Darius


Darius I, Darius the Great

Then Darius the king made a decree - Ezra 6:1

(ruled from 522 to 486 B.C.)

A Persian king who supported the Jews, reaffirming the decree of Cyrus the Great who allowed Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

(Hillsdale College - Ancient Christianity)

Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were stored. And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits, with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God.”

(Ezra 6:1-5)