13. Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify the lord our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom from your reliable moral standards.
14. The lord was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the lord our God is just in all he has done, and we have not obeyed him.
15. “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly.
16. O Lord, according to all your justice, please turn your raging anger away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For due to our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors.
17. “So now, our God, accept the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to your devastated sanctuary for your own sake.
18. Listen attentively, my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins and the city called by your name. For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, but because your compassion is abundant.
19. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.”
20. While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my request before the lord my God concerning his holy mountain –
21. yes, while I was still praying, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously in a vision, was approaching me in my state of extreme weariness, around the time of the evening offering.
22. He spoke with me, instructing me as follows: “Daniel, I have now come to impart understanding to you.
23. At the beginning of your requests a message went out, and I have come to convey it to you, for you are of great value in God’s sight. Therefore consider the message and understand the vision:
24. “Seventy weeks have been determinedconcerning your people and your holy cityto put an end to rebellion,to bring sin to completion,to atone for iniquity,to bring in perpetual righteousness,to seal up the prophetic vision,and to anoint a most holy place.
25. So know and understand:From the issuing of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives, there will be a period of seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.It will again be built, with plaza and moat,but in distressful times.