Ezra

No. 114 Ezra 7:1-10
Ezra arrives in Jerusalem about eighty years after the first exiles returned, sent by the Persian king Artaxerxes with authority and funds. This passage introduces him, and it does so twice over, in two...
No. 370 Ezra 10:1-8
This is one of the harder episodes in the Bible to read, and it does not become easier by pretending otherwise. The community that had returned from exile was small and fragile, and Ezra discovers that many of...
No. 548 Ezra 8:1-5
This is a list of names, the heads of families who went up with Ezra from Babylon to Jerusalem, counted out by their fathers' houses, a hundred and fifty of this clan, two hundred of that. It reads like a...
No. 748 Ezra 10:15-19
When Ezra returns to Jerusalem, he finds that many of the men who had come back from exile, priests among them, have married women from the surrounding peoples, and he treats it as a crisis that could dissolve...
No. 775 Ezra 1:1-11
The book of Ezra opens on a note of fulfillment. In the first year of Cyrus of Persia, to complete the word the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, so that the emperor...
No. 814 Ezra 10:30-44
The book of Ezra ends on a list of names. After the painful decision that the men who had married foreign wives during the exile would send them away, the final chapter simply records who they were, family by...
No. 897 Ezra 10:9-14
This is one of the more troubling scenes in Ezra. The returned exiles have intermarried with the surrounding peoples, and Ezra treats it as a grave threat to the survival of the fragile community and its...
No. 1023 Ezra 4:7-11
The exiles have returned to rebuild Jerusalem, and opposition organizes. This passage introduces a formal letter written to King Artaxerxes of Persia by the officials of the surrounding provinces, Rehum the...
No. 1139 Ezra 2:64-70
The list of returned exiles closes with a grand total, forty-two thousand assembled, plus servants, singers, and their animals. And then a telling note: when they came to the site of the ruined temple, some of...
No. 1187 Ezra 8:30-36
Ezra is leading a caravan of returning exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem, carrying a fortune in silver, gold, and temple vessels entrusted to the priests and Levites for the house of God. They travel the...
No. 1210 Ezra 2:33-39
This is part of the register of those who came back from exile, listed by their towns and clans: the men of Lod, Hadid, and Ono; the men of Jericho; the men of Senaah; then the priestly families, Jedaiah,...
No. 1409 Ezra 10:20-24
This passage is a bare list of names: the sons of Immer, the sons of Harim, the sons of Pashhur, certain Levites, singers, and gatekeepers. They appear in the record of Ezra's reform, when the returned exiles...
No. 1674 Ezra 4:17-24
The enemies of the returned exiles have written to the Persian king, accusing Jerusalem of being a rebellious city. Now the king's reply comes back: search has been made, the city has a history of...
No. 1759 Ezra 7:11-20
The passage records the decree of Artaxerxes, the Persian emperor, sending Ezra the priest and scribe back to Jerusalem. The king grants Ezra authority to lead any who wish to go, to carry silver and gold...
No. 1968 Ezra 9:10-15
Ezra, grieved at the people's sin, pours out a confession to God. What shall we say, he prays, for we have forsaken your commandments. He acknowledges the whole history of their unfaithfulness. And he says...
No. 2044 Ezra 9:1-9
Ezra learns that the returned exiles, even the priests and leaders, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples and their practices. His response is not detached rebuke but personal grief....
No. 2127 Ezra 2:40-54
In the register of those who returned from exile to rebuild the temple, the list moves through the ranks of those who served in God's house: the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and then the temple...
No. 2211 Ezra 6:13-22
After years of opposition and delay, the temple in Jerusalem is finally finished and dedicated with joy. The returned exiles keep the Passover and the feast with gladness. And the account gives the reason for...
No. 2227 Ezra 8:11-20
As Ezra gathers the exiles to return to Jerusalem, he reviews the company and discovers a gap: there were no Levites among them, no one to serve in the house of God. So he sends leaders to bring back ministers...
No. 2229 Ezra 3:1-7
When the exiles have returned and settled in their towns, they gather as one to Jerusalem, and their first act is to restore the worship of God. Before the foundation of the temple is even laid, Jeshua and...
No. 2405 Ezra 5:1-5
The rebuilding of the temple had stalled, until the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people, and Zerubbabel and Jeshua rose and began to build again, with the prophets right there helping. Almost at...
No. 2817 Ezra 4:1-6
As the returned exiles begin rebuilding the temple, their adversaries come with what sounds like a friendly offer: let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do. Zerubbabel and the leaders refuse...
No. 2841 Ezra 8:6-10
This is a roster: the heads of families who came up from Babylon with Ezra, each named, each with the count of the men who traveled with him. Of the sons of Adin, Ebed, and fifty men; of the sons of Elam,...
No. 3180 Ezra 6:1-5
When enemies challenge the rebuilding of the temple, King Darius orders the royal archives searched, and in a palace in Media a scroll is found: the original decree of Cyrus, years before, ordering that the...
No. 3232 Ezra 5:6-17
When officials challenge the rebuilding of the temple and write to King Darius about it, they report the Jews' answer. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, the builders had said, and we are...
No. 3415 Ezra 7:21-28
The pagan king Artaxerxes issues a remarkable decree, granting Ezra whatever he needs for the temple, exempting its servants from tax, and giving him authority to teach and establish God's law throughout the...
No. 3531 Ezra 3:8-13
As the foundation of the new temple is laid, the people break into praise, singing, for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and shouting for joy. But mingled with the shout is another sound: the...
No. 3548 Ezra 8:21-29
About to journey back to Jerusalem through dangerous country, carrying great treasure, Ezra faces a dilemma. He could ask the king for soldiers to protect them, but he is ashamed to, because he had testified...
No. 3584 Ezra 2:1-16
This is the beginning of a long list of the families who returned from exile in Babylon, counted clan by clan, each with its number. It reads as dry statistics, but there is something moving hidden inside it....
No. 3679 Ezra 10:25-29
This is part of a long, sobering list of men who had married foreign wives, contrary to God's covenant, and who now, under Ezra's leadership, committed to separate from these marriages. It is a painful...
No. 3740 Ezra 6:6-12
King Darius, having found the original decree of Cyrus, issues a remarkable order. Not only are the enemies of the rebuilding to leave the Jews alone, but the royal treasury is to fund the work, and provisions...
No. 3878 Ezra 4:12-16
Those opposed to the rebuilding of Jerusalem take up a weapon more subtle than force: accusation. They write to the king, painting the returned exiles as rebels building a rebellious and wicked city, warning...
No. 3990 Ezra 2:55-63
Among the lists of those who returned from exile, this passage notes a poignant group: some families who could not prove their descent, who searched the genealogical records but could not find their names, and...
No. 3994 Ezra 2:17-32
This portion of the register lists the returning exiles not only by family but by their ancestral towns, the people of Bethlehem, of Anathoth, of Bethel and Ai, of Ramah and Geba, each community numbered as...