²¹ The land enjoyed its sabbath rests;^(A) all the time of its desolation it rested,^(B) until the seventy years^(C) were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

²² In the first year of Cyrus^(D) king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

²³ “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return^(A)

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah,^(B) the Lord moved the heart^(C) of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

¹² “But when the seventy years^(A) are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon^(B) and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,^[a] for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate^(C) forever.

²² ‘They will be taken^(A) to Babylon and there they will remain until the day^(B) I come for them,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will bring^(C) them back and restore them to this place.’”

² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy^(A) years.

⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted^(A) and mourned in the fifth and seventh^(B) months for the past seventy years,^(C) was it really for me that you fasted?