Welcome to The Weekend Bible Study. This week Rich Glasgow begins a new series covering the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Today we will begin with the book of Ezra.

The events written about in Ezra occurred immediately after the Babylonian captivity beginning with the decree of Cyrus announcing that the Jews had permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.Ezra 1:1-3

Now let’s listen to Rich Glasgow with our Weekend Bible Study on the book of Ezra.

(Also be sure to check out Rich’s other series, including ones on the exilic books of Daniel, Esther, and Nehemiah.)