Daniel
9
- In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes
(a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom --
- in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel,
understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to
Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy
years.
- So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded
with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
- I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with
all who love him and obey his commands,
- we have sinned and done wrong. We have been
wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.
- We have not listened to your servants the
prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers,
and to all the people of the land.
- "Lord, you are righteous, but this
day we are covered with shame -- the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem
and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered
us because of our unfaithfulness to you.
- O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and
our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.
- The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving,
even though we have rebelled against him;
- we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept
the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.
- All Israel has transgressed your law and
turned away, refusing to obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments
written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us,
because we have sinned against you.
- You have fulfilled the words spoken against
us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole
heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.
- Just as it is written in the Law of Moses,
all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the
LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
- The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster
upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have
not obeyed him.
- "Now, O Lord our God, who brought your
people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that
endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.
- O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous
acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your
holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem
and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
- "Now, our God, hear the prayers and
petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your
desolate sanctuary.
- Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes
and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests
of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.
- O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord,
hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and
your people bear your Name."
- While I was speaking and praying, confessing
my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my
God for his holy hill --
- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the
man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the
time of the evening sacrifice.
- He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel,
I have now come to give you insight and understanding.
- As soon as you began to pray, an answer
was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore,
consider the message and understand the vision:
- "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your
people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to
atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision
and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
- "Know and understand this: From the
issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed
One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.'
It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
- After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed
One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will
come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood:
War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
- He will confirm a covenant with many for
one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice
and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that
causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
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