Ezra

(ěz'rah,) a Jewish scribe and priest, who, abt. the year458 B. c., led the second expedition of Jews back from the Babylonian exile into Palestine. The Talmudic statement is that he died at Zamzumu, a town on the Tigris, while on his road from Jerusalem to Susa, and a tomb, said to be his (Fig. 317), is shown on the Tigris, abt. 20 m. above its junction with the Euphrates. The canonical book called by his name,along Fig. 317.- тOMB OF EZRA. with the book of Nehemiah, formed, among the Jews, the first and second books of Ezra. It records events which extended over a period of nearly 80 years, and divides itself naturally into two parts. The first six chapters embrace a period of 21 years, and relate the history of the first return from the Babylonish captivity; the rest of the book chronicles the second return, underEzra the priest, in the reign of Artaxerxes Long i man us. [s. 352] IMG:p0385_0.jpg:Gravür