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Ezra 1 · a question people ask

Is this the same decree that ends 2 Chronicles?

In the text

Ezra 1:1-3 and the last two verses of 2 Chronicles give the same decree in nearly the same words, and the WEB words them differently in a few places. 2 Chronicles has "by the mouth of Jeremiah" (2 Chronicles 36:22), and Ezra "by Jeremiah’s mouth" (1:1). 2 Chronicles has "has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me" (2 Chronicles 36:23), and Ezra "has given me all the kingdoms of the earth" (1:2). 2 Chronicles has "the LORD his God be with him" (2 Chronicles 36:23), and Ezra "may his God be with him" (1:3). And 2 Chronicles ends at "let him go up" (2 Chronicles 36:23), where Ezra goes on: "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" (1:3), with 1:4 after it. 2 Chronicles 36's honest question sets the same verses side by side. Neither book says why the other words it as it does, and these notes don't try to explain the differences or fit them together.

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.’””
2 Chronicles 36:22-23 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ezra 1

Ezra 1: Stirred to go up

Ezra 1 says the LORD stirred two spirits: Cyrus's, to make the proclamation (1:1), and the people's, "all whose spirit God had stirred to go up" (1:5). And the vessels Nebuchadnezzar had put in the house of his gods were counted out and brought up "from Babylon to Jerusalem" (1:11).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions