The passage rises in a dramatic crescendo to the announcement by name of the man who would liberate the nation from Babylon.

the One saying of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and all that I delight in he will completely carry out”; even in my saying of Jerusalem, “She will be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “You will have your foundation laid.”’”​—Isaiah 44:24-28.

22. Describe how the Euphrates River evaporates.

²² Uninspired diviners usually dare not be too specific in their predictions for fear that time will prove them wrong. By contrast, through Isaiah, Jehovah reveals the very name of the man he will use to free his people from captivity so that they can go home and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. His name is Cyrus, and he is known as Cyrus the Great of Persia.

23. What record exists of the fulfillment of the prophecy that Cyrus would liberate Israel?

²³ What about the promise that Cyrus will release God’s people and that he will see to it that Jerusalem and the temple will be rebuilt? Cyrus himself, in an official proclamation preserved in the Bible, declares: “This is what Cyrus the king of Persia has said, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the heavens has given me, and he himself has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God prove to be with him. So let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of Jehovah the God of Israel​—he is the true God—​which was in Jerusalem.’” (Ezra 1:2, 3) Jehovah’s word through Isaiah is completely fulfilled!