Boys · Persian · Old Testament · rising · Exile / Post-exile (6th century BC)
Cyrus
/SY-rus/
כּוֹרֶשׁ (Hebrew) / Κῦρος (Greek)
"Sun; throne; lord"
Isaiah 44:28
RoleKing of Persia; liberator of the Jewish exiles
Etymology
From the Old Persian 'Kūruš', possibly meaning 'sun' or 'throne.' In the Elamite form it may relate to 'shepherd.' God calls Cyrus 'my shepherd' and 'my anointed' (mashiach/messiah) in Isaiah — the only non-Israelite given these titles.
Who they were
Cyrus the Great is one of the most remarkable figures in the Bible precisely because he is not an Israelite. He was the founder of the Persian Empire who conquered Babylon in 539 BC, and his first act was to issue a decree allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Isaiah had prophesied this by name — 'He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, Let it be rebuilt, and of the temple, Let its foundations be laid' — written more than a century before Cyrus was born. Even more strikingly, God calls Cyrus 'my anointed' (mashiach), the same word used for Israel's kings and ultimately for the Messiah. Cyrus did not worship Israel's God, but God used him as the instrument of liberation. The Cyrus Cylinder, discovered in Babylon in 1879, confirms his policy of returning displaced peoples to their homelands. His story raises one of the Bible's most expansive themes: that God's purposes are not limited to the people who know his name.
Family
- Father
- Cambyses I
Character qualities
- Justice toward conquered peoples
- Administrative wisdom
- Instrument of divine purpose
- Religious tolerance
Key verse
Isaiah 45:1
Where they appear
Themes
Variants & related forms
Cyro · Ciro · Kiros · Koresh
Read their story
Cyrus's story begins in Isaiah.
The full passage is at Isaiah 44:28. Any modern translation will do — the NLT and NIV are the most readable; the ESV and NKJV stay close to the wording the church has used for centuries.
Find a Bible to read it in →