Cyrus's proclamation permitting the return and the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 1; 6:3–5)

Archaeological evidence

None recorded for this event.

Scientific findings

None recorded for this event.

Ancient documents

• "I returned the images of the gods … to their places"; "I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings" — for Babylonian and trans-Tigridian cities; Judah not named.[1]Bears on: supporting — “Cyrus permitted deported peoples to return and restored their sanctuar…”
• Cyrus learned his charge by reading Isaiah's book, written 140 years before the Temple's destruction.[4]Bears on: supporting — “Isaiah 44:24–45:13 was written before Cyrus's rise (by Isaiah of Jerus…”
• Marduk took a righteous king "by the hand" and "called out his name: Cyrus"; went "at his side" like a friend — language close to Isa 45:1–4, attributed to a different god.[1]Bears on: context — “Isaiah 44:24–45:13 was written before Cyrus's rise (by Isaiah of Jerus…”

Modern news and announcements

None recorded for this event.

Reference works and summaries

• Cyrus's first Babylonian year began 1 Nisan = 24 Mar 538.[2]Bears on: context — “Cyrus permitted deported peoples to return and restored their sanctuar…”
• Cyrus already a famous conqueror but Babylon not yet taken: chs. 40–48 date 550–539, almost certainly after 546; an exilic author was the near-unanimous critical verdict by 1898.[6]Bears on: challenging — “Isaiah 44:24–45:13 was written before Cyrus's rise (by Isaiah of Jerus…”

The seventy weeks (Dan 9:24–27) (Daniel 9:24–27)

Seventy weeks are decreed on Daniel's people and city: seven weeks from a word to rebuild Jerusalem to an anointed prince; sixty-two weeks of rebuilding in troubled times; then an anointed one is cut off, a coming prince's people destroy city and sanctuary, a covenant is made for one week, and in its middle sacrifice ceases and an abomination makes desolate. Jerome already found the passage argued "in various ways by men of greatest learning"; Driver calls it the most discussed passage of the Old Testament. Origen (as reported by Jerome) only urged that the years from Darius's first year to Christ be ascertained.

In the text: The text gives the divisions 7 + 62 + 1 (= 70) weeks and the events attached to them. It does not define a "week", name the decree, the anointed one(s), the prince who comes, or the subject of "he will make a firm covenant", and gives no calendar.

• Maccabean: 587 BC to Cyrus, to the murder of Onias III (171), to Antiochus IV (164)

  PreteristHistorical-criticalMachine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: S. R. Driver (1900); J. A. Montgomery (1927); Bevan, Cornill, Schürer (cited by Driver)

  Textual reasoning: the "word" is Jeremiah's promise of rebuilding (Jer 30–31, c. 587); seven weeks (49 years) bring "an anointed one, a prince" — Cyrus (Isa 45:1), 538 (Graetz and Bevan: Jeshua); the "anointed one cut off" after 62 more weeks is the high priest Onias III (2 Macc 4:33–35, c. 171); the coming prince is Antiochus IV, whose suspension of sacrifice for half a week matches 167–164. Historical evidence: 1–2 Maccabees. Objections: 538 to 171 is 367 years, not 434 — "too large by 67" (Driver); defenders explain it as a mistaken chronology, citing similar over-estimates by Demetrius and Josephus (Schürer). Acceptance: Driver adopts it as the principal alternative to the traditional view; Montgomery says no period "so neatly fits".[8, 12, 13]

  Anointed one, a prince (9:25) → Cyrus (or Jeshua) · Anointed one cut off (9:26) → Onias III · Prince who comes; he who causes sacrifice to cease → Antiochus IV · Last week → 171–164 BC

• Maccabean variant: overlapping weeks from Jer 25 (605 BC)

  PreteristHistorical-criticalMachine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: A. Hilgenfeld; G. Behrmann (both as reported by Driver)

