King James Version · The Persian return
1 Esdras 4
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1Then the second, that had spoken of the strength of the king, began to say, 2O ye men, do not men excel in strength that bear sea and land and all things in them? 3But yet the king is more mighty: for he is of all these things, and hath over them; and whatsoever he commandeth them they do. 4If he bid them make war the one against the other, they do it: if he send them out against the , they go, and break down mountains walls and towers. 5They and are slain, and transgress not the king’s : if they get the victory, they bring all to the king, as well the spoil, as all things else. 6Likewise for those that are no soldiers, and have not to do with wars, but use husbandry, when they have reaped again that which they had sown, they bring it to the king, and compel one another to pay tribute unto the king. 7And yet he is but one man: if he command to kill, they kill; if he command to spare, they spare; 8If he command to smite, they smite; if he command to make desolate, they make desolate; if he command to build, they build; 9If he command to cut down, they cut down; if he command to plant, they plant. 10So all his people and his armies him: furthermore he lieth down, he eateth and drinketh, and taketh his rest: 11And these keep watch round about him, neither may any one depart, and do his own business, neither disobey they him in any thing. 12O ye men, how should not the king be mightiest, when in such sort he is ? And he held his . 13Then the third, who had spoken of women, and of the truth, (this was ) began to speak. 14O ye men, it is not the great king, nor of men, neither is it , that excelleth; who is it then that ruleth them, or hath the lordship over them? are they not women? 15Women have borne the king and all the people that bear rule by sea and land. 16Even of them came they: and they nourished them up that planted the vineyards, from whence the cometh. 17These also make garments for men; these bring unto men; and without women cannot men be. 18Yea, and if men have gathered together gold and silver, or any other goodly thing, do they not love a woman which is comely in and beauty? 19And letting all those things go, do they not gape, and even with open fix their eyes on her; and have not all men more unto her than unto silver or gold, or any goodly thing whatsoever? 20A man leaveth his own that brought him up, and his own country, and cleaveth unto his wife. 21He sticketh not to spend his life with his wife. and remembereth neither , nor mother, nor country. 22By this also ye must know that women over you: do ye not labour and toil, and give and bring all to the woman? 23Yea, a man taketh his , and goeth his way to rob and to steal, to sail upon the sea and upon rivers; 24And looketh upon a lion, and goeth in ; and when he hath stolen, spoiled, and robbed, he bringeth it to his love. 25Wherefore a man loveth his wife better than or mother. 26Yea, many there be that have run out of their wits for women, and become servants for their sakes. 27Many also have , have erred, and , for women. 28And now do ye not me? is not the king great in his ? do not all regions fear to touch him? 29Yet did I see him and Apame the king’s , the daughter of the admirable Bartacus, sitting at of the king, 30And taking the from the king’s head, and setting it upon her own head; she also struck the king with her left hand. 31And yet for all this the king gaped and gazed upon her with open : if she laughed upon him, he laughed also: but if she took any displeasure at him, the king was fain to flatter, that she might be reconciled to him again. 32O ye men, how can it be but women should be strong, seeing they do thus? 33Then the king and the princes looked one upon another: so he began to speak of the truth. 34O ye men, are not women strong? great is the earth, high is the , swift is the sun in his course, for he compasseth round about, and fetcheth his course again to his own place in one day. 35Is he not great that maketh these things? therefore great is the truth, and stronger than all things. 36All the earth crieth upon the truth, and the blesseth it: all works shake and tremble at it, and with it is no unrighteous thing. 37 is , the king is , women are , all the children of men are , and such are all their works; and there is no truth in them; in their unrighteousness also they shall . 38As for the truth, it endureth, and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore. 39With her there is no accepting of persons or rewards; but she doeth the things that are , and refraineth from all unjust and things; and all men do well like of her works. 40Neither in her is any unrighteousness; and she is the strength, kingdom, , and majesty, of all ages. be the of truth. 41And with that he held his peace. And all the people then shouted, and said, Great is Truth, and mighty above all things. 42Then said the king unto him, Ask what thou wilt more than is appointed in the writing, and we will give it thee, because thou art found wisest; and thou shalt sit next me, and shalt be called my cousin. 43Then said he unto the king, Remember thy , which thou hast to build , in the day when thou camest to thy kingdom, 44And to send away all the vessels that were taken away out of , which , when he to destroy , and to send them again thither. 45Thou also hast to build up , which the burned when was made desolate by the Chaldees. 46And now, O the king, this is that which I require, and which I of thee, and this is the princely liberality proceeding from thyself: I therefore that thou make good the , the performance whereof with thine own thou hast to the King of . 47Then Darius the king stood up, and kissed him, and wrote letters for him unto all the treasurers and lieutenants and captains and governors, that they should safely convey on their way both him, and all those that go up with him to build . 48He wrote letters also unto the lieutenants that were in and , and unto them in Libanus, that they should bring cedar wood from Libanus unto , and that they should build the city with him. 49Moreover he wrote for all the that went out of his realm up into , concerning their , that no officer, no ruler, no lieutenant, nor treasurer, should forcibly enter into their doors; 50And that all the country which they hold should be free without tribute; and that the should give over the villages of the which then they held: 51Yea, that there should be yearly given twenty to the building of , until the time that it were built; 52And other ten yearly, to maintain the burnt offerings upon the every day, as they had a to offer seventeen: 53And that all they that went from to build the city should have free , as well they as their posterity, and all the priests that went away. 54He wrote also concerning. the charges, and the priests’ vestments wherein they minister; 55And likewise for the charges of the , to be given them until the day that the house were finished, and builded up. 56And he commanded to give to all that kept the city pensions and wages. 57He sent away also all the vessels from , that had ; and all that had given in , the same charged he also to be done, and sent unto . 58Now when this young man was gone forth, he lifted up to toward , and praised the King of , 59And said, From thee cometh victory, from thee cometh , and thine is the , and I am thy servant. 60 art thou, who hast given me : for to thee I give thanks, O of our fathers. 61And so he took the letters, and went out, and came unto , and told it all his brethren. 62And they praised the of their fathers, because he had given them and 63To go up, and to build , and which is called by his name: and they feasted with instruments of musick and gladness seven days.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.