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 that the number of the years, whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem, was seventy years.
3. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes;
4. and I prayed unto Jehovah my God and made my confession, and said, Alas Lord! the great and terrible ·God keeping covenant and loving-kindness with them that love him, and that keep his commandments:
5. we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy commandments and from thine ordinances.
6. And we have not hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.