  The word is Jer 25 (606/605); the seven weeks end c. 558 while the 62 weeks run concurrently from the same point to 171; the last week ends 164. Objection (Driver): Jer 25 contains a rebuilding promise only implicitly, and the text gives no hint that the 62 weeks do not follow the 7.[8]

  Seventy weeks → Overlapping periods from 605 to 164 BC

• Messianic, continuous: from Artaxerxes' seventh year (Ezra 7) to Christ

  HistoricistTraditional Protestant; historicistMachine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: I. Newton (1733); W. Miller (1842); Auberlen and Pusey (as reported by Driver)

  Textual reasoning: 490 years run from Ezra's commission (Artaxerxes I year 7; Newton: Julian Period 4257, 458/457 BC) to Christ's death, which "made reconciliation"; Newton counts the 62 weeks separately from Nehemiah's wall (28th year? — Newton) to Christ's birth and applies the seven weeks to the second coming; Miller counts 457 BC + 490 = AD 33. Objections (Driver): Ezra 7 says nothing of rebuilding Jerusalem; the RV punctuation separates the 7 and 62 weeks; Christ's ministry lasted about 3½ years, not a week; the destruction of AD 70 falls outside the 490 years.[8, 14, 15]

  Going out of the word → Artaxerxes I's decree to Ezra (Ezra 7) · Anointed one cut off → The crucifixion of Jesus · People of the prince who comes → The Roman army (AD 70)

• Messianic with a gap: 69 weeks from Artaxerxes' twentieth year to the triumphal entry; the 70th week future

  FuturistDispensational premillennialMachine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Sir Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince (1881); D. Guzik (also citing Walvoord and Ironside)

  Textual reasoning: only Neh 2 commands the city and wall to be built; 69 weeks of 360-day "prophetic years" (173,880 days) run from 1 Nisan of Artaxerxes' 20th year, which Anderson fixes at 14 March 445 BC from an astronomical new moon supplied by the Astronomer Royal, to 6 April AD 32, Jesus' entry into Jerusalem; after the 69th week comes "a gap or parenthesis" and the 70th week is future, with the coming prince as Antichrist. Objections: Guzik himself notes AD 32 is controversial (most chronologists prefer AD 30 or 33); Driver insists the weeks run consecutively and have the same value; Parker & Dubberstein's Babylonian table puts 1 Nisan of Artaxerxes' 20th year on 13 April, not 14 March, 445 (operator comparison — the Judean calendar may have differed). Acceptance: widely held in dispensational circles (not quantified in sources read). Arithmetic (operator check): in Julian reckoning the stated dates are 173,882 days apart; Anderson's 173,880 applies a Gregorian leap-year correction to Julian dates (his own note).[2, 7, 8, 16]

  Going out of the word → Artaxerxes I's commission to Nehemiah (Neh 2) · Anointed one, the prince → Jesus at the triumphal entry · He who makes a firm covenant → A future Antichrist · 70th week → A future seven years

• Africanus: Artaxerxes' 20th year to Christ in lunar years (reported by Jerome)

  PreteristPatristic (3rd century)Machine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Julius Africanus, Chronographiae book 5 (quoted by Jerome)

  Counts from Artaxerxes' 20th year (Ol. 83.4) to the 15th year of Tiberius (Ol. 202.2): 475 solar years, which, reckoned in Hebrew lunar years with intercalation, make 490. Reckoning from Cyrus or from Daniel's vision falls short; from the start of the captivity it overshoots.[17]

  Seventy weeks → From Nehemiah's commission to Christ's passion

• Eusebius (1): the anointed are the high priests from Jeshua to Alexander Jannaeus (reported by Jerome)

  PreteristPatristic (4th century)Machine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Eusebius of Caesarea (quoted by Jerome)

  From Cyrus, 7 weeks cover the long-delayed rebuilding of the Temple; 62 weeks (483 years in all) run through the succession of anointed high priests to the death of Alexander Jannaeus, after which civil strife, Pompey and Herod ended the legitimate line.[17]

