What are the books of 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras?

If we compare the last verses of 2 Chronicles (2 Chron. 36:22-23) with the first few verses of the book of Ezra (Ezra 1:1-3) we find a nearly word-for-word conformity. The book of Ezra (the name Ezra meaning "help") therefore is the sequel to Chronicles, historically as well as thematically. And yet in between these two books lies the Babylonian Captivity, which lasted 70 years (compare Jeremiah 25). The captivity started with the first deportation of a part of the Jews under Jehoiakim around 606/605 BC and ended with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia in the year 537/536 BC. King Cyrus granted permission to the Jews to return to Palestine to rebuild the destroyed temple in Jerusalem.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah form a certain unity in the Hebrew Bibles and in the Septuagint. But they were separated, respectively differentiated in the Septuagint and later also in the Vulgate. In the Septuagint and the Vulgate we may nowadays find two further not inspired books (not belonging to the Canon of the Holy Scriptures) that bear the name Ezra. Saying this many a reader could be perplexed. We would like to remove this perplexity with the following little table:

EnglishVulgate (Latin) Septuagint (Greek) EzraEsdras IEsdras IINehemiahEsdras IIEsdras II3rd of Ezra (apocryphal) Esdras III Esdras I4th of Ezra (pseudepigraphical) Esdras IV Apocalypse of Ezra

Ezra the scribe has been considered author of the book for ages. He returned to Jerusalem with the second group of Jews returning from captivity in Ezra 7 (around 458 BC). This is why the author uses the first person (singular) from chap. 7 onwards (Ezra 7:1,28).

The name given to those Books which were attached to the MSS copies of the LXX, but which do not form a part of the canon of scripture. The term itself signifies, 'hidden,' 'secret,' 'occult;' and, as to any pretence of being a part of scripture, they must be described as 'spurious.' There are such writings connected with both the Old and the New Testament, but generally speaking the term 'Apocrypha' refers to the O.T. (for those connected with the N. Test. see APOSTOLIC FATHERS. The O.T. books are: 1 I. Esdras. 2 II. Esdras. 3 Tobit. 4 Judith. 5 Chapters of Esther, not found in the Hebrew nor Chaldee. 6 Wisdom of Solomon. 7 Jesus, son of Sirach; or Ecclesiasticus; quoted Ecclus. 8 Baruch, including the Epistle of Jeremiah. 9 Song of the Three Holy Children 10 The History of Susanna. 11 Bel and the Dragon. 12 Prayer of Manasseh. 13 I. Maccabees. 14 II. Maccabees.

These books constitute but one book in the Hebrew; called by the Jews "words or acts of the days," i.e. journals or diaries, rendered chronicon by Jerome and with us chronicles from the Latin Vulgate. The title by the Septuagint Paraleipomenon, "things omitted," is a most objectionable one. The special design of these books is manifestly of God and as worthy of its Divine Author as any other portion of Holy Writ. The close of the Babylon captivity is indicated more than once, and moreover is regarded as a past historical fact (1 Chron. 6: l5). The closing verses (2 Chron. 36:22-23) constitute the opening words of the book of Ezra, in which the history contained in the Chronicles is continued. Ezra therefore may safely be regarded as the writer and compiler of the Chronicles, and the time at or during the restoration to Palestine. In the Hebrew canon these books stand last in order. The books of Chronicles cover the same ground and time as the books of Kings, while having a special character of their own. The first nine chapters contain divine genealogical records from Adam, and which enabled the returned remnants from the Captivity to verify their various Jewish claims.

Ezra (help) covers a period of about eighty years, and records the doings, the work and the worship of the Judah remnants who returned to Jerusalem from the Chaldean exile. The distinguished ecclesiastical historian and ready scribe whose name is attached to this book has ever been highly venerated amongst the Jews, and is generally regarded as the inspired editor and compiler of the Old Testament. When, where, and by whom this book was written are questions easily answered — after the return from the Babylon captivity, in Palestine, and by Ezra. The change from the first to the third person, as in chaps. 7, 10, in nowise affects the authorship; John the Apostle habitually does so in his Gospel. Similar instances might be adduced from Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and elsewhere. Yet Professor Smith (in his Lectures on the Old Testament in the Jewish Church, page 321) says, "One asks for proof that any Hebrew ever wrote of himself in the third person." Is human learning to be trusted in the things of God? What is man in presence of these Divine and imperishable records? The books of Ezra and Nehemiah anciently formed but one work; they are still spoken of by Roman Catholic writers as the 1st and 2nd books of Esdras. There are two portions of this book written in the Syriac or Aramean language — that spoken in Babylon and Assyria — viz., Ezra 4:8 to 6:18; and Ezra 7:12-26.