World English Bible · The Persian return
Zechariah 9
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A . word is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon — for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward — and , also, which borders on it, and , because they are very . built herself a , and heaped up silver like , and fine gold like the mire of the streets. Behold, will dispossess her, and he will strike her in the sea; and she will be devoured with . will see it, and fear; also, and will writhe in agony; as will , for her will be disappointed; and the king will from , and will not be inhabited. will in , and I will the pride of the . I will take away his out of his , and his from between his teeth; and he also will be a for our ; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and as a . I will encamp around my house against the army, that no one pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them any more: for now I have seen with my eyes. Rejoice greatly, daughter of ! Shout, daughter of ! Behold, your King comes to you! He is , and having ; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will the chariot from and the horse from . The battle bow will ; and he will speak peace to the nations. His will be from sea to sea, and from to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of of your , I have your prisoners from in which is no water. Turn to the , you prisoners of ! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you. For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have loaded the bow with . I will stir up your sons, , against your sons, , and will make you like of a mighty man. will be seen over them. His arrow will flash like lightning. will blow the , and will go with whirlwinds of the south. of Armies will defend them. They will destroy and overcome with sling stones. They will drink, and roar as through . They will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the . their will them in that day as the his people; for they are like the jewels of a , lifted on high over his land. For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and the virgins.
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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.