¹⁵ Yet the Lord, the God of their fathers, ^(A)sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; ¹⁶ but they continually ^(B)mocked the messengers of God, ^(C)despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, ^(D)until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, until there was no remedy. ^17 (E)So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or frail; He handed them all over to him. ^18 (F)He brought all the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and his officers, to Babylon. ¹⁹ Then ^(G)they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. ²⁰ He ^(H)took into exile those who had escaped from the sword to Babylon; and ^(I)they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, ^21 (J)to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until ^(K)the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. ^(L)All the days of its desolation it kept the Sabbath ^[a](M)until seventy years were complete.

Cyrus Permits Return

^22 (N)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the Lord ^(O)by the mouth of Jeremiah—the Lord ^(P)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!’”

¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for ^(A)in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

³¹ So you testify against yourselves, that you ^(A)are ^[a]sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Grieving over Jerusalem

³⁷ “^(A)Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who ^(B)kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, ^(C)the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.