Cyrus's edict

The Edict of Cyrus is part of the biblical narrative about the return from Babylonian captivity. The edict is thrice mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, each time with minor textual variations and additions. It is presented as authorizing and encouraging the Jews exiled by Nebuchadnezzar to relocate to the Land of Israel and actively engage in rebuilding the temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The historical background of the narrative is confirmed by archaeology, but the edict as such is not corroborated by any finds; its existence as one single legal act, rather than a general policy of repatriation, is contested.

The Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient clay cylinder on which is written a declaration in the name of Cyrus referring to restoration of temples and repatriation of exiled peoples, has often been taken as corroboration of the authenticity of the biblical decrees attributed to Cyrus, but other scholars point out that the cylinder's text is specific to Babylon and Mesopotamia and makes no mention of Judah or Jerusalem. Professor Lester L. Grabbe asserted that the "alleged decree of Cyrus" regarding Judah, "cannot be considered authentic", but that there was a "general policy of allowing deportees to return and to re-establish cult sites". He also stated that archaeology suggests that the return was a "trickle" taking place over decades, rather than a single event.

The initial text (based on the view that the book of Ezra is a continuum of the text of Chronicles) of Cyrus's edict:

And in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, at the completion of the word of the Lord in the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord aroused the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying: So said Cyrus the king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has the Lord God of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Who among you is of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and he may ascend.

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