Daily text, Sunday, July 17. 2016

[Queen Esther]

For your sakes I will send to Babylon and bring down all the bars of the gates.—Isa. 43:14.

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/dt/r1/lp-e/2016/7/17

In line with that prophecy, a world-shaking event happened one night early in October 539 B.C.E. While Babylon’s king and his nobles were drinking wine from holy vessels captured from Jerusalem’s temple and were praising their man-made gods, the armies of Media and Persia conquered Babylon. In 538 or 537 B.C.E., Babylon’s conqueror, Cyrus, commanded the Jews to return and rebuild God’s temple in Jerusalem. All of this was foretold by Isaiah, including Jehovah’s promise that he would provide for and protect his repentant people as they returned to Jerusalem. God called them “the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” (Isa. 43:21; 44:26-28) Once these former exiles had returned and rebuilt Jehovah’s temple in Jerusalem, they became witnesses to the fact that Jehovah, the only true God, always fulfills his word. w14 7/15 3:10, 11