The First Book of Esdras (Ezra)

The First Book of Esdras is the book most readers know as the Book of Ezra. Its ten chapters cover about eighty years after the Babylonian captivity: the return of the exiles, the rebuilding of the Temple, and, two generations later, the arrival of Esdras with the Law of God in his hand. The Douay-Rheims follows the Vulgate, where Ezra is 1 Esdras and Nehemiah is 2 Esdras, and keeps the Latin forms of the names: Zerubbabel is Zorobabel, Jeshua the high priest is Josue son of Josedec, Sheshbazzar is Sassabasar, and Haggai and Zechariah are Aggeus and Zacharias.

The author: Esdras the priest and scribe

The Church received the book as the work of Esdras himself. Bishop Challoner's preface in the Douay-Rheims says: "This Book taketh its name from the writer: who was a holy priest, and doctor of the law. He is called by the Hebrews, Ezra." The Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a) likewise records that Ezra wrote "his own book" and the genealogies of Chronicles down to his own time.

The text bears it out. Esdras was a priest of the line of Aaron, "a ready scribe in the law of Moses" (1 Esdras 7:1–6), and from 7:27 to the end of chapter 9 he speaks in the first person, as a man telling what he saw and did. For the earlier history he used public records: the register of returning families (chapter 2) and the letters of the Persian court, kept in their original Aramaic in 4:7–6:18 and 7:12–26. Haydock concludes that "it is most probable that he compiled both from authentic documents."

The Church has defined that the book is sacred and canonical; the Pontifical Biblical Commission issued no decree on its author. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1909, "Esdras," by Charles Souvay) notes that the attribution to Esdras was "still admitted by scholars of good standing," while several modern scholars date the final compilation after 330 BC. We note their view without adopting it.

Date and historical setting

The events run from the first year of Cyrus over Babylon, about 538 BC, to the reform of Esdras in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, traditionally 458 BC (1 Esdras 7:7). The Temple was finished "the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of king Darius" (1 Esdras 6:15), about 515 BC. If Esdras is the author, the book dates from the second half of the fifth century before Christ. Some scholars, such as Van Hoonacker of Louvain, placed Esdras after Nehemias, as late as 397 BC; the Catholic Encyclopedia leaves the question open.

Summary of the Book of Ezra, chapter by chapter

The book has two parts, some sixty years apart: the return under Zorobabel and the rebuilding of the Temple (chapters 1–6), then the mission of Esdras (chapters 7–10).

The decree of Cyrus and the return (chapters 1–2)

"In the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus." The king sends the Jews home to build the house of God and returns the vessels Nabuchodonosor had taken to "Sassabasar the prince of Juda." Chapter 2 lists the families who came home with Zorobabel and Josue, "forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty," besides their servants. Read 1 Esdras chapters 1–2.

The altar and the foundations (chapter 3)

In the seventh month the people gather "as one man" at Jerusalem. Josue and Zorobabel raise the altar and restore the morning and evening holocaust. In the second year the foundations of the Temple are laid with trumpets and the psalms of David. The young shout for joy; the old men who had seen Solomon's Temple weep aloud, "so that one could not distinguish the voice of the shout of joy, from the noise of the weeping." Read 1 Esdras chapter 3.

Opposition and the work stopped (chapter 4)

The Samaritans ask to share the building and are refused: "You have nothing to do with us to build a house to our God." They hire counsellors against the Jews and write to the Persian kings that Jerusalem is "a rebellious and wicked city"; the writer gathers here accusations from later reigns too. The work ceases "till the second year of the reign of Darius." Read 1 Esdras chapter 4.

The prophets, Darius and the dedication (chapters 5–6)

"Aggeus the prophet, and Zacharias the son of Addo, prophesied to the Jews," and the builders take up the work again. The governor Thathanai writes to Darius, the decree of Cyrus is found at Ecbatana, and Darius orders the work paid for out of the royal tribute. The house is dedicated "with joy," and the exiles keep the Passover. Read 1 Esdras chapter 5.

Esdras comes up from Babylon (chapters 7–8)

Under Artaxerxes, Esdras comes to Jerusalem with the king's letter, gifts for the Temple, and power to appoint judges and teach the Law. At the river Ahava he proclaims a fast, "ashamed to ask the king for aid and for horsemen" after professing that God protects those who seek Him, and the caravan arrives safely. Read 1 Esdras chapter 7 and chapter 8.

The mixed marriages and the people's repentance (chapters 9–10)

Many, priests and rulers first, have married women of the idolatrous nations. Esdras rends his garments, sits mourning until the evening sacrifice, then falls on his knees and confesses the sins of the whole people. Sechenias proposes a covenant to put away the foreign wives; in the winter rain the assembly answers, "According to thy word unto us, so be it done," and a commission sits three months. The book closes with the names of the guilty, priests first. Read 1 Esdras chapters 9–10.

