Editing Book of Ezra (section)

===Date===

Koresh of Ezra 1:1 is called "king of Persia" (מלך פרס ''[[Melekh]] Pāras''); the title was introduced by Cyrus the Great sometime after he defeated [[Astyages]] of Media (585–550 BC).<ref>{{cite book|author1=François Vallat|editor1-last=Perrot|editor1-first=Jean|title=The Palace of Darius at Susa: The Great Royal Residence of Achaemenid Persia|date=2013|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-1-84885-621-9|page=39}}</ref>

Scholars are divided over the chronological sequence of the activities of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra 7:8 says that Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, while Nehemiah 2:1–9 has Nehemiah arriving in Artaxerxes' twentieth year. If this was [[Artaxerxes I]] (465–424 BC), then Ezra arrived in 458 and Nehemiah in 445&nbsp;BC. Nehemiah 8–9, in which the two (possibly by editorial error) appear together, supports this scenario.<ref name="google204">M. Patrick Graham, ''The "Chronicler's History": Ezra-Nehemiah, 1–2 Chronicles'' in [https://books.google.com/books?id=owwhpmIVgSAC&q=The+Hebrew+Bible+today:+an+introduction+to+critical+issues Graham, M.P, and McKenzie, Steven L., "The Hebrew Bible today: an introduction to critical issues" (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998)], pp. 204–05</ref>