Ezra

About Ezra

Ezra tells how God moved a pagan emperor to send the exiles home to rebuild the temple, and how Ezra the scribe later arrived to teach God's Law. It is a story of second chances: worship restored, promises kept, and a community reshaped around Scripture. In the Bible's big story, it shows God faithfully bringing His people back from exile, exactly as the prophets had said.

Written by

Jewish tradition credits Ezra the scribe, and parts of the book are written in his own first-person voice, though the final compiler is not named.

When

It describes returns from exile between 538 and about 458 BC and was likely written down in the mid-to-late 400s BC.

Themes

• God keeps His promises
• Rebuilding worship
• The power of God's Word
• Renewal after failure

Key verses

• Ezra 1:1In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:
• Ezra 3:11And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.
• Ezra 7:10For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.