of Judaism testifies to the abiding influence of Ezra’s work. Finally, we are bound to conclude that in his arrangement of the material, and especially in his repositioning of Neh 8, the editor showed an appreciation of where Ezra’s true importance lay. Appropriately enough, it was ultimately in this Scripture, rather than in any political institution, that Ezra’s role was preserved, and through it he continued to exercise an influence long after both he and, indeed, the Achaemenid empire itself