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¹In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—

²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

³So I gave my attention to the Lord God, to seek Him by prayer and pleading, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁴I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed, and said, “Oh, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and faithfulness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

⁵we have sinned, we have done wrong, and acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.

⁶Moreover, we 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.

⁷“Righteousness belongs to You, Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You.

⁸Open shame belongs to us, LORD, to our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.

⁹To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, because we have rebelled against Him;

¹⁰and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.

¹¹Indeed, all Israel has violated Your Law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has gushed forth on us, along with the oath which is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him.

¹²So He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great disaster; for under the entire heaven there has not been done anything like what was done in Jerusalem.

¹³Just 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 our God by turning from our wrongdoing and giving attention to Your truth.

¹⁴So the LORD has kept the disaster in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

¹⁵“And now, Lord, our God, You who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked.

¹⁶Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the wrongdoings of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become an object of taunting to all those around us.

¹⁷So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his pleas, and for Your sake, Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary.

¹⁸My God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our pleas before You based on any merits of our own, but based on Your great compassion.

¹⁹Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

²⁰While I was still speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,

²¹while I was still speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.

²²And he instructed me and talked with me and said, “Daniel, I have come now to give you insight with understanding.

²³At the beginning of your pleas the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, because you are highly esteemed; so pay attention to the message and gain understanding of the vision.

²⁴“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

²⁵So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress.

²⁶Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

²⁷And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.”

¹In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and it concerned great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision.

²In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks.

³I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.

⁴On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris,

⁵I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man dressed in linen, whose waist had a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.

⁶His body also was like topaz, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.

⁷Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great fear fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.

⁸So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my complexion turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength.

⁹But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

¹⁰Then behold, a hand touched me and shook me on my hands and knees.

¹¹And he said to me, “Daniel, you who are treasured, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand at your place, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

¹²Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.

¹³But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was standing in my way for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

¹⁴Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the latter days, because the vision pertains to the days still future.”

¹⁵When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless.

¹⁶And behold, one who resembled a human was touching my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, “My lord, due to the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength.

¹⁷For how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.”

¹⁸Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.

¹⁹And he said, “You who are treasured, do not be afraid. Peace be to you; take courage and be courageous!” Now as soon as he spoke to me, I felt strengthened and said, “May my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”

²⁰Then he said, “Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am leaving, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.

²¹However, I will tell you what is recorded in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.

¹“In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be of assistance and a protection for him.

²And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will stir up the entire empire against the realm of Greece.

³And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.

⁴But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, because his sovereignty will be removed and given to others besides them.

⁵“Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and rule; his domain will be a great realm indeed.

⁶And after some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to reach an agreement. But she will not keep her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who fathered her as well as he who supported her in those times.

⁷But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and prevail.

⁸And he will also take into captivity to Egypt their gods with their cast metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years.

⁹Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.

¹⁰“And his sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, so that he may again wage war up to his fortress.

¹¹And the king of the South will be enraged and go out and fight with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be handed over to the former.

¹²When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be haughty, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail.

¹³For the king of the North will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years he will press on with a great army and much equipment.

¹⁴“Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also raise themselves up to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down.

¹⁵Then the king of the North will come, pile up an assault ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand.

¹⁶But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.

¹⁷And he will set his mind on coming with the power of his entire kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.

¹⁸Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his taunting against him; moreover, he will repay him for his taunting.

¹⁹So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and not be found.

²⁰“Then in his place one will arise who will allow an oppressor to pass through the Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be broken, though not in anger nor in battle.

²¹And in his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the majesty of kingship has not been conferred; but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.

²²And the overflowing forces will be flooded away from him and smashed, and also the prince of the covenant.

²³After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people.

²⁴In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers did not, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, spoils, and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.

²⁵And he will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, because schemes will be devised against him.

²⁶Those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow, but many will fall down slain.

²⁷As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, because the end is still to come at the appointed time.

²⁸Then he will return to his land with much plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land.

²⁹“At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before.

³⁰For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will withdraw in fear and will return and curse the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and pay attention to those who abandon the holy covenant.

³¹Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.

³²And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action.

³³And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.

³⁴Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy.

³⁵And some of those who have insight will fall, to refine, purge, and cleanse them until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.

³⁶“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt himself and boast against every god and will speak dreadful things against the God of gods; and he will be successful until the indignation is finished, because that which is determined will be done.

³⁷And he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will boast against them all.

³⁸But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, precious stones, and treasures.

³⁹And he will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will make them rulers over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.

⁴⁰“And at the end time the king of the South will wage war with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through.

⁴¹He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.

⁴²Then he will reach out with his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.

⁴³But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels.

⁴⁴But rumors from the East and from the North will terrify him, and he will go out with great wrath to eliminate and annihilate many.

⁴⁵And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

¹“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

²And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

³And those who have insight will shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

⁴But as for you, Daniel, keep these words secret and seal up the book until the end of time; many will roam about, and knowledge will increase.”

⁵Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the stream and the other on that bank of the stream.

⁶And someone said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?”

⁷And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish smashing the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.

⁸But as for me, I heard but did not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?”

⁹And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words will be kept secret and sealed up until the end time.

¹⁰Many will be purged, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.

¹¹And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.

¹²Blessed is the one who is patient and attains to the 1,335 days!

¹³But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will rest and rise for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”