1. In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the descendants of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2. In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood from the books the number of the years, of which the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
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 the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and from your judgments:
6. Neither have we hearkened unto your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7. O Lord, righteousness belongs unto you, but unto us shame 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, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
8. O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11. Yea, all Israel have transgressed your law, even by departing, that they might not obey your voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12. And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem.