Skip to content
Biblical History Atlas

Historical event dossier · Religious

The returned exiles keep the Passover after the Temple's dedication (Ezra 6:19–22)

Researched — not human reviewedRevision 1Last reviewed: not reviewed

No review items are open for this dossier. Classifications remain machine-proposed unless marked as approved by the owner.

Biblical references

Text: World English Bible (public domain). The ESV and NKJV are the preferred study translations and are referenced, not reproduced.

Ezra 6:19–22Narration
19 The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 Because the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, all of them were pure. They killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 21 The children of Israel who had returned out of the captivity, and all who had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, ate, 22 and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; because the LORD had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of God, the God of Israel’s house.

Biblical account

Layer: Biblical text

The exiles kept the Passover on 14/I; the priests and Levites, all purified, slaughtered it for everyone; the returned exiles and all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations to seek the LORD ate it, and kept Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, because the LORD had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them to strengthen their hands in the work.

Historical overview

Layer: Historical reconstruction · Period: Spring 515 BC (Darius I, year 7), after the completion

The first Passover at the rebuilt Temple. The Hebrew of 6:19–22 resumes after the Aramaic section ends at 6:18.[1]

Kingdoms: Achaemenid Persian Empire, Kingdom of Judah

Date and chronology derivation

Ranges are computed by the project's deterministic chronology engine from the biblical statements and each model's reign anchors. They are reconstructions, not independent dates.

516 BC – 515 BC

Model-independent (applies under every chronology model) · precision: regnal year

How this range was derived

Earliest bound

  1. “This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king” — The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15) in regnal year reign of Darius I (the Great) (year 6) [reckoned accession, nisan new year] (Ezra 6:15)[3]Assumption: Babylonian Nisan-based years: year 6 = spring 516 – spring 515, so Adar falls in Feb–Mar 515 (Parker & Dubberstein table).
  2. “The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month” — The returned exiles keep the Passover after the Temple's dedication (Ezra 6:19–22) days later The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15) (Ezra 6:19)Assumption: From 3 (or 23) Adar to 14 Nisan of the following year is about 20–41 days with 29/30-day months, or longer if the year had an intercalary Adar; 30–60 days is an operator margin taking the Hebrew "3 Adar" with a possible second Adar.

Latest bound

  1. “This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king” — The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15) in regnal year reign of Darius I (the Great) (year 6) [reckoned accession, nisan new year] (Ezra 6:15)[3]Assumption: Babylonian Nisan-based years: year 6 = spring 516 – spring 515, so Adar falls in Feb–Mar 515 (Parker & Dubberstein table).
  2. “The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month” — The returned exiles keep the Passover after the Temple's dedication (Ezra 6:19–22) days later The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15) (Ezra 6:19)Assumption: From 3 (or 23) Adar to 14 Nisan of the following year is about 20–41 days with 29/30-day months, or longer if the year had an intercalary Adar; 30–60 days is an operator margin taking the Hebrew "3 Adar" with a possible second Adar.

View on the timeline →

What else was happening? (model-independent)

  • Daniel's refusal of the king's food and the ten-day test (Dan 1:8–16): 606 BC – ?
  • Nebuchadnezzar's golden image on the plain of Dura (Dan 3:1–7): 603 BC – ?
  • Nebuchadnezzar's decree honouring the God of the three Judeans (Dan 3:28–30): 603 BC – ?
  • The refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace (Dan 3:8–27): 603 BC – ?
  • The thirty-day decree and Daniel in the lions' den (Dan 6:4–23): 539 BC – ?
  • Darius appoints 120 satraps and three chief officials (Dan 6:1–3, 28): 539 BC – ?
  • The accusers punished; Darius's decree honouring the God of Daniel (Dan 6:24–27): 539 BC – ?
  • The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15): 516 BC – 515 BC
  • Darius I (the Great) (reign): 522 BC – 486 BC
  • Darius I confirms Cyrus's decree and orders the Temple completed (Ezra 6:1–12): 520 BC – 515 BC
  • Gedaliah governs from Mizpah and is assassinated (2 Kgs 25:22–26): 589 BC – ?
  • Tattenai governor of Beyond the River inquires and writes to Darius (Ezra 5:3–17): 520 BC – 515 BC
  • Accusations to Ahasuerus and the Rehum–Shimshai letter to Artaxerxes; the city's rebuilding stopped (Ezra 4:6–23): 537 BC – ?
  • Crowns made from the exiles' gifts and set on Joshua; the oracle of the Branch (Zech 6:9–15): 520 BC – 515 BC
  • The first "burden" of Zechariah 9–11 (undated oracle collection): 518 BC – ?
  • The second "burden" of Zechariah 12–14 (undated oracle collection): 518 BC – ?

