Ketuvim
Ketuvim | ||||||||||
One of the scrolls in the Ketuvim. |
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The Ketuvim (כְּתוּבִים, Kəṯûḇîm, keh-too-VEEM, "writings") is an anthology consisting of ancient prophetic writings compiled by Jews which makes up the last section of the Tanakh, after the Torah and Nevi'im. The compilation is divided into three sections: the Poetic Books, the Five Megillot (scrolls), and the Other Books. Unlike the first two main sections of the Tanakh, Jewish tradition never formalized the order of these books, so each major branch of Judaism has their own preferred order. This was the last and final section of books canonized by Jews. The exact time is unknown, but it was probably between 200 BCE and 200 CE. Traditionally, the Nevi'im was compiled into seven scrolls, but, more frequently, they are being printed into a codex (what we now call a "book") format. All of the books in the anthology are in the public domain.
Contents
Books
The Nevi'im consists of the following books, though, not necessarily in this order:
# | English Title | Hebrew Title | Transliteration |
---|---|---|---|
The Poetic Books | |||
1 | Book of Psalms | תהלים | Tehillim |
2 | Book of Proverbs | משלי | Mishlei |
3 | Book of Job | איוב | Iyyôbh |
The Five Megillot | |||
4 | Song of Solomon | שיר השירים | Shīr Hashīrīm |
5 | Book of Ruth | רות | Rūth |
6 | Book of Lamentations | איכה | Eikhah |
7 | Book of Ecclesiastes | קהלת | Qōheleth |
8 | Book of Esther | אסתר | Estēr |
The Other Books | |||
9 | Book of Daniel | דניאל | Dānî’ēl |
10 | Book of Ezra / Book of Nehemiah | עזרא | ‘Ezrā |
11 | Books of Chronicles | דברי הימים | Divrei ha-Yamim |
Christianity
When Christians created their old testaments, they included each of the books of the Ketuvim, but they did not preserve the order or the grouping of the books. For example, in the Jewish bible, the Book of Chronicles is the very last book and it is a single volume, but, Christians placed it near the front of their bible and split it into two volumes. Likewise, Jews have the Book of Ezra as the second to last book, but Christians split it into Ezra and Nehemiah and place it near the middle of their old testaments.