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Genealogy of Ezra (1–3). Condemning the Jews for idolatry and forgetfulness of Divine blessings (4–23). The rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles (24–40). The text of the first two chapters exists in two editions, in many places significantly diverging from each other: French and Spanish. French underlies modern printed text. According to James (XLIV-LXIII), the Spanish version gives the text in a more ancient, untouched form, while the French, along with concern for the elegance of the style, strives to smooth out those places that could arouse bewilderment. 3Ezra 1:1 The second book of Ezra the prophet, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 1. At the beginning is the title of the book: “Liber Ezrae prophetae secundus.” The name of Ezra as a prophet is explained by the fact that the author had before him the prophetic book of Ezra (III-XIV) and in his work sought to expand its scope, extending its prophecy to the pagan world, called to the Christian Church in the place of rejected Israel. The digital designation of the book can hardly be considered to have come from the pen of the author. In one of the French codes it is omitted, in one of the Spanish the initial words are given in the following form: “The Book of Ezra son of Hushai, prophet, priest (sacerdos).” The closeness of the last word in style to the word secundus prompts us to recognize the fruit of incorrect reading in the modern digital inscription of the book. Ezra is called a priest or priest in order to clarify his previous designation as a prophet, which is not found anywhere else in the apocrypha. 3Ezra 1:2 the son of Ahijah, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the son of Amariah, the son of Asiel, the son of Meraioth, the son of Arn, the son of Uzziah, the son of Borith, the son of Abishui, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, 2. The genealogy of Ezra is omitted in the Spanish version; he is named only as the son of Hushai. The French lists 19 members of Ezra's genealogy, starting with Aaron. This genealogy is based on data from the canonical book of Ezra (VII: 1–5) and the non-canonical second book of his name (VIII: 1–2). In addition, three new members were introduced, Ahijah, Phinehas and Eli. According to Gutschmid (s. 234), Hilgenfeld (205) and James (XLIV) they are taken from 1 book. Kings (XIV cf. XIV:18; I:3), but without sufficient grounds. James speaks out in favor of a shorter genealogy, since replacing the well-known genealogy with a completely new name, Husiah, could hardly have occurred to anyone. The name Husiah is mentioned in the Bible 3 times, in book 2. Kings (XVIII: 21–23, 31–32), in the book. the prophet Jeremiah (XXXVI:14) and the prophet Zephaniah (I:1. “The word of the Lord, which came to Zephaniah the son of Hushai”). Since excerpts from the last prophet are found in other places in the book, it can be assumed that Ezra’s genealogy, strange at first glance, was taken from Zephaniah. 3 Ezra 1:3 the son of Aaron from the tribe of Levi, who was a captive in the country of Media during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia. 3. The time of Ezra's activity in the French version is attributed, according to the canonical book of his name (VII: 1), to the reign of Artaxerxes. According to Spanish codes, Ezra is a contemporary of Nebuchadnezzar. The latter anachronism also occurs in the more ancient prophetic book of Ezra (III:1), where he receives a revelation in the year 30 of the Babylonian captivity. 3Ezra 1:4 The word of the Lord came to me: 3Ezra 1:5 Go and tell my people their evil deeds, and to their sons the iniquities that they have committed against me, so that they may tell their sons’ sons; 3Ezra 1:6 For the sins of their parents increased in them; forgetting Me, they offered sacrifices to foreign gods. 3Ezra 1:7 Was it not I who brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery? but they angered Me and despised My counsel. 3Ezra 1:8 Cut off the hair of your head, and throw away all evil on them, for they did not obey my law - an unbridled people! 3Ezra 1:9 How long will I endure them, to whom I have done so many good deeds? 3Ezra 1:10 For their sake I have brought down many kings; he struck Pharaoh with his servants and with all his army; 3Ezra 1:11 He destroyed all the pagans before them, and in the east the people of two regions, Tire and Sidon, scattered and destroyed all their enemies. 