King James Version · The Persian return
Ezra 4
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Now when the of Judah and heard that the children of builded unto of Israel; Then they came to , and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your , as ye do; and we do unto him since the days of Esar–haddon king of , which brought us up hither. But , and , and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our ; but we ourselves together will build unto of Israel, as king the king of hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of king of , even until the reign of king of . And in the reign of , of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and . And in the days of wrote , , , and the rest of their companions, unto king of ; and the writing of the letter was written in the , and interpreted in the . the chancellor and the wrote a letter against to the king in this sort: Then wrote the chancellor, and the , and the rest of their companions; the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the , the Susanchites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites, And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought over, and set in the cities of , and the rest that are on this side the river, and at such a time. 11This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto the king; Thy servants the men on this side the river, and at such a time. Be it known unto the king, that the which came up from thee to us are come unto , building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations. Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings. Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king; That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers: so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time: for which cause was this city destroyed. We certify the king that, if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have no on this side the river. Then sent the king an answer unto the chancellor, and to the , and to the rest of their companions that in , and unto the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time. The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. And I commanded, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. There have been mighty kings also over , which have ruled over all countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and custom, was paid unto them. 21Give ye now to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another shall be given from me. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Now when the copy of king ’ letter was read before , and the , and their companions, they went up in haste to unto the , and made them to cease by force and . Then ceased the work of the house of which is at . So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of king of .
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.