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Cyrus lets the exiles go home

Cyrus lets the exiles go home is dated 538 BC. It is told in Ezra 1:1.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

Ezra 1:1 BSB

When did it happen?

Modern reckoning
538 BC
Traditional reckoning
538 BC
How it's dated
Babylonian records

Not in Theographic. Cyrus took Babylon in October 539 BC; his first year as its king began in 538.

Dates before about 900 BC depend on how the Bible's own numbers are added up. Why the two reckonings differ.

Sources: Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7); Ezra 1:1.

Where is it in the Bible?

Which verses connect to Ezra 1:1?

The strongest cross-references of the key verse, ranked by reader votes (OpenBible.info).

  1. Jeremiah 29:1035 votes

    For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.

  2. 2 Chronicles 36:22–2326 votes

    In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’”

  3. Jeremiah 25:12–1416 votes

    But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation. I will bring upon that land all the words I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. …

  4. Ezra 6:2214 votes

    For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

  5. Ezra 7:2713 votes

    Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put into the heart of the king to so honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,

  6. Proverbs 21:112 votes

    The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.

Events, people and places: Theographic Bible Metadata (Robert Rouse), CC BY-SA 4.0, reshaped; dates also from the sources named on each anchor.