Cyrus

How Nave’s arranged it

• (King of Persia)
• Issues a decree for the emancipation of the Jews and rebuilding the temple2 Chronicles 36:222 Chronicles 36:23Ezra 1Ezra 3:7Ezra 4:3Ezra 5:13Ezra 5:14Ezra 6:3
• Prophecies concerningIsaiah 13:17–22Isaiah 21:2Isaiah 41:2Isaiah 44:28Isaiah 45:1–4Isaiah 45:13Isaiah 46:11Isaiah 48:14Isaiah 48:15

The passages, in Bible order (17)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. 2 Chronicles 36:22

   In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

   ›Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36:221 voice

   “Now in the first year of Cyrus - This and the following verse are supposed to have been written by mistake from the book of Ezra, which begins in the same way. The book of the Chronicles, properly speaking, does close with the twenty-first verse, as then the Babylonish captivity commences, and these two verses speak of the transactions of a period seventy years after. This was in the first year of the reign of Cyrus over the empire of the East which is reckoned to be A.M. 34

   Everything gathered on 2 Chronicles 36:22→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. 2 Chronicles 36:23

   “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’”

   ›Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36:231 voice

   “The Lord his God be with him - “Let the Word of the Lord be his helper, and let him go up.” - Targum. See the notes on the beginning of Ezra. Thus ends the history of a people the most fickle, the most ungrateful, and perhaps on the whole the most sinful, that ever existed on the face of the earth. But what a display does all this give of the power, justice, mercy, and long-suffering of the Lord! There was no people like this people, and no God like their God.

   Everything gathered on 2 Chronicles 36:23→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Ezra 1:1

   In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

   ›Commentary on Ezra 1:11 voice

   “Now in the first year - This is word for word with the two last verses of the preceding book; which stand here in their proper place and connection, but there are entirely destitute of chronological connection and reference. Cyrus - This prince, so eminent in antiquity, is said to have been the son of Cambyses king of Persia, and Mandane, daughter of Astyages king of the Medes; and was born about six hundred years before Christ.

   Everything gathered on Ezra 1:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Ezra 3:7

   They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.

   ›Commentary on Ezra 3:72 voices

   “According to the grant - i. e., in accordance with the permission granted them by Cyrus to rebuild their temple Ezr 1:1-4.

   “Or rather let them learn of you, who are so well instructed in such histories, how that Jeshua the son of Josedek the priest, and his brother, and Zerubbabel the wise, the son of Salathiel, and Ezra the priest and scribe of the law, as the temple was being built after the captivity, the feast of tabernacles being at hand (which was a great feast and time of assembly and prayer in Israel), gathered the people together with one accord in the great court within the first gate, which is toward the east, and prepared the altar to God, and there offered their gifts and kept the feast.

   Everything gathered on Ezra 3:7→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Ezra 4:3

   But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of the families of Israel replied, “You have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as Cyrus king of Persia has commanded us.”

   ›Commentary on Ezra 4:31 voice

   “Ye have nothing to do with us - Because the Samaritans had united idolatrous rites with the worship of Yahweh 2Ki 17:29-41. To have allowed them a share in restoring the temple would have been destructive of all purity of religion. As king Cyrus ... commanded us - The exact words of the edict gave the right of building exclusively to those who should “go up” from Babylonia to Judaea Ezr 1:3.

   Everything gathered on Ezra 4:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Ezra 5:13

   In his first year, however, Cyrus king of Babylon issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.

   ›Commentary on Ezra 5:131 voice

   “But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon,.... That is, the first year he was king of Babylon, having taken it, otherwise he was king of Persia many years before: the same King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God; see Ezr 1:1.

   Everything gathered on Ezra 5:13→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Ezra 5:14

   He also removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken and carried there from the temple in Jerusalem. King Cyrus gave these articles to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Ezra 6:3

   In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,

   ›Commentary on Ezra 6:31 voice

   “It is difficult to reconcile the dimentions here with expressions in Zechariah Zec 4:10, Haggai Hag 2:3, and even Ezra Ezr 3:12, which imply that the second temple was smaller than the first (compare 1Ki 6:2). Perhaps the dimensions here are those which Cyrus required the Jews not to exceed.

   Everything gathered on Ezra 6:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Isaiah 13:17–22

   Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold.

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 13:17–222 voices

   “Behold, I will stir up - I will cause them to engage in this enterprise. This is an instance of the control which God claims over the nations, and of his power to excite and direct them as he pleases. The Medes - This is one of the places in which the prophet specified, “by name,” the instrument of the wrath of God. Cyrus himself is subsequently mentioned Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1 as the agent by which God would accomplish his purposes.

   “(Vers. 17, 18.) Behold, I will raise up against them the Medes, who do not seek silver, nor desire gold; but they will kill the small children with arrows, and have no mercy on the infants in the womb, and their eyes will not spare the children. We find in Genesis (Gen. X) that Madai was the founder of the nation of the Medes, which means measure, or from a mighty or strong one.

   Everything gathered on Isaiah 13:17–22→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Isaiah 21:2

    A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.”

