The Daily Audio Bible

The Prayer of Daniel

9 In the first year 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, observed in the books the number of the years which were specified by the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem, that is, seventy years. ³ I set my face toward the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said,

“Alas, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping His covenant and mercy to those who love Him, and to those who keep His commandments. ⁵ We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and from Your judgments. ⁶ We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our officials, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁷ “O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day, to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, who are near and who are far off, through all the countries wherever You have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against You. ⁸ O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, to our officials, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercies 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 Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law, even by departing that they might not obey Your voice.

“Therefore the curse has been poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. ¹² He has confirmed His words, which He had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done such as has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the Law of Moses, great calamity has come on us. Yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God so that we might turn from our iniquities and give attention to Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore, the Lord has kept the disaster in store and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He does, but we have not obeyed His voice.

¹⁵ “Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, even to this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. ¹⁶ O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I beseech You, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.

¹⁷ “Now therefore, O God, hear the prayer of Your servant and his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and look at our desolations and the city which is called by Your name, for we do not present our supplications before You for our righteousness, but for Your great mercies. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not defer, for Your own sake, O my God. For Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

The Seventy Weeks

²⁰ While I was speaking and 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 indeed, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. ²² He informed me and talked with me, and said, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. ²³ At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision:

²⁴ “Seventy weeks have been determined for your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

²⁵ “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until the Prince Messiah shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of trouble. ²⁶ After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the troops of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall come with a flood. And until the end of the war desolations are determined. ²⁷ And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”

Daniel’s Vision of a Man

10 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar, and the message was true and one of great conflict. And he understood the message and had understanding of the vision.

² In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. ³ I ate no tasty food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all until three whole weeks were fulfilled.

⁴ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river which is Tigris, ⁵ I lifted up my eyes and looked and saw a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with the fine gold of Uphaz. ⁶ His body also was like beryl, and his face had the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet were like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.

⁷ I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. ⁸ Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, and my countenance grew deathly pale, and I retained no strength. ⁹ Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words, then I was in a deep sleep on my face with my face toward the ground.

Prophecies of Persia and Greece

¹⁰ But then a hand touched me, which set me on my knees and on the palms of my hands. ¹¹ He said to me, “O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have been sent to you now.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood trembling.

¹² Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. For from the first day that you set your heart to understand this and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words. ¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days. So Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to make you understand what shall befall your people in the latter days. For the vision is yet for many days.”

¹⁵ When he had spoken such words to me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became mute. ¹⁶ Then one in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who stood before me, “O my lord, because of the vision, sorrows have come upon me, and I have retained no strength. ¹⁷ How can the servant of my lord talk with you, my lord? And as for me, there remains no strength in me now, nor is there any breath left in me.”

¹⁸ Then again, the one having the appearance of a man came and touched me, and he strengthened me. ¹⁹ He said, “O man, greatly beloved, do not fear. Peace be unto you. Be strong and courageous!”

When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”

²⁰ Then he said, “Do you understand why I have come to you? But now I shall return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I have gone forth, then truly the prince of Greece will come. ²¹ But I will show you what is inscribed in the Scripture of Truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces, except Michael your prince.

The Kings of the South and the North

11 “Also, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.

The Antichrist

¹⁸ Little children, it is the last hour. As you have heard that the antichrist will come, even now there are many antichrists. By this we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us. But they went out, revealing that none of them were of us.

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. ²¹ I have written to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. ²² Who is a liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Whoever denies the Father and the Son is the antichrist. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father.

²⁴ Let that which you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If that which you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶ I have written these things to you concerning those who deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing which you have received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. For as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in Him.

Children of God

²⁸ And now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him when He comes.

²⁹ If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him.

3 Consider how much love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, now are we children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ³ Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

⁴ Whoever practices sin breaks the law, for sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that He was revealed to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. ⁶ Whoever remains in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has not seen Him and does not know Him.

Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents.