For we were bondmen
To the Chaldeans when in Babylon, which was more than the Jews in the times of Christ would own, ( John 8:33 ) ,
yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage;
had not left them to continue in it always:
but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia;
moved them to have pity and compassion on them, and release them:
to give us a reviving;
while in captivity, they were as in their graves, and like the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision, but revived upon the proclamation of Cyrus, and the encouragement he gave them to return to their own land:
to set up the house of our God, and repair the desolations thereof;
both to rebuild the temple, and to restore the worship of it:
and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem;
not to set up the walls of Jerusalem, and of other cities, which as yet was not done; but rather the walls of their houses, which they had rebuilt; they had walled houses given them in Judah and Jerusalem; though the word signifies an hedge or fence, such as is about gardens and vineyards, and may denote the protection of the kings of Persia, which was a fence to them against the Samaritans and others; and especially the hedge of divine Providence about them, which guarded and defended them, see ( Job 1:10 ) .