Cyrus, King OF Persia

Ezra 1:1-11

Now, IN The First Year OF Cyrus, King OF Persia, That THE WORD OF THE LORD (GOD Almighty), BY The Mouth OF Jeremiah, MIGHT BE FULFILLED, THE LORD (GOD Almighty) STIRRED UP The Spirit OF Cyrus, King OF Persia, SO That He King Cyrus) MADE A Proclamation, THROUGHOUT All His Kingdom, AND ALSO PUT IT IN WRITING, SAYING, THUS SAYS Cyrus, King OF Persia: All The Kingdoms OF The Earth, THE LORD GOD (GOD Almighty) OF Heaven HAS GIVEN Me.

AND He (GOD Almighty) HAS COMMANDED Me TO BUILD Him (GOD Almighty) A HOUSE AT Jerusalem, WHICH IS IN Judah.  Who IS Among YOU OF ALL His People?  MAY His (King Cyrus) GOD (GOD Almighty) BE WITH Him (King Cyrus), AND LET Him (King Cyrus) TO UP TO Jerusalem, WHICH IS IN Judah, AND BUILD THE HOUSE OF THE LORD GOD (GOD Almighty) OF Israel (HE IS GOD), WHICH IS IN Jerusalem.

AND WHOEVER IS LEFT, IN ANY PLACE, WHERE He DWELLS, LET The Men OF His Place, HELP Him, WITH Silver AND Gold, WITH Goods AND Livestock, BESIDES THE FREEWILL OFFERINGS, FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD (GOD Almighty), WHICH IS IN Jerusalem.

THEN, The Heads OF The Fathers’ HOUSES OF Judah AND Benjamin, AND The Priests AND The Levites, WITH ALL, Whose Spirits GOD (GOD Almighty) HAD MOVED, AROSE TO GO UP AND BUILD THE HOUSE OF THE LORD (GOD Almighty), WHICH IS IN Jerusalem.  AND All Those Who WERE AROUND Them ENCOURAGED Them, WITH Articles OF Silver AND Gold, WITH Goods AND Livestock, AND WITH Precious Things, BESIDES All That WAS WILLINGLY OFFERED.

King Cyrus ALSO BROUGHT OUT THE ARTICLES OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD (GOD Almighty), Which Nebuchadnezzar HAD TAKEN FROM Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods; AND Cyrus, King OF Persia BROUGHT Them OUT, BY The Hand OF Mithredath, The Treasurer, AND COUNTED Them OUT TO Sheshbazzar, The Prince OF Judah.

THIS IS The Number OF Them: Thirty (30) Gold Platters, One Thousand (1,000) Silver Platters, Twenty-Nine (29) Knives, Thirty (30) Gold Basins, Four Hundred AND Ten (410) Silver Basins OF A Similar Kind, AND One Thousand (1,000) Other Articles.  All The Articles OF Gold AND Silver WERE Five Thousand Four Hundred.  ALL THESE Sheshbazzar TOOK WITH THE CAPTIVES, WHO WERE BROUGHT FROM Babylon TO Jerusalem.

Ezra 2:1, 64-65, 68-70

Now, THESE ARE The People (The Children OF Israel) OF The Province (Babylon), Who CAME BACK FROM The Captivity, OF Those Who HAD BEEN CARRIED AWAY, Whom Nebuchadnezzar, The King OF Babylon, HAD CARRIED AWAY TO Babylon, AND Who RETURNED TO Jerusalem AND Judah, EVERYONE TO His Own City.  [See: Ezra 2:2-63, for details]

The Whole Assembly Together WAS Forty-Two Thousand Three Hundred AND Sixty, BESIDES Their Male AND Female Servants, OF Whom, THERE WERE Seven Thousand Three Hundred AND Thirty-Seven; AND They HAD Two Hundred (200) Men AND Women Singers.

SOME OF The Heads OF The Fathers’ Houses, When They CAME TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD (GOD Almighty) WHICH IS IN Jerusalem, OFFERED FREELY, FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD (GOD Almighty), TO ERECT IT, IN ITS PLACE: According TO Their Ability, They GAVE TO The Treasury FOR THE WORK, Sixty-One Thousand (61,000) Gold Drachmas, Five Thousand (5,000) Minas of Silver, AND One Hundred (100) Priestly Garments.  SO, The Priests AND The Levites, Some OF The People, The Singers, The Gatekeepers, AND The Nethinim, DWELT IN Their Cities, AND All Israel IN Their Cities.

Ezra 5:11-16

AND THUS They Returned Us an Answer, SAYING: “We ARE The Servants OF THE GOD (GOD Almighty) OF Heaven AND Earth, AND We ARE REBUILDING THE TEMPLE, That WAS Built Many Years Ago, Which A GREAT KING OF Israel BUILT AND COMPLETED.

BUT BECAUSE Our fathers PROVOKED THE GOD (GOD Almighty) OF Heaven TO WRATH, He (GOD Almighty) GAVE Them (Our fathers) INTO The Hand OF Nebuchadnezzar, King OF Babylon, The Chaldean, Who DESTROYED THIS TEMPLE AND CARRIED The People (The Children of Israel) AWAY TO Babylon.

