Ezra and Nehemiah Resources

Websites

Biblegateway

Want to read the Bible in Tagalog? Check this website out. It has tons of different translations in English, and in other languages. It's a great resource.

Chabad on Ezra

The Hasidic Jewish organization Chabad offers a traditional Jewish take on Ezra.

"Islam Basics" on Ezra

This webpage records the various conflicting opinions of different Islamic scholars on Ezra and Islam. Was he a prophet? Was he the same as "Uzair," who is mentioned in the Qur'an? Discover the debate.

My Jewish Learning: Ezra and Nehemiah

An interesting and thorough analysis from a Jewish perspective, this article views Ezra and Nehemiah as presenting a somewhat frustrating, if ultimately positive period in the history of Israel. The Jews' hopes for their land are fulfilled but in a less glorious way than they expected. They'll have to wait for that.

A Guide for the Perplexed

What Nehemiah would have done if PowerPoint had been around in 445 BCE.

Movie or TV Productions

The Bible (TV Miniseries)

To be fair, this miniseries doesn't cover Ezra and Nehemiah in too much detail—they're just not really thrilling narratives, and aren't meant to be. But it technically does cover the bare facts of the return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile, so we're gonna go ahead and assume that counts.

Historical Documents

Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary

This 18th-century Bible commentary offers a really in-depth look at every book in the Bible—including Ezra and Nehemiah.

John Wesley's Bible Commentary

Wesley, the founder of Methodism, provides another, super-extensive commentary on the Bible.

Extremely Old and Incredibly Historical

Commentary on fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Book of Nehemiah will be published in 2015. Until a few years ago, scholars thought that Nehemiah was one of the few books not found in the Scrolls. We're glad they were wrong—he worked so hard on those walls. He'd be happy people thought to write all that down.

Video

Ezra and the Second Temple, from "A Biblical History of the Jews"

Chabad Rabbi Mendel Dubov gives a little talk on the meaning of Ezra, speaking from a Hasidic Jewish point-of-view.

Yale University Lecture on Ezra and Nehemiah (and 1 and 2 Chronicles)

Professor Christine Hayes explains it all: Ezra and Nehemiah in the context of a broader exploration of the Bible. (This is from a free, awesome Yale lecture series and you don't even have to take the exam.)

Images

Cyrus the Great

This bas-relief from the Persian city of Pasgardae shows Cyrus dressed in a pretty zany get-up: weird hat, two pairs of wings. Kind of like Prince.

Darius I

This relief from the old Persian capital of Persepolis shows Darius rocking the Z.Z. Top look.

Exiles Returning to Jerusalem, by Julius Schnorr von Carosfeld

The German artist von Carosfeld made this 19th-century wood-cut, depicting exiles—some of them wounded and bandaged and ill, but all of them apparently happy—making their way back home.

"Ezra," Guillaume Rouille

This 16th-century depiction shows Ezra as another bearded, Biblical-looking kind of guy.

Model of the Second Temple in the Israel Museum

After King Herod's renovations in the 1st century B.C.E., the Second Temple was looking pretty snazzy—much different from when Zerubbabel and Jeshua oversaw its construction as described in Ezra and Nehemiah.

"Nehemiah Viewing the Walls of Jerusalem," Gustave Dore

Dore, a great 19th-century French illustrator, gives us a sad and possibly penitent Nehemiah, lamenting the ruined state of Jerusalem's walls. He's gonna need a bigger truck.

The Tomb of Ezra in Iraq

And finally, here's Ezra's tomb (at least according to legend) near the banks of the Tigris in Iraq.