Ezra

The book of Ezra does not identify its final author. Later Jewish tradition credits Ezra, yet the text combines official correspondence, lists, third-person narrative, and sections narrated in Ezra’s own voice. Scholars therefore debate who assembled it and when, probably in the later Persian or early Hellenistic period. Set under Persian rule, primarily in Jerusalem and Judah, it follows returned exiles from Cyrus’s decree in 538 BC through the rebuilt temple in 515 BC, then Ezra’s mission traditionally dated to 458/457 BC. The book asks how a people rebuilding life after exile can be restored: not merely by returning to the land, but by rebuilding worship, learning the Torah, and confronting covenant unfaithfulness. It repeats Chronicles’ closing decree, overlaps Haggai and Zechariah, and continues into Nehemiah; Ezra–Nehemiah was long transmitted as one book.