these nations shall serve the king of Babylon] Not one; but three of them successively, one after another. Chap. 27. 7. seventie yeers] The tearm and stint of their captivitie is precisely set down, for the better confirmation of the truth of his prophecie, and the support of the faithfull during the captivitie in an hopefull expectation of their deliverance, when that time was expired: Daniel 9:2. and these seventy yeers commence, not from the fourth yeer of Jehoiakims reign; (though this were by the Prophet here then fore-told, Vers. 1.) about which time Nebuchadnezzar, having subdued those parts, may seem to have taken Jerusalem, and taken thence Daniel with some other of the bloud roiall, Daniel 1:1-2. for Jehoiakim continued his reign seven yeers after that, 2 Kings 23:36. 2 Chronicles 36:5. nor is there mention of any considerable number, carried away during his reign; neither do they begin at the eleventh yeer of Zedekiahs reign; though the citie were then surprised and sacked; and the land much more then before dispeopled, by a second captivitie more generall then the former: 2 King. 25. 2,—11. 2 Chronicles 36:17,—20. but at the captivitie of Jehoiachin, otherwise called Jechoniah, 2 King. 24. 10,—16. Chap. 22. 25, 26. as appeareth by Ezekiel 40:1. where the captivitie is said to have begun eleven yeers before the sacking of the citie; and Ezekiel 33:21. where the tidings thereof are said to have been brought to Ezekiel abiding among the captives, in the twelfth yeer of the captivitie. See also Chap. 24. 1. & 28. 4. & 29. 1, 2.