1 in the first year of cyrus king of persia, in order to fulfill the word of the lord spoken by jeremiah, the lord moved the heart of cyrus king of persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing 2 “this is what cyrus king of persia says: Ezra, whose name means “help,” was a descendent of aaron, the chief priest under moses, and was related to joshua, who became the high priest of the rebuilt temple (ezra 3:2) Appointed to be a priest and a scribe, ezra was also a prolific writer. Ezra was a scribe and priest, who in 457 bc, was sent with religious and political powers by the persian king artaxerxes to lead a group of jewish exiles from babylon to jerusalem (ezra 7:8, 12) Ezra condemned mixed marriages and encouraged jews to divorce and banish their foreign wives.
Ezra recounts the return of the jewish exiles from babylon to jerusalem under the leadership of zerubbabel and later ezra It highlights the rebuilding of the temple, the restoration of worship, and the reestablishment of the law. Ezra is one of the books of the section in the hebrew bible called writings, and originally included the book of nehemiah as well The two books describe the jewish return to israel in the 6th and 5th centuries bce, following seven decades of babylonian exile. 1 now in the first year of cyrus king of persia, that the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah might be fulfilled, the lord stirred up the spirit of cyrus king of persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, The book of ezra provides an account of the jews’ regathering, of their struggle to survive and to rebuild what had been destroyed
In the book's recurring narrative pattern, the god of israel three times inspires a king of persia to commission a leader from among the jews to carry out a mission The first to rebuild the temple, the second to purify the jewish community, and the third to seal the holy city behind a wall.
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