View source for 1 Esdras

{{Short description|Septuagint Book of Ezra}}
{{For|the conflicting numbering of this book and other books called "Esdras"|Esdras}}
{{Tanakh OT |deutero}}
'''1 Esdras''' ({{langx|grc|Ἔσδρας Αʹ}}), also '''Esdras A''', '''Greek Esdras''', '''Greek Ezra''', or '''3 Esdras''', is the ancient Greek [[Septuagint]] version of the biblical [[Book of Ezra]] in use within the [[Early Christianity|early church]] and among many modern Christians with varying degrees of [[Biblical canon|canonicity]]. 1 Esdras is substantially similar to the [[Masoretic Text|standard Hebrew version]] of [[Ezra–Nehemiah]], with the passages specific to the career of [[Nehemiah]] removed or re-attributed to Ezra, and some additional material.

As part of the Septuagint translation, it is now regarded as [[biblical canon|canonical]] in the churches of the [[Eastern Christianity|East]], but [[Biblical apocrypha|apocryphal]] in the [[Western Christianity|West]]; either presented in a separate section or excluded altogether.<ref>For example, it is listed among the Apocrypha in Article VI of the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]] of the [[Church of England]]. Read [http://www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928/articles/AnglicanTeaching/042.htm Article VI at episcopalian.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928122338/http://www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928/articles/AnglicanTeaching/042.htm |date=2007-09-28 }}</ref> 1 Esdras is found in [[Origen]]'s ''[[Hexapla]]''. The  Greek [[Septuagint]], the  [[Vetus Latina|Old Latin bible]] and related bible versions include both Esdras Αʹ (English title: 1 Esdras) and Esdras Βʹ ([[Ezra–Nehemiah]]) as separate books.

There is scope for considerable confusion with references to 1 Esdras. The name refers primarily to translations of the original Greek 'Esdras A'.<ref name="Bogaert">{{Cite journal|volume=110|pages=5–26|last=Bogaert|first=Pierre-Maurice|title=Les livres d'Esdras et leur numérotation dans l'histoire du canon de la Bible latin|journal=Revue Bénédictine|date=2000|issue=1–2|doi=10.1484/J.RB.5.100750}}</ref> The [[Septuagint]] calls it Esdras A, and the [[Vetus Latina]] calls it 1 Esdras, while the [[Vulgate]] calls it 3 Esdras. It was considered apocryphal by Jerome.<ref name="tertullian.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_preface_ezra.htm|title=St. Jerome, The Prologue on the Book of Ezra: English translation}}</ref>

== Contents ==
{{further|Book of Ezra}}

1 Esdras contains the whole of Ezra with the addition of one section; its verses are numbered differently. Just as Ezra begins with the last two verses of [[Books of Chronicles|2 Chronicles]], 1 Esdras begins with the last two chapters; this suggests that Chronicles and Esdras may have been read as one book at sometime in the past.

Ezra 4:6 includes a reference to a King [[Ahasuerus]]. Etymologically, Ahasuerus is the same as [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]], who reigned between [[Darius I]] and Artaxerxes I. In 1 Esdras, the section is reorganized, leading up to the additional section, and the reference to Ahasuerus is removed.

The additional section begins with a story variously known as the '[[Zerubbabel#1st Esdras|Darius contest]]' or 'Tale of the Three Guardsmen' which was interpolated into 1 Esdras 3:4 to 4:4.<ref>{{ cite book
 | title=Ezra Studies  |page=[https://archive.org/details/ezrastudies00torruoft/page/n77 58]
 | author=Charles C. Torrey |year=1910 | publisher=University of Chicago Press
 | url=https://archive.org/details/ezrastudies00torruoft
 }}</ref> This section forms the core of 1 Esdras with Ezra 5, which together are arranged in a literary [[Chiastic structure|chiasm]] around the celebration in Jerusalem at the exiles' return. This chiastic core forms 1 Esdras into a complete literary unit, allowing it to stand independently from the [[book of Nehemiah]]. Indeed, some scholars, such as [[W. F. Albright]] and [[Edwin M. Yamauchi]], believe that [[Nehemiah]] came back to Jerusalem ''before'' Ezra.<ref>W. F. Albright, "The Date and Personality of the Chronicler", ''[[Journal of Biblical Literature|JBL]]'' 40 (1921), 121.  [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3259291 Full text.]</ref><ref>Edwin Yamauchi, "The Reverse Order of Ezra/Nehemiah Reconsidered," ''[[Themelios]]'' 5.3 (1980), 7-13. [http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/journal-issues/5.3_Yamauchi.pdf Full text.]</ref>

