Bible Dictionary
Esdras
Esdras is the Greek form of Ezra and is also the name used for the First Book of Esdras, an apocryphal work related to Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Its author is unknown.
Definition
Esdras is the Greek form of Ezra and is also the name of the First Book of Esdras, an apocryphal work. Much of the book reproduces material from Chronicles, Ezra, and part of Nehemiah, with rearrangement and additions.
Biblical Usage
The name Esdras corresponds to Ezra in the Greek form and appears in the titles of apocryphal books associated with Ezra’s name.
Historical Background
The author is unknown, and the work was probably written in Egypt. Its original portions include material concerning Zerubbabel, while much of the remainder is drawn from earlier biblical books.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(Greek form of Ezra), The First Book of, the first in order of the apocryphal books in the English Bible. The first chapter is a transcript of the last two chapters of 2 Chron., for the most part verbatim, and only in one or two parts slightly abridged and paraphrased. Chapters 3,4, and 5 to the end of ver. 6, are the original portions of the book, and the rest is a transcript more or less exact of the book of Ezra, with the chapters transposed and quite otherwise arranged, and a portion of Nehemiah. Hence a twofold design in the compiler is discernible—one to introduce and give scriptural sanction to the legend about Zerubbabel; the other to explain the great obscurities of the book of Ezra, in which, however, he has signally failed. Its author is unknown, and it was probably written in Egypt. It has no historical value. the form of the name of Ezra the scribe in 1 and 2 Esdras.