The Seventy Weeks Prophecy¹ came in response to Daniel's prayer about the 70-year captivity of the Jews in Babylon,² which Jeremiah predicted in Jeremiah 25:11-12.³ Daniel was in Babylon pondering the question of when the Babylonian captivity would end and Daniel 9:24 answered that prayer. However, that verse merely introduced a much more grand and global prophecy,⁴ saying: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city."⁵ The 70 weeks in this verse represent 70 years⁶ of Jewish captivity that began in 606 BC.⁷ The captivity ended when Cyrus, the Persian King, issued an edict⁸ in 536 BC⁹ that allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem where they were authorized to rebuild the Second Temple of Zerubbabel.¹⁰ The 70 years of Babylonian captivity are not part of the Seventy Weeks Prophecy. They merely provide a prophetic pattern to establish that 70 weeks of years¹¹ are equal to 490 years.¹²

The Seventy Weeks Prophecy began 69 weeks of years‒or 483 years‒before the atonement of Jesus Christ.¹³ These 483 years are divided in two separate time periods: 7 weeks of 49 years (7x7=49 years), plus 62 weeks of 434 years (7x62=434).¹⁴

In the first 7 weeks of 49 years, the Jews rebuilt the walls and city of Jerusalem.¹⁵ They did so after King Artaxerxes of Persia issued a decree¹⁶ in 444 BC.¹⁷ This unusual decree directed Nehemiah, the governor of Jerusalem,¹⁸ to rebuild and fortify the city.¹⁹ After taking into account the time differences between the Gregorian and Jewish calendars, Jesus Christ was crucified 483 years²⁰ after the decree by Artaxerxes.²¹ Thus, almost 100 years before Artaxerxes issued his decree,²² Daniel predicted the exact time of the Savior's atonement based on the timing of that decree. Daniel 9:25 states "that from the going forth of the commandment [i.e., the decree by Artaxerxes] to restore²³ and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah²⁴ the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street²⁵ shall be built again, and the wall,²⁶ even in troublous times."²⁷

Based on Daniel's incredibly precise prophesy, the Jews looked forward²⁸ to the rule of a Messiah²⁹ 62 weeks of 7 years (434 years) from the time Nehemiah finished the reconstruction of Jerusalem that took 7 weeks of 7 years (49 years).³⁰ With similar precision, the Nephites looked forward to the coming of Christ 600 years from the time Lehi left Jerusalem.³¹

Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem in troublous times that included stiff opposition by the non-Jewish Samaritans.³² These troublous times of the past foreshadow the last week of 7 years when half of Jerusalem will be destroyed as the battle of Armageddon comes to an end.³³