Ezra 1

The Cyrus Cylinder contains a statement related to the Cyrus's edict which gives the historical background to the Book of Ezra: Cyrus's edict is significant to the return of the Jews, because it shows that they did not slip away from Babylon but were given official permission by the Persian king in the first year of his rule, and it is a specific fulfillment of the seventy years prophecy of Jeremiah (, ). ==Text==

(4th century AD), from the Vatican Library, containing 1 Esdras 1:55–2:5. The text is written in Biblical Hebrew and divided into 11 verses. Textual witnesses There is a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; \mathfrak{G}B; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; \mathfrak{G}A; 5th century). An ancient Greek book called 1 Esdras (Greek: Ἔσδρας Αʹ) containing some parts of 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah is included in most editions of the Septuagint and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah (which is titled in Greek: Ἔσδρας Βʹ). 1 Esdras 2:1–14 is the equivalent of Ezra 1:1–11 (Cyrus's edict). An early manuscript containing the text of this chapter in Biblical Hebrew is the Codex Leningradensis (1008 CE). Since the anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo in 1947, the whole book of Ezra–Nehemiah has been missing from the text of the Aleppo Codex. ==Biblical narrative==

, which contains the title of Cyrus as the "king of Persia". , containing inscription similar to the Cyrus's edict. Ezra 1 starts by providing historical context of a real event: "the first year of Cyrus king of Persia", but immediately follows with the statement about Yahweh, who has the real control and even already speaks about this event before the birth of Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28; 45:13) and the fulfillment of his word through Jeremiah. Verse 1 Verse 2 Verse 3 Verse 4 Verse 7 The Temple treasures that Nebuchadnezzar took away () are now to be returned to Jerusalem. Verse 11 The equivalent verse in 1 Esdras (verse 14) numbers these articles as 5469. ==See also==