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40-844: Since the 16th century, it has generally been treated as a separate book within the Bible. Before then it had been included in the Book of Ezra but, in Latin Christian Bibles from the 13th century onwards, the Vulgate Book of Ezra was divided into two texts, called respectively the First and Second books of Ezra. This separation became canonised with the first printed Bibles in Hebrew and Latin. Mid-16th century Reformed Protestant Bible translations produced in Geneva were

80-461: A 'double' book. Jerome , writing in the early 5th century, noted that this duplication had since been adopted by Greek and Latin Christians. Jerome himself rejected the duplication in his Vulgate translation of the Bible into Latin from the Hebrew. Consequently, all early Vulgate manuscripts present Ezra-Nehemiah as a single book. From the 9th century onwards, Latin bibles are found that for

120-564: A future when he would allow a purified people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem . The same period saw the rapid rise of Persia, previously an unimportant kingdom in present-day southern Iran, to a position of great power , and in 539 BC Cyrus II , the Persian ruler, conquered Babylon. It is difficult to describe the parties and politics of Judea in this period because of

160-811: A later stage by the authors of Ezra 7–8, and that all have undergone extensive later editing. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi argues that the final composition of Ezra took place during the late Persian period (c. 370-350 BCE), with some small additions from the Hellenistic period . She states that the language and ideology of the book seem to best fit within a Persian-period context. Seven purported Persian decrees of kings or letters to and from high officials are quoted in Ezra. Their authenticity has been contentious. While some scholars accept them in their current form, most accept only part of them as genuine, while still others reject them entirely. L.L. Grabbe surveyed six tests against which

200-723: Is evidence of highly decorated pages mid-way through a one volume bible it is evidence of a two-volume manuscript being rebound at a later date as one volume. The explosion of the mendicant orders of preaching friars, in particular the Franciscans and Dominicans , lead to innovation in manuscript Bible design and manufacture: Friars differed from monks in that they did not reside in closed communities but went out to live and preach in society. As they renounced possessions and travelled extensively to preach, they required small books which could be carried on their person. The orders of friars were remarkably successful, and as every preaching friar

240-611: Is in Hebrew (1:2–4, 4:8–16, 4:17–22, 5:7–17, 6:3–5, 6:6–12, 7:12–26) In the early 6th century BC, the Kingdom of Judah rebelled against the Neo-Babylonian Empire and was destroyed. As a result, the royal court, the priests, the prophets and scribes were taken into captivity in the city of Babylon . There a profound intellectual revolution took place, the exiles blaming their fate on disobedience to their God and looking forward to

280-605: Is interrupted by chapters 8–10, which concern Ezra. These have sometimes been identified as another, separate work, the Ezra Memorial (EM), but other scholars believe the EM to be fictional and heavily altered by later editors. Both the Nehemiah and Ezra material are combined with numerous lists, Censuses and other material. The first edition of the combined Ezra–Nehemiah may date from the early 4th century BC; further editing continued well into

320-489: Is marked by a great assembly. The tasks of the three leaders are progressive: first the Temple is restored (Zerubabbel), then the community of Israel (Ezra), and finally the walls which will separate the purified community and Temple from the outside world (Nehemiah). The pattern is completed with a final coda in which Nehemiah restores the belief of Yahweh. This concern with a schematic pattern-making, rather than with history in

360-620: Is the Return to Zion following the close of the Babylonian captivity . Together with the Book of Nehemiah , it represents the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible. Book of Ezra is divided into two parts: the first telling the story of the first return of exiles in the first year of Cyrus the Great (538 BC) and the completion and dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem in

400-519: The Achaemenid Empire . The capital of the empire is at Susa . Nehemiah is a cup-bearer to king Artaxerxes I of Persia – an important official position. At his own request Nehemiah is sent to Jerusalem as governor of Yehud, the official Persian name for Judah. Jerusalem had been conquered and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC and Nehemiah finds it still in ruins. His task is to rebuild

440-450: The Book of Ezra around 400 BC. Further editing probably continued into the Hellenistic era . The book tells how Nehemiah, at the court of the king in Susa , is informed that Jerusalem is without walls, and resolves to restore them. The king appoints him as governor of Judah and he travels to Jerusalem. There he rebuilds the walls, despite the opposition of Israel's enemies, and reforms

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480-543: The ' Tale of the Three Guardsmen ' in the middle of Ezra 4. 1 Esdras (3 Esdras in the Vulgate) was considered apocryphal by Jerome. Koresh of Ezra 1:1 is called "king of Persia", which title was introduced by Cyrus the Great some time after he defeated Astyages of Media (585–550 BC). Scholars are divided over the chronological sequence of the activities of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra 7:8 says that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in

520-589: The 12th century onwards. These were small enough to be carried in a saddle or travelling bag or indeed a pocket. Scholars apply the term to bibles which possess a number of common characteristics. Each pandect contained the Deuterocanonical books (though not the apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans or the Fourth Book of Esdras ), 64 prologues mostly based on the commentaries of Jerome and most have an index of

