Books of Ezra.

Under this heading three books are especially known in Holy Scripture: the first, second, and third books of Ezra. The first book of Ezra, together with the book of Nehemiah, was reckoned by the ancient Hebrews as a single whole, divided into two books, the first and second. Its content is historical, being a continuation of the books of Chronicles. In it Ezra first describes the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, the number of those who returned from captivity, and their places of settlement in the cities of Judea (chs.

1–2); then (3–6) the building of the altar, the founding of the Temple at Jerusalem, and the events that took place in the days of the prophet Haggai; and finally (7–10) he relates his own arrival in Jerusalem and his own actions undertaken for the restoration of church and civil order. It contains 10 chapters and has always been, and continues to be, reckoned a canonical book of the Old Testament. The compiler of the book was undoubtedly Ezra himself, as is evident from the last four chapters and from the content of the preceding ones.