Daniel 9:1-12

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Daniel’s Prayer for the People

9 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, by birth a Mede, who became king over the realm of the Chaldeans,^{(A) 2} I,^[a] Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, must be fulfilled for the devastation of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.^(B)

³ Then I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.^{(C) 4} I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying,

“Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you^[b] and keep your^[c] commandments,^{(D) 5} we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances.^{(E) 6} We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ “Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.^{(F) 8} Open shame, O Lord, falls on us, our kings, our princes, and our ancestors because we have sinned against you. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, but we have rebelled against him^{(G) 10} and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

¹¹ “All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. So the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against you.^{(H) 12} He has confirmed his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a calamity so great that what has been done against Jerusalem has never before been done under the whole heaven.^(I)