1:1 first year. 538 b.c., the first year of Cyrus’s reign. He conquered Babylon in October 539 and reigned over Persia from 550 to 530.

that the word of the Lord . . . might be fulfilled. Jeremiah had prophesied seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:11–12; 29:10; see Dan. 9:2). From 605 when the first captives were deported, to 538 when the decree to return was issued, is sixty-seven years. Other prophecies may also be in view (Jer. 16:14–15; 27:22). The Lord was sovereignly bringing to pass the word He had spoken over half a century before.

the Lord stirred up the spirit. This phrase expresses the main theme of the book: God works sovereignly through responsible human agents to accomplish His redemptive plan (6:22; 7:27). In the words of Prov. 21:1, the Lord directed Cyrus’s spirit like “a stream of water . . . he turns it wherever he will.”