Cyrus decrees the return
Ezra 1; 2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Isaiah 44:28–45:4; Jeremiah 29:10
In his first year, Cyrus of Persia proclaimed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, and he gave back the temple vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken.
“Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”
Ezra 1:2 (World English Bible)
Isaiah had named Cyrus as God's shepherd and anointed about 150 years earlier. Chronicles ends, and Ezra begins, with his decree, fulfilling Jeremiah's promise of return after seventy years.
The Cyrus Cylinder, found in Babylon in 1879, records Cyrus's policy of returning displaced peoples and restoring their sanctuaries.
Places
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- 1 Esdras 2:1–15 — as 1 Esdras retells it
Dating notes
Ussher dates the decree to 537 BC, the first year of Cyrus's sole rule, and the return to 536 BC. Conventional dating gives 538 BC. Ussher counts the seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10) from 607 BC.