UNROLL
Dawn in the hills of Judah: in the lower third, a long line of returning families, seen from behind and a little above, winds up a stony road with staffs, bundles and laden donkeys, an old man riding one, the first of them cresting a ridge toward a far, faint, broken Jerusalem, under a calm, clear, empty sky.

The Book of

Ezra Intro

A king’s decree, a road home, and a small people who rebuilt God’s house and turned back to His Word.

Before chapter 1≈ 2 min10 chapters

Images are artistic interpretations.

In 30 seconds

A Persian king lets God’s people go home.

They build the altar, then lay the foundation.

Enemies stop the work; prophets restart it.

The temple is finished and dedicated.

Ezra brings the Law and calls them back to God.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Who wrote it

Ezra

Priest and scribe, who tells part of it himself

  • Ezra and Nehemiah were one book in the Hebrew Bible.Jewish tradition
  • Ezra tells part of the story as ‘I’.Ezra 7:28
  • It keeps Persian letters and decrees in their own Aramaic.Ezra 4:8
  • Tradition names Ezra as the writer; probably finished about 440–400 BC.Most scholars

How it’s built

Three returns

First return538 BC · Zerubbabel ·Ezra 1–2The templefinished516 BC · Ezra 3–6Quiet yearsEsther’s story, about483–473Second return458 BC · Ezra · Ezra7–10Third return445 BC · Nehemiah ·the walls

Whiteboard

Ezra tells two of the three returns: Zerubbabel’s, which rebuilt the temple, and Ezra’s own almost sixty years later, which brought the Law. Nehemiah, the same book in Hebrew, comes next and tells the third.

Big themes

Four threads to follow

Where it happens

EuphratesBabylonSusaEcbatanaJerusalem

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

From Persia to Jerusalem

The exiles lived around Babylon. Persia’s kings ruled from Susa and other capitals, and Cyrus’s decree was later found at Ecbatana. The road home ran up the Euphrates and down to Jerusalem, about 900 miles.

Meet the cast

Five people to know

Watch for

Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Ezra 7:10

Start reading

Question

Quick question

Ezra begins with a decree from the most powerful man on earth.

Which king let the exiles go home to rebuild the temple?

or swipe left