4 Ezra

2 Esdras (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the , but scholarship places its composition between 70 and .

It is reckoned among the apocrypha by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and most Eastern Orthodox Christians. 2 Esdras was excluded by Jerome from his Vulgate version of the Old Testament, but from the 9th century onwards, the Latin text is sporadically found as an appendix to the Vulgate, inclusion becoming more general after the 13th century.

Naming conventions

As with 1 Esdras, some confusion exists about the numbering of this book. The Vulgate of Jerome includes only a single book of Ezra, but in the Clementine Vulgate 1, 2, 3 and 4 Esdras are separate books. Protestant writers, after the Geneva Bible, called 1 and 2 Esdras of the Vulgate, Ezra and Nehemiah; and called 3 and 4 Esdras of the Vulgate, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras respectively. These then became the common names for these books in English Bibles.

Medieval Latin manuscripts denoted it 4 Esdras, which to this day is the name used for chapters 3–14 in modern critical editions, which are typically in Latin, the language of its most complete exemplars.

It appears in the Appendix to the Old Testament in the Slavonic Bible, where it is called 3 Esdras, and the Georgian Orthodox Bible numbers it 3 Ezra. This text is sometimes also known as Apocalypse of Ezra (chapters 3–14 known as the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra or 4 Ezra. In modern critical editions, chapters 1–2 are named as 5 Ezra, and chapters 15–16 as 6 Ezra). Bogaert speculates that the "fourth book of Ezra" referred to by Jerome most likely corresponds to modern 5 Ezra and 6 Ezra combined – and notes a number of Latin manuscripts where these chapters are together in an appendix.

Contents

5 Ezra

The first two chapters of 2 Esdras are found only in the Latin version of the book, and are called 5 Ezra by scholars.See for example B. M. Metzger, "The Fourth Book of Ezra", in Charlesworth, James H. (ed.) ''The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vol 1'' (1983). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. p. 517. They are considered by most scholars to be Christian in origin; they assert God's rejection of the Jews and describe a vision of the Son of God. These are generally considered to be late additions (possibly third century) to the work.

4 Ezra

Chapters 3–14, or the great bulk of 2 Esdras, is a Jewish apocalypse, also sometimes known as 4 Ezra or the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra. The latter name should not be confused with a later work called the ''Greek Apocalypse of Ezra''.

The Ethiopian Church considers 4 Ezra to be canonical, written during the Babylonian captivity, and calls it Izra Sutuel (ዕዝራ ሱቱኤል). It was also often cited by the Fathers of the Church. In the Eastern Armenian tradition, it is called 3 Ezra. It was written in the late following the destruction of the Second Temple.

Among Greek Fathers of the Church, 4 Ezra is generally cited as Προφήτης Ἔσδρας ''Prophetes Esdras'' ("The Prophet Ezra") or Ἀποκάλυψις Ἔσδρα ''Apokalupsis Esdra'' ("Apocalypse of Ezra"). Most scholars agree that 4 Ezra was composed in Hebrew, which was translated into Greek, and then to Latin, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Georgian, but the Hebrew and Greek editions have been lost.

Slightly differing Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Georgian, and Armenian translations have survived; the Greek version can be reconstructed, though without absolute certainty, from these different translations, while the Hebrew text remains more elusive. The modern Slavonic version is translated from the Latin.

4 Ezra consists of seven visions of Ezra the scribe. The first vision takes place as Ezra is still in Babylon. He asks God how Israel can be kept in misery if God is just. The archangel Uriel is sent to answer the question, responding that God's ways cannot be understood by the human mind. Soon, however, the end would come, and God's justice would be made manifest. Similarly, in the second vision, Ezra asks why Israel was delivered up to the Babylonians, and is again told that man cannot understand this and that the end is near. In the third vision, Ezra asks why Israel does not possess the world. Uriel responds that the current state is a period of transition. Here follows a description of the fate of evil-doers and the righteous. Ezra asks whether the righteous may intercede for the unrighteous on Judgment Day, but is told that "Judgment Day is final".

The next three visions are more symbolic in nature. The fourth is of a woman mourning for her only son. She is transformed into a city when she hears of the desolation of Zion. Uriel says that the woman is a symbol of Zion. The fifth vision concerns an eagle with three heads and 20 wings (12 large wings and eight smaller wings "over against them"). The eagle is rebuked by a lion and then burned. The explanation of this vision is that the eagle refers to the fourth kingdom of the vision of Daniel, with the wings and heads as rulers. The final scene is the triumph of the Messiah over the empire. The sixth vision is of a man, representing the Messiah, who breathes fire on a crowd that is attacking him. This man then turns to another peaceful multitude, which accepts him.

Finally, a vision of the restoration of scripture is related. God appears to Ezra in a bush and commands him to restore the Law. Ezra gathers five scribes and begins to dictate. After 40 days, he has produced 94 books: the 24 books of the Tanakh