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45-595: In the Ketuvim, 1–2 Chronicles form one book as do Ezra and Nehemiah which form a single unit entitled Ezra–Nehemiah . (In citations by chapter and verse, however, the Hebrew equivalents of "Nehemiah", "I Chronicles" and "II Chronicles" are used, as the system of chapter division was imported from Christian usage.) Collectively, eleven books are included in the Ketuvim. In Masoretic manuscripts (and some printed editions), Psalms , Proverbs and Job are presented in

90-614: A haftarah from Ketuvim on Shabbat afternoons, but this does not survive in any community. Some Reform communities that operate a triennial cycle choose haftarot on Shabbat morning from Ketuvim as well as Neviim. In some Near and Middle Eastern Jewish traditions, the whole of Ketuvim (as well as the rest of the Tanakh and the Mishnah ) is read each year on a weekly rota, usually on Shabbat afternoons. These reading sessions are not considered to be synagogue services, and often took place in

135-562: A century later than what had been largely accepted for two millennia. Much of the content of Chronicles is a repetition of material from other books of the Bible, from Genesis to Kings , and so the usual scholarly view is that these books, or an early version of them, provided the author with the bulk of his material. It is, however, possible that the situation was rather more complex, and that books such as Genesis and Samuel should be regarded as contemporary with Chronicles, drawing on much of

180-610: A clarification of the history in Genesis–Kings, or a replacement or alternative for it. Presbyterian theologian Paul K. Hooker argues that the generally accepted message the author wished to give to his audience was a theological reflection, not a "history of Israel": Translations Introductions Audiobooks Against Apion Against Apion ( Greek : περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος Peri Archaiotētos Ioudaiōn Logos ; Latin Contra Apionem or In Apionem )

225-626: A number of distinguishing characteristics: The following list presents the books of the Ketuvim in the order they appear in most printed editions. It also divides them into three subgroups based on the distinctiveness of Sifrei Emet and Hamesh Megillot . The Sifrei Emet : The Five Megillot Other books The Jewish textual tradition never finalized the order of the books in the Ketuvim. The Babylonian Talmud ( Bava Batra 14b–15a) gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Chronicles. In Tiberian Masoretic codices, including

270-453: A special two-column form emphasizing the parallel stichs in the verses, which are a function of their poetry . Collectively, these three books are known as Sifrei Emet (Biblical Hebrew: סִפְרֵי אֶמֶת , romanized:  sip̄rē ʾemeṯ , lit.   'documents of truth' – an acronym of the titles of the three books in Hebrew, א יוב , מ שלי , ת הלים yields אמ״ת e m e t , "truth"). These three books are also

315-475: A sudden, and brought to this temple, and shut up therein, and was seen by nobody, but was fattened by these curious provisions thus set before him; and that truly at the first such unexpected advantages seemed to him matter of great joy; that after a while, he inquired of the servants that came to him and was by them informed that it was in order to the fulfilling a law of the Jews, which they must not tell him, that he

360-566: Is "not identical to that of the modern Hebrew Bible". For a long time, following this date, the divine inspiration of Esther, the Song of Songs, and Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) was often under scrutiny. In the 20th century, many scholars seemed to believe that the limits of the Ketuvim as canonized scripture were determined by the Council of Jamnia ( c. 90 CE). But the theory of the Council of Jamnia

405-469: Is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a classical religion and philosophy against criticism by Apion , stressing its antiquity against what he perceived as more recent traditions of the Greeks. One of his main sources was Menander of Ephesus . Against Apion cites Josephus' earlier work Antiquities of the Jews , so can be dated after C.E. 94. It was possibly written in

450-526: Is become natural to all Jews immediately, and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly to die for them. In the second book, Josephus defends the historicity of the Hebrew Bible against accusations made by Apion (who Josephus states is not Greek), arguing that Apion in fact rehashes material of Manetho 's, though there

