In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes,
which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign,
I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the
desolations of Jerusalem.
And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with
fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, O Lord,
the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him
and to them that keep his commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity
and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and
from thy judgments.
Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets, which speak in thy
name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of
the land.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces,
as at this day, to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all
Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou
hast driven them, because of their trespass, that they have trespassed
against thee.
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our
fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled
against him.
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws,
which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.
Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not
obey thy voice.
Therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of
Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our
judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil.
For under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us.
Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our
iniquities and understand thy truth.
Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us.
For the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth, for we obeyed
not his voice.
And now, O Lord our God, that has brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt
with a mighty hand, and has gotten thee renowned as at this day, we have sinned,
we have done wickedly.
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee,
let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy
mountain.
Because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and
thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications,
and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's
sake.
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear.
Open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called
by thy name.
For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness,
but for thy great mercies.
O Lord, hear.
O Lord, forgive.
O Lord, hearken and do.
Defer not for thine own sake, O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by
thy name.
And whilst 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, yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer,
even 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.
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to
give thee skill and understanding.
At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to
show thee.
For thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider the
vision.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish
the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince
shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.
The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times.
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.
And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war
desolations are determined.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the
week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.