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.

¹¹ This whole country will become a desolate wasteland,^(A) and these nations will serve^(B) the king of Babylon seventy years.^(C)

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

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.

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?

³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it,^(A) because the time is near.^(B)

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:

¹⁹ We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable,^(A) and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light^(B) shining in a dark place, until the day dawns^(C) and the morning star^(D) rises in your hearts.^{(E) 20} Above all, you must understand^(F) that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. ²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God^(G) as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.^(H)

¹⁵ and how from infancy^(A) you have known the Holy Scriptures,^(B) which are able to make you wise^(C) for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed^(D) and is useful for teaching,^(E) rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,^{(F) 17} so that the servant of God^[a](G) may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.^(H)