When did the Jews return from Babylon to rebuild the temple?
The Jews returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple around 536 B.C., after Cyrus issued a decree permitting any Jew to go back to Jerusalem. This was approximately seventy years after Nebuchadnezzar's first deportation in 606 B.C. Only 42,360 took up the offer to return and rebuild.
Les explains that Cyrus made it possible for any Jew who wanted to return to Jerusalem to go back and rebuild the temple. He notes this happened about 535 or 536 B.C., roughly seventy years after Nebuchadnezzar came over the first time in 606 B.C. The journey meant returning to a barren wilderness that would require hard work, yet it was still home. Only 42,360 of the many captives took up the offer, as recorded in chapter 2, verse 64.