2 CHRONICLES 36:23 — KING JAMES VERSION 0 0
“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.”
The record of Cyrus's proclamation calling for the rebuilding of the Lord's house in Jerusalem and inviting the Jews to return emphasizes the Persians' administrative permission for restoration and the beginning of the return process. The statement that Cyrus recognized that the Lord, the God of heaven, had given him his kingdoms and that he was to rebuild the temple indicates his acknowledgment (however incomplete) of the God of Israel's superior power. The open invitation and the offering to send silver and gold for the temple's construction indicate Persian support for the restoration project. This verse concludes the chronicle with a note of hope and restoration, fulfilling the promise that exile would not be permanent and that God's covenantal purposes would be renewed.
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