{{Ezra&Esdras}}

==Author and criticism==
[[File:Codex Vaticanus (1 Esdras 1-55 to 2-5) (The S.S. Teacher's Edition-The Holy Bible).jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Septuagint: A column of [[uncial]] text from 1 Esdras in the ''[[Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209|Codex Vaticanus]]'', the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton's Greek edition and [[Brenton's English Translation of the Septuagint|English translation]].]]
The purpose of the book seems to be retelling the [[Return to Zion]] in a way that it revolved around the story of the dispute among the courtiers, the 'Tale of the Three Guardsmen'. 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. Most scholars agree that the original language of the work was [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], with a few arguing for the originality of the [[Greek language|Greek]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible |last=de Troyer |first=Kristin |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-007411-1 |pages=370 |editor-last=Kelle |editor-first=Brad E. |chapter=1 Esdras: Structure, Composition, and Significance |editor-last2=Strawn |editor-first2=Brent A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_kFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA367}}</ref> The text contains similarities to the vocabulary in the [[Book of Daniel]] and [[II Maccabees]], and it is presumed that the authors came either from [[Lower Egypt]] or [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and wrote during the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid period]]. Assuming this theory is correct, many scholars consider the possibility that the book made use of an Aramaic chronicle.<ref>{{Cite book |title=1 Esdras |last=Böhler |first=Dieter |publisher=Kohlhammer Verlag |year=2016 |isbn=978-3-17-029801-9 |pages=14–16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHYiEAAAQBAJ |series=International Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament}}</ref>

[[Josephus]] makes use of the 1 Esdras which he treats as Scripture, while generally disregarding the canonical text of [[Ezra–Nehemiah]]. Some scholars believe that the composition is likely to have taken place in the second century BC.<ref>{{Cite book |title=1 Esdras |last=Böhler |first=Dieter |publisher=Kohlhammer Verlag |year=2016 |isbn=978-3-17-029801-9 |pages=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHYiEAAAQBAJ |series=International Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament}}</ref> 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 [[Sukkot|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 I of Persia|Artaxerxes]] seems to be mentioned before [[Darius I of Persia|Darius]], who is mentioned before [[Cyrus the Great|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.

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,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3PvirfZkfvQC Blenkinsopp, Joseph, "Ezra-Nehemiah: A Commentary" (Eerdmans, 1988)] pp.70–71</ref> while others such as L. L. Grabbe believe it to be independent of the Hebrew-language Ezra–Nehemiah.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VK2fEzruIn0C Grabbe, L.L., ''A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period'', Volume 1 (T&T Clark, 2004)] p.83</ref>

==Use in the Christian canon==
The book was widely quoted by early Christian authors and it found a place in [[Origen]]'s ''[[Hexapla]]''.

In early Latin traditions, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras were known, respectively, as 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, 3 Esdras (‘the Greek Esdras’) and 4 Esdras.<ref name="Cambridge">{{Citation |last=Bogaert|first=Pierre-Maurice |editor1-last=Paget |editor1-first=James Carleton |editor2-last=Schaper |editor2-first=Joachim |title=The New Cambridge History of the Bible; Volume 1; from the Beginnings to 600 |pages=xxvi |publisher=CUP|year=2013}}</ref> 

In the Vulgate, I Esdras is considered to be Ezra, II Esdras to be Nehemiah, III Esdras to be 1 Esdras, and IV Esdras to be 2 Esdras. For [[Jerome]], III Esdras and IV Esdras were apocryphal.<ref name="tertullian.org"/><ref>{{Citation|last1=Gallagher |first1=Edmon L.|author-link=Edmon L. Gallagher|last2=Meade|first2=John D. |title=The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity |pages=201 |publisher=OUP|year=2017}}</ref> As Jerome's [[Vulgate]] version of the Bible gradually achieved dominance in Western Christianity, III Esdras no longer circulated. From the 13th century onwards, Vulgate Bibles produced in Paris reintroduced a Latin text of 1 Esdras, in response to commercial demand. However, the use of the book continued in the Eastern Church, and it remains a part of the Eastern Orthodox canon.

In the Roman rite liturgy, 1 Esdras is cited once in the Extraordinary Missal of 1962 in the Offertory of the votive Mass for the election of a Pope.{{efn|This missal referred to 1 Esdras as 3 Esdras, based on the Vulgate numbering}} {{lang|la|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).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://catholicnewslive.com/story/610621|title=Actual Apocrypha in the Liturgy &#124; Catholic News Live}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=April 2024}}

At the [[Council of Trent]], only 3 bishops voted for an explicit rejection of the books of Esdras; the overwhelming majority "withheld any explicit decision on these books". "The question of Esdras' canonical status was left theoretically open."<ref>Gary Michuta, Why Catholic Bibles are Bigger (Michigan: Grotto Press, 2007), pp. 240-241</ref> Catholic theologians and apologists disagree, but some argue that these books could theoretically be added as "tritiocanonical" books by the Roman Catholic Magisterium (or pope) at a later time, most likely related to union with one or more of the churches who already hold these books to be canonical.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://jimmyakin.com/2006/08/tritiocanonical.html | title=Tritiocanonicals? – Jimmy Akin | date=8 August 2006 }}</ref>

==Nomenclature==
{{main|Esdras}}

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: {{lang|grc|Ἔσδρας Αʹ}} and is placed before the single book of [[Ezra–Nehemiah]], which is titled in Greek: [[Ezra–Nehemiah|Ἔσδρας Βʹ]].

