1. It was the first year that Darius, son of Ahasuerus, of the race of the Medes, reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans;
2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years the Lord had decreed to the prophet Jeremiah: Jerusalem was to lie in ruins for seventy years.
3. I turned to the Lord God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
4. I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confessed, “Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and show mercy toward those who love you and keep your commandments and your precepts!
5. We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and turned from your commandments and your laws.
6. We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, and all the people of the land.
7. Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the lands to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.
8. O Lord, we are ashamed, like our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, for having sinned against you.
9. But to the Lord, our God, belong compassion and forgiveness, though we rebelled against him
10. and did not hear the voice of the Lord, our God, by walking in his laws given through his servants the prophets.