15 And the Lord God of their fathers tsent to them †by his messengers, rising up ||betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 16 But they umocked the messengers of God, and xdespised his words, and ymisused his prophets, until zthe wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no †remedy. 17 aTherefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who bslew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or chim that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 18 And dall the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19 *eAnd they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the fpalaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the ggoodly vessels thereof. 20 *And †hthem that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where ithey were servants to him and his sons until kthe reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of lJeremiah, until mthe land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate nshe kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

22 oNow in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 23 *Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.