Esdras 1:2

2 Así ha dicho Ciro rey de Persia: Jehová Dios de los cielos me ha dado todos los reinos de la tierra, y me ha mandado que le edifique casa en Jerusalem, que está en Judá.

Esdras 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.

Esdras 1:2 In-Context

1 Y EN el primer año de Ciro rey de Persia, para que se cumpliese la palabra de Jehová por boca de Jeremías, excitó Jehová el espíritu de Ciro rey de Persia, el cual hizo pasar pregón por todo su reino, y también por escrito, diciendo:

2 Así ha dicho Ciro rey de Persia: Jehová Dios de los cielos me ha dado todos los reinos de la tierra, y me ha mandado que le edifique casa en Jerusalem, que está en Judá.

3 ¿Quién hay entre vosotros de todo su pueblo? Sea Dios con él, y suba á Jerusalem que está en Judá, y edifique la casa á Jehová Dios de Israel, (él es el Dios,) la cual está en Jerusalem.

4 Y á cualquiera que hubiere quedado de todos los lugares donde peregrinare, los hombres de su lugar le ayuden con plata, y oro, y hacienda, y con bestias; con dones voluntarios para la casa de Dios, la cuál está en Jerusalem.

5 Entonces se levantaron los cabezas de las familias de Judá y de Benjamín, y los sacerdotes y Levitas, todos aquellos cuyo espíritu despertó Dios para subir á edificar la casa de Jehová, la cual está en Jerusalem.