560-603: The Bible would change. One of the often-heard comments of the Paris Bible is that it was designed for studying the newly-introduced scholastic theology . Mendicant Orders also created schools ( studia ) which had, at the heart of the education program, an academic study of the scriptures. It was these changes which led to the desire to rearrange the format of the Bible in order that students, masters and preachers could retrieve information effectively. Adding reading aids like running headers and chapter numbers allowed readers to find

600-539: The Chronicles. More recently it has been increasingly recognised that Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles all have extremely complex histories stretching over many stages of editing, and most scholars now are cautious of assuming a unified composition with a single theology and point of view. As an indication of the many layers of editing which Ezra has undergone, one recent study finds that Ezra 1–6 and Ezra 9–10 were originally separate documents, that they were spliced together at

640-508: The Jewish community, and the third to seal the holy city behind a wall. This third mission, that of Nehemiah , is not part of the Book of Ezra. The theological program of the book explains the many problems its chronological structure presents. It probably appeared in its earliest version around 399 BC, and continued to be revised and edited for several centuries before being accepted as scriptural in

680-555: The community in conformity with the law of Moses . After 12 years in Jerusalem , he returns to Susa but subsequently revisits Jerusalem. He finds that the Israelites have been backsliding and taking non-Jewish wives, and he stays in Jerusalem to enforce the Law. The book is set in the 5th century BC. Judah is one of several provinces within a larger satrapy (a large administrative unit) within

720-484: The composition of the Memorial depends on the dates of Nehemiah's mission: It is commonly accepted that "Artaxerxes" was Artaxerxes I (there were two later kings of the same name), and that Nehemiah's first period in Jerusalem was therefore 445–433 BC; allowing for his return to Susa and second journey to Jerusalem, the end of the 5th century BC is therefore the earliest possible date for the Memorial. The Nehemiah Memorial

760-449: The documents can be measured (comparative known Persian material, linguistic details, contents, presence of Jewish theology, the Persian attitude to local religions, and Persian letter-writing formulas) and concluded that all the documents are late post-Persian works and probable forgeries, but that some features suggest a genuine Persian correspondence behind some of them. By contrast, Richard C. Steiner and H. G. M. Williamson argue that

800-458: The duplication in his Vulgate translation of the Bible into Latin from the Hebrew; and consequently all early Vulgate manuscripts present Ezra–Nehemiah as a single book, as too does the 8th century commentary of Bede , and the 9th century bibles of Alcuin and Theodulf of Orleans . However, sporadically from the 9th century onwards, Latin bibles are found that separate the Ezra and Nehemiah sections of Ezra–Nehemiah as two distinct books, then called

840-436: The earliest Christian and Jewish period was known as Ezra and was probably attributed to Ezra himself; according to a rabbinic tradition, however, Nehemiah was the real author but was forbidden to claim authorship because of his bad habit of disparaging others. The Nehemiah Memorial, chapters 1–7 and 11–13, may have circulated as an independent work before being combined with the Ezra material to form Ezra–Nehemiah. Determining

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880-563: The early Christian era. The Book of Ezra consists of ten chapters: chapters 1 –6, covering the period from the Cyrus the Great to the dedication of the Second Temple , are told in the third person. Chapters 7–10, dealing with the mission of Ezra, are told largely in the first person. The book contains several documents presented as historical inclusions, written in Aramaic while the surrounding text

920-641: The first and second books of Ezra; and this becomes standard in the Paris Bibles of the 13th century. It was not until 1516/17, in the first printed Rabbinic Bible of Daniel Bomberg that the separation was introduced generally in Hebrew Bibles. In later medieval Christian commentary, this book is referred to as the 'second book of Ezra', and never as the 'Book of Nehemiah"; equally citations from this book are always introduced as "Ezra says ...", and never as 'Nehemiah says ...". The combined book Ezra–Nehemiah of

960-536: The first time separate the Ezra and Nehemiah sections of Ezra-Nehemiah as two distinct books, then called the first and second books of Ezra. This becomes standard in the Paris Bibles of the 13th century. It was not until 1516/17, in the first printed Rabbinic Bible of Daniel Bomberg that the separation was introduced generally in Hebrew Bibles. 1 Esdras , also known as "Esdras α ", is an alternate Greek-language version of Ezra. This text has one additional section,

1000-409: The first to introduce the name 'Book of Nehemiah' for the text formerly called the 'Second Book of Ezra'. The events take place in the second half of the 5th century BC. Listed together with the Book of Ezra as Ezra–Nehemiah , it represents the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible. The original core of the book, the first-person memoir, may have been combined with the core of

1040-562: The following centuries. Commentaries Other Translations Book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible which formerly included the Book of Nehemiah in a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra–Nehemiah . The two became separated with the first printed rabbinic bibles of the early 16th century, following late medieval Latin Christian tradition. Composed in Hebrew and Aramaic, its subject

