Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Ezra
Chapter 1: The LORD Stirred Up a King
Seventy years earlier Jerusalem had fallen and its people were carried to Babylon. Now the empire has changed hands, and the LORD moves the heart of a pagan king to send His people home. Ezra opens with a proclamation that reads like a miracle: Cyrus of Persia commanding the exiles to go up and rebuild the house of God. It is the answer to a promise God made long before, and a picture of the God who holds kings' hearts in His hand.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Ezra chapter 1. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Ezra tells the story of the return from exile and the rebuilding of God's house and God's people, and it opens with the decree that made it possible. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
The Return Home
Ezra records the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon and the rebuilding of the temple, followed by Ezra's own mission to restore the people to the law of God. It is a book of restoration.
Ezra the Scribe
Ezra, a priest and "ready scribe in the law of Moses" (Ezra 7:6), is traditionally credited with the book. Portions are written in the first person as his own account.
Persia Rules the World
Babylon has fallen to Cyrus of Persia. In his first year, roughly 538 BC, the seventy years of captivity that Jeremiah foretold have run their course, and God moves to bring His people home.
God Keeps His Word
The return is not a lucky turn of politics. It is God fulfilling a specific promise, on time, by moving the heart of the most powerful man on earth.
The LORD Stirred Up Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-2)
The book opens by naming the true mover behind the decree: not Persian policy, but the God who had spoken through Jeremiah.
That the Word of the LORD Might Be Fulfilled
"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, 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."
Hebrew Study
"Stirred up," he'ir (from עוּר). The word means to rouse or awaken, as one wakens a sleeper. God did not merely permit Cyrus to act; He awakened the king's spirit and set it in motion. The same God who moved the heart is the God who kept the promise.
"That the word of the LORD... might be fulfilled." Jeremiah had foretold that after seventy years God would visit His people and bring them back (Jeremiah 29:10). The chronicler dates the return by that prophecy: history is running on God's timetable, not Persia's.
Explanation
The book opens on a stunning act of divine sovereignty. "The LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus," the pagan emperor of Persia, to decree the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of the temple — "that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled." Jeremiah had foretold seventy years of exile, then restoration (Jeremiah 29:10); and to the very hour God moved the heart of the most powerful man on earth to accomplish His word. Kings are but instruments in the hand of the God who keeps His promises.
Gospel Focus
"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Proverbs 21:1). Cyrus thought he was setting policy for his empire; in truth God was keeping a word spoken decades before through Jeremiah. Nothing about our circumstances is outside God's reach, not the decisions of rulers, not the timing of our deliverance. When it seems the door is shut and the exile endless, remember that the God who promised is also the God who moves kings. His word does not fail, and it does not run late.
Whoever Is Among You (Ezra 1:3-4)
The decree calls God's people to return, and calls their neighbors to send them out with support.
Let Him Go Up
"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. 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."
Hebrew Study
Cyrus's decree rings with the language of pilgrimage: "let him go up to Jerusalem" — alah, to ascend. The return from Babylon is not merely a journey but an ascent to the city of God, echoing the "going up" to worship. And the decree charges those who stay behind to supply the pilgrims "with silver, and with gold, and with goods" — the temple to be rebuilt out of freely given offerings, as God's house has always been.
Explanation
The door is opened, but each person must choose to walk through it. Many Jews had built comfortable lives in Babylon over seventy years; the journey back was long and the work hard. The decree does not compel; it invites: "Who is among you?" Those who go are those whose hearts God has stirred to answer. The offer of return meant nothing to those content to stay.
Gospel Focus
Redemption is offered to all, but received by those who rise and come. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). God had opened the way home, yet only a remnant went up, choosing the harder road of God's house over the ease of Babylon. So it is with the gospel: the invitation goes out to everyone, but it is the pilgrim who leaves the far country and sets his face toward the Father's house who actually comes home. The question of Ezra 1:3 is still asked today: who is among you? Will you go up?
Those Whose Spirits God Moved (Ezra 1:5-6)
A remnant rises to go, and their neighbors strengthen their hands with gifts for the journey and the work.
All Whose Spirits God Had Moved
"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. 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. 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; 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. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. 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."
Hebrew Study
Who actually rose to make the long journey home? "All them whose spirit God had raised" — the verb ur, to stir up, awaken. The same God who stirred Cyrus's spirit to issue the decree now stirs the hearts of the exiles to answer it. Divine sovereignty and human willingness meet in one word: God awakens, and the awakened go.
Explanation
Notice that not all the exiles returned. After seventy years many had built comfortable lives in Babylon, and only those "whose spirit God had raised" set out for a ruined city and a hard rebuilding. The remnant is always the willing-hearted, moved by God. And as they go, their neighbors strengthen "their hands with vessels of silver... goods, and... beasts" — an echo of the Exodus, when Israel left Egypt laden with gifts. God provides for the journey He calls His people to make.
Gospel Focus
Notice the same word again: God had "moved" their spirits, just as He had "stirred up" Cyrus. The same divine hand that turned the heart of a pagan king also touched the hearts of ordinary believers to answer the call. God works on both ends: He opens the door, and He gives the willingness to walk through it. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). If your heart is stirred to seek Him, to build, to go, that stirring is itself the grace of God at work in you. Do not quench it; arise and answer.
Chapter 1 in Review
Ezra 1 opens the story of the return from exile. In the first year of Cyrus, the LORD stirs up the Persian king to proclaim throughout his empire that God's people may go up to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, fulfilling the word spoken through Jeremiah. The decree invites, "Who is among you?", and a remnant, all those whose spirits God had moved, rises to make the journey, strengthened by the gifts of their neighbors and by the temple vessels Cyrus restores.
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter is a testimony to a sovereign, promise-keeping God. He turns the heart of a king to keep a word spoken decades before, and He moves ordinary hearts to answer His call. The way home is opened by grace and walked by those grace makes willing. The God who brought Judah out of Babylon is the same God who calls us out of the far country and home to Himself.
- God keeps His word on time; the return fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecy exactly.
- The king's heart is in God's hand; He moves rulers to accomplish His purposes (Proverbs 21:1).
- The invitation is open to all, but answered by those whose spirits God has moved.
- God works in us both to will and to do; a stirred heart is grace at work (Philippians 2:13).
Questions for Reflection
- God kept His promise after seventy long years. Where are you waiting, and how does His faithfulness to Judah encourage you?
- Many stayed comfortable in Babylon. Is there a call of God you have been too settled to answer?
- God moved the spirits of those who went. Have you sensed Him stirring your heart to build, to go, or to return to Him?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Cyrus's decree in fulfillment of prophecy: Ezra 1:1-4; Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10.
- The king's heart in the hand of the LORD: Proverbs 21:1.
- The open invitation to come: Ezra 1:3; Revelation 22:17.
- Those whose spirits God moved: Ezra 1:5-6; Philippians 2:13.
- Cyrus foretold by name generations earlier: Isaiah 44:28; 45:1.