1. In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, who was of Median descent and who had been appointed king over the Babylonian empire –
2. in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books that, according to the word of the lord disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem were seventy in number.
3. So I turned my attention to the Lord God to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
4. I prayed to the lord my God, confessing in this way: “O Lord, great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments,
5. we have sinned! We have done what is wrong and wicked; we have rebelled by turning away from your commandments and standards.
6. We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, and to all the inhabitants of the land as well.
7. “You are righteous, O Lord, but we are humiliated this day – the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you.