Week 20 Ezra
The last two verses of II Chronicles say:
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia – in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah – the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put in writing, saying, thus says Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah…
An inch below that on the same page the first two verses of Ezra say:
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, thus says Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah…
Babylon totally obliterated Jerusalem.
Jerusalem had been a ghost-town for seventy years.
During that time Persia had obliterated Babylon.
Then Cyrus the Persian got this idea.
And so Ezra picks up exactly where Chronicles ends.
Note: quotes from II Chronicles 36:22-3 and Ezra 1:1-2 (NASB version)