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

The Proclamation of Cyrus

^22 (E)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to complete the word of Yahweh ^(F)by the mouth of Jeremiah—Yahweh ^(G)stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he had a proclamation pass throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, ²³ “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,

Punishment Against Babylon

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

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

² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the ^(A)number of the years concerning which the word of ^[a]Yahweh came to ^(B)Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, ^(C)seventy years.

⁵ “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘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?