1 Esdras is called 3 Esdras in the Latin Vulgate, which was translation from the Greek version of the Septuagint called Esdras A.<ref>The '''Latin Versions of First Esdras''', Harry Clinton York, [https://www.jstor.org/pss/527826 ''The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures''], Vol. 26, No. 4 (Jul., 1910), pp. 253–302</ref>

The Vulgate denoted 1 Esdras (Ezra) and 2 Esdras (Nehemiah) respectively. Vulgate Bible editions of the 13th century, and in what later became the usage of the [[Clementine Vulgate]] and the Anglican [[thirty-nine articles|Articles of Religion]], the [[Book of Ezra]] is applied to '1 Esdras'; while the [[Book of Nehemiah]] corresponds to '2 Esdras'; Esdras 1 (Esdras A in the Septuagint) corresponds to 3 Esdras and finally 2 Esdras, an additional work associated with the name Ezra, is denoted '4 Esdras' (It is called '2 Esdras' in the [[King James Version]] and in most modern English bibles). 3 Esdras continues to be accepted as canonical by Eastern Orthodoxy and the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]], with 4 Esdras varying in canonicity between particular denominations within the Eastern churches.<ref>{{cite web |title=Are Esras 1 and 2 Canonical |url=https://www.catholic.com/qa/are-1-and-2-esdras-non-canonical-books |website=Catholic Answers |access-date=7 December 2018}}</ref>

Overwhelmingly, citations in early Christian writings claimed from the scriptural 'Book of Ezra' (without any qualification) are taken from 1 Esdras, and never from the 'Ezra' sections of [[Ezra–Nehemiah]] (Septuagint 'Esdras B'), the majority of early citations being taken from the 1 Esdras section containing the '[[Tale of the Three Guardsmen]]', which is interpreted as [[Christology|Christological]] prophecy.<ref name="Bogaert" />

===Summary===
* [[Septuagint]] and its derivative translations: {{lang|grc|Ἔσδρας Αʹ}} 
* [[King James Version]] and many<ref name="most">Including [[Revised Standard Version|RSV]], [[New Revised Standard Version|NRSV]], [[New English Bible|NEB]], [[Revised English Bible|REB]], and [[Good News Bible|GNB]]</ref> successive English translations: 1 Esdras
* Clementine [[Vulgate]] and its derivative translations: 3 Esdras
* [[Slavonic Bible]]: 2 Esdras
* Romanian Synodal Version: III Ezdra<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bibliaortodoxa.ro/|title=Biblia sau Sfanta Scriptura}}</ref>
* [[Ethiopic Bible]]: Ezra Kali<ref>[[Ethiopian language|Ethiopian]] ''Ezra Kali'' means "2 Ezra".</ref>

==See also==
* [[Esdras]]
* [[2 Esdras]]
* [[Deuterocanonical books#In Eastern Orthodoxy|Deuterocanonical books in Eastern Orthodoxy]]
* [[Septuagint]]
* [[Ocidelus]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wikisourcelang|el|Έσδρας Α'|The complete Greek text of 1 Esdras}}
{{Wikisource|Bible (Wycliffe)/3 Esdras#Chapter 2|The complete text of Wycliffe's 1 Esdras}}
{{Wikisource|Bible (King James)/1 Esdras#Chapter 2|The complete Authorised Version of 1 Esdras}}

* [http://www.ccel.org/wwsb/1Esdras/ Various translations of 1 Esdras] at the World Wide Study Bible
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05535a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Esdras: THE BOOKS OF ESDRAS: III Esdras]
* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=463&letter=E&search=Books%20of%20Esdras#1248 Jewish Encyclopedia: Esdras, Books of: I Esdras]
* {{bibleverse|1|Esdras|1|NRSV}} – NRSV
* [http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/1esdras.html 1 Esdras at Early Jewish Writings]
* [http://www.biblicalaudio.com/ezra1.htm 1 Ezra: 2012 Critical Translation with Audio Drama] at biblicalaudio
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Ezra, Third Book of|short=x}}

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{{s-other| [[Deuterocanonical books|Deuterocanon]]}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Books of Chronicles|1–2 Chronicles]] }}
{{s-ttl | title  = <small>[[Eastern Orthodox Church|E. Orthodox]]</small><br />[[Books of the Bible]] }}
{{s-aft | after  = [[Ezra–Nehemiah]]<br />([[2 Esdras]]) }}
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{{Jewish Apocrypha}}{{Books of the Bible}}
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[[Category:2nd-century BC books]]
[[Category:1st-century BC books]]
[[Category:1st-century books]]
[[Category:Anagignoskomena]]
[[Category:Texts in the Septuagint]]
[[Category:Jewish apocrypha]]
[[Category:Historical books]]
[[Category:Texts attributed to Ezra]]