Daniel 9:1–10:21
Daniel’s Prayer for His People
1 In the first year of aDarius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to aJeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, aseventy years.
3 So I 1gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the agreat and awesome God, who bkeeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
5 awe have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and brebelled, even cturning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.
6 “Moreover, we have not alistened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
7 “aRighteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us 1bopen shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in call the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.
8 “1Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.
9 “To the Lord our God belong acompassion and forgiveness, 1for we have brebelled against Him;
10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His 1teachings which He aset before us through His servants the prophets.
11 “Indeed aall Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the bcurse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.
12 “Thus He has aconfirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our 1brulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has cnot been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.
13 “As it is written in the alaw of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have bnot 1sought the favor of the Lord our God by cturning from our iniquity and 2giving attention to Your truth.
14 “Therefore the Lord has 1akept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is brighteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
15 “And now, O Lord our God, who have abrought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have bmade a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked.
16 “O Lord, in accordance with all Your 1righteous acts, let now Your aanger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your bholy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a creproach to all those around us.
17 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for 1Your sake, O Lord, alet Your face shine on Your bdesolate sanctuary.
18 “O my God, aincline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and bsee our desolations and the city which is ccalled by Your name; for we are not 1dpresenting our supplications before You on account of 2any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.
19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, ado not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
20 Now while I was aspeaking and praying, and bconfessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and 1presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,
21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man aGabriel, whom I had seen in the vision 1previously, 2came to me 3in my extreme weariness about the time of the bevening offering.
22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with aunderstanding.
23 “At the abeginning of your supplications the 1command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are 2bhighly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain cunderstanding of the vision.
24 “Seventy 1aweeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to 2finish the transgression, to 3make an end of sin, to bmake atonement for iniquity, to bring in ceverlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and 4prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.
25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a 1adecree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until 2bMessiah the cPrince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with 3plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the 1Messiah will be acut off and have 2nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will bdestroy the city and the sanctuary. And 3its end will come with a cflood; even to the end 4there will be war; desolations are determined.
27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of 1aabominations will come one who 2makes desolate, even until a bcomplete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who 2makes desolate.”
Daniel Is Terrified by a Vision
1 In the third year of aCyrus king of Persia a 1message was revealed to bDaniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the 1cmessage was true and one of great 2conflict, but he understood the 1message and had an dunderstanding of the vision.
2 In those days, I, Daniel, had been amourning for three entire weeks.
3 I adid not eat any 1tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.
4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great ariver, that is, the 1Tigris,
5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man adressed in linen, whose waist was bgirded with a belt of pure cgold of Uphaz.
6 His body also was like 1beryl, his face 2had the appearance of lightning, ahis eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a 3tumult.
7 Now I, Daniel, aalone saw the vision, while the bmen who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great cdread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.
8 So I was aleft alone and saw this great vision; yet bno strength was left in me, for my 1natural color turned to 2a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength.
9 But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I afell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.
10 Then behold, a hand atouched me and set me trembling on my 1hands and knees.
11 He said to me, “O aDaniel, man of 1high esteem, bunderstand the words that I am about to tell you and cstand 2upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up dtrembling.
12 Then he said to me, “aDo not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on bhumbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response cto your words.
13 “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was 1withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, aMichael, 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 agive you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the 1blatter days, for the vision pertains to cthe days yet future.”
15 When he had spoken to me according to these words, I 1turned my face toward the ground and became aspeechless.
16 And behold, 1aone who resembled a human being was btouching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “O my lord, as a result of the vision 2canguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.
17 “For ahow can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now bno strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.”
18 Then this one with human appearance touched me again and astrengthened me.
19 He said, “O man of 1high esteem, ado not be afraid. Peace 2be with you; take bcourage and be courageous!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, “May my lord speak, for you have cstrengthened me.”
20 Then he said, “Do you 1understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the 2prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the 2aprince of 3Greece is about to come.
21 “However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of atruth. Yet there is no one who 1stands firmly with me against these forces except bMichael your prince.