^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 the 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 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘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; ^[b]go up then!’”

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 wrongdoing, and the land of the Chaldeans; and ^(C)I will make it an everlasting desolation.

²² “They will be ^(A)brought to Babylon and 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?