17 So he brought against them the king of the Chal·deʹans,+ who killed their young men with the sword+ in the house of their sanctuary;+ he felt no compassion for young man or virgin, old or infirm.+ God gave everything into his hand.+ 18 All the utensils of the house of the true God, great and small, as well as the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king and his princes, everything he brought to Babylon.+ 19 He burned down the house of the true God,+ tore down the wall of Jerusalem,+ burned all its fortified towers with fire, and destroyed everything of value.+ 20 He carried off captive to Babylon those who escaped the sword,+ and they became servants to him+ and his sons until the kingdom of Persia began to reign,+ 21 to fulfill Jehovah’s word spoken by Jeremiah,+ until the land had paid off its sabbaths.+ All the days it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill 70 years.+
22 In the first year of King Cyrus+ of Persia, in order that Jehovah’s word spoken by Jeremiah+ would be fulfilled, Jehovah stirred the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his kingdom, which he also put in writing,+ saying: 23 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says, ‘Jehovah the God of the heavens has given me all the kingdoms of the earth,+ and he has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.+ Whoever there is among you of all his people, may Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.’”+