Daniel 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

In the first year that Darius son of Ahasuerus ruled -- he was a Mede by birth who had been made king over the Babylonian empire --

in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was studying the Scriptures and realized from what Yahweh had told the prophet Jeremiah that Jerusalem would lie in ruins for seventy years.

So I turned to the Lord God, pouring myself out in prayer and desperate pleas, fasting, wearing rough cloth, and sitting in ashes.

I prayed to Yahweh my God, laying everything bare: "Oh Lord -- you are the great God who inspires awe, who keeps his covenant and faithful love with everyone who loves him and walks in his ways --

we have failed you. We have done wrong, acted with corruption, and rebelled, turning away from your commands and your justice.

We refused to listen to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our leaders, our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.

You are just, Lord. But we -- we are covered in shame today, all of us: the people of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in every land where you scattered us because of how deeply we betrayed you.

Yahweh, we are covered in shame -- our kings, our leaders, our ancestors -- because we have failed you.

But you, Lord our God -- you are overflowing with mercy and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against you.

We did not listen to the voice of Yahweh our God or follow the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets.

All Israel broke your instructions and turned away, refusing to listen to you. So the curse and the sworn judgment written in the instructions of Moses, God's servant, have been poured out on us -- because we failed you.

He carried out the words he spoke against us and against the rulers who led us, bringing on us a disaster so enormous that nothing like it has ever happened anywhere under heaven -- and it happened to Jerusalem.

Everything written in the instructions of Moses has come crashing down on us, and still we have not sought the favor of Yahweh our God by turning away from our failures and paying attention to his truth.

So Yahweh kept this disaster ready and brought it down on us, because Yahweh our God is just in everything he does -- and we refused to listen to him.

And now, Lord our God, you who brought your people out of Egypt with a powerful hand and made your name known as it is today -- we have failed you, we have acted with corruption.

Lord, given all the ways you have been just, please -- let your anger and your fury turn away from Jerusalem, your city, your sacred mountain. Because of our failures and the failures of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to everyone around us.

So now, our God, hear the prayer of your servant, hear my desperate pleas. For your own sake, Lord, let your face shine on your ruined sanctuary.

Turn your ear toward us, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our devastation, and the city that bears your name. We are not bringing our pleas before you because we are good enough -- we are bringing them because of your overwhelming mercy.

Lord, hear us! Lord, forgive us! Lord, pay attention and act -- don't wait! For your own sake, my God -- because your city and your people bear your name.

While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my own failures and the failures of my people Israel, and laying my desperate plea before Yahweh my God for his sacred mountain --

while I was still praying, Gabriel -- the man I had seen in the earlier vision -- came to me in swift flight, reaching me at about the time of the evening sacrifice.

He helped me understand, saying to me, "Daniel, I have come right now to give you insight and understanding.

When you first started praying, a word went out, and I have come to tell you, because you are deeply valued. So pay close attention to the message and understand the vision:

Seventy sets of seven are decreed for your people and your sacred city to finish the rebellion, to put an end to failure, to pay for corruption, to bring in a justice that lasts forever, to seal up the prophetic vision, and to anoint the most sacred place.

So know this and understand it: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until The One, the ruler, arrives, there will be seven sets of seven, and then sixty-two sets of seven. It will be rebuilt with streets and defenses, even in troubled times.

After the sixty-two sets of seven, The One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of a ruler who is coming will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come like a flood, and war and devastation are decreed right through to the end.

He will confirm a covenant with many for one set of seven. In the middle of that set of seven, he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations will come one who devastates, until the decreed destruction is poured out on the devastator.