1In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldaeans;
2In the first year of his rule, I, Daniel, saw clearly from the books the number of years given by the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, in which the making waste of Jerusalem was to be complete, that is, seventy years.
3And turning my face to the Lord God, I gave myself up to prayer, requesting his grace, going without food, in haircloth and dust.
4And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared. keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders;
5We are sinners, acting wrongly and doing evil; we have gone against you, turning away from your orders and from your laws:
6We have not given ear to your servants the prophets, who said words in your name to our kings and our rulers and our fathers and all the people of the land.
7O Lord, righteousness is yours, but shame is on us, even to this day; and on the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and on all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off, in all the countries where you have sent them because of the sin which they have done against you.
