Đa-ni-ên 9

Daniel’s prayer and the seventy sevens

¹It was in the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by descent, who had been made king over the realm of the Chaldeans.^{a 2}In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, came to understand from the scriptures the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah, must pass before the desolation of Jerusalem would come to an end: seventy years. ³So I turned to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and pleading for mercy, with fasting, in sackcloth and ashes. ⁴I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, saying, “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and his loyal love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked and have rebelled, turning away from your commandments and your rules. ⁶We did not listen to your servants the prophets when they spoke in your name to our kings, our officials and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. ⁷Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us belongs open shame, as it is today: to the people of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem and all Israel, near and far away, in all the lands where you have scattered them because of the unfaithfulness they have shown you. ⁸LORD, open shame belongs to us, to our kings, our officials and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. ⁹But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. ¹⁰We have not obeyed the LORD our God or lived by the instructions he set before us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. So the curse and the oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against him. ¹²He has carried out the warnings he spoke against us and against our rulers who governed us, by bringing on us a great disaster. Nowhere under heaven has anything been done like what was done to Jerusalem. ¹³All this disaster has come on us, as the law of Moses says it would. Yet we have not pleaded for the favor of the LORD our God by turning away from our sins and paying attention to your truth. ¹⁴So the LORD kept the disaster ready and brought it on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does, yet we have not obeyed him. ¹⁵Now, Lord our God, you rescued your people from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made a name for yourself that lasts to this day. We have sinned; we have done wrong. ¹⁶Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn your anger and your fury away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins and the wrongdoing of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to all the nations around us. ¹⁷Now, our God, listen to the prayer and the pleas of your servant. For your own sake, Lord, look with favor on your sanctuary, which lies in ruins. ¹⁸Turn your ear to us, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our ruins and the city that bears your name. We do not bring our pleas to you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, take note and act! Do not delay, my God, for your own sake, since your city and your people bear your name.” ²⁰While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and bringing my plea before the LORD my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God, ²¹while I was still praying, Gabriel came to me in swift flight about the hour of the evening offering. He was the man I had seen in the earlier vision.^{b 22}He explained things to me and said, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. ²³As soon as you began to plead, an answer was given, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. So pay attention to the message and understand the vision. ²⁴Seventy sevens have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to put an end to rebellion, to bring sin to a close, to atone for wrongdoing, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to put a seal on vision and prophecy, and to anoint a most holy place.^{cd 25}Know and understand this: from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed leader comes, there will be seven sevens. Then for sixty-two sevens it will be rebuilt, with streets and a trench, but in troubled times.^{e 26}After the sixty-two sevens an anointed one will be cut off, left with nothing. The people of the ruler who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come like a flood, and war will continue to the end; desolations have been decreed.^{f 27}He will make a firm covenant with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple will be the abomination that brings ruin, until the end that has been decreed is poured out on the one who brings ruin.”^gh