Daniel 9–10

Chapter 9

Daniel’s Prayer for His People

¹In the first year of ^aDarius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—

²in 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, seventy years.

³So I ¹gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

⁴I 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,

^5awe 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;

¹⁰nor 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.”

Gabriel Brings an Answer

²⁰Now 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,

²¹while 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.

²²He 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.

Seventy Weeks and the Messiah

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 makes desolate.”

Chapter 10

Daniel Is Terrified by a Vision

¹In the third year of ^aCyrus king of Persia a ¹message was revealed to ^bDaniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the ^cmessage was true and one of great ²conflict, but he understood the message and had an ^dunderstanding of the vision.

²In those days, I, Daniel, had been ^amourning for three entire weeks.

³I ^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.

⁴On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great ^ariver, that is, the ¹Tigris,

⁵I 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.

⁶His 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.

⁷Now 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.

⁸So 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.

⁹But 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.

Daniel Comforted

¹⁰Then behold, a hand ^atouched me and set me trembling on my ¹hands and knees.

¹¹He 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.

¹²Then 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.”

¹⁵When he had spoken to me according to these words, I ¹turned my face toward the ground and became ^aspeechless.

¹⁶And 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.”

¹⁸Then this one with human appearance touched me again and ^astrengthened me.

¹⁹He 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.”

²⁰Then 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 ^aprince 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.