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1 In the first year of Darius, the son of Assuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans: 2 The first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem. 3 And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to pray and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

4 And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech you, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keeps the covenant, and mercy to them that love you, and keep your commandments. 5 We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, and have revolted: and we have gone aside from your commandments, and your judgments. 6 We have not hearkened to your servants, the prophets, that have spoken in your name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to them that are near, and to them that are far off, in all the countries whither you have driven them, for their iniquities, by which they have sinned against you. 8 O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our princes, and to our fathers, that have sinned. 9 But to you, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have departed from you: 10 And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. 11 And all Israel have transgressed your law, and have turned away from hearing your voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, is fallen upon us, because we have sinned against him. 12 And he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that which has been done in Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us: and we entreated not your face, O Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and think on your truth. 14 And the Lord has watched upon the evil, and has brought it upon us: the Lord, our God, is just in all his works which he has done: for we have not hearkened to his voice.

15 And now, O Lord, our God, who have brought forth your people out of the land of Egypt, with a strong hand, and have made you a name as at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, 16 O Lord, against all your justice: let your wrath and your indignation be turned away, I beseech you, from your city, Jerusalem, and from your holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and your people, are a reproach to all that are round about us. 17 Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of your servant, and his prayers: and show your face upon your sanctuary, which is desolate, for your own sake. 18 Incline, O my God, your ear, and hear: open your eyes, and see our desolation, and the city upon which your name is called: for it is not for our justifications that we present our prayers before your face, but for the multitude of your tender mercies. 19 O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for your own sake, O my God: because your name is invocated upon your city, and upon your people.

20 Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God: 21 As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach you, and that you might understand. 23 From the beginning of your prayers the word came forth: and I have come to show it to you, because you are a man of desires: therefore, do thou mark the word, and understand the vision.

 

24 Seventy weeks are shortened upon your people, and upon your holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the Saint of saints may be anointed. 25 Know, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls, in straitness of times. 26 And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people, with their leader, that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.

 

 

 

9:2 seventy years: In one sense, which Jeremiah saw, this meant the length of captivity - Daniel does not contradict, but extends the prophecy by taking weeks of years instead of single years, about 70 weeks of years. So we believe that the mixture of references comes from the well-known pattern of multiple fulfillment. (Fr. Most) 9:11 In Deuteronomy we read the curses and blessings of the Lord Deut. 27, which were afterwards uttered in Mount Gerizim and Ebal upon the righteous and upon the sinners. (St. Jerome)

9:21 And Gabriel appears not as an angel or archangel, but as a man (vir), a term used to indicate the quality of virtue rather than specifying his sex. time of the evening sacrafice: It is said that it was at the time of the evening sacrifice, in order to show that the prophet's prayer had persisted from the morning sacrifice even unto the evening sacrifice, and that God for that reason directed His mercy towards him. (St. Jerome) 9:22 The vision was so obscure that the prophet needed the angel's teaching. (St. Jerome)

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9:24-27 The weeks are actually to be understood as a sabbatical measure of time in the Jewish calendar, which means that each week is a 7 year cycle (compare to Genesis 29:26-28 ). Of all the explanations about this passage, Theodoret of Cyrus in my view gives the best interpretation. I will present a summary of his interpretation. The 70 weeks begins at the year of Artaxerxes somewhere around 465BC. The 62nd week marked the time period around when the high priests were being appointed illegally and the death of John Hyrcanus II around 31BC. The calculation does not start here exactly at the death of Hyrcanus, but in this time period, so an exact calculation would be around 22BC. The 69th week brings us to the Baptism of Jesus around 27AD. The 70th week is broken up into two 3 and a half year periods. The first half is the 3 and half year ministry of Jesus until His Passion around 30AD, and the second half being the 3 and half year period of the Apostles establishing the Church starting in Jerusalem until around 33-34AD. The abomination of desolations does not only concern the final week but also to the entire time until the end of the world (Daniel 9:27). Pilate brought images into Jerusalem in this time period, and the same kind of abominations will continue until the end of the world. 9:24 seventy weeks= 490 years: this began with Artaxerxes to the crucifixion of Christ and 3 and a half years beyond. In this passage God allows Jerusalem to be rebuilt and a further set of years of living according to the Law. Here Jesus is referred to as Most Holy. 9:25 The 7 weeks and 62 weeks makes 69 weeks, in turn makes 483 years. This would bring us to the bapism of Jesus by John the Baptist. 9:26 "After the 62 weeks" takes us back 7 weeks from verse 25 which marks the end of when the high priests flourished and others were appointed illegally. This would bring us to Hyrcanus II, the last high priest of the Hasmoneans, whom Herod slew (31 BC). From this time period to the Baptism of Jesus is the period between the 62nd and the 69th week. and the people that shall deny him shall not be his: And since those appointed illegally were called high priests, Daniel was right to say the people shall deny him. If they are appointed but not anointed according to the Law, they take it upon

themselves to act illegally. And a people, with their leader, that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: The city will suffer and so will the illegal rulers who are to come; by the prince who is coming he is referring to the foreign kingdom and high priest. 9:27 This one week/seven years, is the period of time beginning with the baptism of Jesus to that of the holy Apostles teaching in Jersualem after the Resurrection. The Lord preached for about 3 and a half years, and strengthened His disciples. But after the Resurrection, Ascension into Heaven, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles spent the rest of the three and half years preaching in Jerusalem, working wonders and guiding many thousands, and they imparted the new covenant and caused them to enjoy the grace of baptism. The abomination of desolations is to be understood as something that took place and continues to take place even until the end of time. It is not to be understood as a one time event in the past or future. Pilate was responsible for such an offense according to Josephus (Ant. 18.55-59) and Eusbeius (Hist. eccel. 2.6.3-4). And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: The new covenant will be given to the believers in this week, and He will fill them with all power. and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail: sacrifice according to the law will come to an end when the true sacrifice of the innocent lamb, who takes away the sin of the world, is offered; when it is finally offered, the other will cease. and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: that is, that formerally venerable and fearsome place will be made desolate. A sign of the desolation will be the introduction into it of certain images forbidden by the law; Pilate was guilty of this by introducing into the divine temple by night the imperial images in violation of the law (according to Josephus Ant. 18.55-59 an Philo The embassy to Caligula 299-305). Read Philo and Josephus' quotes HERE In case the Jews should think the divine temple would recover its former splendor and glory, he consequently added.. and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end until the end of the age: the consumation of the desolation will continue, undergoing no change.