--- title: "Ezra 1 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary" description: "Read Ezra 1 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1" --- [ Read](/kjv/ezra/1)[ Commentary](/study/ezra/1)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/ezra/1) Audio 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and *put it* also in writing, saying,* 2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which *is* in Judah. 3 Who *is there* among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which *is* in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he *is* the God,) which *is* in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that *is* in Jerusalem.* 5 ¶ Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all *them* whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which *is* in Jerusalem. 6 And all they that *were* about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all *that* was willingly offered.* 7 ¶ Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; 8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 And this *is* the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, 10 Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second *sort* four hundred and ten, *and* other vessels a thousand. 11 All the vessels of gold and of silver *were* five thousand and four hundred. All *these* did Sheshbazzar bring up with *them of* the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.* [2 Chronicles 36](/study/2-chronicles/36) [Ezra 2](/study/ezra/2) ## Commentary To verse 1 *TURNING AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF ZION* **‘The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus.’** ** [Ezra 1:1](/kjv/ezra/1/1)** ** Of this chapter little is necessary to be said in the way of homiletic analysis. The theme may be more easily handled, possibly, in a series of observations or topics. **I. For example, we see how the kingdom of God’s providence works into the kingdom of God’s grace.**—Judah had deeply sinned in those old, sad days of folly; and God had sent His fearful retributions upon the wrong-doers. But what if some did not believe—should such a wickedness make the promises of Jehovah of none effect? The time came at last when the nation would have to resume its former life; so Jerusalem must be rebuilded, and the land of the ancient covenant would be repeopled. For the tribe of Judah was that in particular in which the promised Messiah was to be born. It would not do to leave this genealogical line to become mingled and smothered among the Persians, or to be mysteriously suffered to fall out of history, as did the other ‘ten lost tribes of Israel.’ The New Testament was all in this crisis period of the Old. The gospel had some claims of its own, and so now the historic development of the race of redeemed ones was resumed. **II. We see, in the next place, how unconsciously every man’s life is formed upon the plan of God concerning him.**—This classic Cyrus, with whose name all schoolboys are familiar, had been mentioned in prophecy by name. So striking is the passage that it should be read in full before we undertake to move on in the story. It appears that the life of Cyrus had been moulded according to a fixed purpose of Almighty God from the beginning. It was for Jacob His servant’s sake that He had called him; on account of Israel His elect, He first mentioned and chose him; He surnamed him before he was born. The deliverer was raised up before the captivity came. **III. Once more: we learn from this story how the entrance of God’s Word gives light even to the mind of a heathen.**—It is a delightful surprise to find such a man as Cyrus confessing and declaring so much concerning the Deity Whom Judah worshipped. In the language of this one decree he acknowledges the existence of the Almighty One, and that by His own name. He makes no impertinent inquiry like Pharaoh in the old time: ‘Who is Jehovah?’ but he describes Him as supreme, ‘Lord God of heaven.’ This man Cyrus may have been a fire-worshipper, like the rest of the people about him; but that work for which the great God chose him changed him. Josephus tells us that those passages which related to himself were read to Cyrus just as they had been written more than a century before. So the instant he opened his mind to such sudden and vast revelation from heaven above, that he was to be an instrument in Jehovah’s hand, he was filled with a sense of what it meant; it subdued and educated him. He could then exclaim, ‘Jehovah, the God of Israel—He is the God!’ **Illustration** ‘God will ever be mindful of His covenant. And there were also many remembrancers, as Daniel and other like-minded pious exiles, who gave Him no rest, and were ever asking Him, for David’s sake, to bring His people from captivity. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus (1), and the spirits of the people (5). How clearly the minds of men are subject to His promptings! May we never be disobedient to the heavenly visions that visit us, but always on the alert to work out with fear and trembling whatsoever He may work in.’ ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1","name":"Ezra 1 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Ezra 1 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","name":"the church pulpit commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra","name":"Ezra"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/ezra/1","name":"1"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```