2 Chronicles 36 · a question people ask
Why does 2 Chronicles end at "let him go up"?
The book doesn't say why. It ends, "Whoever there is among you of all his people, the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up" (36:23). The book of Ezra opens with the same decree and goes on: "Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem" (Ezra 1:3). The two are worded a little differently in the WEB elsewhere too: "by the mouth of Jeremiah" (36:22) and "by Jeremiah’s mouth" (Ezra 1:1); "has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me" (36:23) and "has given me all the kingdoms of the earth" (Ezra 1:2); "the LORD his God be with him" (36:23) and "may his God be with him" (Ezra 1:3). 2 Chronicles stops at "let him go up" (36:23), where Ezra goes on. These notes set the two side by side and say no more about why.
The verses
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the LORD’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, “Cyrus king of Persia says, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me; and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.’””