495-736: Is considered the "default" melody for books of the Ketuvim not otherwise provided for. The "prose" passages at the beginning and end of the book of Job, as read on Tisha B'Av, may be read either to the tune of Ruth or to one resembling that for the Song of Songs. Western targumim exist on Sifrei Emet , on the Five Megillot and on Chronicles, i.e. on all the books of Ketuvim besides Daniel and Ezra (which contain large portions in Aramaic anyway). There are several complementary targumim to Esther. There is, however, no "official" eastern (Babylonian) targum to Ketuvim, equivalent to Targum Onkelos on

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540-603: Is largely discredited today. There is no formal system of synagogal reading of Ketuvim equivalent to the Torah portion and haftarah . It is thought that there was once a cycle for reading the Psalms, parallel to the triennial cycle for Torah reading, as the number of psalms (150) is similar to the number of Torah portions in that cycle, and remnants of this tradition exist in Italy . All Jewish liturgies contain copious extracts from

585-448: Is that its closing sentence is repeated as the opening of Ezra–Nehemiah. In antiquity, such repeated verses, like the "catch-lines" used by modern printers, often appeared at the end of a scroll to facilitate the reader's passing on to the correct second book-scroll after completing the first. This scribal device was employed in works that exceeded the scope of a single scroll and had to be continued on another scroll. The latter half of

630-506: Is true, our history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add any thing to them, to take any thing from them, or to make any change in them; but it

675-609: The Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex , and often in old Spanish manuscripts as well, the order is Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, and Ezra. The Ketuvim is the last of the three portions of the Tanakh to have been accepted as Biblical canon . There is no scholarly consensus as to when the Hebrew Bible canon was fixed: some scholars argue that it

720-566: The Ashkenazic yeshiva known as Aderet Eliyahu , in the Old City of Jerusalem, uses an adaptation of the Syrian cantillation-melody for these books, and this is becoming more popular among other Ashkenazim as well. In all communities there are special cantillation melodies for Lamentations and Esther, and in some communities for the Song of Songs. Otherwise, the melody for the book of Ruth

765-746: The Neo-Babylonian Empire , and authorises the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem and the return of the exiles. Originally a single work, Chronicles was divided into two in the Septuagint , a Greek translation produced in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. It has three broad divisions: Within this broad structure there are signs that the author has used various other devices to structure his work, notably through drawing parallels between David and Solomon (the first becomes king, establishes

810-512: The Septuagint in the mid-3rd century BC. In Christian contexts Chronicles is referred to in the plural as the Books of Chronicles , after the Latin name chronicon given to the text by Jerome , but is also referred to by its Greek name as the Books of Paralipomenon . In Christian Bibles , they usually follow the two Books of Kings and precede Ezra–Nehemiah , the last history-oriented book of

855-477: The 20th century, amid growing skepticism in academia regarding history in the Biblical tradition, saw a reappraisal of the authorship question. Though there is a general lack of corroborating evidence, many now regard it as improbable that the author of Chronicles was also the author of the narrative portions of Ezra–Nehemiah. These critics suggest that Chronicles was probably composed between 400 and 250 BC, with

900-672: The 5th-century BC figure Ezra , who gives his name to the Book of Ezra ; Ezra is also believed by the Talmudic sages to have written both his own book (i. e., Ezra–Nehemiah ) and Chronicles up to his own time, the latter having been finished by Nehemiah . Later critics, skeptical of the long-maintained tradition, preferred to call the author " the Chronicler ". However, many scholars maintain support for Ezra's authorship, not only based on centuries of work by Jewish historians, but also due to

945-446: The Ketuvim was starting to take shape, though it lacked a formal title. Jacob Neusner argues that the notion of a biblical canon was not prominent in 2nd-century Rabbinic Judaism or even later. Against Apion , the writing of Josephus in 95 CE, treated the text of the Hebrew Bible as a closed canon to which "no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable"; Michael Barber, however, avers that Josephus' canon