However, IN The First Year OF Cyrus, King OF Babylon, King Cyrus ISSUED A DECREE TO BUILD THIS HOUSE OF GOD (GOD Almighty).  ALSO, The Gold AND Silver ARTICLES OF THE HOUSE OF GOD (GOD Almighty), Which Nebuchadnezzar HAD TAKEN FROM THE TEMPLE, THAT WAS IN Jerusalem AND CARRIED INTO The Temple OF Babylon, THOSE, King Cyrus TOOK FROM The Temple OF Babylon, AND They WERE GIVEN, TO ONE NAMED Sheshbazzar, Whom He (King Cyrus) HAD MADE Governor.  AND He (King Cyrus) SAID TO Him (Sheshbazzar), ‘TAKE THESE ARTICLES; GO, CARRY Them TO THE TEMPLE SITE, THAT IS IN Jerusalem, AND LET THE HOUSE OF GOD (GOD Almighty) BE REBUILT, ON ITS FORMER SITE.’  THEN, The Same Sheshbazzar CAME AND LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE HOUSE OF GOD (GOD Almighty), WHICH IS IN Jerusalem; BUT FROM THAT TIME, EVEN UNTIL NOW, IT Has Been Under Construction, AND IT IS NOT Finished.”

Isaiah 44:24, 28

THUS SAYS THE LORD (GOD Almighty), Your REDEEMER, AND HE WHO FORMED YOU FROM The Womb: “I AM THE LORD, WHO MAKES ALL THINGS, WHO STRETCHES OUT The Heavens, ALL ALONE, WHO SPREADS ABROAD The Earth, BY MYSELF; WHO SAYS OF (King) Cyrus, ‘He (King Cyrus) IS My Shepherd, AND He (King Cyrus) SHALL PERFORM ALL My Pleasure, SAYING TO Jerusalem, “YOU SHALL BE BUILT,” AND TO THE TEMPLE, “Your Foundation SHALL BE LAID.”’

Isaiah 45:1-13

“THIS SAYS THE LORD (GOD Almighty) TO His ANOINTED, TO (King) Cyrus, Whose Right Hand I HAVE HELD, TO SUBDUE Nations BEFORE Him (King Cyrus) AND LOOSE The Armor OF Kings, TO OPEN BEFORE Him (King Cyrus) The Double Doors, SO That The Gates WILL NOT BE SHUT: ‘I WILL GO BEFORE YOU AND MAKE The Crooked Places STRAIGHT; I WILL BREAK IN PIECES The Gates OF Bronze AND CUT The Bars OF Iron.  I WILL GIVE YOU The Treasures OF Darkness AND HIDDEN RICHES OF SECRET PLACES, That YOU MAY KNOW THAT I, THE LORD, WHO CALL YOU BY Your Name, AM THE GOD (GOD Almighty) OF Israel.

FOR Jacob, My Servant’s Sake, AND Israel, My Elect, I HAVE EVEN CALLED YOU (King Cyrus) BY Your Name; I HAVE NAMED YOU, THOUGH YOU Have NOT Known Me.  I AM THE LORD (GOD Almighty), AND THERE IS NO Other; THERE IS NO God, BESIDES Me (GOD Almighty). I WILL GIRD YOU, THOUGH YOU Have NOT Known Me, That They MAY KNOW, FROM The Rising OF The Sun TO ITS Setting, That THERE IS NONE, BESIDES Me (GOD Almighty).

I AM THE LORD (GOD Almighty), AND THERE IS NO Other; I FORM THE LIGHT AND CREATE Darkness, I MAKE PEACE AND CREATE Calamity; I, THE LORD (GOD Almighty), DO ALL THESE THINGS.’

“RAIN DOWN, YOU Heavens, FROM ABOVE, AND LET The Skies POUR DOWN RIGHTEOUSNESS; LET The Earth OPEN, LET Them BRING FORTH SALVATION, AND LET RIGHTEOUSNESS SPRING UP TOGETHER.  I, THE LORD (GOD Almighty), HAVE CREATED IT.”

“WOE TO Him, Who STRIVES WITH His Maker!  Let The Potsherd STRIVE WITH The Potsherds OF The Earth!  Shall The Clay SAY TO Him Who FORMS IT, ‘WHAT ARE YOU MAKING?’  OR Shall Your Handiwork SAY, ‘HE HAS NO HANDS?  WOE TO Him, Who SAYS TO His father, ‘WHAT ARE YOU BEGETTING?’  OR TO The Woman, ‘WHAT HAVE YOU BROUGHT FORTH?’”

THUS SAYS THE LORD (GOD Almighty), THE HOLY ONE OF Israel, AND His Maker: “ASK ME OF THINGS TO COME, CONCERNING My Sons; AND CONCERNING THE WORK OF My Hands, YOU COMMAND Me.

I HAVE MADE The Earth, AND CREATED Man ON IT.  I, My Hands, STRETCHED OUT The Heavens, AND All Their Host, I HAVE COMMANDED. I HAVE RAISED Him UP, IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND I WILL DIRECT All His Ways; He (King Cyrus) Shall BUILD My City (Jerusalem) AND LET My Exiles GO FREE, NOT For Price NOR Reward,” SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS (GOD Almighty).

[NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE, READ 2 Chronicles 36:15-23, Ezra 1:1 THROUGH Ezra 5:17, Isaiah 44:24-28, AND Isaiah 45:1-13].

Fellow Believers, King Cyrus, King OF Persia, WAS CHOSEN BY GOD Almighty, NOT ONLY TO RELEASE The Children OF Israel, FROM Their Babylonian Captivity,  SO THAT They May RETURN TO Their Homeland, BUT ALSO, TO AIDE IN THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, THE HOUSE OF GOD Almighty, IN Jerusalem!