The Daily Audio Bible

Daniel’s Prayer about Jerusalem Is Answered

9 Xerxes’ son Darius, who was a Mede by birth, was made ruler of the kingdom of Babylon. ² In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the Scriptures the number of years that Jerusalem would remain in ruins. The Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah that Jerusalem would remain in ruins for 70 years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and looked to him for help. I prayed, pleaded, and fasted in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God. I confessed and said, “Lord, you are great and deserve respect as the only God. You keep your promise ^[a] and show mercy to those who love you and obey your commandments. ⁵ We have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commandments and laws. ⁶ We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the common people. ⁷ You, Lord, are righteous. But we—the men of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, and all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far—are still ashamed because we have been unfaithful to you. ⁸ We, our kings, leaders, and ancestors are ashamed because we have sinned against you, Lord.

⁹ “But you, Lord our God, are compassionate and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you. ¹⁰ We never listened to you or lived by the teachings you gave us through your servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has ignored your teachings and refused to listen to you. So you brought on us the curses you swore in an oath, the curses written in the Teachings of your servant Moses. We sinned against you. ¹² So you did what you said you would do to us and our rulers by bringing a great disaster on us. Nowhere in the world has anything ever happened like what has happened to Jerusalem. ¹³ This entire disaster happened to us, exactly as it was written in Moses’ Teachings. Lord our God, we never tried to gain your favor by turning from our wrongs and dedicating ourselves to your truth. ¹⁴ So you were prepared to bring this disaster on us. Lord our God, you are righteous in everything you do. But we never listened to you.

¹⁵ “Lord our God, you brought your people out of Egypt with your strong hand and made yourself famous even today. We have sinned and done evil things. ¹⁶ Lord, since you are very righteous, turn your anger and fury away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Jerusalem and your people are insulted by everyone around us because of our sins and the wicked things our ancestors did.

¹⁷ “Our God, listen to my prayer and request. For your own sake, Lord, look favorably on your holy place, which is lying in ruins. ¹⁸ Open your ears and listen, my God. Open your eyes and look at our ruins and at the city called by your name. We are not requesting this from you because we are righteous, but because you are very compassionate. ¹⁹ Listen to us, Lord. Forgive us, Lord. Pay attention, and act. Don’t delay! Do this for your sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”

²⁰ I continued to pray, confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel. I humbly placed my request about my God’s holy mountain in front of the Lord my God. ²¹ While I was praying, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the first vision, came to me about the time of the evening sacrifice. He was exhausted. ²² He informed me, “Daniel, this time I have come to give you insight. ²³ As soon as you began to make your request, a reply was sent. I have come to give you the reply because you are highly respected. So study the message, and understand the vision.

²⁴ “Seventy sets of seven time periods have been assigned for your people and your holy city. These time periods will serve to bring an end to rebellion, to stop sin, to forgive wrongs, to usher in everlasting righteousness, to put a seal on a prophet’s vision, and to anoint the Most Holy One. ²⁵ Learn, then, and understand that from the time the command is given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed prince comes, seven sets of seven time periods and sixty-two sets of seven time periods will pass. Jerusalem will be restored and rebuilt with a city square and a moat during the troubles of those times. ²⁶ But after the sixty-two sets of seven time periods, the Anointed One ^[b] will be cut off and have nothing. The city and the holy place will be destroyed with the prince who is to come.^[c] His end will come with a flood until the end of the destructive war that has been determined. ²⁷ He will confirm his promise with many for one set of seven time periods. In the middle of the seven time periods, he will stop the sacrifices and food offerings. This will happen along with disgusting things that cause destruction until ⌞those time periods⌟ come to an end. It has been determined that this will happen to those who destroy ⌞the city⌟.”

An Angel Comes to Daniel with a Message

10 In Cyrus’ third year as king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel (who had been renamed Belteshazzar). The message was true. It was about a great war. Daniel understood the message because he was given insight during the vision.

² During those days I, Daniel, mourned for three whole weeks. ³ I didn’t eat any good-tasting food. No meat or wine entered my mouth. I didn’t wash myself until the entire three weeks were over.

⁴ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, I was by the great Tigris River. ⁵ When I looked up, I saw a man dressed in linen, and he had a belt made of gold from Uphaz around his waist. ⁶ His body was like beryl. His face looked like lightning. His eyes were like flaming torches. His arms and legs looked like polished bronze. When he spoke, his voice sounded like the roar of a crowd. ⁷ I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision. The men with me didn’t see the vision. Yet, they started to tremble violently, and they quickly hid themselves. ⁸ So I was left alone to see this grand vision. I had no strength left in me. My face turned deathly pale, and I was helpless. ⁹ I heard the man speak, and as I listened to his words, I fainted facedown on the ground.

¹⁰ Then a hand touched me and made my hands and knees shake. ¹¹ The man said to me, “Daniel, you are highly respected. Pay attention to my words. Stand up, because I’ve been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, trembling. ¹² He told me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. God has heard everything that you said ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in front of your God so that you could learn to understand things. I have come in response to your prayer. ¹³ The commander of the Persian kingdom opposed me for 21 days. But then Michael, one of the chief commanders, came to help me because I was left alone with the kings of Persia. ¹⁴ I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the last days, because the vision is about times still to come.”

¹⁵ When he said this to me, I bowed down with my face touching the ground and was silent. ¹⁶ Then someone who looked like a human touched my lips. I opened my mouth and began to talk. I said to the person standing in front of me, “Sir, because of this vision, pain has overwhelmed me, and I’m helpless. ¹⁷ How can I talk to you, sir? I have no strength left, and the wind has been knocked out of me.”

¹⁸ Again, the person who looked like a human touched me, and I became stronger. ¹⁹ He said, “Don’t be afraid. You are highly respected. Everything is alright! Be strong! Be strong!”

As he talked to me, I became stronger. I said, “Sir, tell me what you came to say. You have strengthened me.”

²⁰ He asked, “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I will return to fight the commander of Persia. When I go, the commander of Greece will come. ²¹ However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the true writings. No one will support me when I fight these commanders except your commander, Michael.

11 During Darius the Mede’s first year as king, I strengthened and defended Michael.”

Live in Christ

¹⁸ Children, it’s the end of time. You’ve heard that an antichrist is coming. Certainly, many antichrists are already here. That’s how we know it’s the end of time. ¹⁹ They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us.

²⁰ The Holy One has anointed you, so all of you have knowledge. ²¹ I’m writing to you because you know the truth, not because you don’t know the truth. You know that no lie ever comes from the truth.

²² Who is a liar? Who else but the person who rejects Jesus as the Messiah? The person who rejects the Father and the Son is an antichrist. ²³ Everyone who rejects the Son doesn’t have the Father either. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father. ²⁴ Make sure that the message you heard from the beginning lives in you. If that message lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ Christ has given us the promise of eternal life.

²⁶ I’m writing to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ The anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don’t need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ’s anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.

We Are God’s Children

²⁸ Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won’t turn from him in shame. ²⁹ If you know that Christ has God’s approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God.

3 Consider this: The Father has given us his love. He loves us so much that we are actually called God’s dear children. And that’s what we are. For this reason the world doesn’t recognize us, and it didn’t recognize him either. ² Dear friends, now we are God’s children. What we will be isn’t completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is. ³ So all people who have this confidence in Christ keep themselves pure, as Christ is pure.

⁴ Those who live sinful lives are disobeying God. Sin is disobedience. ⁵ You know that Christ appeared in order to take away our sins. He isn’t sinful. ⁶ Those who live in Christ don’t go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven’t seen or known Christ.

A song for going up to worship.