Bible Strands
Daniel 9:2
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — I, Daniel, speaking in the first person, records his observation during the first year of Darius’s reign over the Chaldean kingdom.
The words — The Hebrew בִּינֹתִי (bi.No.ti) translates literally as "I observed," and בַּ/סְּפָרִ֑ים (ba./se.fa.Rim) denotes "the scrolls."
The thread — The seventy-year timeframe appears in Jeremiah 29:10 and Jeremiah 25:11, with 2 Chronicles 36:21 noting the land's Sabbath rest until that period was completed.
Why it lands — The text states that Daniel derived the duration of Jerusalem’s desolation directly from Jeremiah’s prophecy recorded in the sacred scrolls. It requires the reader to recognize the precise fulfillment of a divine timeline without adding interpretive speculation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 29:10 For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.
- Jeremiah 25:11 And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
- 2 Chronicles 36:21 So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah.
- Zechariah 7:5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?
- Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near.
- Ezra 1:1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:
- 2 Peter 1:19 We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
- Micah 3:12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Isaiah 64:10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.