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Cyrus

Cyrus II of Persia, also known as Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus the Persian, allied with the Medes, conquered the Babylonian Empire and freed the descendants of the kingdom of Judah who had been taken into captivity. Several prophets foretold the fall of Babylon. Isaiah even mentioned Cyrus by name years before he rose to defeat the Babylonians.

  • by Jerold Aust
Decades after the Jews went into captivity in Babylon, King Cyrus of Persia made a decree (ca. 538 B.C.) that the Jews in Babylon could return to Jerusalem.