1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,

2in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by the books that the number of the years, whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem, was seventy years.

3And I set my face unto the Lord ⁵⁶God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes;

4and I prayed unto Jehovah my ⁵⁷God, and made my confession, and said, Alas Lord! the great and terrible ⁵⁸God, keeping covenant and loving-kindness with them that love him, and that keep his commandments:

5we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy commandments and from thine ordinances.

6And we have not hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7Thine, O Lord, is the righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, 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, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their unfaithfulness in which they have been unfaithful against thee.

8O Lord, unto us is confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

9With the Lord our ⁵⁹God are mercies and pardons, for we have rebelled against him;

10and we have not hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah our ⁶⁰God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.

11And all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside so as not to listen unto thy voice. And the curse hath been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of ⁶¹God: for we have sinned against him.

12And he hath performed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; so that there hath not been done under the whole heaven as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us; yet we besought not Jehovah our ⁶²God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

14And Jehovah hath watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our ⁶³God is righteous in all his works which he hath done; and we have not hearkened unto his voice.

15— And now, O Lord our ⁶⁴God, who broughtest thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name, as it is this day, — we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16Lord, according to all thy righteousnesses, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; for because of our sins, and because of the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people [are become] a reproach to all round about us.

17And now, our ⁶⁵God, hearken to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

18Incline thine ear, O my ⁶⁶God, and hear; open thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the city that is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee because of our righteousnesses, but because of thy manifold mercies.

19Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, hearken and do! defer not, for thine own sake, O my ⁶⁷God! for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

20And whilst I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my ⁶⁸God for the holy mountain of my ⁶⁹God;

21whilst I was yet speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

22And he informed [me], and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding.

23At the beginning of thy supplications the word went forth, and I am come to declare [it]; for thou art one greatly beloved. Therefore consider the word, and have understanding in the vision:

24Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to close the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make expiation for iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies.

25Know therefore and understand: From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah, the Prince, are seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street and the moat shall be built again, even in troublous times.

26And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the end, war, — the desolations determined.

27And he shall confirm a covenant with the many [for] one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and because of the protection of abominations [there shall be] a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.