“In the first year
Of his reign,
I,
Daniel,
Perceived
In the books,
According to the word
Of Yahweh
To Jeremiah,
The prophet,
The number of years,
That must be fulfilled
For the devastation
Of Jerusalem,
Namely,
Seventy years.”
This chronology would put this event at about 538 BCE, right near the beginning of the Persian or Mede rule. Daniel, using the first-person singular, seemed to be familiar with the prophet Jeremiah, chapters 25 and 29, although they were almost contemporaries. Thus, 70 years of desolation was coming to Jerusalem from 587-517 BCE.