World English Bible · The Persian return
Ezra 4
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Now when the of Judah and heard that the children of were building a temple to , the of Israel, they came near to , and to the heads of fathers' households, and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we seek your as you do; and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of , who brought us up here." But , , and the rest of the heads of fathers' households of Israel said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our ; but we ourselves together will build to , the of Israel, as King the king of has commanded us." Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. They hired against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of king of , even until the reign of king of . In the reign of , of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and . In the days of , , , , and the rest of his companions wrote to king of ; and the writing of the letter was written in and in the language. the chancellor and the wrote a letter against to the king as follows. Then the chancellor, the , and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the , the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over and settled in the city of , and in the rest of the country beyond , and so forth, wrote. 11This is the copy of the letter that they sent: To King , from your servants, the people beyond . Be it known to the king that the who came up from you have come to us to . They are building the rebellious and bad city, and have finished the walls and repaired the foundations. Be it known now to the king that if this city is built and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings. Now because we eat the salt of the palace and it is not appropriate for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will see in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have started rebellions within it in the past. That is why this city was destroyed. We inform the king that if this city is built and the walls finished, then you will have no possession beyond . Then the king sent an answer to the chancellor, and to the , and to the rest of their companions who live in , and in the rest of the country beyond : Peace. The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me. I decreed, and search has been made, and it was found that this city has made insurrection against kings in the past, and that rebellion and revolts have been made in it. There have also been mighty kings over who have ruled over all the country beyond ; and tribute, custom, and toll was paid to them. 21Make a now to cause these men to cease, and that this city not be built until a is made by me. Be careful that you not be slack doing so. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Then when the copy of King ' letter was read before , the , and their companions, they went in haste to to the , and made them to cease by force of arms. Then work stopped on house which is at . It stopped until the second year of the reign of king of .
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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.