Ezra 5:13

13 "But when Cyrus became king of Babylon, in his first year he issued a building permit to rebuild this Temple of God.

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 is what they told us: "We are servants of the God of the heavens and the earth. We are rebuilding The Temple that was built a long time ago. A great king of Israel built it, the entire structure.
12 But our ancestors made the God of the heavens really angry and he turned them over to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who knocked this Temple down and took the people to Babylon in exile.
13 "But when Cyrus became king of Babylon, in his first year he issued a building permit to rebuild this Temple of God.
14 He also gave back the gold and silver vessels of The Temple of God that Nebuchadnezzar had carted off and put in the Babylon temple. Cyrus the king removed them from the temple of Babylon and turned them over to Sheshbazzar, the man he had appointed governor.
15 He told him, 'Take these vessels and place them in The Temple of Jerusalem and rebuild The Temple of God on its original site.'
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.