In some published editions of the Bible, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah have been presented together as a single book, for example, in The Modern Reader's Bible ( 1907 ) and The Books of the Bible ( 2007 ).

In Christian Bibles, Chronicles 1 and 2 are part of the Old Testament, following Kings and before Ezra.

The medieval exegete Abraham ibn Ezra believed that Job was translated from another language and it is therefore unclear " like all translated books " ( Ibn Ezra Job 2: 11 ).

Ezra, thirty years into the Babylonian Exile ( 4 Ezra 3: 1 / 2 Esdras 1: 1 ), recounts the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple.

Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata referred to Ezra as an example of prophetic inspiration, quoting a section from 2 Esdras.

Esdras, about the classification of the books adscribed to Ezra: Book of Ezra ( and Book of Nehemiah for the non-rabbinical tradition, combined with the former into Ezra-Nehemiah ), 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras

9: 11, 13 ; Ezra 3: 2 ; 7: 6 ; Neh.

* Elam is the ancestor of a family that returned with Zerubbabel in Ezra 2: 1-2, 7.

* Elam is the ancestor of a family that returned from the Captivity in Ezra 2: 31.

This is possibly the same man and family as in Ezra 2: 1-2, 7.

( Ezra 2: 13 ).

7: 27 ; Ezra 2: 23 ).

There is some evidence for this link, namely that Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah at the time of Zechariah, he was frequently associated with Joshua ( Ezra 3. 2, 3: 8 ), and he is also described as the Temple builder ( Zech 4. 9 ).

According to the Book of Ezra chapter 2, Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem in the first wave of liberated exiles under the decree of King Cyrus of Persia in 538 BCE.

# Ezra 2: 2.

According to the Bible, when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great ( Ezra 1: 1-4, 2 Chron 36: 22-23 ), construction started at the original site of Solomon's Temple, which had remained a devastated heap during the approximately 70 years of captivity ( Dan.

The Talmud ( Menachot 64b and 65a ) relates that his full name was " Mordechai Bilshan " ( which occurs in Ezra 2: 2 and Nehemiah 7: 7 ).

Apart from David's nephew, the name is given to two other individuals in the Bible ( see Ezra 2: 6, 8: 9 ).

It is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible ( Ezra 6. 2 ) under the name Achmetha ( also spelled Ahmetha, e. g. JTS Bible ).

Paris at this time hosted many expatriate writers: Ezra Pound, W. B. Yeats, Ernest Hemingway ; and artist Pablo Picasso.

Ezra is written to fit a schematic pattern in which the God of Israel inspires a king of Persia to commission a leader from the Jewish community to carry out a mission ; three successive leaders carry out three such missions, the first rebuilding the Temple, the second purifying the Jewish community, and the third sealing of the holy city itself behind a wall.

The Book of Ezra consists of ten chapters: chapters 1-6, covering the period from the Decree of Cyrus to the dedication of the Second Temple, are told in the third person ; chapters 7-10, dealing with the mission of Ezra, are told largely in the first person.

Nehemiah assembles the people and has Ezra read to them the law-book of Moses ; Nehemiah, Ezra and the Levites institute the Feast of Booths, in accordance with the Law.

A list of priests and Levites who returned in the days of Cyrus ( the first returnees from Babylon ) is presented ; Nehemiah, aided by Ezra, oversees the dedication of the walls and the rebuilt city.

The combined book Ezra-Nehemiah of the earliest Christian and Jewish period was known as Ezra and was probably attributed to him ; according to a rabbinic tradition, however, Nehemiah was the real author but was forbidden to claim authorship because of his bad habit of disparaging others.

Ezra (; Hebrew: עזרא, Ezra ; fl.

According to Bamidbar Rabbah, Ezra was doubtful of the correctness of some words in the Torah and said, " Should Elijah ... approve the text, the points dots that he scribed above the letters will be disregarded ; should he disapprove, the doubtful words will be removed from the text ".

Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption: Nehemiah and Ezra " seem to have no knowledge of each other ; their missions do not overlap ; and no reflection of Ezra's activity appears in Jerusalem of Nehemiah.

Dyer Lum, Ezra & Angela Haywood represent this school of thought ; Jo Labadie, who wrote for Tucker ’ s Liberty, made himself a link between the American “ plumb-line ” anarchists, the “ philosophical ” individualists, & the syndicalist or communist branch of the movement ; his influence reached the Mackay Society through his son, Laurance.

The branches are often artistically depicted as semicircular, but Rashi may be interpreted as saying they were straight, and Maimonides, according to his son Avraham, held that they were straight ; other authorities, including Ibn Ezra, say they were round.

The most important writers are Yose ben Yoseh, probably in the 6th century, chiefly known for his compositions for Yom Kippur ; Eleazar Kalir, the founder of the payyetanic style, perhaps in the 7th century ; Saadia Gaon ; and the Spanish school, consisting of Joseph ibn Abitur ( died in 970 ), ibn Gabirol, Isaac Gayyath, Moses ibn Ezra, Abraham ibn Ezra and Judah ha-Levi, Moses ben Nahman ( Nahmanides ) and Isaac Luria.

The works dealing with the Old Testament included Commentary on Samuel, Commentary on Genesis, Commentaries on Ezra and Nehemiah, On the Temple, On the Tabernacle, Commentaries on Tobit, Commentaries on Proverbs, Commentaries on the Song of Songs, Commentaries on the Canticle of Habakkuk, The works on Ezra, the Tabernacle and the Temple were especially influenced by Gregory the Great's writings.

( This last mission, that of Nehemiah, is not part of the Book of Ezra.

The Nehemiah Memorial, chapters 1-7 and 11-13, may have circulated as an independent work before being combined with the Ezra material to form Ezra-Nehemiah.

The Nehemiah Memorial is interrupted by chapters 8-10, which concern Ezra.

Both the Nehemiah and Ezra material are combined with numerous lists, Censuses and other material.

* Coggins, R. J., " The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah " ( Cambridge University Press, 1976 )

* Fensham, F. Charles, " The books of Ezra and Nehemiah " ( Eerdmans, 1982 )

* Pakkala, Juha, " Ezra the scribe: the development of Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8 " ( Walter de Gryter, 2004 )

Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

This could mean 1 Esdras and Ezra-Nehemiah as in the Septuagint or Ezra and Nehemiah as in the Vulgate.

The canonical Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah are the oldest sources for the activity of Ezra, whereas many of the other books ascribed to Ezra ( First Esdras, 3-6 Ezra ) are later literary works dependent on the canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah.