292 ed by name as the man whom God would raise up to punish the Babylonians, and deliver the Jews from captivity. As these prophecies were delivered one hundred and fifty years before Cyrus was born, the exact fulfilment of that part of them which related to the conquest of Babylon, must have appeared to him very remarkable; they seem to havę filled his mind with reverence for the God of the Hebrew, ; and a part being so correctiy accomplished, the remainder of the prophecies, which spoke òf the return of the Jews to their own country, with the permission and under the protection of Cyrus, he considered as a command which he was bound to obey. It is probable, akso, that so wise a king as Cyrus would reflect, how much better it was for the kingdom, that a fine country, like Palestine, should be filled with an industrious and thriving population, who might, without inju ry to themselves, ೩! handsome taxes into his treasury, tian to have it deserted, and given up to wild beasts and xandering barbarians. Cyrus,accordingly wrote the following proclamation, which he sent throughout
