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Daniel 9: Confession and the Seventy Weeks

Daniel prays a great confession for his people, and Gabriel reveals seventy weeks decreed to atone for sin and bring everlasting righteousness.

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Daniel 9 (WEB)

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,

2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.

3 I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments,

5 we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances;

6 neither have we listened to 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 Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.

8 Lord, to us belongs confusion 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 forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him;

10 neither have we obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

11 Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice: therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him.

12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem.

13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: yet have we not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth.

14 Therefore has Yahweh watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.

15 Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16 Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.

17 Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

18 My God, turn your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake.

19 Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; Lord, listen and do; don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.

20 While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God for the holy mountain of my God;

21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering.

22 He instructed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I have now come to give you wisdom and understanding.

23 At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you; for you are greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.

24 Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.

26 After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.

27 He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate.

Summary

In the first year of Darius, Daniel reads in Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years, and he sets his face to seek God in prayer, fasting in sackcloth and ashes. His prayer is a model of confession: he says “we have sinned,” owning the rebellion of his whole people against God's covenant, acknowledging that the curses of the law have justly fallen on them. He appeals not to Israel's righteousness but to God's great mercies, pleading that God turn his anger from Jerusalem, his holy city, and act for his own name's sake. While he is still praying, the angel Gabriel comes to him swiftly at the time of the evening offering and tells him he is greatly beloved and has come to give him understanding. Gabriel reveals the seventy weeks decreed on Daniel's people and city: to finish transgression, make an end of sins, atone for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, and anoint the most holy. He speaks of the going out of the word to rebuild Jerusalem, the coming of the Anointed One who will be cut off, and a covenant and desolations to follow. The vision lifts Daniel's confession toward a redemption greater than the return from exile.

Key Figures

  • Daniel — The man of prayer who, reading Jeremiah, confesses the sins of his people and pleads for mercy on God's holy city.
  • Yahweh, the covenant God — The great and dreadful God who keeps covenant and loving kindness, to whom belong mercies and forgiveness even for a rebellious people.
  • Gabriel — The angel sent swiftly to the beloved Daniel to give understanding and reveal the seventy weeks decreed for his people and city.
  • The Anointed One — The promised prince of the vision who is cut off, pointing beyond the return from exile to a deeper atonement for iniquity.

Key Verse

Daniel 9:24 (WEB)

Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

Lessons Learned

  • Searching the Scriptures rightly drives us to prayer, not merely to information.
  • Genuine confession owns sin as “ours,” standing with God's people, not above them.
  • We appeal to God's mercy and his name, never to our own righteousness.
  • God's plan reaches beyond exile to an end of sin and everlasting righteousness.
  • Scripture fuels prayer. Daniel “understood by the books” Jeremiah's seventy years and turned at once to prayer (Daniel 9:2-3, WEB). Reading God's word should bend us to seek his face.
  • Confess with the people, not above them. Daniel prays, “we have sinned, and have dealt perversely” (Daniel 9:5, WEB). True intercession identifies with the sin of God's people.
  • Plead God's mercy, not our merit. “We do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake” (Daniel 9:18, WEB). Grace, not goodness, is the ground of every appeal.
  • God decrees a deeper redemption. Seventy weeks are set “to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity” (Daniel 9:24, WEB). The plan reaches past exile to everlasting righteousness.
  1. How does Daniel's reading of Jeremiah lead him to pray rather than simply to wait?
  2. What is striking about Daniel saying “we have sinned” when he himself has been so faithful?
  3. On what basis does Daniel appeal to God, and why does that matter for us?
  4. How do the goals of the seventy weeks point beyond the return from exile?
  5. How might Daniel's prayer reshape the way you pray for your church or community?
  1. Daniel takes the promise of seventy years not as a reason to do nothing but as a summons to seek God in confession and petition (9:2-3). God's promises invite participation through prayer. They stir faith into action rather than passivity.
  2. Though blameless in the narrative, Daniel identifies fully with his people's guilt, saying “we have sinned” (9:5). He does not pray as a spectator but as one of them. This humble solidarity is the heart of intercession.
  3. Daniel appeals entirely to God's mercy and the honor of his name, not to any righteousness in Israel (9:18-19). This frees prayer from self-justification and rests it on grace. We come the same way, trusting God's character.
  4. The aims—to finish transgression, atone for iniquity, and bring everlasting righteousness (9:24)—reach far beyond a mere physical return. They anticipate a redemption many Christians see fulfilled in the Anointed One who is cut off. The vision opens onto the gospel.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Invite members to consider praying with confession and solidarity for their church and society. As leader, model appealing to God's mercy and name rather than to anyone's merit.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.