The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word EZRA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
E
Z
R
A
More clues leading to the result EZRA
- Pound a book!
- Biblical book, unknown in time
- Bible book shows last character in generation
- American poet has time to pen final letter
- Geezer regularly distributed a religious book
- Book time to tour Zambian capital
- Pound perhaps will be unknown in time
- Book, the last written in a long time
- Pound for a book
- Pound found in old book
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Jewish scribe" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case jewish scribe = ezra.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.