What did Nebuchadnezzar do to the southern kingdom of Judah?
Nebuchadnezzar came from Babylon and overran the southern kingdom of Judah. He emptied the land of the Jews, carrying them away into captivity for seventy years. The captivity ended when, as the word of the Lord by Jeremiah was fulfilled, Cyrus of Persia decreed their return to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
Les explains that the southern kingdom of Judah was overrun by Nebuchadnezzar coming out from Babylon. He emptied the land of the Jews, and they ended up in captivity for 70 years. At the end of the 70 years, as mentioned from Chronicles, Cyrus, the king of Persia, made a decree that the Jews could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, reestablish temple worship, and reestablish their national entity under his sovereignty. In Ezra 1:1, in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah was fulfilled, which he had spoken years before it happened.