1 Esdras 1:47-55

Common English Bible

⁴⁷ The leaders of the people and the priests committed godless and immoral acts far beyond the impure ones of the nations. They even corrupted the Lord’s temple that had been made holy in Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ The God of their ancestors sent his messenger to call them back, because he was trying to spare them and his dwelling place. ⁴⁹ But they mocked the messengers and made fun of the prophets on the day that the Lord spoke.

Finally, God, with divine anger, brought the Chaldean kings against his chosen nation because of their godless acts. ⁵⁰ The Chaldeans killed the young people around the holy temple. They spared neither man nor woman, young nor old, for God handed over all of them. ⁵¹ They seized and carried off to Babylon all the Lord’s holy equipment, great and small, the treasure chests of the Lord, and the royal stores. ⁵² They set fire to the Lord’s house. They smashed the walls of Jerusalem. They burned its towers with fire. ⁵³ They utterly ruined all of its radiance. King Nebuchadnezzar led away the survivors to Babylon under guard. ⁵⁴ They became servants to him and to his sons until the rise of the Persian kingdom, which fulfilled the Lord’s word through Jeremiah, ⁵⁵ who said, “Until the land has enjoyed its sabbath rest, it will remain untouched,^[a] after its destruction, for seventy years.”