Daniel Prays for the People
1-2 Daniel wrote:
Some years later, Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, had become king of Babylonia. And during his first year as king, I found out from studying the writings of the prophets that the Lord had said to Jeremiah, “Jerusalem will lie in ruins for 70 years.” 3-4 Then, to show my sorrow, I went without eating and dressed in sackcloth and sat in ashes. I confessed my sins and earnestly prayed to the Lord my God:
Our Lord, you are a great and fearsome God, and you faithfully keep your agreement with those who love and obey you. 5 But we have sinned terribly by rebelling against you and rejecting your laws and teachings. 6 We have ignored the message your servants the prophets spoke to our kings, our leaders, our ancestors, and everyone else.
7 Everything you do is right, our Lord. But still we suffer public disgrace because we have been unfaithful and have sinned against you. This includes all of us, both far and near—the people of Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel, as well as those you dragged away to foreign lands, 8 and even our kings, our officials, and our ancestors. 9 Lord God, you are merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against you 10 and rejected your teachings that came to us from your servants the prophets.
11 Everyone in Israel has stubbornly refused to obey your laws, and so those curses written by your servant Moses have fallen upon us. 12 You warned us and our leaders that Jerusalem would suffer the worst disaster in human history, and you did exactly as you had threatened. 13 We have not escaped any of the terrible curses written by Moses, and yet we have refused to beg you for mercy and to remind ourselves of how faithful you have always been. 14 And when you finally punished us with this horrible disaster, that was also the right thing to do, because we deserved it so much.
15 Our Lord God, with your own mighty arm you rescued us from Egypt and made yourself famous to this very day, but we have sinned terribly. 16 In the past, you treated us with such kindness, that we now beg you to stop being so terribly angry with Jerusalem. After all, it is your chosen city built on your holy mountain, even though it has suffered public disgrace because of our sins and those of our ancestors.
17 I am your servant, Lord God, and I beg you to answer my prayers and bring honor to yourself by having pity on your temple that lies in ruins. 18 Please show mercy to your chosen city, not because we deserve it, but because of your great kindness. 19 Forgive us! Hurry and do something, not only for your city and your chosen people, but to bring honor to yourself.
The Seventy Weeks
Daniel wrote:
20 I was still confessing my sins and those of all Israel to the Lord my God, and I was praying for the good of his holy mountain, 21 when Gabriel suddenly came flying in at the time of the evening sacrifice. This was the same Gabriel I had seen in my vision, 22 and he explained:
Daniel, I am here to help you understand the vision. 23 God thinks highly of you, and at the very moment you started praying, I was sent to give you the answer. 24 God has decided that for 70 weeks, your people and your holy city must suffer as the price of their sins. Then evil will disappear, and justice will rule forever; the visions and words of the prophets will come true, and a most holy place will be dedicated.
25 You need to realize that from the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Chosen Leader, it will be 7 weeks and another 62 weeks. Streets will be built in Jerusalem, and a trench will be dug around the city for protection, but these will be difficult times. 26 At the end of the 62 weeks, the Chosen Leader will be killed and left with nothing.
A foreign ruler and his army will sweep down like a mighty flood, leaving both the city and the temple in ruins, and war and destruction will continue until the end, just as God has decided. 27 For one week this foreigner will make a firm agreement with many people, and halfway through this week, he will end all sacrifices and offerings. Then the “Horrible Thing” that causes destruction will be put there. And it will stay there until the time God has decided to destroy this one who destroys.
