integrity, the peaceableness of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Then they hear and are impelled to listen to the good news God’s servants zealously declare. Thus Jehovah God is glorified now and will yet be glorified with greater brilliance throughout the earth, being praised mightily by the appreciative tribulation survivors​—all of this the fine, happy result of truly rendering “sacred service” to God day and night.

Cyrus, a Man with a Prophetic Role

FEW men throughout the course of human history were foretold to fulfill a specific role in God’s purpose. Cyrus the son of Cambyses and the founder of the Persian Empire, however, was such a man. His conquest of Babylon in 539 B.C.E. and the subsequent release of the Jews from exile were foretold long before his birth.

It was in the eighth century B.C.E. that Jehovah declared by means of his prophet Isaiah:

“‘I, Jehovah, am doing everything . . . the One making the word of his servant come true, and the One that carries out completely the counsel of his own messengers; the One saying of Jerusalem, “She will be inhabited,” and of the cities of Judah, “They will be rebuilt, and her desolated places I shall raise up”; the One saying to the watery deep, “Be evaporated; and all your rivers I shall dry up”; 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.”’

“This is what Jehovah has said to his anointed one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue before him nations, so that I may ungird even the hips of kings; to open before him the two-leaved doors, so that even the gates will not be shut.”​—Isa. 44:24–45:1.

The accounts of ancient historians confirm the fulfillment of this amazing prophecy. While differing somewhat in their presentation, Greek historians Herodotus and Xenophon both relate the same basic account. Cyrus diverted the Euphrates River, which flowed through Babylon and served as part of its system of defense. The conquering armies then marched through the riverbed, gaining access to the city through the gates along the quay. Having given themselves up to feasting and revelry, the Babylonians were caught completely by surprise, and the city fell that very night.

Also, as had been foretold, Cyrus issued a decree that enabled Jewish exiles to return to their homeland to rebuild the temple. That decree read: “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