Daniel 9:2Easy To Read VersionDuring the first year that Darius was king, I, Daniel, was reading some books. In the books, I saw that the Lord told Jeremiah how many years would pass before Jerusalem would be built again. The Lord said 70 years would pass. See the chapter |
And so the things the Lord told the people of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah really happened. The Lord had said through Jeremiah: “This place will be an empty wasteland for 70 years. {\cf2\super [456]} This will happen to make up for the Sabbath rests {\cf2\super [457]} that the people didn’t do.”
During the first year {\cf2\super [1]} that Cyrus was king of Persia, the Lord encouraged Cyrus to make an announcement. Cyrus put that announcement in writing and had it read every place in his kingdom. This happened so that the Lord’s message that was spoken through Jeremiah {\cf2\super [2]} would truly happen. This is the announcement:
I poured this wine for the people of Jerusalem and Judah. I made the kings and leaders of Judah drink from the cup. I did this so that they would become an empty desert. I did this so that place would be destroyed so badly that people would whistle about it and say curses about that place. And it happened—Judah is like that now!