The document discusses the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 70 year exile in Babylon. It provides context that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 589 BC and exiled Jews to Babylon for 70 years as prophesied. It then describes that in 536 BC, Cyrus the Great issued a decree allowing Jews to return and rebuild the temple, fulfilling another prophecy of the 70 year exile. Upon their return, Zerubbabel led the rebuilding of the Second Temple, which was completed around 515 BC, marking the end of the 70 years of desolation in Jerusalem as prophesied by Jeremiah.
2. … and these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon seventy years. Then it will come to
pass, when seventy years are completed,
that I will punish the king of Babylon and
that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for
their iniquity, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 25: 11, 12
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up
against [Jehoiakim], and bound him in
bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.
II Chronicles 36: 6
3. 70 Years of Captivity in Babylon
For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are
completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform
My good word toward you, and cause you to return to
this place. Jeremiah 29: 10
606 BC Jehoiakim becomes subject to Nebuchadnezzar
536 BC The Decree of Cyrus – “after 70 years”
70 Years of Desolation in Jerusalem
… the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the
prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in
the desolations of Jerusalem. Daniel 9: 2
589 BC Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem
4. Then the heads of the fathers’ houses
of Judah and Benjamin, and the
priests and the Levites, with all whose
spirits God had moved, arose to go up
and build the house of the Lord which
is in Jerusalem.
Ezra 1: 5
5. Thus says the Lord of hosts:… “Now go
and attack Amalek, and utterly
destroy all that they have, and do not
spare them. But kill both man and
woman, infant and nursing child, ox
and sheep, camel and donkey.”
I Samuel 15: 2, 3
6. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
… instructed … to bring some of the
children of Israel … young men …
quick to understand, who had ability
to serve in the king’s palace, and
whom they might teach the language
and literature of the Chaldeans. …
Now from among those of the sons of
Judah were Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah.
Daniel 1: 1 - 6
7. Judah has gone into captivity, Under
affliction and hard servitude;
She dwells among the nations, She finds no
rest; …Her gates have sunk into the
ground… Lamentations 1: 3, 2: 9
Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets; their
skin clings to their bones, it has become as
dry as wood. Those slain by the sword are
better off than those who die of hunger…
Lamentations 4: 8, 9
8. The Lord was like an enemy. He has
swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed
up all her palaces; He has destroyed
her strongholds …The Lord has
spurned His altar, He has abandoned
His sanctuary… The Law is no more,
and her prophets find no vision from
the Lord.
Lamentations 2: 5 - 9
9. In the eighteenth year of his reign,… he sent
Shaphan … to repair the house of the Lord
his God. … Hilkiah the priest found the
Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses.
Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan
the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law
in the house of the Lord.”
II Chronicles 34: 8 - 15
10. And as Isaiah said before:
“Unless the Lord of Sabaoth
had left us a seed,
We would have become
like Sodom,
And we would have been made
like Gomorrah.”
Even so then, at this present time there is a
remnant according to the election of grace.
Romans 9: 29; 11: 5
11. … who though faith subdued
kingdoms, worked righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword, [and]
out of weakness were made strong.
Hebrews 11: 33, 34
12. Then the people of the land tried to
discourage the people of Judah. They
troubled them in building, and hired
counselors against them to frustrate their
purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia,
even until the reign of Darius king of
Persia…. Thus the work of the house of God
which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was
discontinued until the second year of the
reign of Darius king of Persia.
Ezra 4: 4 - 24
13. … that you put off … the old man … and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind, and
that you put on the new man …
Ephesians 4:22, 23
Even though our outward man is
perishing, yet the inward man is being
renewed day by day. II
Corinthians 4:16
Then He said to them all, “If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily,
and follow Me.
Luke 9:23
14. "If Your people Israel are defeated before
an enemy because they have sinned
against You, and return and confess
Your name, and pray and make
supplication before You in this temple,
then hear from heaven and forgive the
sin of Your people Israel, and bring
them back to the land which You gave to
them and their fathers…. when their
enemies besiege them in the land of
their cities...; whatever prayer,
whatever supplication is made by
anyone… then hear from heaven Your
dwelling place, and forgive.”
II Chronicles 6: 24 - 3
15. When the builders laid the foundation of the
temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their
apparel with trumpets … Then all the people
shouted with a great shout, when they
praised the Lord, because the foundation of
the house of the Lord was laid. But many of
the … old men who had seen the first temple,
wept with a loud voice when the foundation
of this temple was laid before their eyes… so
that the people could not discern the noise of
the shout of joy from the noise of the
weeping of the people.
Ezra 3: 10 - 13
16. 70 Years of Captivity in Babylon
For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are
completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform
My good word toward you, and cause you to return to
this place. Jeremiah 29: 10
606 BC Jehoiakim becomes subject to Nebuchadnezzar
536 BC The Decree of Cyrus – “after 70 years”
70 Years of Desolations of Jerusalem
… the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the
prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in
the desolations of Jerusalem. Daniel 9: 2
589 BC Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem
520 BC Second Temple Foundation –
“accomplish 70 years”