Editing Book of Ezra (section)

===Composition===
Twentieth-century views on the composition of Ezra revolved around whether the author was [[Ezra]] himself, and who may have also authored the [[Books of Chronicles]], or was another author or authors who also wrote the Chronicles.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IfxMeDl6BZgC&q=The+books+of+Ezra+and+Nehemiah+Fensham Fensham, F. Charles, "The books of Ezra and Nehemiah" (Eerdmans, 1982)] pp. 1–2 ff.</ref> More recently it has been increasingly recognised that Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles all have extremely complex histories stretching over many stages of editing,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xRS8P0RDXeoC&q=Ezra+the+scribe:+the+development+of+Ezra+7-10+and+Nehemiah+8 Pakkala, Juha, "Ezra the scribe: the development of Ezra 7–10 and Nehemiah 8" (Walter de Gryter, 2004)] p. 16</ref> and most scholars now are cautious of assuming a unified composition with a single theology and point of view.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VK2fEzruIn0C&q=A+history+of+the+Jews+and+Judaism+in+the+Second+Temple+Period%2C+Volume+1++Lester+L.+Grabbe Grabbe, L.L., "A history of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 1" (T&T Clark, 2004)] p. 71</ref> As an indication of the many layers of editing which Ezra has undergone, one recent study finds that Ezra 1–6 and Ezra 9–10 were originally separate documents, that they were spliced together at a later stage by the authors of Ezra 7–8, and that all have undergone extensive later editing.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xRS8P0RDXeoC&q=Ezra+the+scribe:+the+development+of+Ezra+7-10+and+Nehemiah+8|title=Ezra the Scribe|isbn=9783110182804|last1=Pakkala|first1=Juha|year=2004|publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref>

[[Tamara Cohn Eskenazi]] argues that the final composition of Ezra took place during the late [[Persian period]] (c. 370–350 BCE), with some small additions from the [[Hellenistic period]]. She states that the language and ideology of the book seem to best fit within a Persian-period context.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ezra: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary |last=Eskenazi |first=Tamara Cohn |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-300-17462-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycbFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 |series=Anchor Yale Reference Library |page=29}}</ref>