Ezra (EZ-ruh) — Ezra was a Jewish priest and scribe who led a group from Babylon to Jerusalem, studied and taught the law, and helped order the restored community.
Birth year: Unknown.
Death year: Unknown.
Active during: The Persian period, traditionally the seventh year of Artaxerxes I, often dated 458/457 BC.
Home region: Babylon and Jerusalem.
Main passages: Ezra 7–10; Nehemiah 8.
Story and role
Ezra was a Jewish priest and scribe who led a group from Babylon to Jerusalem, studied and taught the law, and helped order the restored community.
How the dates were determined
The biblical text places Ezra in the Persian period, traditionally the seventh year of Artaxerxes I, often dated 458/457 BC. It does not provide enough evidence for a responsible birth or death year. BC means “before Christ”; AD marks years in the traditional Christian calendar.
Limits of the evidence
Ezra’s birth and death years are unknown. The identity of the Artaxerxes in Ezra 7 and the ordering of Ezra and Nehemiah have been debated, so the calendar date is presented as the traditional reconstruction rather than certainty. The artwork is an imagined historical illustration, not a known likeness.
Explore the places connected with Ezra on a modern reference map.
Read further
Ezra 7–10; Nehemiah 8, NIV; BiblicalTraining reference library.