In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;
In the first year of King Cyrus's reign, that same King Cyrus made an official order about God's temple in Jerusalem: 'Let the temple be built in the place where they used to offer sacrifices, and let its foundation be laid strong and solid. Let it be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide.'
This verse records King Cyrus's official decree authorizing the Jewish people to rebuild God's temple in Jerusalem with specific dimensions and a strong foundation.
📚 Historical Context
In the historical context, Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC and issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. This decree, as recorded in Ezra 6:3, specified the dimensions of the new structure and marked a key moment in the restoration of Jewish worship and national identity. It fulfilled prophecies from the prophet Isaiah, who had foretold that a ruler named Cyrus would enable this rebuilding.
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