2 Chronicles 36:19–23

¹⁹Then ^athey burned the house of God and tore down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles.

²⁰And those who had escaped from the sword he ^atook away into exile to Babylon; and ^bthey were slaves to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,

^21ato fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until ^bthe land had made up for its sabbaths. ^cAll the days of its desolation it kept sabbath ^1duntil seventy years were fulfilled.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

^22aNow in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to complete the word of Yahweh ^bby the mouth of Jeremiah—Yahweh ^cstirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he had a proclamation pass throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

²³“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,

‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may Yahweh his God be with him, and let him go up!’”