We have not obeyed<n id="1" /> the <sc>LORDsc> our God by living according to<n id="2" /> his laws<n id="3" /> that he set before us through his servants the prophets.p>

The <sc>LORDsc> was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the <sc>LORDsc> our God is just<n id="1" /> in all he has done,<n id="2" /> and we have not obeyed him.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power<n id="1" /> and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day &#8211; we have sinned and behaved wickedly.

yes, while I was still praying,<n id="1" /> the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously<n id="2" /> in a vision, was approaching me in my state of extreme weariness,<n id="3" /> around the time of the evening offering.

What he will honor is a god of fortresses &#8211; a god his fathers did not acknowledge he will honor with gold, silver, valuable stones, and treasured commodities.

He will attack<n id="1" /> mighty fortresses, aided by<n id="2" /> a foreign deity. To those who recognize him he will grant considerable honor. He will place them in authority over many people, and he will parcel out land for a price.<n id="3" />p>

in the first year of his reign<n id="1" /> I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books<n id="2" /> that, according to the word of the <sc>LORDsc><n id="3" /> disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem<n id="4" /> were seventy in number.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;All Israel has broken<n id="1" /> your law and turned away by not obeying you.<n id="2" /> Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened<n id="3" /> in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you.<n id="4" />

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<n id="1" /> the <sc>LORDsc> our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom<n id="2" /> from your reliable moral standards.<n id="3" />

Listen attentively,<n id="1" /> my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins<n id="2" /> and the city called by your name.<n id="3" /> For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you,<n id="4" /> but because your compassion is abundant.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">In the third<n id="2" /> year of King Cyrus of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel (who was also called Belteshazzar). This message was true and concerned a great war.<n id="3" /> He understood the message and gained insight by the vision.p>

<p class="bodytext">Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men who were with me did not see it.<n id="1" /> On the contrary, they were overcome with fright<n id="2" /> and ran away to hide.

He said to me, &#8220;Daniel, you are of great value.<n id="1" /> Understand the words that I am about to<n id="2" /> speak to you. So stand up,<n id="3" /> for I have now been sent to you.&#8221; When he said this<n id="4" /> to me, I stood up shaking.

Then he said to me, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind<n id="1" /> to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words.

Shortly after his rise to power,<n id="1" /> his kingdom will be broken up and distributed toward the four winds of the sky<n id="2" /> &#8211; but not to his posterity or with the authority he exercised, for his kingdom will be uprooted and distributed to others besides these.p>

In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;At that time Michael,p> <p class="poetry">the great prince who watches over your people,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">will arise.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">There will be a time of distressp> <p class="poetry">unlike any other from the nation&#8217;s beginning<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">up to that time.p> <p class="poetry">But at that time your own people,p> <p class="poetry">all those whose names are<n id="4" /> found written in the book,p> <p class="poetry">will escape.p>

Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky<n id="1" /> and made an oath by the one who lives forever: &#8220;It is for a time, times, and half a time. Then, when the power of the one who shatters<n id="2" /> the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished.&#8221;p>