⁸ “Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed my words, ⁹ I am going to send for all the families of the north’^(A)—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and send for my servant^(B) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror^(C) and scorn, and ruins forever.^{(D) 10} I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them—the voice of the groom and the bride,^(E) the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.^(F)

Daniel’s Prayer

9 In the first year of Darius,^(A) the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom—