Ezra 6:2

2 And in Ecbat'ana, the capital which is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: "A record.

Ezra 6:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 6:2

And there was found at Achmetha
Which Jarchi and Aben Ezra take to be the name of a vessel in which letters and writings were put for safety; but it was no doubt the name of a place; the Vulgate Latin version has it Ecbatana; and so Josephus ^F19; which was the name of a city in Media, where the kings of that country had their residence in the summer time ^F20; for it has its name from heat ^F21; the Persian kings dwelt at Shushan in the winter, and at Ecbatana in the summer {w}; hence they are compared by Aelian ^F24 to cranes, birds of passage, because of their going to and from the above places:

in the palace that is in the province of the Medes,
here was found

a roll;
which was the decree of Cyrus, which perhaps he took with him when he went thither:

and therein was a record thus written;
as follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 6.
F20 Curtius, l. 5. c. 8. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 6.
F21 Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 618.
F23 Athen. Deipnosophist, l. 12. c. 1.
F24 De Animal. l. 3. c. 13.

Ezra 6:2 In-Context

1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were stored.

2 And in Ecbat'ana, the capital which is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: "A record.

3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices are offered and burnt offerings are brought; its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits,

4 with three courses of great stones and one course of timber; let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.

5 And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnez'zar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple which is in Jerusalem, each to its place; you shall put them in the house of God."