Butbesidesthequestionofthewriter，thereareotherpointstonoticewhichcommonsuperstitionforbidsthemultitudetoapprehend。3Ofthesethechiefis，thatEzrawhomIwilltaketobetheauthoroftheaforesaidbooksuntilsomemorelikelypersonbesuggesteddidnotputthefinishingtouchestothenarrativecontainedtherein，butmerelycollectedthehistoriesfromvariouswriters，andsometimessimplysetthemdown，leavingtheirexaminationandarrangementtoposterity。
4Thecauseifitwerenotuntimelydeathwhichpreventedhimfromcompletinghisworkinallitsportions，Icannotconjecture，butthefactremainsmostclear，althoughwehavelostthewritingsoftheancientHebrewhistorians，andcanonlyjudgefromthefewfragmentswhicharestillextant。5ForthehistoryofHezekiah2Kingsxviii:17
aswritteninthevisionofIsaiah，isrelatedasitisfoundinthechroniclesofthekingsofJudah。6Wereadthesamestory，toldwithfewexceptions，[Endnote11]，inthesamewords，inthebookofIsaiahwhichwascontainedinthechroniclesofthekingsofJudah2Chron。xxxii:32。7FromthiswemustconcludethattherewerevariousversionsofthisnarrativeofIsaiah\'s，unless，indeed，anyonewoulddreamthatinthis，too，therelurksamystery。8Further，thelastchapterof2Kings27-30isrepeatedinthelastchapterofJeremiah，v。31-34。
9Again，wefind2Sam。vii。repeatedinIChron。xvii。，buttheexpressionsinthetwopassagesaresocuriouslyvaried[Endnote12]，thatwecanveryeasilyseethatthesetwochaptersweretakenfromtwodifferentversionsofthehistoryofNathan。
10Lastly，thegenealogyofthekingsofIdumaeacontainedinGenesisxxxvi:31，isrepeatedinthesamewordsin1Chron。i。，thoughweknowthattheauthorofthelatterworktookhismaterialsfromotherhistorians，notfromthetwelvebookswehaveascribedtoEzra。10Wemaythereforebesurethatifwestillpossessedthewritingsofthehistorians，thematterwouldbemadeclear；however，aswehavelostthem，wecanonlyexaminethewritingsstillextant，andfromtheirorderandconnection，theirvariousrepetitions，and，lastly，thecontradictionsindateswhichtheycontain，judgeoftherest。