1 In the third year of Persia’s King Cyrus, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar. The message was true: there would be a great conflict. Daniel understood the message, having discerned the meaning of the vision.
2 During that time, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three weeks.
3 I didn’t eat any rich foods. Neither meat nor wine passed my lips, and I didn’t clean up at all until the three weeks were up.
4 Then, on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was on the bank of the great Tigris River,