Ancient and modern geography

Location confidence assumes the event as described. Whether it occurred is assessed in the claims below.

PlaceConnection to this eventLocation identification
JerusalemJerusalem (Old City / City of David)TempleLocation confidence: certainPleiades representative point: certain[4]

View on the map →

Claims, evidence and classifications

Each claim is classified on its own. A classification describes the evidence for that specific claim, not for the event as a whole.

The returned community kept the Passover at the rebuilt Temple in the spring after its completion.

No independent corroboration foundMachine-proposedExternal evidence

Known only from Ezra 6:19–22 (1 Esdras 7 parallels it). No external evidence.

Context

  • The king of Assur is Darius, ruler of the former realm of Assyria.[1]Strength: indirect·on 6:22·Claim checked

Research date 2026-10-13

Evidence by type

The same evidence regrouped by kind of source. Each item names the claims it bears on.

Archaeological evidence

None recorded for this event.

Scientific findings

None recorded for this event.

Ancient documents

None recorded for this event.

Modern news and announcements

None recorded for this event.

Reference works and summaries

Related passages and events

FromRelationshipToBasis
this eventPreceded byhigh · Biblical textThe rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15)The Passover followed the completion and dedication.
this eventThematic parallelmedium · Biblical textThe Passover of Josiah's eighteenth yearLike Josiah's Passover, the Levites slaughter for all (2 Chr 35:11).

Prophetic relationships

No prophecy or proposed-fulfillment relationships have been recorded for this event.

Commentary references

Layer: Interpretation. This is commentary, not historical evidence.

Guzik treats the Passover as the joyful climax of the rebuilding.[5]

Unanswered questions and research gaps

  • Who "had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations" (6:21): proselytes or Judeans who had remained in the land?

Research process

1 logged searches
DateQueryWhereUseful
2026-10-13Keil 1873 and Ryle 1893 on Ezra 6:19–22local text1

Sources

  1. 1.
    Keil, C. F., Taylor, Sophia (trans.). Biblical Commentary on the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (Clark's Foreign Theological Library). T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1873. archive.orgClaim checkedScholarly commentaryRead through the Internet Archive OCR text.Verification log
  2. 2.
    Ryle, Herbert Edward. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, with Introduction, Notes and Maps (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges). Cambridge University Press, 1893. archive.orgClaim checkedScholarly commentaryRead through the Internet Archive OCR text.Verification log
  3. 3.
    Parker, Richard A., Dubberstein, Waldo H.. Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.–A.D. 45 (SAOC 24). University of Chicago Press (Oriental Institute). archive.orgClaim checkedAcademic monographRead through the Internet Archive OCR text of the Oriental Institute PDF; OCR has digit errors (e.g. "589" for 539) checked against context. The 1956 revised edition was not consulted.Verification log
  4. 4.
    Pleiades contributors. Ierusalem/Hierosolyma — Pleiades place 687928. Pleiades (pleiades.stoa.org). pleiades.stoa.orgClaim checkedInstitutional databaseRepresentative point read from the Pleiades JSON record: lon 35.234978, lat 31.7771895.Verification log
  5. 5.
    Guzik, David. Ezra 6 — Enduring Word Bible Commentary. Enduring Word. enduringword.comClaim checkedTheological commentaryInterpretive resource — not historical corroboration.Verification log