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¹ IN the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a descendant of the Medes who became king over the realm of the Chaldeans,² In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the scriptures the number of the years, seeing that the word of the LORD came to pass which the prophet Jeremiah said, that seventy years would elapse before the desolations of Jerusalem would come to an end.³ And I lifted up my face before the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and with sackcloth and with ashes;

⁴ And I prayed before the LORD my God and made my confession and said, I beseech thee, O LORD, the great and revered God, who keepest the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments;⁵ We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled and have gone astray from thy commandments and thy judgments;⁶ Neither have we listened to 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.⁷ O LORD, victory belongs to thee, but shame is ours, as at this day, to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their iniquity which they transgressed against thee.⁸ O LORD, to us belongs shame of faces to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.⁹ To the LORD God belong mercies and forgiveness of sins, for we have rebelled against him;¹⁰ Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk according to his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets.¹¹ Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law and have gone astray and have not obeyed thy voice; therefore thou hast brought upon them the curses and the oaths that are written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned in his presence.¹² And he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem.¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us; yet we have not prayed before the LORD our God, that we might repent from our iniquities and understand thy truth.¹⁴ Therefore the LORD has stirred up this evil and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he has done, and yet we have not obeyed his voice.¹⁵ And now, O LORD our God, who didst bring thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast made thee a name, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.¹⁶ O LORD, according to all thy righteousness which thou didst toward us, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem and from thy holy mountain, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, thy people are scattered in every land, and Jerusalem has become a reproach to all peoples.¹⁷ Now therefore, O God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplication, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary which is desolate, for thy names sake, O LORD.¹⁸ O my God, incline thine ear and hear; open thine eyes and behold our ruined and desolate places and the city which is called by thy name; for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.¹⁹ O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive us; O LORD, hearken and do; delay not for thy own names sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

²⁰ And while I was yet praying and confessing my offenses and the offenses of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God,²¹ Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision before, came from heaven, flying swiftly, and drew near me at the time of the evening sacrifice.²² And he came and talked to me and said to me, O Daniel, I am now come forth to instruct you, so that you might understand.²³ At the beginning of your prayer, the word came forth and I have come to make it known to you; for you are greatly beloved; therefore discern the matter and understand the vision.²⁴ Seventy times seven weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgressions and to make an end of sins and for the forgiveness of the iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to fulfill the vision of the prophets and to give the most holy to Messiah.²⁵ Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah the king shall be seven times seven weeks, and sixty-two times seven weeks; the people shall return and build Jerusalem, its streets, and its broad ways at the end of the appointed times.²⁶ After sixty-two times seven weeks, Messiah shall be slain, and the city shall be without a ruler; and the holy city shall be destroyed together with the coming king; and the end thereof shall be a mass exile, and at the end of the war, desolations are determined.²⁷ And he shall confirm the covenant with many for seven weeks and half of seven weeks, then he shall cause the sacrifice and gift offerings to cease, and upon the horns of the altar the abomination of desolation; and the desolation shall continue until the end of the appointed time; the city shall remain desolate.