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Daniel 9
New Catholic Bible
Daniel 9
New Catholic Bible
The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks[a]
Chapter 9
According to the Word Revealed to Jeremiah . . . 1 In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who became ruler of the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was studying the Scriptures and reflecting on the seventy years that, according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, had to pass before the desolation of Jerusalem would come to an end.
3 Then I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord, my God, and made this confession, saying:
Lord, Have Mercy.[b] “O Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and show your steadfast love to those who love you and observe your commandments: 5 we have sinned and done what is wrong, we have acted wickedly and rebelled, we have rejected your commandments and your laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the Prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 “Righteousness is on your side, O Lord. As for us, we are filled with shame even to this day—we, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the countries to which you have dispersed us because of the treachery that we have committed against you.
8 “O Lord, we are filled with shame—our kings, our princes, and our fathers—for having sinned against you. 9 But you, O Lord, our God, are always prepared to show compassion and forgiveness. Yet we rebelled against you 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, by following your laws that you have given to us through your servants the Prophets.
11 “All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away from you, refusing to obey your commands. Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down upon us because we have sinned against you. 12 You confirmed your threats, which you made against us and our rulers by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that the world has ever experienced.
13 “Just as it is written[c] in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us. We failed to entreat the favor of the Lord, our God, by renouncing our wickedness and reflecting upon his fidelity. 14 Therefore, the Lord has watched us carefully, and now he has brought this disaster upon us. The Lord is just in all of his dealings with us, but we have not listened to his voice.
15 “And now, O Lord, our God, who led your people out of the land of Egypt with your mighty hand and caused your name to be renowned, even to this very day: we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. 16 Lord, in keeping with your saving deeds, we beg you to allow your anger and wrath to turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. As a result of our sins and the crimes of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to all those who surround us.
17 “Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayers and supplications of your servant, and for your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary. 18 Incline your ear, O my God, and listen. Open your eyes and look upon our desolation and upon the city that bears your name. We present our petition to you, relying not upon our upright deeds but rather upon your great mercy.
19 “Listen to us, O Lord! Forgive us, O Lord! Do not delay, O my God, for your own sake, because your city and your people bear your name.”
20 Seventy Weeks Are Decreed.[d] While I was still speaking, still occupied with my prayer and confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel and presenting my supplication to the Lord, my God, on behalf of his holy mountain— 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously in a vision, swooped down on me in rapid flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.
22 He then spoke these words to me: “Daniel, I have now come down to you to give you understanding. 23 As you began your supplications, an answer was given, and I have come to make it known to you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider carefully the answer and comprehend the vision.
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed
for your people and your holy city:
for bringing an end to transgression,
for putting an end to sin,
for expiating iniquity,
for introducing everlasting righteousness,
for ratifying vision and prophecy,
and for anointing the Holy of Holies.
25 “Know therefore, and understand this:
From the time that the message was sent:
‘Return and rebuild Jerusalem,’
until the coming of an anointed prince,
there shall be seven weeks.
During sixty-two weeks
it shall be rebuilt and restored
with streets and trenches
in a troubled time.
26 “After the sixty-two weeks
an anointed one will be cut off
and have nothing.
And the troops of a leader who is to come
will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
Then the end will come like a torrent,
and until the end there will be war,
the devastation that has been decreed.
27 “During the space of one week
he will make a firm alliance with many people,
and for the space of half a week
he will put a stop to sacrifice and oblation.
And on the temple wing
will be the terrible abomination
until the end that has been decreed
is poured out upon the desolate city.”
Footnotes
- Daniel 9:1 By means of this prediction, the author, who is writing for the contemporaries of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, seeks to shore up the courage of the persecuted until the end of the oppression, which will not be long in coming. But the deeper insight goes beyond the immediate circumstances of the passage, for it is a call to persevere in faith while awaiting the coming of the Lord.
- Daniel 9:4 This prayer recalls the canticle of Azariah (included in the Septuagint as Dan 3:26-45) and the liturgies of repentance after the Exile (Ezr 9; Neh 9).
- Daniel 9:13 Just as it is written: first usage of this formula of Scripture citation in the Bible.
