1. In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,
2. in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by the books that the number of the years, whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem, was seventy years.
3. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes;
4. and I prayed unto Jehovah my God and made my confession, and said, Alas Lord! the great and terrible ·God keeping covenant and loving-kindness with them that love him, and that keep his commandments:
5. we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy commandments and from thine ordinances.
6. And we have not hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7. Thine, O Lord, is the righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their unfaithfulness in which they have been unfaithful against thee.
8. O Lord, unto us is confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9. With the Lord our God are mercies and pardons, for we have rebelled against him;
10. and we have not hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah our God to walk in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.
11. And all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside so as not to listen unto thy voice. And the curse hath been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God for we have sinned against him.
12. And he hath performed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; so that there hath not been done under the whole heaven as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us; yet we besought not Jehovah our God that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14. And Jehovah hath watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he hath done; and we have not hearkened unto his voice.