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¹ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,² in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years whereof the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.³ And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ And I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving-kindness with those that love him and keep his commandments,⁵ we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances;⁶ neither have we listened to your slaves the prophets, that spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.⁷ O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, 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 where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.⁸ O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him;¹⁰ neither have we obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his slaves the prophets.¹¹ Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, even turning aside, that they should not obey your voice: therefore the curse has been poured out on us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the slave of God; for we have sinned against him.¹² And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done on Jerusalem.¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth.¹⁴ Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, that have brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.¹⁶ O Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and your wrath, I pray you, be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all that are round about us.¹⁷ Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your slave, and to his supplications, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.¹⁸ O my God, incline your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and look at our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our supplications before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies' sake.¹⁹ O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and do; don't defer, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.

²⁰ And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God for the holy mountain of my God;²¹ yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.²² And he caused me to understand, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you wisdom and understanding.²³ At the beginning of your supplications the word went forth, and I have come to tell; for you are greatly beloved: therefore consider the word, and understand the vision.²⁴ Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.²⁵ Therefore know and discern: from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem, to an anointed leader, [there are] seven weeks. And sixty-two weeks it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.²⁶ And after the sixty-two weeks an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing. And the people of a coming leader shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.²⁷ And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and on the wing of detestable things [shall come] one that makes desolate even to the full end, and that which is determined shall be poured out on the desolator.