1080-524: The interpretations of Hebrew names (IHN).  Whilst the thirteenth century bibles were divided into chapters, they were yet to include numbered verses. The bibles varied, especially by region, from almost 200mm by 120mm, to a small 130mm by 80mm. The smaller "pocket" versions were intended for traveling friars. Scholars have disputed the fact that all Paris Bibles were single volume manuscripts as several two volume bibles are still in existence. Several leading Book Historians have suggested that where there

1120-408: The lack of historical sources, but there seem to have been three important groups involved: the returnees from the exile who claimed the reconstruction with the support of Cyrus II ; "the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin"; and a third group, "people of the land", who seem to be local opposition against the returnees building the Temple in Jerusalem. The following table is a guide to major events in

1160-519: The linguistic and other evidence suggests that the documents are authentic. Commentaries Translations Paris Bible The Paris Bible ( Latin : Biblia Parisiensia ) was a standardized format of codex of the Vulgate Latin Bible originally produced in Paris in the 13th century. These bibles signalled a significant change in the organization and structure of medieval bibles and were

1200-408: The middle of the 2nd century BC. Slightly later a second, and very different Greek translation was made, in the form of 1 Esdras , from which the deeds of Nehemiah are entirely absent, those sections either being omitted or re-attributed to Ezra instead; and initially early Christians reckoned this later translation as their biblical 'Book of Ezra', as had the 1st century Jewish writer Josephus . From

1240-448: The modern sense of a factual account of events in the order in which they occurred, explains the origin of the many problems which surround both Ezra and Nehemiah as historical sources. Twentieth-century views on the composition of Ezra revolved around whether the author was Ezra himself, and who may have also authored the Books of Chronicles , or was another author or authors who also wrote

Book of Nehemiah - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-458: The purifying of the community, then the building of the outer walls of the city, and so finally all could reach a grand climax in the reading of the law." The narrative follows a repeating pattern in which the God of Israel "stirs up" the king of Persia to commission a Jewish leader (Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah) to undertake a mission; the leader completes his mission in the face of opposition; and success

1320-409: The region during the period covered by the Book of Ezra: The single Hebrew book Ezra–Nehemiah , with title "Ezra", was translated into Greek around the middle of the 2nd century BC. The Septuagint calls Esdras B to Ezra–Nehemiah and Esdras A to 1 Esdras respectively. This usage is noted by the early Christian scholar Origen , who remarked that the Hebrew 'book of Ezra' might then be considered

1360-492: The seventh year of king Artaxerxes, while Nehemiah 2:1–9 has Nehemiah arriving in Artaxerxes' twentieth year. If this was Artaxerxes I (465–424 BC), then Ezra arrived in 458 and Nehemiah in 445 BC. Nehemiah 8–9, in which the two (possibly by editorial error) appear together, supports this scenario. The contents of Ezra–Nehemiah are structured in a theological rather than chronological order: "The Temple must come first, then

1400-447: The sixth year of Darius I (515 BC); the second telling of the subsequent mission of Ezra to Jerusalem and his struggle to purify the Jews from marriage with non-Jews. 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

1440-424: The template upon which the structure of the modern bible is based. Up to the beginning of the 13th century there was no single structure for the order of the biblical books, and it was often presented in 4 volumes. The Paris Bible was unique for its time; it was a pandect (complete single volume) with a uniform order, which is similar to the order of the modern Bible used today. Between 1230 and 1280 AD this bible

1480-613: The third century the Christian Old Testament in Greek supplemented the text of 1 Esdras with the older translation of Ezra–Nehemiah, naming the two books Esdras A and Esdras B respectively; and this usage is noted by the 3rd century Christian scholar Origen , who remarked that the Hebrew 'book of Ezra' might then be considered a 'double' book. Jerome , writing in the early 5th century, noted that this duplication had since been adopted by Greek and Latin Christians. Jerome himself rejected

1520-574: The walls and to re-populate the city. He faces opposition from three powerful neighbours, the Samaritans , the Ammonites , and the Arabs , as well as the city of Ashdod , but manages to rebuild the walls. He then purifies the Jewish community by enforcing its segregation from its neighbours and enforces the laws of Moses. The single Hebrew book Ezra–Nehemiah , with title "Ezra", was translated into Greek around

1560-478: Was copied more frequently and spread more widely across Europe than any other copy of the Bible. Paris Bible is the name given to bibles produced by scribes mainly in Paris and areas of Northern France although examples are believed to have originated in England and Italy. However, scholars caution that the term is used too broadly as it is often confused with the 'pocket bible' which is applied to bibles produced from

1600-484: Was required to have a Bible, pocket Bibles would have been required, according to de Hamel, in their thousands – a fact which accounts for their relative prevalence today. 20,000 small-format Paris Bibles are estimated to have been produced in the 13th century alone, in France, Italy and England. The founding of a flurry of universities in the thirteenth century can be regarded as one of the major changes which determined how

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