9:1 In the first year of Darius ¹  son of Ahasuerus, ²  who was of Median descent and who had been ³  appointed king over the Babylonian ⁴  empire – 9:2 in the first year of his reign ⁵  I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books ⁶  that, according to the word of the LORD ⁷  disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem ⁸  were seventy in number.