What is the main message of the Book of Ezra? Themes and the Catholic reading

God keeps His word. The book opens with a prophecy fulfilled. Jeremias had foretold: "When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you" (Jeremias 29:10). Isaias had named the deliverer: "Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus" (Isaias 45:1), a chapter Challoner heads "A prophecy of Cyrus, as a figure of Christ, the great deliverer of God's people."

Leaving Babylon and doing penance. On the fast at Ahava, Challoner writes: "It is not enough to part from Babylon, that is, figuratively from sin, but we must also do works of penance," adding that it "shews that fasting was commanded and practised from the earliest times." Our article on what God says about fasting develops the point.

Zorobabel and Josue, figures of Christ. The Temple is rebuilt by a prince of David's line and a high priest whose name, in Greek and Latin, is Jesus. Zacharias foretold of the Orient that "he shall build a temple to the Lord... and he shall be a priest upon his throne" (Zacharias 6:12–13). St Bede, in his commentary On Ezra and Nehemiah, reads the two leaders together as one figure of our Lord, Priest and King. Ecclesiasticus 49 praises them together: "How shall we magnify Zorobabel? for he was as a signet on the right hand."

The second Temple and the Church. The old men wept over the poorer house, but Aggeus promised that "the Desired of all nations shall come" and that "great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first" (Aggeus 2:8–10), a glory the Church sees fulfilled when Christ entered it.

Esdras, the priest who teaches. "For Esdras had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do and to teach in Israel the commandments and judgment" (1 Esdras 7:10). The order of the verse is the lesson for every teacher: to seek, then to do, and only then to teach.

Holiness, marriage and confession. On the mixed marriages Challoner notes: "This shews how sinful it is to intermarry with those that the Church forbids us, on account of the danger of perversion and falling off from the true faith." The Church still requires a dispensation for disparity of worship (see our guide to Catholic marriage). The remedy Esdras gives is confession and amendment: "make confession to the Lord the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure" (1 Esdras 10:11). His prayer, in which he takes on himself the sins of others, is a model of contrition (see what is confession).

Famous passages of the Book of Ezra

Ezra 1:1–3, the decree of Cyrus. "Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord the God of heaven hath given to me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem." The same decree closes 2 Paralipomenon 36, so the history runs on without a break. See 1 Esdras 1.

Ezra 9:6, the prayer of Esdras. "My God I am confounded and ashamed to lift up my face to thee: for our iniquities are multiplied over our heads, and our sins are grown up even unto heaven." See 1 Esdras 9.

Ezra reads the book of the Law. The scene of Esdras standing "upon a step of wood" and reading the Law "from the morning until midday," with "the joy of the Lord is our strength," belongs to 2 Esdras 8, the Book of Nehemiah.

The four books of Esdras

Four books bear the name of Esdras, and Bibles number them differently. 1 Esdras (Douay and Vulgate) is the Book of Ezra. 2 Esdras is the Book of Nehemiah; the Hebrews counted the two as one, and St Jerome's preface to Ezra notes that "among the Hebrews the discourses of Ezra and Nehemiah are confined to one scroll." 3 Esdras of the Vulgate (the Protestant Apocrypha's "1 Esdras") retells parts of Paralipomenon, Ezra and Nehemiah. 4 Esdras, the "Apocalypse of Esdras" (the Protestant "2 Esdras"), contains seven visions, among them the eagle of chapters 11–12.

The third and fourth books are not canonical. Jerome would not translate them, warning readers not to "be delighted by the dreams" of the apocryphal third and fourth books, and the Clementine Vulgate and the first Douay-Rheims Bible printed them in an appendix outside the canon. They are not among the deuterocanonical books. The liturgy still borrows two Introits from 4 Esdras 2: Requiem aeternam in the Mass for the Dead (see our prayer for the dead) and Accipite jucunditatem on Whit Tuesday.

Its place in the canon and in the liturgy

1 Esdras is a protocanonical book, received by the Jews and by every Christian Church, and present in Catholic and Protestant Bibles alike. The Councils of Rome (382) and Carthage (397) list two books of Esdras; the Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), names "the first book of Esdras, and the second which is entitled Nehemias." In Catholic Bibles it follows 2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) and precedes 2 Esdras (Nehemiah) and Tobias. It belongs with the prophets of the return: Aggeus and Zacharias, who urged on the builders, and Malachias, whom a Jewish tradition reported by St Jerome identified with Esdras. Our guide to the Catholic Bible lists all 73 books, and our article on the Latin Vulgate explains Jerome's translation.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates "the holy prophets Joel and Esdras" on 13 July. The 1962 Missal reads no lesson from 1 Esdras itself; its "lesson from the book of Esdras" on Ember Wednesday of September is taken from 2 Esdras 8 (see the liturgical calendar).

Where did Esdras get the book of the Law?

He brought it from Babylon, where the exiles had kept the Law of Moses: Artaxerxes sends him "according to the law of thy God, which is in thy hand" (1 Esdras 7:14). An old tradition, told at length in the apocryphal 4 Esdras, held that the Scriptures had perished in the captivity and that Esdras restored them; St Irenaeus (Against Heresies III, 21, 2) echoes it when he writes that God "inspired Esdras the priest" to "re-establish with the people the Mosaic legislation." Haydock answers that "the sacred books never perished wholly": Esdras gathered, copied and taught them, he did not rewrite them.

How to read the Book of Ezra

The ten chapters take about an hour. Read the short prophecy of Aggeus beside chapter 5, since he preached in the months it describes. Skim the lists in chapter 2 and chapter 10, slow down for the prayer of chapter 9, then go on to 2 Esdras, where the walls go up and Esdras reads the Law to the people. The Latin beside the English gives the key verse as Jerome rendered it: Esdras enim paravit cor suum, ut investigaret legem Domini.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Book of Ezra?

Tradition attributes the book to Esdras (Ezra), a priest descended from Aaron and "a ready scribe in the law of Moses." The Talmud (Baba Bathra 15a) says Ezra wrote his own book, and Challoner's preface says it "taketh its name from the writer." Esdras speaks in the first person from 7:27 to 9:15. Many modern scholars date the final compilation later; the Church has not defined the question.

When was the Book of Ezra written?

The book covers events from the decree of Cyrus, about 538 BC, to the reform of Esdras in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, 458 BC by the traditional reckoning. If Esdras wrote it, as tradition holds, it dates from the second half of the fifth century before Christ; some modern scholars place its final form in the fourth.

What is the Book of Ezra about?

It tells how the Jews returned from Babylon under the decree of Cyrus and, led by Zorobabel and the high priest Josue, rebuilt the Temple despite the Samaritans' opposition. Its second half follows Esdras the scribe, who came with the Law of God and led the people to repent of their marriages with idolaters. Its main message is God's fidelity to His promises and the call of His people to holiness.

How many chapters are in the Book of Ezra?

The Book of Ezra, 1 Esdras in the Douay-Rheims, has 10 chapters and 280 verses: the return and the Temple in chapters 1–6, the mission of Esdras in chapters 7–10. Begin with 1 Esdras chapter 1.

Is the Book of Esdras the same as Ezra?

Yes. 1 Esdras in the Douay-Rheims and the Vulgate is the Book of Ezra, and 2 Esdras is the Book of Nehemiah; Esdras is the Greek and Latin form of the name Ezra. The confusion comes from the Protestant Apocrypha, where "1 Esdras" and "2 Esdras" mean the non-canonical books the Vulgate calls 3 and 4 Esdras.

How many books of Ezra are there?

Four books bear the name of Esdras. Two are canonical: 1 Esdras (Ezra) and 2 Esdras (Nehemiah), which the Hebrews counted as one book. The third and fourth are apocryphal, printed in the Clementine Vulgate only in an appendix.

Is the Book of Ezra in the Catholic Bible?

Yes. It is in the Old Testament of every Catholic and Protestant Bible, under the name 1 Esdras in the Douay-Rheims. The Council of Trent (1546) lists "the first book of Esdras, and the second which is entitled Nehemias" among the sacred and canonical books.

Which book comes before and after Ezra in the Bible?

Ezra comes right after 2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles), whose closing decree of Cyrus it repeats in its first verses, and right before 2 Esdras (Nehemiah). In Catholic Bibles the historical books then continue with Tobias, Judith and Esther.

Who is Sheshbazzar in the Book of Ezra?

Sassabasar (Sheshbazzar) is "the prince of Juda" to whom Cyrus returned the vessels of the Temple and who laid its foundations (1 Esdras 1:8; 5:14–16). Bishop Challoner explains that it was another name for Zorobabel, given him by the Chaldeans as Daniel was called Baltassar; many modern commentators distinguish the two men.

Read the whole First Book of Esdras verse by verse, Latin and English side by side, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The First Book of Esdras, Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision) and Latin Vulgate, with Bishop Challoner's preface and notes; 2 Paralipomenon 36; 2 Esdras 1 and 8; Isaias 45; Jeremias 29; Aggeus 2; Zacharias 6; Ecclesiasticus 49; Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary on 1 Esdras; St Jerome, Preface to the Book of Ezra; St Irenaeus, Against Heresies III, 21; St Bede, On Ezra and Nehemiah; the Babylonian Talmud, Baba Bathra 15a; Council of Rome (382), Council of Carthage (397), Council of Trent, Session IV (1546); Catholic Encyclopedia (1909), "Esdras" (Charles Souvay); Martyrologium Romanum, 13 July; Missale Romanum (1962), Ember Wednesday of September, Whit Tuesday and the Mass for the Dead.