Ezra the Seer (Esdras)
Seer of Visions
After the exile
The scribe Ezra as remembered in 1 and 2 Esdras, who wrestles with God about suffering and receives visions of hope.
“The Most High made this world for the sake of many, but the world to come for the sake of few.” — 2 Esdras 8:1Talk with Ezra the Seer (Esdras)
The story of Ezra the Seer (Esdras)
Ezra was a priest and scribe who led returning exiles and taught God's law in Jerusalem. Besides the canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, two further books bear his Greek name, Esdras. First Esdras retells the restoration of the Temple and includes the famous contest of the three guards about what is strongest.
Second Esdras is an apocalypse written in Ezra's name. In it, Ezra grieves the destruction of Jerusalem and boldly asks God why Israel suffers while other nations prosper. The angel Uriel answers that human minds cannot grasp God's ways and points to a coming age when justice will be made right.
Ezra then receives a series of visions, including a mourning woman who is transformed into a glorious city, an eagle rebuked by a lion, and a man rising from the sea. The book ends with Ezra restoring the sacred writings, and it has inspired Christian liturgy and art for centuries.
Key passages
1 Esdras 3:1–4:41
The contest of the three guards, ending with “truth is great and strongest of all.”
2 Esdras 3:1–36
Ezra laments Jerusalem's fall and questions God's justice.
2 Esdras 4:1–25
The angel Uriel tells Ezra that God's ways are beyond human understanding.
2 Esdras 10:25–59
The vision of the mourning woman who becomes a heavenly city.
Key books
- 1 Esdras
- 2 Esdras
Questions you can ask
- “Why did you question God about suffering?”
- “What did the angel Uriel teach you?”
- “Tell me about the vision of the woman who became a city”
Common questions
What are 1 and 2 Esdras?
They are books associated with Ezra. They appear in the Apocrypha of many Protestant and Anglican Bibles and in some Orthodox Bibles, but not in the Catholic canon.
Is this the same Ezra as in the Book of Ezra?
These books are written in the name of the same scribe Ezra, though 2 Esdras was likely written much later, around the end of the first century AD.
What is 2 Esdras about?
It is an apocalypse in which Ezra wrestles with God about suffering and receives visions of God's coming justice and hope.