1. Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, ruled over the kingdom of Babylonia.
2. In the first year of his reign, I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah.
3. And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.
4. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed the sins of my people.I said, “Lord God, you are great, and we honour you. You are faithful to your covenant and show constant love to those who love you and do what you command.
5. “We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right.
6. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our rulers, our ancestors, and our whole nation.
7. You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you.
8. Our kings, our rulers, and our ancestors have acted shamefully and sinned against you, Lord.
9. You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you.
10. We did not listen to you, O Lord our God, when you told us to live according to the laws which you gave us through your servants the prophets.