Book of Ezra

A biblical book recounting Jewish exiles’ return to Jerusalem, the rebuilding of the Temple, and reforms associated with Ezra. It combines historical narrative, royal decrees, lists, and first-person memoir.

Babylonian exile: The deportation of Judeans to Babylonia and the period of displacement following Jerusalem’s conquest in 586 BCE. The book’s return narrative begins with the end of this displacement.
Cyrus Cylinder: A clay cylinder inscribed in Babylonian that records policies of Cyrus the Great after his conquest of Babylon. Its restoration language illuminates, but does not directly document, the decree attributed to Cyrus in Ezra.
Hebrew Bible: The collection of sacred Jewish writings that forms the basis of the Christian Old Testament. Ezra belongs to its historical and scriptural traditions.
1 Esdras: An ancient Greek retelling of material from Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, with an additional story about three guardsmen. It rearranges and retells much of Ezra’s material in a distinct form.
Achaemenid Empire: The Persian empire founded by Cyrus the Great, which ruled much of the ancient Near East from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE. Persian imperial rule frames the decrees and migrations described in Ezra.
Cyrus the Great: The founder of the Achaemenid Empire, who conquered Babylon in 539 BCE and permitted displaced peoples to restore sanctuaries. Ezra opens with Cyrus authorizing the return and rebuilding of Jerusalem’s Temple.
Book of Chronicles: A biblical work recounting Israel’s history, ending with Cyrus’s decree permitting the return from exile. Its closing decree closely parallels the opening of Ezra.
Ezra (priest): A Jewish priest and scribe portrayed in biblical texts as a leader who taught the Torah in Jerusalem. The book’s later chapters center on this figure and his reforms.
Second Temple: The Jewish temple in Jerusalem rebuilt after the Babylonian exile and later renovated by Herod the Great. Its reconstruction is the central achievement of Ezra’s opening narrative.
Second Temple period: The era of Jewish history from the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s Temple in the sixth century BCE to its destruction in 70 CE. Ezra narrates the period’s beginnings through return and temple restoration.

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