Yǐsīlājì 1:2

2 Bōsī wáng Gǔliè rúcǐ shuō , Yēhéhuá tiān shang de shén , yǐ jiāng tiān xià wàn guó cìgĕi wǒ . yòu zhǔfu wǒ zaì Yóudà de Yēlùsǎlĕng , wèi tā jiànzào diàn yǔ .

Yǐsīlājì 1:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 1:2

Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia
Of whom, and this edict of his, Isaiah prophesied two hundred years before he was born, ( Isaiah 44:28 )

the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth;
many he had conquered before he took Babylon, and then the whole Babylonian monarchy fell into his hands. Herodotus ^F12 says, he ruled over all Asia; Xenophon ^F13 reckons up many nations that were under his government, Medes and Hyrcanians, Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, Sacae or Scythians, Paphlagonians, Megadinians, and many other nations, the Greeks inhabiting Asia, and the Cyprians, and Egyptians; and elsewhere he says ^F14, the borders of his kingdom were, to the east the Red sea, to the north the Euxine Pontus, to the west Cyprus and Egypt, and to the south Ethiopia. And the possession of these kingdoms Cyrus ascribes, not to his own martial courage and skill, but to the providence and disposal of the God of heaven, which he seems to have had some notion of:

and he hath charged me to build an house at Jerusalem, which is in
Judah;
in the prophecy of Isaiah, which, according to Josephus ^F15, he had seen and read, and believed it to be a charge upon him, and a command unto him to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem; however, to give leave for the rebuilding of it, and to encourage to it, and assist in it; an Arabic writer says ^F16, that Cyrus married a sister of Zerubbabel, and that it was at her request that the Jews had leave to return; which is merely fabulous.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 130. So Sallust, Bell. Catalin. p. 2.
F13 Cyropaedia, l. 1. in principio.
F14 L. 8. c. 48.
F15 Antiqu. l. 11. c. 1. sect. 1, 2.
F16 Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 5. p. 82.

Yǐsīlājì 1:2 In-Context

1 Bōsī wáng Gǔliè yuán nián , Yēhéhuá wéi yào yìngyàn jiè Yēlìmǐ kǒu suǒ shuō de huà , jiù jīdòng Bōsī wáng sāi lǔ shì de xīn , shǐ tā xià zhào tōng gào quán guó , shuō ,

2 Bōsī wáng Gǔliè rúcǐ shuō , Yēhéhuá tiān shang de shén , yǐ jiāng tiān xià wàn guó cìgĕi wǒ . yòu zhǔfu wǒ zaì Yóudà de Yēlùsǎlĕng , wèi tā jiànzào diàn yǔ .

3 Zaì nǐmen zhōngjiān fán zuò tā zǐmín de , kĕyǐ shang Yóudà de Yēlùsǎlĕng , zaì Yēlùsǎlĕng zhòng jiàn Yēhéhuá Yǐsèliè shén de diàn ( zhǐyǒu tā shì shén ) . yuàn shén yǔ zhè rén tóng zaì .

4 Fán shèngxia de rén , wúlùn jìjū héchu , nà dì de rén yào yòng jīn yín , cáiwù , shēngchù bāngzhu tā , Lìngwaì yĕ yào wèi Yēlùsǎlĕng shén de diàn gānxīn xiànshang lǐwù .

5 Yúshì , Yóudà hé Biànyǎmǐn de zúzhǎng , jìsī , Lìwèi rén , jiù shì yīqiè beì shén jīdòng tā xīn de rén , dōu qǐlai yào shang Yēlùsǎlĕng qù jiànzào Yēhéhuá de diàn .