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Nehemiah 12 · a question people ask

Is every Ezra in this chapter Ezra the scribe?

In the text

Not as far as the chapter says. Ezra the scribe is named twice: "in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest and scribe" (12:26), and at the dedication, "Ezra the scribe was before them" (12:36). But the chapter has other Ezras it doesn't explain: an Ezra among "the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel" (12:1), a house of priests, "of Ezra, Meshullam" (12:13), and an Ezra in the first company, "Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam" (12:33). It doesn't say whether any of these is Ezra the scribe, so these notes keep them apart. The same is true of names the chapter repeats, like Meshullam (12:13, 12:16, 12:25, 12:33) and Shemaiah (12:6, 12:18, 12:34-36, 12:42): it doesn't say which of them are the same man.

The verses

“Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,”
Nehemiah 12:1 · World English Bible
“Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,”
Nehemiah 12:6 · World English Bible
“of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;”
Nehemiah 12:13 · World English Bible
“of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;”
Nehemiah 12:16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Nehemiah 12

Nehemiah 12: Two great thanksgivings

Nehemiah 12's two choirs are, in Hebrew, "two great thanksgivings"; 12:43 says rejoice or joy five times in Hebrew and says God made them rejoice, the women and the children too, loud enough to be heard far away; and Nehemiah, never "I" from 8:1 to 12:30, is back on the wall.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions