Bible: Old Testament: English Standard Version

After the Babylonian invasion, the traditional terminology for God’s covenant-people transitions from “Israelites” to “Jews,” as the remaining people are mostly composed of descendants from the southern kingdom of Judah. The book of Ezra, named after its main figure, narrates the transition to the next major epoch in Jewish history, the return from exile. The book of Ezra is divided into two main parts, narrating discrete periods in Jewish post-exilic life. The first period (Chapters 1-6) covers the initial return from exile and the dedication of the temple under a leader named Zerubbabel. The second period (Chapters 7-10) occurs decades later and tells of the arrival of Ezra the priest and his temple reforms (according to most dating schemes, Ezra arrives in Jerusalem in 458 BCE). This second part of the book is roughly contemporary with Nehemiah, who arrives in 445 BCE, and, in some ancient manuscript traditions, the two books appear as a single text. The jump from the earlier period in Ezra to the later period is easy to miss in the text, introduced only with the words “now after this” at the beginning of Chapter 7. The style of Ezra (as well as Nehemiah) consists of a combination of lists, memoirs, and letters.