Daniel 9:2–23

²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the ^anumber of the years concerning which the word of ¹Yahweh came to ^bJeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, ^cseventy years.

³So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁴And I prayed to Yahweh 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,

^5awe have sinned and committed iniquity and acted wickedly and ^brebelled, even ^cturning aside from Your commandments and judgments.

⁶“Moreover, we have not ^alistened to Your slaves the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

⁷“^aTo You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, 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 banished them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

⁸“O Yahweh, to us belongs ¹open shame, 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;

¹⁰nor have we listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in His ¹laws which He ^aput before us through His slaves the prophets.

¹¹“Indeed ^aall Israel has trespassed against Your law, even turning aside, not listening to Your voice; so the ^bcurse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the ¹law of Moses the ²servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.

¹²“Thus He has ^aestablished His words which He had spoken against us and against our ^bjudges who judged 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 ^1alaw of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have ^bnot ²entreated the favor of Yahweh our God by ^cturning from our iniquity and acting wisely in Your truth.

¹⁴“Therefore Yahweh has ^awatched over the calamity and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is ^brighteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not listened to His voice.

¹⁵“So now, O Lord our God, who have ^abrought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and have ^bmade a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned; we have acted wickedly.

¹⁶“O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteousness, 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 slave 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 listen! 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 any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion.

¹⁹“O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, ^ado not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Gabriel Brings Understanding

²⁰Now while I was ^aspeaking and praying, and ^bconfessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and ¹presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,

²¹and while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man ^aGabriel, whom I had seen in the vision ¹previously, ²touched me ³in my extreme weariness about the time of the ^bevening offering.

²²Then he made me understand and spoke 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 word was issued, so I have come to tell you, for you are ^1bhighly esteemed; so understand the message and gain ^cunderstanding in what has appeared.