whole Empire he set the Iews at liberty to return from Ba-
bylon to Ierusa[l]em & rebuild their Temple. For the
Iews remained in captivity at Babylon untill the reign
of the kingdom of Persia, (2 Chron. XXXVI.20) & were set at
liberty in the first year of \ [illeg] |the| reign of Cyrus / Cyrus king of Persia over all
the kingdoms of the earth, Ezra I.1, 2, 3 . | . | |Cyrus then reigning at Ecbatane over the Medes Ezra. VI.2. |

Now in the first year of Nebuchadnezzars reign over Iudea
& fourth of Iehojakim's, Ieremiah prophesied that the land
of Iudea & the nations round about should serve the king
of Babylon seventy years, & at the end of seventy years God
would punish the king of Babylon & make the land of the
Chaldeans desolate (Ier. XXV.1, 11, 12) & thereby bring back the
Iews from captivity (Ier. XX[L]X.10.) From the year of Nabonass[a]r
140 \ w^ch was the second year of Ieho[j]akim/ in w^ch Nineveh was destroyed & the Empire of the Ass[ i |y| ]ri-
ans fell [S] |&| that of Babylon was erected upon its ruins, unt[o] the
year of Nabonassar 210 in w^ch Babylon was taken by the Medes,
there were just 70 years. And from the year of Nabonassar 142
w^ch was the fourth year of Iehojakim & first of Nebuchadnezzar
in w^ch this prophesy was given, unto the year of Nabonassar
212 w^ch was the first year of Cyrus in w^ch the Iews returned
from captivity, there were also just 70 years. For there was
a 70 years w^ch [t] |e|nded w^th the fall of Babylon (Ier. XXV.11, 12,
13, 14) & another 70 years w^ch lasted till the reign of the
kingdom of Persia & ended w^th the return of the captivity
in the return of the first year of Cyrus king of Persia Ier. XXIX.
10 & 2 Chron. XXXVI.\20, /21, 22, 23. and the fulfilling of the first
seventy years \might/ enabled Daniel in the first year of Darius to
understand by books the number of the years whereof the
word of the Lord came to Ieremiah the Prophet that he would
accom[p]lish seventy years in the desolations of Ierusalem (Dan.
[I]X.2) w^ch desolations began w^th the first year of Nebuchad-
nezzar & ended w^th the captivity in the first of Cyrus.

Some dat[e] y^e 70 years from the Captivity of Iehojakin, others
from that of Zedekiah, but [h] they ar[e] plainly the duration of the
[do]minion of the kingdom of Babylon over the nations \& ended with the fall thereof/ 2 Chron. XXXV[I]
21, 22. Ier XXV.1, 12. Yet the ancient Iews counted [a]lso a seventy years
from the beginning of the war in the 9^th year of Zedekiah to the
bulding of the sec[on]d Temple in y^e 2^d year of Darius Hystaspis (Zech.
[I].12.) & another seventy years from the taking of Ierusalem & burning
of the Temple in y^e 11^th year of Zedekiah to the fourth year
of the same Darius (Zech. VII.5.) In these 70 years the Iews fast[ed]
in the 5^t month on account of the conflagration of the Temple in
that month. And when they had fasted seventy years they sent to
the house of the Lord to enquire of the Priests & Prophets whether
they should continue that fast any longer. This message was in the
fourth year of Darius in the ninth month, (in the end of the year of