Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
All Commentaries on Ezra 1:2 Go To Ezra 1
Bede
AD 735
The ancient histories, with which also the Scripture of Daniel agrees, relate that Cyrus, king of the Persians, after allying with Darius, king of the Medians, destroyed the empire of the Babylonians and killed their last king, Balthazar, and razed and ransacked their capital. And therefore Cyrus, knowing that the kingdom of Israel had been entrusted to him by God, as soon as he defeated that kingdom that had captured the people of Israel and kept them in bondage, gave the Israelites permission to return to their homeland and to rebuild the house of their God, which had been set on fire. And not only did he proclaim by words that sentence of release to those present, but also he communicated it to those who were away in all the provinces of his kingdom by means of letters and testified through public voice that he who is the God of Israel was truly the maker of all kingdoms.
