^21 (A)to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until ^(B)the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. ^(C)All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath ^[a](D)until seventy years were complete.

Cyrus Permits Return

^22 (E)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the Lord ^(F)by the mouth of Jeremiah—the Lord ^(G)stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, ²³ “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!’”

Babylon Will Be Judged

¹² ‘Then it will be ^(A)when seventy years are completed I will ^(B)punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and ^(C)I will make it an everlasting desolation.

²² ‘They will be ^(A)carried to Babylon and they will be there until the ^(B)day I visit them,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will ^(C)bring them ^[a]back and restore them to this place.’”

² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to ^(A)Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, ^(B)seventy years.

⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months ^[a]these ^(A)seventy years, was it actually for ^(B)Me that you fasted?