ²⁴ the people of ^[h]Azmaveth, forty-two; ²⁵ the people of ^[i]Kirjath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three; ²⁶ the people of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one; ²⁷ the men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two; ²⁸ the men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred and twenty-three; ²⁹ the people of Nebo, fifty-two; ³⁰ the people of Magbish, one hundred and fifty-six; ³¹ the people of the other ^(F)Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; ³² the people of Harim, three hundred and twenty; ³³ the people of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-five; ³⁴ the people of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five; ³⁵ the people of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty.