ES'DRAS ( G k. "EaSpat, Ezra ) , FIRST AND SEC OND BOOKS or. Tlue name of two works placed among the apocryphal books of the Old Testament in modern English Bibles. Considerable confusion exists in regard to the titles of the books eon taining the history of Ezra. In the Septuagint there arc two hooks of Esdras, so called, desig• noted respectively as A and E. Esdras A is the work otherwise known as the First Book of Es dras; Esdras II, the translation of the canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah. In the Vulgate there are four books of Esdras. viz.: Esdras the canonical book of Ezra ; Esdras 11., the hook of Nehemiah; Esdras the Esdras A of the Sept might': or First Book of Esdras; and Esdras IV., another and later apocryphal book. In early English Bibles the Vulgate is followed, the ar rangement now used having been first adopted in the Geneva Bible of MO. The First Book of BgdiTts (Esdras A of the Septuagint, Esdras of the Vulgate) represents an independent trans lation of the Hebrew of the canonical book of Ezra, together with the last two chapters of 11. Chronicles and a portion of the eighth chapter of Nehemiah. This translation, which is used by Josephus, is probably later than the other Sep tuagint version ( Esdras B), and is distinguished front it by the freer character of the translation and the use of a more elegant Greek. The Second
Husk• of Esdras ( Esdras 1V. of the Vulgate) is an apocalyptic work composed between 81 and 91i A.D. according to recent critics. Whether it was originally written in Hebrew or Greek is dis puted; it exists now only in versions (Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic). The Latin version contains four chapters not found in the Greek text, though translated from a Greek original. Of these ad ditions chapters i. and ii. are Christian in char acter; the other two, chapters xv. and xvi., arc Jewish. The original apocalypse, therefore, con sists of chapters iii.-xiv., and contains a series of seven visions revealed to Ezra touching upon the desolation of Zion, the advent of the Messiah, and the final judgment, with the triumph of the righteous. In the fifth a monstrous eagle with three heads appears to Ezra, and this eagle, which is rebuked by a lion, is interpreted to be the fourth kingdom in time vision of Daniel, whereas the lion is the Messiah. The Christian additions treat of the rejection of the Jewish people by God and His choice of Gentile Chris thins. The Jewish additions contain chiefly in vectives against sinners, with predictions of wars and disasters.