Page "Book of Numbers" Paragraph 26

The Babylonian exile lasted approximately 48 years, from 586 to 538 BCE, and ended with the conquest of Babylon in that year by the Persians.

The new Persian ruler decided to allow the exiles to return home.

According to the book of Ezra-Nehemiah they did so under the joint leadership of a descendant of the last king and the last High Priest, rebuilding the Temple and reconstituting Judah ( now called Yehud ) as a holy community ruled by priests.

It was in this period that the Pentateuch ( or Torah, to give the Hebrew name ) was composed, by detaching the book of Deuteronomy from the Deuteronomistic history and adding it to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.