The Return
- When
- Written after the exile; covers Solomon to Cyrus
- Written by
- Ezra, by tradition
- Chapters
- 36
The big idea
Judah’s story from Solomon’s temple to its fall, told as a lesson for the returned exiles: when kings seek God and humble themselves, he heals the land.
Themes
- The temple
- Humility and revival
- Seeking God
- Hope after exile
Memory verse
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Key passages
- 6–7Solomon’s prayer and God’s answer
- 7:14If my people humble themselves
- 20The battle is God’s
- 34–35Josiah
- 36:22–23The decree of Cyrus
Links to other Scripture
- Ezra 1:1–4The story continues
- John 2:19–21The temple of his body
- James 4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord
- Matthew 1:7–11The kings in Christ’s line
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves.” What would humbling yourself mean in a specific situation?
- Jehoshaphat said, “We know not what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.” When did you last pray that?
- Cyrus’s decree ends the book with a door opening. What door might God be opening that you are afraid to walk through?
- In one sentence, this book is about…