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 21:22 voices

    “The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth “The plunderer is plundered, and the destroyer is destroyed” - הבוגד בוגד והשודד שודד habboged boged vehashshoded shoded. The MSS. vary in expressing or omitting the ו vau, in these four words. Ten MSS. of Kennicott are without the ו vau in the second word, and eight MSS. are without the ו vau in the fourth word; which justifies Symmachus, who has rendered them passively: ὁ αθετων αθετειται και ὁ ταλαιπωριζων ταλαιπωρει. He read בגוד שדוד bagud shadud.

    “The northern parts of Media and Persia, where their soldiers were mostly bred, was waste and mountainous, terrible to strangers that were to pass through it and producing soldiers that were very formidable. Elam (that is, Persia) is summoned to go up against Babylon, and, in conjunction with the forces of Media, to besiege it.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 21:2→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Isaiah 41:2

    Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 41:22 voices

    “The righteous man - The Chaldee and Vulgate seem to have read צדיק tsaddik. But Jerome, though his translation has justum, appears to have read צדק tsedek; for in his comment he expresses it by justum, sive justitiam. However, I think all interpreters understand it of a person. So the Septuagint in MS. Pachom. εκαλεσεν αυτον, “he hath called him;” but the other copies have αυτην, her. They are divided in ascertaining this person; some explain it of Abraham, others of Cyrus.

    “Raised him up in righteousness. The Septuagint takes the Hebrew as a noun "righteousness." MAURER translates, "Who raised up him whom salvation (national and temporal, the gift of God's 'righteousness' to the good, Isa 32:17; compare Isa 45:8; 51:5) meets at his foot" (that is, wherever he goes).

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 41:2→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Isaiah 44:28

    who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’”

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 44:282 voices

    “And he who restores Jerusalem, destroys Babylon. He also says to Cyrus, the king of the Persians, who first destroyed Babylon and the Chaldeans: you are my shepherd, or as the Septuagint translated, so that you may understand. The reason for this difference is clear. For the Hebrew word Roi, if we read it with the letter Res (ר), it is understood as my shepherd; if we read it with the letter Daleth (ד), it means my knowing or understanding, which are distinguished by a small apex, and therefore are often confused.

    “That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd,.... Or Coresh, as his name in the Hebrew language is; and in the Persian tongue signifies the "sun"; from whence he had his name, as Ctesias (q) and Plutarch (r) say; to which the Hebrew word "cheres", which signifies the "sun", has some affinity; though Joseph Scaliger (s) would have the name of Cyrus to signify "food" in the Persian language, and which answers to his character as a shepherd.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 44:28→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Isaiah 45:1–4

    This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 45:1–42 voices

    “(Chapter 45, Verses 1-7) Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed one, whom he has taken by the right hand to subdue nations before him and strip the loins of kings, to force gateways before him that their gates be closed no more: I will go before you, and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.

    “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed - This is a direct apostrophe to Cyrus, though it was uttered not less than one hundred and fifty years before Babylon was taken by him. The word ‘anointed’ is that which is usually rendered “Messiah” (משׁיח mâshı̂yach), and here is rendered by the Septuagint, Τῷ χριστῷ μου Κύρῳ Tō christō mou Kurō - ‘To Cyrus, my Christ,’ i. e, my anointed.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 45:1–4→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Isaiah 45:13

    I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for payment or reward, says the LORD of Hosts.”

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 45:132 voices

    “I have raised him up - That is. Cyrus (see the notes at Isa 41:2). In righteousness - In Isa 41:2, he is called ‘the righteous man.’ He had raised him up to accomplish his own righteous plans. It does not necessarily mean that Cyrus was a righteous man (see the notes at Isa 41:2). And I will direct all his ways - Margin, ‘Make straight.’ This is the meaning of the Hebrew word (see the notes at Isa 40:4).

    “(Verse 9 and following) Woe to those who contradict their maker, a pot made of clay, and say to the one who formed them, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no hands.' Woe to those who say to their father, 'What are you begetting?' or to their mother, 'What are you in labor with?' This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, and its maker: Ask me about the things to come, concerning my children, and about the work of my hands, give me orders.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 45:13→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Isaiah 46:11

    I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 46:112 voices

    “Calling a ravenous bird from the east - There can be no doubt that Cyrus is intended here (see the notes at Isa 41:2, Isa 41:25). The east here means Persia. The word rendered ‘ravenous bird’ (עיט ‛ayiṭ) is rendered ‘fowl’ in Job 28:7; ‘bird’ or ‘birds’ in Jer 12:9; ‘fowls’ in Gen 15:11; Isa 18:6; and ‘ravenous birds’ in Eze 39:4. It does not occur elsewhere in the Bible.

    “Who other can this be than his Christ, who, it says, has been called from a distant land, that is, from the innermost part of Hades? All the things I have announced before him, I will bring into action through him.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 46:11→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Isaiah 48:14

    Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 48:142 voices

    “And according to the Septuagint, 'to carry away the seed of the Chaldeans' is referred to the person of the Lord: the one who is truly loved by the Father, and who does all the will of the Father, and who overturns in Babylon, that is, in the confusion of this world, all the seed of the Chaldeans, which are interpreted as demons. He himself spoke and heard the Son, and brought him, who speaks to the believers: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened.

    “Which among them hath declared these things “Who among you hath predicted these things” - For בהם bahem, “among them,” twenty-one MSS., nine ancient, and two editions, one of them that of the year 1488, fourteen of De Rossi’s, and one ancient of my own, have בכם bachem, “among you;” and so the Syriac.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 48:14→

    Verse page →Original language →