1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by descent, who had been made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,
2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet, were to be fulfilled for the ruins of Jerusalem, namely seventy years.
3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God, seeking him with prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession. I said, "Ah, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and steadfast love toward those who love him and keep his commandments:
5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, and turned aside from your commandments and from your judgments.
6 Nor have we listened to your servants the prophets, who in your name spoke to our kings, our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the land.
7 Righteousness is yours, O Lord, and ours is shame of face, as it is this day: ours, the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off, in all the lands where you have banished them because of the treachery they committed against you.
8 O LORD, shame of face is ours, our kings', our princes' and our fathers', for we have sinned against you.
9 Mercies and pardon belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him;
10 we have not listened to the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws that he set before us by the hand of his servants the prophets.
11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to listen to your voice. Therefore the curse and the sworn oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, for we have sinned against him.
12 He has confirmed his word that he spoke against us and against our judges who ruled us, by bringing on us a great calamity; for under all the heavens nothing has been done like what has been done in Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not entreated the face of the LORD our God by turning back from our iniquities and paying heed to your truth.
14 Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in readiness and has brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works that he has done, but we have not listened to his voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made yourself a name, as it is this day: we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.
16 O Lord, according to all your righteous deeds, let your anger and your fury turn back, I pray, from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to all around us.
17 Now then, O our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake let your face shine on your sanctuary that lies desolate.
18 Incline your ear, O my God, and hear; open your eyes and look at our desolations and at the city over which your name is called. For we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous acts, but because of your abundant mercies.
19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay, for your own sake, O my God; for your name is called over your city and over your people."
20 While I was yet speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God,
21 while I was yet speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, came near to me in swift flight at about the time of the evening offering.
22 He instructed me and spoke with me, saying, "Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
23 When you began your supplications a word went out, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
24 Seventy weeks have been determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, to bring sins to an end, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy.
25 Know, then, and understand: from the issuing of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it shall be built again with square and moat, but in times of distress.
26 After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall be with a flood, and war shall last until the end; desolations are determined.
27 He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and in the middle of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed full end is poured out on the desolator."