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, with three layers of cut stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid from the royal treasury. Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God.
"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 his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.'"
Significance
Ezra 6:3-5 preserves the Aramaic administrative version of Cyrus's decree found in the Ecbatana archives, while Ezra 1:2-4 provides the Hebrew proclamation version. The two versions complement each other: the Ezra 1 version emphasizes the theological motivation ("The LORD, the God of heaven... has appointed me"), while the Ezra 6 version provides the administrative details (dimensions, construction materials, costs from the royal treasury, and return of temple vessels). The existence of multiple decree versions reflects standard ancient Near Eastern practice of issuing both public proclamations and archival memoranda. Together they demonstrate that the temple rebuilding had both divine authorization and imperial legal backing.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Redemptive-Historical Progression — the storyline of restoration advances from Cyrus's public proclamation (Ezra 1:2-4) to the recovery of its archival memorandum under Darius (Ezra 6:3-5): the same decree, rediscovered at Ecbatana, legally vindicates and carries forward the temple rebuilding it first authorized.