- Daniel 9:20 This prophecy is one of the best known and most difficult of the Old Testament. In this coded and therefore obscure passage some think they discover figures that correspond to the coming of the Messiah and provide a means of calculating the end of the world. But the author, who is a contemporary of Antiochus IV and caught up in the daily tragedy of persecution, has other concerns than to offer hidden calculations. His purpose is to proclaim the proximate end of the oppression. His counting, like that of Jeremiah, starts with the beginning of the Exile in 587 B.C.; but the years become weeks of years, that is, periods of seven years. Thus, what was originally thought of in relation to the return from exile and the rebuilding of the temple is now shifted to apply to the age of Antiochus IV. The first seven weeks, or forty-nine years, cover rather well the duration of the Exile, since it was in 538 B.C. that the priest Joshua presided over the reestablishment of the Jewish community in Palestine; but the rebuilding of the temple came in 515 B.C. (see Ezr 3–6) and the rebuilding of the city walls in 445 B.C. (Neh 1–7). And the following sixty-two weeks no longer correspond to history; in fact, from the edict of Cyrus in 538 B.C., to the assassination of Onias III the high priest in 170 B.C. (he is the anointed one of v. 26), sixty-seven years are lacking for the figures to match. Did the author perhaps make a mistake in counting? For the final week, however, and this is the one that interests the author (v. 27), the prediction turns out well. The alliance of the intriguers and apostates around the tyrant, and the disorders introduced into Jewish life by the complicity of the upper clergy after the death of Onias, lasted a week, or about seven years, from 171–164 B.C. In 167 B.C., the daily sacrifice in the temple was suppressed and replaced by the worship of Zeus; this was the abomination that causes desolation or supreme horror (1 Mac 1:54). Three and a half years, or a half-week, later, Jewish worship will be restored by Judas Maccabeus, while Antiochus dies.
Daniel 9
New International Version
Daniel 9
New International Version
Daniel’s Prayer
9 In the first year of Darius(A) son of Xerxes[a](B) (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian[b] kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy(C) years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting,(D) and in sackcloth and ashes.(E)
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:(F)
“Lord, the great and awesome God,(G) who keeps his covenant of love(H) with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned(I) and done wrong.(J) We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away(K) from your commands and laws.(L) 6 We have not listened(M) to your servants the prophets,(N) who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors,(O) and to all the people of the land.
7 “Lord, you are righteous,(P) but this day we are covered with shame(Q)—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered(R) us because of our unfaithfulness(S) to you.(T) 8 We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you.(U) 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving,(V) even though we have rebelled against him;(W) 10 we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.(X) 11 All Israel has transgressed(Y) your law(Z) and turned away, refusing to obey you.
“Therefore the curses(AA) and sworn judgments(AB) written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned(AC) against you. 12 You have fulfilled(AD) the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster.(AE) Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like(AF) what has been done to Jerusalem.(AG) 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord(AH) our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.(AI) 14 The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster(AJ) on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does;(AK) yet we have not obeyed him.(AL)
15 “Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand(AM) and who made for yourself a name(AN) that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts,(AO) turn away(AP) your anger and your wrath(AQ) from Jerusalem,(AR) your city, your holy hill.(AS) Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn(AT) to all those around us.
17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor(AU) on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear,(AV) our God, and hear;(AW) open your eyes and see(AX) the desolation of the city that bears your Name.(AY) We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.(AZ) 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive!(BA) Lord, hear and act! For your sake,(BB) my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
The Seventy “Sevens”
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing(BC) my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill(BD)— 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel,(BE) the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.(BF) 22 He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.(BG) 23 As soon as you began to pray,(BH) a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.(BI) Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:(BJ)
24 “Seventy ‘sevens’[c] are decreed for your people and your holy city(BK) to finish[d] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone(BL) for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness,(BM) to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.[e]
25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild(BN) Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[f](BO) the ruler,(BP) comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.(BQ) 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death(BR) and will have nothing.[g] The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood:(BS) War will continue until the end, and desolations(BT) have been decreed.(BU) 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’[h] In the middle of the ‘seven’[i] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple[j] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed(BV) is poured out on him.[k]”[l]
Footnotes
- Daniel 9:1 Hebrew Ahasuerus
- Daniel 9:1 Or Chaldean
- Daniel 9:24 Or ‘weeks’; also in verses 25 and 26
- Daniel 9:24 Or restrain
- Daniel 9:24 Or the most holy One
- Daniel 9:25 Or an anointed one; also in verse 26
- Daniel 9:26 Or death and will have no one; or death, but not for himself
- Daniel 9:27 Or ‘week’
- Daniel 9:27 Or ‘week’
- Daniel 9:27 Septuagint and Theodotion; Hebrew wing
- Daniel 9:27 Or it
- Daniel 9:27 Or And one who causes desolation will come upon the wing of the abominable temple, until the end that is decreed is poured out on the desolated city
New International Version (NIV) 
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