  Anointed one(s) → The high priests · Going out of the word → Cyrus's decree

• Eusebius (2): from Darius's sixth year to Herod; the half-week is Christ's ministry (reported by Jerome)

  PreteristPatristic (4th century)Machine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Eusebius of Caesarea (Chronicle; reported by Jerome)

  69 weeks run from the completion of the Temple in Darius's sixth year to Herod's seizure of Judaea and the murder of Hyrcanus; Christ preached 3½ years and after his passion sacrifice ceased "in the middle of the week". Eusebius also reports a view that the last week was seventy years (Nero to Trajan), which Jerome finds inconsistent.[17]

  Anointed one cut off → Hyrcanus II · Middle of the week → Christ's passion

• Hippolytus: 62 weeks to Christ's birth; the last week at the end of the world (reported by Jerome)

  FuturistPatristic (3rd century)Machine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Hippolytus (reported by Jerome)

  Seven weeks precede the return from Babylon, sixty-two run to Christ's birth, and the final week is divided between Elijah and the Antichrist at the end of the age. Jerome objects that the Persian and Macedonian periods give about 560 years, not 483.[17]

  Last week → Elijah and the Antichrist at the end of the world

• Apollinaris of Laodicea: from Christ's birth; a future rebuilding and Antichrist (reported by Jerome)

  FuturistPatristic (4th century)Proponents: Apollinaris of Laodicea (quoted by Jerome)

  Counts from the "going forth of the Word" at Christ's birth: 7 weeks to the eighth year of Claudius, then 62 weeks (434 years), after which Jerusalem would be rebuilt in the last week, Elijah would come and the Antichrist sit in the Temple. Jerome warns that later generations would have to convict him of error if the dates failed; no historical fulfillment is claimed here.[17]

  Seventy weeks → Christ's birth to a future end

• Clement of Alexandria: Cyrus to Vespasian and Titus (reported by Jerome)

  PreteristPatristic (c. AD 200)Machine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Clement of Alexandria (reported by Jerome)

  The seventy weeks span the Persian, Macedonian and Roman ages from Cyrus to the destruction of the Temple under Vespasian and Titus. Jerome objects that this interval is about 630 years.[17]

  Destruction of city and sanctuary → AD 70

• Tertullian: from Darius's first year to Christ's birth (62½ weeks) and to Vespasian (70 weeks) (reported by Jerome)

  PreteristPatristic (c. AD 200), Adversus IudaeosMachine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Tertullian, Against the Jews (quoted by Jerome)

  Begins at the first year of Darius, when the vision was given; Persian, Macedonian and Ptolemaic reigns total 437½ years to Christ's birth in Augustus's 41st year; adding the emperors to Vespasian's capture of Jerusalem completes the seventy weeks. The regnal figures are Tertullian's own and do not match modern chronology.[17]

  Anointed (Saint of saints) → Christ · End of the seventy weeks → The Roman capture of Jerusalem

• "The Hebrews": from Darius the Mede to the destructions under Vespasian and Hadrian (reported by Jerome)

  PreteristJewish interpretation of Jerome's day (as reported by a Christian author)Machine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Jewish teachers reported by Jerome

  From the first year of Darius (who slew Belshazzar), the city and Temple are rebuilt; the 62 weeks run to the perpetual desolation under Vespasian, and the single week is split between Vespasian (3½ years of peace) and Hadrian's final war. Jerome objects that the interval is 696 years. This is a hostile witness's paraphrase; rabbinic sources were not read directly.[17]

  People of the prince who comes → The Romans under Vespasian · Last week → Vespasian and Hadrian

• Symbolic weeks: from Cyrus's word to Christ, the age of the church, and the last enemy

