1 Esdras

Isaiah	Yeshayahu
Jeremiah	Yirmeyahu
Ezekiel	Yekhezqel

Joshua	Yehoshua
Judges	Shofetim
Samuel	Shemuel
Kings	Melakhim

Genesis	Bereshit
Exodus	Shemot
Leviticus	Wayiqra
Numbers	Bemidbar
Deuteronomy	Devarim

1 Esdras (Greek: Ἔσδρας Αʹ), also Greek Esdras, Greek Ezra, or 3 Esdras, is an ancient Greek version of the biblical Book of Ezra in use among the early church, and many modern Christians with varying degrees of canonicity. First Esdras is substantially the same as Masoretic Ezra.

As part of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, it is regarded as canonical in the churches of the East, but apocryphal in the West.^[1] First Esdras is found in Origen's Hexapla. Greek and related versions of the Bible include both Esdras Αʹ (English title: 1 Esdras) and Esdras Βʹ (Ezra–Nehemiah) in parallel.

EZRA AND I ESDRAS COMPARED
Masoretic Text	Septuagint	Summary
		Continuation of Paralipomenon (i.e., "Things Set Off" from Esdras)
(II Chr. 35)	(I Esd. 1:1–33)
(II Chr. 36)	(I Esd. 1:34–58)
		Begin Ezra
Ezr. 1	I Esd. 2:1–14	Cyrus's edict to rebuild the Temple
Ezr. 4:7–24	I Esd. 2:15–30a	Flash forward to Artaxerxes's reign (prolepsis)
		Core: Chiasm of Celebration
—	I Esd. 2:30b	Inclusio: Work hindered until second year of Darius’s reign
—	I Esd. 3	A Feast in the court of Darius with Darius contest
—	I Esd. 4	B Darius vows to repatriate the exiles
—	I Esd. 5:1–6	X The feast of those who returned to Jerusalem
Ezr. 2	I Esd. 5:7–46	B' List of former exiles who returned
Ezr. 3	I Esd. 5:47–65	A' Feast of Tabernacles
Ezr. 4:1–5^[2]	I Esd. 5:66–73	Inclusio: Work hindered until second year of Darius’s reign
		Conclusion
Ezr. 5	I Esd. 6:1–22	In the second year of Darius's reign
Ezr. 6	I Esd. 6:23 – 7	The temple is finished
Ezr. 7	I Esd. 8:1–27	In Artaxerxes's reign
Ezr. 8	I Esd. 8:28–67	List of latter exiles who returned
Ezr. 9	I Esd. 8:68–90	Repentance from miscegenation
Ezr. 10	I Esd. 8:91–9:36	Putting away of foreign wives and children

(Neh. 7:73–8:12)	(I Esd. 9:37–55)

Author and criticism

The purpose of the book seems to be the presentation of the dispute among the courtiers, to which details from the other books are added to complete the story. Since there are various discrepancies in the account, most scholars hold that the work was written by more than one author. However, some scholars believe that this work may have been the original, or at least the more authoritative; the variances that are contained in this work are so striking that more research is being conducted.^{[citation needed]} Furthermore, there is disagreement as to what the original language of the work was, Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew.^{[citation needed]}^[3] Because of similarities to the vocabulary in the Book of Daniel, it is presumed by some that the authors came from Lower Egypt and some or all may have even had a hand in the translation of Daniel. Assuming this theory is correct, many scholars consider the possibility that one chronicler wrote this book.^{[citation needed]}

Josephus makes use of the book and some scholars believe that the composition is likely to have taken place in the first century BC or the first century AD. Many Protestant and Catholic scholars assign no historical value to the sections of the book not duplicated in Ezra-Nehemiah. The citations of the other books of the Bible, however, provide an early alternative to the Septuagint for those texts, which increases its value to scholars.

