One hardened clay tablet, known as the Cyrus Cylinder, dates back to about 539 B.C.E., the same year that King Cyrus of Persia overthrew the Babylonian Empire. One inscription reads: “I am Cyrus, . . . king of Babylon.” The same inscription goes on to report: “I returned to [certain previously named] sacred cities on the other side of the Tigris, the sanctuaries of which have been ruins for a long time, the images which (used) to live therein . . . I (also) gathered all their (former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations.”

This secular source harmonizes with the Bible prophecy that states that the Jewish exiles would be repatriated to their homeland​—a prophecy recorded about 200 years in advance.

[Picture on page 13]

The Cyrus Cylinder records Cyrus’ policy of returning captives to their homelands