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)

²⁴ “Seventy ‘sevens’^[a] are decreed for your people and your holy city^(A) to finish^[b] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone^(B) for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness,^(C) to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.^[c]