In the current Greek texts, the book breaks off in the middle of a sentence; that particular verse thus had to be reconstructed from an early Latin translation. However, it is generally presumed that the original work extended to the Feast of Tabernacles, as described in Nehemiah 8:13–18. An additional difficulty with the text appears to readers who are unfamiliar with chiastic structures common in Semitic literature. If the text is assumed to be a Western-style, purely linear narrative, then Artaxerxes seems to be mentioned before Darius, who is mentioned before Cyrus. (Such jumbling of the order of events, however, is also presumed by some readers to exist in the canonical Ezra and Nehemiah.) The Semitic chiasm is corrected in at least one manuscript of Josephus in the Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, chapter 2 where we find that the name of the above-mentioned Artaxerxes is called Cambyses.

Use in the Christian canon

The book was widely quoted by early Christian authors and it found a place in Origen's Hexapla. It was not included in canons of the Western Church. Clement VIII placed it in an appendix to the Vulgate with other apocrypha "lest they perish entirely".^[4] However, the use of the book continued in the Eastern Church, and it remains a part of the Eastern Orthodox canon.

This book is cited once in the Roman Missal 1962 which is known as the extraordinary form , in the Offertory of the votive Mass for the election of a Pope. “Non participentur sancta, donec exsurgat póntifex in ostensiónem et veritátem. – Let them not take part in the holy things, until there arise a priest unto showing and truth.” (3 Esdras 5, 40)

Some scholars, including Joseph Blenkinsopp in his 1988 commentary on Ezra–Nehemiah, hold that the book is a late 2nd/early 1st century BC revision of Esdras and Esdras β,^[5] while others such as L. L. Grabbe believe it to be independent of the Hebrew-language Ezra–Nehemiah.^[6]

Nomenclature

The book normally called 1 Esdras is numbered differently among various versions of the Bible. In most editions of the Septuagint, the book is titled in Greek: Ἔσδρας Αʹ and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah, which is titled in Greek: Ἔσδρας Βʹ.

Summary

Septuagint and its derivative translations: Ἔσδρας Αʹ = 1 Esdras
King James Version and many^[7] successive English translations: 1 Esdras
Vulgate and its derivative translations: 3 Esdras
Slavonic bible: 2 Esdras
Ethiopic bible: Ezra Kali^[8]

References

^ For example, it is listed among the Apocrypha in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Read Article VI at episcopalian.org
^ Ezra 4:6, which introduces a difficult "King Ahasuerus", is not found in I Esdras.
^ http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/1esdras.html
^ Liber Esdrae Tertius Apocrypha.
^ Blenkinsopp, Joseph, "Ezra-Nehemiah: A Commentary" (Eerdmans, 1988) pp.70–71
^ Grabbe, L.L., "A history of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 1" (T&T Clark, 2004) p.83
^ Including RSV, NRSV, NEB, REB, and GNB
^ Ethiopian Ezra Kali means "2 Ezra".

External links

Full text of 1 Esdras from the University of Virginia's Etext Center
Various translations of 1 Esdras at the World Wide Study Bible
Catholic Encyclopedia: Esdras: THE BOOKS OF ESDRAS: III Esdras
Jewish Encyclopedia: Esdras, Books of: I Esdras
1 Esdras 1 – NRSV
1 Esdras at Early Jewish Writings
1 Ezra: 2012 Critical Translation with Audio Drama at biblicalaudio

Deuterocanon
Preceded by 1–2 Chronicles	E. Orthodox Books of the Bible	Succeeded by Ezra-Nehemiah (2 Esdras)

[1] For example, it is listed among the Apocrypha in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Read Article VI at episcopalian.org

[2] Ezra 4:6, which introduces a difficult "King Ahasuerus", is not found in I Esdras.

[3] ttp://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/1esdras.html

[4] Liber Esdrae Tertius Apocrypha.

[5] Blenkinsopp, Joseph, "Ezra-Nehemiah: A Commentary" (Eerdmans, 1988) pp.70–71

[6] Grabbe, L.L., "A history of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 1" (T&T Clark, 2004) p.83

[most-7] Including RSV, NRSV, NEB, REB, and GNB

[8] Ethiopian Ezra Kali means "2 Ezra".

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