DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
Persia conquered Babylon, and its king Cyrus issued a decree letting the Judeans return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. The book of Ezra opens with that decree.
Why it’s interesting
The Bible speaks of Cyrus in surprisingly warm terms for a foreign emperor — Isaiah even calls him God's 'anointed.' One empire's fall became another people's homecoming.
Scholarly consensus
You can know the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.