¹⁵ The Lord God of their ancestors pleaded with them time and again through his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on the place of his residence, ¹⁶ but they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the Lord that arose to punish^[a] his people. ¹⁷ Therefore he brought up the king of the Chaldeans against them, who executed their young men in the holy Temple, showing no compassion on young man or young virgin, adult men or the aged. God gave them all into the king’s control, ¹⁸ who took back to Babylon every article in God’s Temple, whether large or small, including the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple, the king’s assets, and those of his officers. ¹⁹ After this, they set fire to God’s Temple, demolished the wall around Jerusalem, burned all of its fortified buildings, and destroyed everything of value. ²⁰ Nebuchadnezzar^[b] carried off to Babylon those who survived the executions, and they served him and his descendants until the kingdom of Persia came to power. ²¹ All of this fulfilled what the Lord had predicted through Jeremiah. And so the land enjoyed its Sabbaths, and the length of the land’s desolation lasted until a 70-year long Sabbath had been completed.