Ezra, a Jewish scribe and priest, according to Josephus, high priest of the Jews in Babylon. Under his guidance, the second expedition of the Jews proceeded from Babylon to Palestine, under the reign of Artaxerxes I., about 458 B. C. The important services rendered by Ezra to his countrymen on that occasion, and also in arranging and settling the canon of Scripture, are specially acknowledged by the Jews, so that he is even regarded as the second founder of the nation. Josephus says that Ezra died at Jerusalem, and was buried there with great magnificence; according to others, he returned to Babylon and died there, at the age of 120. Ezra is said by some of the rabbis to have introduced the present square Hebrew characters, and, in conjunction with some of the elders, to have made the Masora, the punctuation and accentuation of the Bible.

Besides the book of Ezra, he was supposed to be the author of the two books of Chronicles, and some writers attribute to him also the books of Nehemiah and Esther, though they differ in style from his acknowledged writings. -The book of Ezra contains an account of the favors bestowed upon the Jews by the Persian kings, the rebuilding of the temple, the mission of Ezra to Jerusalem, and the various regulations and reforms introduced by him. The theologians of the liberal school generally attribute the last revision of the book to a later hand than that of Ezra. Bertheau (in Schenkel's Bibellexicon, 1868) puts the date of the last revision about 300 B. C.; others, after the example of Spinoza, in the time of the Maccabees. Parts of the book are written in Chaldee (iv. 8 to vi. 18, and vii. 12 to 26). For a full discussion of the questions relating to the book of Ezra, see the introductions of Berthold, De Wette, Keil, and Havernick, and the commentary of Bertheau (1862).-In ancient manuscripts there are four books of Ezra, viz., the one just spoken of, the book of Nehemiah, and the two books which in the English version are called 1st and 2d Esdras, and placed among the apocryphal books. (See Esdeas.)