Daniel 9
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 539 BC – 538 BC · Exile in Babylon · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
27 verses · 888 words · ~4 min read · ~6 min listen
Danielʼs Prayer for His People
1In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 2in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
4And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed, “O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of loving devotion to those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances. 6We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, and fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You. 8O Lord, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You.
9To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him 10and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His laws, which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
11All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. 12You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.
13Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to Your truth. 14Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all He does; yet we have not obeyed His voice.
15Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for Yourself a name renowned to this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly. 16O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us.
17So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary. 18Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.
19O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”
Gabrielʼs Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks
20While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the Lord my God concerning His holy mountain— 21while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22He instructed me and spoke with me, saying: “O Daniel, I have come now to give you insight and understanding. 23At the beginning of your petitions, an answer went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly precious. So consider the message and understand the vision:
24Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
25Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.
26Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing.
Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed. 27And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”
Footnotes (11)
- a v1 Hebrew Ahasuerus
- b v1 That is, the Babylonians
- c v2 See Jeremiah 25:11–12and Jeremiah 29:10.
- d v4 Forms of the Hebrew chesed are translated here and in most cases throughout the Scriptures as loving devotion; the range of meaning includes love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and mercy, as well as loyalty to a covenant.
- e v24 Or Seventy sevens; also twice in verse 25 and once in verse 26
- f v24 Or the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy One; literally the Most Holy
- g v25 Or the Anointed One; also in verse 26
- h v26 Hebrew Then after sixty-two sevens
- i v27 Or for one seven; similarly again in this verse
- j v27 Literally And on the wing (will come) the abomination that causes desolation, or And on the wing of abominations (will come) one who causes desolation,
- k v27 Literally until the decreed consummation is poured out upon (him who) is desolate.
Study notes on this chapter · 3
Seventy years of exile and Cyrus's decree
Jeremiah says the nations will serve Babylon seventy years, after which God will restore his people. Ezra opens by saying Cyrus of Persia's decree to rebuild the temple fulfilled Jeremiah's word (538 BC).
When: Jeremiah, c. 605 BC; Cyrus's decree, c. 538 BC (Babylon fell to Persia in 539 BC).
Ways people read this (1)
- The seventy years may be counted from 605 BC to 539/538 BC, or from the temple's destruction (586 BC) to its rebuilding (c. 516 BC); it may also be a round number.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.
Seventy weeks
Gabriel tells Daniel that seventy 'weeks' (sevens) are decreed for Israel, ending with the anointing of a holy place and an 'anointed one' being cut off. Interpreters disagree about how to count the weeks, whether they are literal or symbolic, and how much is already past.
When: Daniel; interpretations place its fulfillment anywhere from c. 165 BC through AD 70 to a still-future time.
Ways people read this (4)
- Messianic-historical: the weeks lead to Christ's death (c. AD 30–33) and Jerusalem's fall (AD 70).
- Antiochene: focused on the crisis under Antiochus IV (c. 167–164 BC).
- Dispensational: a gap between the 69th and 70th 'week', with the last still to come.
- Symbolic: seventy sevens as a period of completion, not a calendar.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.
The abomination of desolation
Jesus tells his disciples that when they see 'the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel', standing in the holy place, those in Judea should flee to the mountains. Daniel's phrase was applied to Antiochus IV's desecration of the temple in 167 BC. Interpreters disagree on whether Jesus points to events in AD 66–70, to a future event, or to both.
When: Daniel, c. 530 or c. 165 BC; Jesus' Olivet discourse, c. AD 30–33; Jerusalem fell in AD 70.
Ways people read this (4)
- Fulfilled when Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem (Luke 21:20) and the temple was destroyed in AD 70 (preterist and many other readings).
- Fulfilled in part in AD 70 and awaiting a fuller fulfillment in an end-time desecration.
- A future event: the antichrist setting up an image or claiming worship in a rebuilt temple (dispensationalist readings).
- Antiochus IV's desecration was the first fulfillment, with Jesus applying the pattern to a new desecration.
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.