In the first year of Cyrus as king of the Persians …: This expression is ambiguous. Cyrus began ruling as the first king of Persia in 559 B.C.; but as the Good News Bible footnote indicates, he took control of Babylon only in 539 B.C. So the meaning here seems to be “In the first year that King Cyrus of Persia ruled over the whole empire, including Babylonia.” The first year does not refer to his first year as king of Persia, but to his first year as emperor of the Babylonian Empire. A helpful model for this whole phrase is “In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor of Babylonia” (similarly Good News Bible). Good News Bible uses “emperor” instead of king. Traditionally English uses king and kingdom to refer to a particular geographical area ruled by a particular king, but uses “emperor” and “empire” when that ruler rules over many lands other than his own. For this reason Good News Bible uses the latter terms. If a language makes that distinction, translators should take advantage of it by following Good News Bible. Some languages will have to use “high king” or “high chief” for “emperor.” But for the sake of simplicity, we will mostly use the terms “king” and “kingdom.” For the Persians, see the comments on 1 Esd 1.57.

That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished: The Lord used Cyrus to fulfil the promise he had made through his prophet Jeremiah that the Jews would be allowed to return to their homeland after seventy years (see Jer 29.10; 2 Chr 36.21). After Cyrus defeated the Babylonians, the Jews and other peoples who had been taken captive by the Babylonians had an opportunity to return home. If necessary, Jeremiah may be identified as a “prophet” (Good News Bible). This clause introduces verse 2, which says the Lord led Cyrus to make a proclamation releasing the Jews from their exile. It does not refer to Cyrus being made king of Persia. So a possible model for it is “the Lord made the message spoken by his messenger [or, prophet] Jeremiah come true” (similarly Good News Bible).

The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians means the Lord acted within the spirit of Cyrus in such a way that the king acted as God wanted him to act. Here he caused him to make the proclamation for releasing the Jews. Good News Bible renders stirred up the spirit of Cyrus as “prompted Cyrus.” The repetition of Cyrus as king of the Persians may be omitted if it is unnatural. This repeated phrase contributes to the courtly, formal style of the narrative, but adds nothing to the meaning.

And he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: King Cyrus spoke his orders and then ordered it written. Probably what happened is that the king called in his scribes and told them what he wanted the content of the proclamation to be; the scribes then wrote it down. In the Persian Kingdom royal messages were communicated through heralds who proclaimed the messages orally to the people. They also were written as official royal documents. This proclamation was probably written in Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Empire.

Since the next verse begins immediately with the text of the proclamation, translators may wish to add a line to the end of the verses 1-2 as follows:

• 1 In the first year that King Cyrus of Persia ruled over the whole empire, including Babylonia, the Lord made the words that he had spoken through his messenger Jeremiah come true. 2 He prompted Cyrus to send a written decree [or, proclamation] throughout his whole kingdom [or, through all of Persia] and have it read aloud. Here is what it said:….

• 1 In the first year that Cyrus of Persia was emperor of Babylonia, the Lord made the words of the prophet Jeremiah come true. 2 He led Cyrus to have a written decree read aloud throughout his whole kingdom. Here is what it said:….

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.