| Ezra 1:2
| Thus saith Cyrus, king of the Persians: The Lord, the God of heaven, hath given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea.
| Earth, which had belonged to the king of Babylon. (Haydock) --- This may be an hyperbole, or allusion to Isaias 45:1. (Menochius) --- The dominions of Cyrus were very extensive, (Xenophon, Cyrop. 1:and viii.) reaching from Ethiopia to the Euxine sea, etc. He acknowledges that he received all from the hand of God. Nabuchodonosor makes a similar confession of his supreme dominion; (Daniel 2:47.) and the potentates of Egypt and of Rome, procured sacrifices to be offered to him. But what advantage did they derive from this sterile knowledge of his divinity? since they did not honour him accordingly, but wished to join his worship with that of idols; though the force of miracles and of reason must have convinced them that there is but one God. (Calmet) --- House, or temple, Isaias 44:28. --- Judea. So the Septuagint read, but the Hebrew has "Juda," all along. The whole country now began to be known by the former name. (Haydock)
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