LESSON 3 EZRA 1 : 1 – 2 : 70
The L ord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclama- tion throughout all his kingdom. —Ezra 1:1
In 538 BC, after 70 years in Babylonian captivity, the first wave of exiles began their return to the promised land. In an amazing display of God’s providence, God stirred the heart of the Persian king, Cyrus, to make a decree that allowed Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s temple. During their time in captivity, the Babylonian Empire had been conquered by the Medes and Persians. Thus, the Jews who had been taken from their land by a Babylonian king would now return by decree of a Persian king.
READ THE WORD Pray. Take a moment to pray, asking the Lord to prepare your heart and teach you.
Ezra 1:1—2:70 1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the L ord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the L ord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The L ord , the God of heaven, has given me all the king- doms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the L ord , the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” 5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the L ord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the L ord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
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