World English Bible · The Persian return
Ezra 6
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Then the king made a , and the house of the archives, where the were laid up in , was searched. A was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of , and in it this was written for a record: In the first year of the king, the king made a : Concerning house at , let the house be built, the place where they offer , and let its foundations be strongly laid, with its height sixty and its width sixty ; with three courses of great stones and a course of new timber. Let the expenses be given out of the king's house. Also let the gold and silver vessels of house, which took out of which is at and brought to , be restored and brought again to which is at , everything to its place. You shall put them in house. Now therefore, , governor beyond , , and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond , you must stay far from there. Leave the work of this house of alone; let the governor of the and the of the build this house of in its place. Moreover I make a regarding what you shall do for these of the for the building of this house of : that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond , expenses must be given with all diligence to these men, that they not be hindered. That which they have need of, including young bulls, rams, and lambs, for burnt offerings to the of ; also wheat, salt, , and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at , let it be given them day by day without fail, that they may offer of pleasant aroma to the of , and for the life of the king and of his sons. I have also made a that whoever alters this message, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened on it; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. May the who has caused his name to there overthrow all kings and peoples who stretch out their hand to alter this, to destroy this house of which is at . I have made a . Let it be done with all diligence. Then , the governor beyond , , and their companions did accordingly with all diligence, because the king had sent a . The of the built and prospered, through the prophesying of the and the son of . They built and finished it, according to the of the of Israel, and according to the of , , and king of . This house was finished on the third day of the month , which was in the sixth year of the reign of the king. The , the priests, the , and the rest of the children of , kept the dedication of this house of with joy. They offered at the dedication of this house of one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. They set the priests in their divisions and the in their courses, for the of which is at , as in the book of . The children of kept on the fourteenth day of the first month. Because the priests and the had purified themselves together, all of them were pure. They killed for all the children of , for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. The who had returned out of , and all who had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land to seek , the of Israel, ate, and kept the feast of seven days with joy; because had made them joyful, and had turned of the king of to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of , the of Israel's house.
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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.