Ezra 5:13

13 "However, in the first year of the reign of King Cyrus of Babylon, Cyrus gave permission for God's temple to be rebuilt.

Ezra 5:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 5:13

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon
That is, the first year he was king of Babylon, having taken it, otherwise he was king of Persia many years before:

the same King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God;
see ( Ezra 1:1-4 ) .

Ezra 5:13 In-Context

11 This was their reply to us: "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple that was originally built many years ago by a great king of Israel.

12 But because our ancestors made the God of heaven angry, he handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (a Chaldean). So Nebuchadnezzar destroyed this temple and deported its people to Babylon.

13 "However, in the first year of the reign of King Cyrus of Babylon, Cyrus gave permission for God's temple to be rebuilt.

14 In addition, Cyrus took out of a temple in Babylon the gold and silver utensils that belonged to God's temple. (Nebuchadnezzar had taken them out of God's temple in Jerusalem and brought them into a temple in Babylon.) Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.

15 Cyrus told him, 'Take these utensils. Place them in the temple in Jerusalem. Rebuild God's temple on its original site.'