the Israelites suffer under the Babylonians, Persians, and Samaritans. The book of Ezra, then, shows Israel in its stage of kenotic enduring, as Israel comes to realize that God alone can accomplish the restoration and that no human efforts (other than patient suffering of the oppression from the surrounding nations) will avail. Jeremiah says before the exile: “O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation” (Jer. 6:26). The