1 In the first yeere of Darius the sonne of Ahashuerosh, of the seede of the Medes, which was made King ouer the realme of the Caldeans, 2 Euen in the first yeere of his reigne, I Daniel vnderstood by bookes the nomber of the yeeres, whereof the Lord had spoken vnto Ieremiah the Prophet, that he would accomplish seuentie yeeres in the desolation of Ierusalem. 3 And I turned my face vnto the Lord God, and sought by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 And I prayed vnto the Lord my God, and made my confession, saying, Oh Lord God, which art great and fearefull, and keepest couenant and mercy toward them which loue thee, and toward them that keepe thy commandements, 5 We haue sinned, and haue committed iniquitie and haue done wickedly, yea, we haue rebelled, and haue departed from thy precepts, and from thy iudgements. 6 For we would not obey thy seruants the Prophets, which spake in thy Name to our Kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousnes belongeth vnto thee, and vnto vs open shame, as appeareth this day vnto euery man of Iudah, and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem: yea, vnto all Israel, both neere and farre off, through all the countreys, whither thou hast driuen them, because of their offences, that they haue committed against thee. 8 O Lord, vnto vs apperteineth open shame, to our Kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we haue sinned against thee. 9 Yet compassion and forgiuenesse is in the Lord our God, albeit we haue rebelled against him. 10 For we haue not obeyed the voyce of the Lord our God, to walke in his lawes, which he had laide before vs by the ministerie of his seruants the Prophets. 11 Yea, all Israel haue transgressed thy Lawe, and are turned backe, and haue not heard thy voyce: therefore the curse is powred vpon vs, and the othe that is written in the Lawe of Moses the seruant of God, because we haue sinned against him. 12 And he hath confirmed his wordes, which he spake against vs, and against our iudges that iudged vs, by bringing vpon vs a great plague: for vnder the whole heauen hath not bene the like, as hath bene brought vpon Ierusalem. 13 All this plague is come vpon vs, as it is written in the Lawe of Moses: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turne from our iniquities and vnderstand thy trueth. 14 Therefore hath the Lord made ready the plague, and brought it vpon vs: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we would not heare his voyce. 15 And nowe, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mightie hand, and hast gotten thee renoume, as appeareth this day, we haue sinned, we haue done wickedly. 16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousnes, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy wrath be turned away from thy citie Ierusalem thine holy Mountaine: for because of our sinnes, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Ierusalem and thy people are a reproche to all that are about vs. 17 Nowe therefore, O our God, heare the prayer of thy serunant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine vpon thy Sanctuarie, that lyeth waste for the Lords sake. 18 O my God, encline thine eare and heare: open thine eyes, and beholde our desolations, and the citie whereupon thy Name is called: for we doe not present our supplications before thee for our owne righteousnes, but for thy great tender mercies. 19 O Lord, heare, O Lord forgiue, O Lord consider, and doe it: deferre not, for thine owne sake, O my God: for thy Name is called vpon thy citie, and vpon thy people. 20 And whiles I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sinne, and the sinne of my people Israel, and did present my supplication before the Lord my God, for the holy Mountaine of my God, 21 Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, euen the man Gabriel, whome I had seene before in the vision, came flying, and touched mee about the time of the euening oblation. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and sayd, O Daniel, I am now come forth to giue thee knowledge and vnderstanding. 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandement came foorth, and I am come to shewe thee, for thou art greatly beloued: therefore vnderstande the matter and consider the vision. 24 Seuentie weekes are determined vpon thy people and vpon thine holy citie, to finish the wickednes, and to seale vp the sinnes, and to reconcile the inquitie, and to bring in euerlasting righteousnesse, and to seale vp the vision and prophecie, and to anoynt the most Holy. 25 Knowe therefore and vnderstande, that from the going foorth of the commandement to bring againe the people, and to builde Ierusalem, vnto Messiah the prince, shall be seuen weekes and threescore and two weekes, and the streete shalbe built againe, and the wall euen in a troublous time. 26 And after threescore and two weekes, shall Messiah be slaine, and shall haue nothing,, and the people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the citie and the Sanctuarie, and the end thereof shalbe with a flood: and vnto the end of the battell it shalbe destroyed by desolations. 27 And he shall confirme the couenant with many for one weeke: and in the middes of the weeke he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the ouerspreading of the abominations, he shall make it desolate, euen vntill the consummation determined shalbe powred vpon the desolate.