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990-617: The Protestant Old Testament. The Chronicles narrative begins with Adam, Seth and Enosh , and the story is then carried forward, almost entirely through genealogical lists , down to the founding of the United Kingdom of Israel in the "introductory chapters", 1 Chronicles 1–9. The bulk of the remainder of 1 Chronicles, after a brief account of Saul in chapter 10, is concerned with the reign of David . The next long section concerns David's son Solomon , and

1035-501: The Psalms, but these are normally sung to a regular recitative or rhythmic tune rather than read or chanted. Some communities also have a custom of reading Proverbs in the weeks following Pesach , and Job on the Ninth of Ab . The five megillot are read on the festivals, as mentioned above, though Sephardim have no custom of public reading of Song of Songs on Passover or Ecclesiastes on Sukkot . There are traces of an early custom of reading

1080-660: The Septuagint "occurs in the most suitable place", namely with the conclusion of David's reign as king and the initiation of Solomon's reign. The Talmud considered Chronicles one book. The last events recorded in Chronicles take place in the reign of Cyrus the Great , the Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539 BC; this sets the earliest possible date for this passage of the book. Chronicles appears to be largely

1125-689: The Torah and Targum Jonathan on Nevi'im . In fact, the Babylonian Talmud explicitly notes the lack of a Targum to Ketuvim, explaining that Jonathan ben Uzziel was divinely prevented from completing his translation of the Bible. A more prosaic explanation may consist in the lack of regular formal readings of Ketuvim in the synagogue (except the five Megillot), making it unnecessary to have an official system for line-by-line translation. Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( Hebrew : דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים Dīvrē-hayYāmīm , "words of

1170-568: The consistency of language and speech patterns between Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah. Professor Emeritus Menahem Haran of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem explains, "the overall unity of the Chronistic Work is … demonstrated by a common ideology, the uniformity of legal, cultic and historical conceptions and specific style, all of which reflect one opus." One of the most striking, although inconclusive, features of Chronicles

1215-684: The days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books ( 1–2 Chronicles ) in the Christian Old Testament . Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible , concluding the third section of the Jewish Tanakh , the Ketuvim ("Writings"). It contains a genealogy starting with Adam and a history of ancient Judah and Israel up to the Edict of Cyrus in 539 BC. The book was translated into Greek and divided into two books in

1260-503: The early second century. Against Apion 1:8 also defines which books Josephus viewed as being in the Hebrew Scriptures : For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have,] but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and

1305-569: The final part is concerned with the Kingdom of Judah , with occasional references to the northern Kingdom of Israel (2 Chronicles 10–36). The final chapter covers briefly the reigns of the last four kings, until Judah is destroyed and the people taken into exile in Babylon . In the two final verses, identical to the opening verses of the Book of Ezra , the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquers

1350-407: The idea seems inappropriate, since much of Genesis–Kings has been copied almost without change. Some modern scholars proposed that Chronicles is a midrash , or traditional Jewish commentary, on Genesis–Kings, but again this is not entirely accurate since the author or authors do not comment on the older books so much as use them to create a new work. Recent suggestions have been that it was intended as

1395-415: The king bid him sit down, and tell him who he was, and why he dwelt there, and what was the meaning of those various sorts of food that were set before him the man made a lamentable complaint, and with sighs, and tears in his eyes, gave him this account of the distress he was in; and said that he was a Greek and that as he went over this province, in order to get his living, he was seized upon by foreigners, on

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1440-451: The king carry this man, whosoever he was, and whatsoever was his name, [which is not set down in Apion's book,] with great pomp back into his own country? when he might thereby have been esteemed a religious person himself, and a mighty lover of the Greeks, and might thereby have procured himself great assistance from all men against that hatred the Jews bore to him. But I leave this matter; for

1485-489: The latest books collected and designated as "authoritative" in the Jewish canon. These scrolls are traditionally read over the course of the year in many Jewish communities. The list below presents them in the order they are read in the synagogue on holidays, beginning with the Song of Songs on Passover . The remaining books in the Ketuvim are the Book of Daniel , Ezra–Nehemiah and the Books of Chronicles . These books share