11. The Phoenician cities of Tire and Sidon, after Egypt, were the worst enemies of the Jews. Their death was prophesied by Isaiah (23) and Ezekiel (26–27). Indeed, Tire was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Sidon was destroyed somewhat earlier by the Persian king Artaxerxes III Ochos (351). 3Ezra 1:12 Then say this to them: Thus says the Lord: 3Ezra 1:13 It was I who brought you through the sea, and at the bottom of it I made for you a fenced street, and I gave you Moses as a leader, and Aaron as a priest, 3Ezra 1:14 He gave you light in a pillar of fire, and did many wonders among you; but you have forgotten Me, says the Lord. 3Ezra 1:15 Thus says the Lord Almighty: The quails were a sign for you. I gave you camps for protection, but you grumbled there too 3Ezra 1:16 And you did not rejoice in My name over the destruction of your enemies, but even to this day you still murmur. 3Ezra 1:17 Where are the good deeds that I did to you? Was it not in the wilderness, when you were hungry and cried out to Me, 3Ezra 1:18 saying, “Why have You brought us into this wilderness? starve us to death? It was better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this desert"? 3Ezra 1:19 I had compassion on your groaning, and gave you manna to eat; you ate the bread of the angels. 3Ezra 1:20 When you were thirsty, did I not cut the stone, and the waters ran out until they were full? covered you with tree leaves from the heat. 3Ezra 1:21 I divided the rich lands for you; He drove out the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Philistines from before you. What else can I do for you? says the Lord. 21. Wed. Joshua XII:8. Of the six nations listed in the book of Joshua, only the Canaanites and Perizzites are named here, and in the Spanish version, in addition, the Hittites. Without caring about chronological accuracy, the author mentions the Philistines among the peoples expelled by the Jews from the Promised Land. The Philistines continued to maintain their independence and fight against the Jews not only during the period of the Judges, but also under the kings. Only the protection of Jehovah gave Israel the opportunity to emerge victorious in the fight against them. 3Ezra 1:22 Thus says the Lord Almighty: When you were in the wilderness on the river Marah, and those who were thirsty blasphemed My name, 22. In the Slavic Bible, according to the printed text of the Vulgate, we are talking about the Amorite River (amorreo). The correct reading is given by the Spanish version: “on the bitter river” (amaro), which undoubtedly means the stream of Marah (Exodus XV:23). In connection with the previous list of Palestinian peoples, the word “amaro” was applied to the Amorites. 3Ezra 1:23 I did not send fire against you because of blasphemy, but I put wood into water and made the river sweet. 3Ezra 1:24 What will I do to you, Jacob? You didn't want to obey, Judas. I will move to other nations and give them My name, so that they may keep My laws. 24. By the resettlement of God to other nations and the giving of the name of God to them, we mean the calling of the pagans into the church. 3Ezra 1:25 Because you have forsaken Me, I will also forsake you; I will not have mercy on those who ask Me for mercy. 3Ezra 1:26 When you call upon Me, I will not hear you, for you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit murder. 26. Proverbs I:28; Isa I:15. Wed. Proverbs I:16; Isa LIX:7; Rom III:15. 3Ezra 1:27 It was as if you had not forsaken Me, but yourself, says the Lord. 3Ezra 1:28 Thus says the Lord Almighty: Did I not plead with you, as a father of sons and as a mother of daughters and as a nurse of her pets, 3Ezra 1:29 that you may be My people, and I your God, that you may be sons to Me, and I a Father to you? 3Ezra 1:30 I have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. What will I do to you now? I will cast you away from My presence. 30. To depict God's attitude towards his people, the author uses a gospel comparison taken from the life of birds. “How many times,” the Savior calls to Jerusalem, “I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird (όρνις) gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to” (Matthew XXIII:37). Since there is no such image in the Old Testament, it seems undoubted that the author borrowed it from Ev. Matthew. In the book of Deuteronomy, God's love for his chosen people is compared to the care of an eagle for its chicks (XXXII:11). 3Ezra 1:31 When you bring Me an offering, I will hide My face from you; For I have rejected your feast days and new moons and circumcisions. 3Ezra 1:32 I have sent My servants the prophets to you; You grabbed them, killed them and tore their bodies to pieces. Their blood I will require, says the Lord. 32. In the Latin text the prophets are called not servants, but youths (pueri) of God. This whole place comes very close to Ev. Luke (XI:49; cf. Matthew XXIII:34), where Christ depicts the sad fate of the heralds of God's will - the prophets and apostles. In the Spanish version, the second half of the gospel words, which talk about the apostles, also survived. “And they tore to pieces the bodies of the Apostles, for whose souls and blood I will require.” Since the Christian origin of the book is undoubted, it is much simpler and more natural to consider this passage as coming from the pen of the author himself than to allow later interpolation. 3Ezra 1:33 Thus says the Lord Almighty: Your house is desolate. I'll scatter you like the wind, 33. The expression “Your house is empty” is taken from the Savior’s accusatory speech in the Jerusalem Temple (Matthew XXIII:36: Luke XIII:35). A comparison of the fate of devastated Israel with chaff blown from a threshing floor by the wind is found in the prophet Hosea (XIII:3). In one of the Spanish codes, the immediate reason for the abandonment of the Jews by God and their scattering is the fact that they rejected the Lord and put Him to death on the tree. “This is what the Lord Almighty says: “You did not accept me as the Father who freed you from slavery, but as a lawless one, and you put me to death by hanging me on a tree. These are the things you have done." Therefore the Lord says: “My Father and His angels will return and judge between Me and you. Did I not fulfill the commands of the Father, did I not nourish you, did I not do what My Father commanded? “I will contend with you in judgment,” says the Lord.” The authenticity of the passage quoted is beyond doubt, since it is quoted with an indication of the source in the Greek "Debate of Sylvester with the Jews" and in the Latin translation of this monument (James, XXXVIII-XL). Obviously, the book we are studying once existed in Greek, from which the Latin translation was made (Like, 212, Hilgenfeld XLVI-XLIX, Gugschmid, 233). On this basis, the recent hypothesis of Labour (Labour. Le cinquierme livre d'Ezdras. Revue Biblique), who advocates the appearance of a book in Latin in the 5th or 6th century, must be rejected. The omission of this passage in the French version and in the Vulgate is explained by the fact that it too betrayed the Christian origin of the book. The speech about the crucifixion of the Lord on the cross, as an accomplished fact, seemed unnatural in the mouth of the Old Testament Ezra. 3Ezra 1:34 And the sons will have no descendants, because they have despised My commandment and done what is evil before Me. 3Ezra 1:35 I will deliver your houses to the people who are coming, who, without hearing Me, will believe, who, although I showed them no signs, will do what I commanded, 3Ezra 1:36 Having not seen the prophets, they will remember their iniquities. 35–36. In contrast to stiff-necked Israel, the coming people from the pagan environment voluntarily offer their faith as a gift to God, without needing not only miracles, but even the preaching of prophets. They believe in God without hearing about Him from anyone’s lips, but obeying only the voice of their conscience (cf. Rom II:15). 3Ezra 1:37 I bequeath grace to the people who are coming, whose children, not having seen Me with carnal eyes, but believing in the spirit what I have said, triumph with joy. 37. The coming of the Messiah in the flesh is presented here as a past event. The pagan world, without seeing the Messiah, believes His words. It is impossible not to note here the echo of the speech of the Savior Ap. Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John XX:29). 3Ezra 1:38 So now, brother, look at the glory - look at the people coming from the east, 38. God calls the prophet brother. This address, not found in Old Testament writing, is borrowed from the Gospel, where the Savior more than once calls His followers brothers (Matt XXVIII:10; John XX:17; cf. Rom VIII:29; Heb II:11-12; Ps XXI:23). By the people coming from the east, we mean pagan Christians. 3Ezra 1:39 To whom I will give for leaders Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Hosea, and Amos, and Micah, and Joel, and Obadiah, and Jonah, 3Ezra 1:40 and Nahum, and Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who was also called the Angel of the Lord.