Ezra

Author

Other references

Dates

The book of Ezra covers 80 years from when Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple (538 B.C.) to Ezra's return to Jerusalem in 458 B.C. (chapters 7-10). The Temple was completed in 516 B.C.. There is no information about the 58 years between then and Ezra's arrival.

• 586 B.C. - Nebuchadnezzar took Jews into captivity in Babylon.

• 539 B.C. - King Cyrus of Persia overthrew the Babylonian king, Nabonidus.

• Ezra 1:1 - In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia (i.e. 538 B.C.)... the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus to proclaim that Jews could return from captivity to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

• Ezra 3:1 - When the seventh month came... the people gathered in Jerusalem.

• Ezra 3:6 - On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid.

• Ezra 3:8 - In the second month of the second year after their arrival in Jerusalem, they began the work.

• Ezra 4:5 - They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. 

• Ezra 4:6 - At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. 

• Ezra 4:24 - the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. 

• Ezra 5:13 - in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon (538 B.C.), King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 

• Ezra 6:3 - In the first year of King Cyrus (538 B.C.), the king issued a decree concerning the rebuilding of the temple of God in Jerusalem .

• Darius reigned from 522 to 486 B.C.

• Ezra 6:15 - The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius (516 B.C.). 

• Ezra 6:19 - On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover (515 B.C.). 

• Artaxerxes reigned from 465 to 425 B.C.

• Ezra 7:1 - During the reign of Artaxerxes, Ezra came up to Jerusalem.

• Ezra 7:7 - Some of the Israelites, including priests, Levites, musicians, gatekeepers and temple servants, also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. (458 B.C.)

• Ezra 7:8 - Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king (458 B.C.).

• Ezra 8:1 - those who came up with Ezra from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes (458 B.C.)

• Ezra 8:31 - On the twelfth day of the first month (458 B.C.) Ezra and others set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. 

• Ezra 10:9 - on the twentieth day of the ninth month (458 B.C.), all the people were sitting in the square, summonsed to address the issue of intermarriage.

• Ezra 10:16 - On the first day of the tenth month (458 B.C.) the family chiefs sat down to investigate the cases,.

• Ezra 10:17 - by the first day of the first month (458 B.C.) they finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women. 

• Temporal Ordering In Ezra, Part 1 - A. Philip Brown II (Bible.org)

  • Part 2

Context and message

• Journey Through - (Our Daily Bread) - coming soon