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ובשׁנת8141 אחת259 לכורשׁ3566 מלך4428 פרס6539 לכלות3615 דבר1697 יהוה3068 מפי6310 ירמיה3414 העיר5782 יהוה3068 את853 רוח7307 כרשׁ3566 מלך4428 פרס6539 ויעבר5674 קול6963 בכל3605 מלכותו4438 וגם1571 במכתב4385 לאמר׃559

2Ch 36:22,23

Verse 1. Now in the first year] This is word for word with the two last verses of the preceding book; which stand here in their proper place and connection, but there are entirely destitute of chronological connection and reference.

Cyrus] This prince, so eminent in antiquity, is said to have been the son of Cambyses king of Persia, and Mandane, daughter of Astyages king of the Medes; and was born about six hundred years before Christ. Josephus accounts for his partiality to the Jews from this circumstance; that he was shown the places in Isaiah the prophet where he is mentioned by name, and his exploits and conquests foretold: see Isa. xliv. 28; xlv. 1, &c. Finding himself thus distinguished by the God of the Jews, he was anxious to give him proofs of his gratitude in return; and so made the decree in favour of the Jews, restored their sacred vessels, gave them liberty to return to their own land, and encouraged them to rebuild the temple of Jehovah, &c.

It is very probable that when Cyrus took Babylon he found Daniel there, who had been long famed as one of the wisest ministers of state in all the East; and it is most likely that it was this person who pointed out to him the prophecy of Isaiah, and gave him those farther intimations relative to the Divine will which were revealed to himself. Of his death there are contradictory accounts. Herodotus says, that having turned his arms against the Massagetes, and killed the son of Tomyris their queen, the mother, impatient to avenge the death of her son, sent him a defiance; promised to glut him with blood; and, having attacked him, pretended to be worsted and to fly; and thus she drew him and his army into an ambuscade, where he was routed and slain, and a considerable part of his army destroyed. The enraged queen having found his body, cut off his head, and threw it into a vessel full of human blood, with this most bitter sarcasm:- eu men, emeu zwshv te kai nikwshv ev machn, apwlesav paida ton emon, elwn dolw? se dÆ egw, kataper hpeilhsa, aimatov koresw.- HEROD. Clio, c. 214.

"Although living and victorious, thou hast destroyed me in slaying my son, whom thou hast overcome by deceit; but, as I have threatened, I will now slake thy thirst with blood." Cyrus, thy thirst was blood, now drink thy fill.

By-Jeremiah] This prophet, Jer. xxv. 12; xxix. 11, had foretold that the Babylonish captivity should last only seventy years: these were now ended; Cyrus had given the Jews permission and encouragement to return to Judea, and rebuild the temple of the Lord; and thus the prediction of Jeremiah was fulfilled.

Ver. 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia , etc.] Not in the first of his reign over Persia, for he had been many years king over that, and now had all the kingdoms of the earth given him, ( Ezra 1:2), but over Babylon, and the dominions belonging to it, which commenced with Darius upon the taking of Babylon; he reigned in all thirty years, as Cicero from a Persian writer relates; or twenty nine, according to Herodotus f8 ; but in what year this was is not certain; Africanus f9 , has proved, from various historians, that it was the first year of the fifty fifth Olympiad, perhaps about the twentieth of Cyrus’s Persian government f10 ; (See Gill on “ Daniel 10:1”), that the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled ; which foretold that the Jews should return from their captivity at the end of seventy years, which fell on the first of Cyrus, reckoning from the fourth of Jehoiakim, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar, (see Jeremiah 25:1,11,12 29:10). The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia ; who has the hearts of all men in his hands, and even of the kings of the earth, and can turn them as he pleases; he wrought upon him, put it into his heart, enlightened his mind, showed him what was right, and his duty to do, and pressed him to the performance of it; so that he could not be easy until he had done it, and he was made thoroughly willing, and even eager to do it: that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom , and put it also in writing; gave it in writing to his heralds to read and proclaim throughout all his dominions: saying ; as follows.

ובשׁנת8141 אחת259 לכורשׁ3566 מלך4428 פרס6539 לכלות3615 דבר1697 יהוה3068 מפי6310 ירמיה3414 העיר5782 יהוה3068 את853 רוח7307 כרשׁ3566 מלך4428 פרס6539 ויעבר5674 קול6963 בכל3605 מלכותו4438 וגם1571 במכתב4385 לאמר׃559