Daniel 9

This happened in the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.

1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

Note"Chaldeans" is an older name for the Babylonians; the kingdom of the Chaldeans is the Babylonian empire, which fell to the Medes and Persians in 539 BC. Ahasuerus is the Hebrew form of the royal name that Greek writers spell Xerxes. The Medes were a people from what is now northwestern Iran, allied with the Persians. A ruler named Darius the Mede is not mentioned in any surviving record outside the book of Daniel.

2In that first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the books how many years were meant when the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet: Jerusalem would lie in ruins for seventy years.

2In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Note"The books" means written collections of earlier prophetic writings. Jeremiah, a prophet active in Jerusalem before and during its destruction by Babylon in 587 BC, had said the city would lie waste while the nation served Babylon for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). Daniel is writing as one of the deportees taken to Babylon, roughly seventy years after the first deportations.

3So I turned my attention to the Lord God, looking to him in prayer and pleading, going without food, wearing rough cloth, and sitting in ashes.

3And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

NoteGoing without food, wearing sackcloth (coarse, scratchy cloth woven from goat hair), and sitting in ashes were the standard public signs of grief or repentance in the ancient Near East. They were meant to be seen: a person in this state was visibly announcing mourning or self-humbling.

4I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "Lord, you are the great and awesome God. You keep your agreement and your faithful love with those who love you and obey your commands.

4And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

NoteEnglish Bibles print two different words here. "LORD" in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, which Hebrew writes with four consonants and which Jewish readers traditionally do not pronounce; "Lord" in ordinary type translates a separate Hebrew word meaning "master." The "agreement" (older translations say "covenant") is the formal, binding arrangement between God and Israel made at Sinai, with obligations and stated consequences on both sides, like a treaty. "Faithful love" translates Hebrew *hesed*, the loyal commitment owed within such a relationship.

5We have sinned. We have done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from your commands and your rules.

5We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

6We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our leaders, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

6Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Note"Our fathers" means ancestors generally, not just the previous generation.

7Lord, you are in the right, but today we are covered with shame: the men of Judah, the people living in Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in every country where you have driven us, because we were unfaithful to you.

7O LORD, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

NoteThe scattering referred to is the exile: Babylon deported the leading families of Judah in stages between 605 and 582 BC, and other Judeans fled to Egypt and elsewhere. "Covered with shame" renders a Hebrew phrase literally meaning "shame of face", the public disgrace of a defeated people, not a private feeling of guilt.

8Lord, we are covered with shame, along with our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

8O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

9Mercy and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, even though we have rebelled against him

9To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;

10and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God or lived by the laws he set before us through his servants the prophets.

10Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

11All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey your voice. So the curse and the sworn promise written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we sinned against him.

11Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

NoteThe law of Moses (Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28) sets out blessings for keeping the covenant and a long list of curses for breaking it, ending in defeat, deportation and exile. Israel was understood to have sworn to those terms, so the "curse and the sworn promise" are the penalty clauses of the agreement now taking effect.

12He has done exactly what he warned he would do against us and against the judges who ruled us: he brought a great disaster on us. Nothing anywhere under heaven has ever been done like what was done to Jerusalem.

12And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

Note"Judges" here means rulers and officials who governed and settled disputes, not judges in the modern courtroom sense only.

13All this disaster came on us just as it is written in the law of Moses, yet we still did not beg the LORD our God for help, turning from our sins and paying attention to your truth.

13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

14So the LORD kept this disaster ready and brought it on us. The LORD our God is right in everything he does, but we did not obey his voice.

14Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.

15And now, Lord our God, you brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made a name for yourself that is still known today. We have sinned; we have done wrong.

15And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

NoteThe exodus from Egypt was the founding event of Israel's national story, and "with a strong hand" was the standard phrase for it. Daniel appeals to it as the precedent: the reputation God gained by that rescue is the ground of the request.

16Lord, in keeping with all your just and faithful acts, I beg you: turn your anger and fury away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins and the sins of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are insulted by everyone around us.

16O LORD, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

Note"Your holy mountain" is Mount Zion, the ridge in Jerusalem on which the temple stood.

17So now, our God, hear your servant's prayer and pleading. For your own sake, Lord, look with favor on your holy place, which lies in ruins.

17Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

Note"Look with favor" translates the idiom "make your face shine upon," a way of describing a superior turning towards someone with goodwill. The "holy place" is the Jerusalem temple, burned by the Babylonians in 587 BC and still unrebuilt at this point.

18My God, turn your ear and listen. Open your eyes and look at our ruined state and at the city that bears your name. We are not bringing our requests to you because we are good, but because you are very merciful.

18O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.

NoteFor a city or people to "bear" someone's name meant to belong to them and be under their protection, the same idiom used when a conqueror claimed a captured town.

19Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay attention and act! For your own sake, my God, do not wait, because your city and your people bear your name."

19O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

20While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my own sin and the sin of my people Israel, and bringing my request before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God

20And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;

21while I was still speaking in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight and touched me at about the time of the evening offering.

21Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even 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.

NoteGabriel is the messenger who interpreted the earlier vision in chapter 8; this is one of only two places in the Hebrew Bible where such a figure is given a name. The evening offering was the second of the two daily temple sacrifices, made in mid-afternoon, around three o'clock. The temple was in ruins at this time, so the phrase marks the hour by a remembered routine rather than an actual sacrifice.

22He explained things to me and talked with me. He said, "Daniel, I have come now to give you skill and understanding.

22And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

23As soon as you began to plead with God, an answer went out, and I have come to tell you, because you are greatly loved. So pay attention to the message and understand the vision.

23At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.

Note"Greatly loved" translates a Hebrew word meaning treasured or precious; the same term is used of valuables and of a person held dear.

24Seventy weeks have been decided for your people and your holy city: to bring the wrongdoing to an end, to put a stop to sin, to make things right for guilt, to bring in a rightness that lasts forever, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to set apart with oil what is most holy.

24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

NoteThe Hebrew says literally "seventy sevens." The word translated "weeks" means simply a unit of seven, and the text does not say seven of what; most readers since antiquity have taken it as seven years, giving 490 years, but the passage itself leaves the unit unstated. "To set apart with oil" refers to anointing, pouring olive oil over a person or object to mark it as dedicated to sacred use. "What is most holy" is equally open in Hebrew: it can mean the innermost room of the temple, the altar, or a most holy person.

25So know and understand this: from the time the order goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the anointed ruler, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street will be built again, and the wall too, but in troubled times.

25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

Note"Messiah" is the Hebrew word *mashiach*, "anointed one", a title used in the Hebrew Bible for kings, high priests and occasionally prophets, all of whom were installed by being anointed with oil. It does not by itself identify any particular individual. Which "order to restore and rebuild Jerusalem" is meant is disputed: candidates include Cyrus's decree of 538 BC and later Persian authorisations under Artaxerxes. The Hebrew punctuation is also debated: it can be read as one stretch of sixty-nine sevens, or as seven sevens ending with one anointed figure and sixty-two more sevens of rebuilding. The word rendered "wall" is uncertain and may mean a moat or defensive trench.

26After the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. The people of the ruler who is coming will destroy the city and the holy place. The end will come like a flood, and war and ruin are decided on until the very end.

26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Note"Cut off" is the ordinary Hebrew term for being killed or removed, also used of a person being cut off from the community. The phrase after it is only two words in Hebrew (literally "and there is nothing to him") and can be taken as "he will have nothing," "no one will be left to him," or, as older English versions had it, "but not for himself." The identity of "the ruler who is coming" is not stated, and the Hebrew does not make clear whether he is the same figure as the anointed one just mentioned or a different one.

27He will confirm an agreement with many people for one week, and in the middle of that week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing will come things so detestable that they bring ruin, until the end that has been decided is poured out on the one left in ruins."

27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

NoteHebrew has no separate word for "he" here, so the subject is carried over from the previous verse and could be either the coming ruler or the anointed one. "Sacrifice and offering" are the two daily temple rituals, the animal sacrifice and the accompanying grain offering. The "detestable things" translate a word used in the Hebrew Bible for idols and pagan cult objects; the phrase as a whole became a fixed expression for a desecration that empties the temple of worshipers. "Wing" is literal and unclear: it may mean the pinnacle, the corner, or the extremity of the temple building. The last clause is ambiguous in Hebrew and can be read either as judgment poured out on the one who causes the ruin, or on the ruined place itself.