King James Version · The Persian return
Ezra 6
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Then the king made a , and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the were laid up in . And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the , a roll, and therein was a record thus written: In the first year of the king the same the king made a concerning the house of at , Let the house be builded, the place where they offered , and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore , and the breadth thereof threescore ; With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house: And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of , which took forth out of which is at , and brought unto , be restored, and brought again unto which is at , every one to his place, and place them in the house of . Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar–boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence: Let the work of this house of alone; let the governor of the and the of the build this house of in his place. Moreover I make a what ye shall do to the of these for the building of this house of : that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the of , wheat, salt, , and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at , let it be given them day by day without fail: That they may offer of sweet savours unto the of , and for the life of the king, and of his sons. Also I have made a , that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the that hath caused his name to there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of which is at . I have made a ; let it be done with speed. Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar–boznai, and their companions, according to that which the king had sent, so they did speedily. And the of the builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of the and the son of . And they builded, and finished it, according to the of the of Israel, and according to the of , and , and king of . And this house was finished on the third day of the month , which was in the sixth year of the reign of the king. And the , the priests, and the , and the rest of the children of , kept the dedication of this house of with joy, And offered at the dedication of this house of an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set the priests in their divisions, and the in their courses, for the of , which is at ; as in the book of . And the children of kept upon the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed for all the children of , and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the , which were come again out of , and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek of Israel, did eat, And kept the feast of seven days with joy: for had made them joyful, and turned of the king of unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of , the of Israel.
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.