  MixedSymbolic (non-chronological) reading; conservative Lutheran, amillennial-type (Keil after Kliefoth and Leyrer)Machine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: C. F. Keil (1872); Th. Kliefoth and Leyrer (as followed by Keil); J. Baldwin ("symbolic and not arithmetical", as quoted by Guzik)

  Textual reasoning: šābûaʿ means "a period of sevens" without fixing the unit, while Daniel elsewhere uses exact measures (8:14 evenings-mornings; 12:11 days); the answer to Daniel's question about seventy years is a divine measure, not a calendar. The seven sevens run from the word to rebuild (Isa 44:28, Cyrus) to the Messiah; the sixty-two are the building of God's city in troubled times; the last seven is the final enemy's rule and judgment. Every chronological reckoning, Keil argues, does violence to the text or fails arithmetically; the times of the end are reserved to God (Acts 1:7; Mark 13:32). Objections: Guzik criticises commentators who ignore the numbers; Driver requires weeks of equal value in order; preterist and dispensational readers both treat the numbers as calendrical.[7, 8, 18]

  Seven weeks → From Cyrus's word to the coming of Christ · Sixty-two weeks → The age of the Messiah's kingdom in troubled times · Last week → The final enemy and the consummation

Cyrus the LORD's shepherd and anointed (Isa 44:24–45:13) (Isaiah 44:24–45:13)

The LORD names Cyrus "my shepherd", who will fulfil his purpose, say of Jerusalem "She will be built" and of the Temple "Your foundation will be laid" (44:28); calls him "his anointed", whose right hand he has held, to subdue nations and open doors and gates (45:1–3), for Israel's sake though Cyrus has not known him (45:4–5); he will build the LORD's city and free the exiles, not for price or reward (45:13).

In the text: The text names Cyrus explicitly (44:28; 45:1) and states the purposes: Jerusalem rebuilt, the Temple founded, exiles freed. It does not name Babylon in these verses (cf. 47:1; 48:14).

• Predictive prophecy of Isaiah of Jerusalem, fulfilled by Cyrus (539–538)

  PreteristTraditional Jewish and ChristianMachine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: Josephus (Ant. 11.1.1–2: Cyrus read his name in Isaiah, "one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished"); D. Guzik (more than 200 years before Cyrus's birth; citing Poole and Motyer)

  Textual reasoning: the book is headed as Isaiah's (1:1), and the passage presents the naming of Cyrus as proof that the LORD foretells (44:24–26). Fulfilment: Cyrus took Babylon (539) and in his first year authorised the return and the Temple (Ezra 1; 2 Chr 36:22–23). Guzik: the name is woven into the poem and cannot be a later insertion; Motyer: no basis to limit prediction. Josephus says Cyrus himself was moved by reading it. Objection: critical scholarship dates the passage to Cyrus's own career (below). Note: the Whiston text of Josephus gives 140 years before the destruction; Guzik (via Bultema) reports 220.[4, 5, 10]

  My shepherd / his anointed → Cyrus II · Doors and gates opened → Babylon's capture (539)

• An exilic prophet announcing Cyrus's imminent conquest (c. 546–539), fulfilled shortly after

  PreteristHistorical-criticalMachine-proposedIn owner review queueProponents: J. Skinner (1898), summarising S. R. Driver; J. C. Döderlein (1775), with Ibn Ezra as a guarded forerunner (per Skinner)

  Textual reasoning: Cyrus is addressed as an already famous conqueror whose victories have shaken the world (41:2–3, 25) while Babylon's capture is still future (45:2–3; 48:14), so chs. 40–48 date between 550 and 539, almost certainly after the fall of Sardis (546); 46:1 may allude to Nabonidus's moving of the gods in 539 (Sellin, via Skinner). The announced events followed: Babylon fell in 539 and Cyrus's decree allowed the return. Objection: Guzik and Motyer reject the premise that detailed prediction is impossible; Skinner records that the case rests on internal evidence.[5, 6]

  My shepherd / his anointed → Cyrus II (contemporary with the prophet)