1530-516: The miserable wretch into a certain pit." Now this is such a most tragical fable as is full of nothing but cruelty and impudence; how comes it about that we take an oath, and conspire only against the Grecians, and that by the effusion of their blood also? Or how is it possible that all the Jews should get together to these sacrifices, and the entrails of one man should be sufficient for so many thousands to taste of them, as Apion pretends? Or why did not

1575-443: The only ones in the Hebrew Bible with a special system of cantillation that is designed to emphasize parallel stichs within verses. However, the beginning and end of the book of Job are in the normal prose system. The five relatively short books of Song of Songs , Book of Ruth , the Book of Lamentations , Ecclesiastes and Book of Esther are collectively known as the Five Megillot ( Hamesh Megillot / Five Scrolls). These are

1620-553: The period 350–300 BC the most likely. This timeframe is achieved by estimates made based on genealogies appearing in the Greek Septuagint . This theory bases its premise on the latest person mentioned in Chronicles, Anani. Anani is an eighth-generation descendant of King Jehoiachin according to the Masoretic Text . This has persuaded many supporters of the Septuagint's reading to place Anani's likely date of birth

1665-403: The proper way of confuting fools is not to use bare words, but to appeal to the things themselves that make against them... As Josephus himself notes, his work "does not contain quotations from Manetho's original, but rather cites from one or perhaps even two epitomized and altered version of Manetho 's Aegyptiaca. Written as a narrative, it covers only a portion of Manetho's history, roughly from

1710-569: The same material, rather than a source for it. Despite much discussion of this issue, no agreement has been reached. It is also likely that Chronicles preserved ancient heterodox traditions regarding Israel's history. The translators who created the Greek version of the Jewish Bible (the Septuagint ) called this book Paralipomenon , "Things Left Out", indicating that they thought of it as a supplement to another work, probably Genesis–Kings, but

1755-511: The synagogue courtyard. Medieval sources speak of three cantillation melodies, for Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim respectively. Today the position is more complicated. Oriental Sephardic communities preserve cantillation systems for the three poetic books, namely Psalms, Proverbs and the main part of Job (usually a different melody for each of the three books). No such systems exist in the Ashkenazi or Spanish and Portuguese traditions. However,

1800-426: The traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes , the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. It

1845-516: The work of a single individual. The writer was probably male, probably a Levite (temple priest), and probably from Jerusalem. He was well-read, a skilled editor, and a sophisticated theologian. He aimed to use the narratives in the Torah and former prophets to convey religious messages to his peers, the literary and political elite of Jerusalem in the time of the Achaemenid Empire . Jewish and Christian tradition identified this author as

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1890-454: The worship of Israel's God in Jerusalem, and fights the wars that will enable the Temple to be built, then Solomon becomes king, builds and dedicates the Temple, and reaps the benefits of prosperity and peace). 1 Chronicles is divided into 29 chapters and 2 Chronicles into 36 chapters. Biblical commentator C. J. Ball suggests that the division into two books introduced by the translators of

1935-574: Was apparently some confusion between Manetho's references to the Hyksos and the Hebrews . Josephus on Apion's blood libel ( Against Apion 2:8): Apion becomes other men's prophet upon this occasion, and says that "Antiochus found in our temple a bed, and a man lying upon it, with a small table before him, full of dainties, from the [fishes of the] sea, and the fowls of the dry land... he fell down upon his knees, and begged to be released; and that when

1980-560: Was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty, while others argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later. While the Torah may have been considered canon by Israel as early as the 5th century BCE and the Former and Latter Prophets were canonized by the 2nd century BCE, Michael Coogan says that the Ketuvim was not a fixed canon until the 2nd century CE . According to T. Henshaw, as early as 132 BCE some references suggesting that

2025-415: Was thus fed; and that they did the same at a set time every year: that they used to catch a Greek foreigner, and fat him thus up every year, and then lead him to a certain wood, and kill him, and sacrifice with their accustomed solemnities, and taste of his entrails, and take an oath upon this sacrificing a Greek, that they would ever be at enmity with the Greeks; and that then they threw the remaining parts of

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