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The (; "Ketuvim". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. ) is the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible, after the ("instruction") and the "Prophets". In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually titled "Writings" or "Hagiographa".The first wave of synergism produced extraordinary results in terms of contemporary standards of literacy and belles lettres. The communal response of the first generation of Jews after the Exile had set the tone for centuries to come. Out of exile and diaspora had come at least two segments of the Hebrew Bible as we know it, Torah and Prophets, which were redacted no later than the end of the Persian period (circa 400 B.C.E.); the third section of the Bible (the "Hagiographa") was available by this time as well. What was to become normative after 70 C.E. in Judaism had mostly been achieved and promulgated a half millennium before. — The Challenge of Hellenism for Early Judaism and Christianity by Eric M. Meyers, The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 84–91. Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research.
In the Ketuvim, 1–2 Chronicles form one book as do Ezra and Nehemiah which form a single unit entitled Ezra–Nehemiah.The Harper Collins Study Bible NRSV (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.
These three books are also 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 Sifrei Emet:
The Jewish textual tradition never finalized the order of the books in the Ketuvim. The 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 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.
While the Torah may have been considered canon by Israel as early as the 5th century BCE and the Former Prophets 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 Common Era.Michael Coogan. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context. Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 5 According to T. Henshaw, as early as 132 BCE, some references suggest that the Ketuvim were starting to take shape, though they lacked a formal title.Henshaw, T. The Writings: The Third Division of the Old Testament Canon. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1963, pp. 16–17 Jacob Neusner argues that the notion of a biblical canon was not prominent in 2nd-century Rabbinic Judaism or even later.McDonald & Sanders, The Canon Debate, 2002, page 5, cited are Neusner's Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine, pages 128–145, and Midrash in Context: Exegesis in Formative Judaism, pages 1–22.
Against Apion, the writing of Flavius 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";Lightfoot, Neil R. How We Got the Bible, 3rd edition, rev. and expanded. Baker Book House Company. 2003, pp. 154–155 Michael Barber, however, avers that Josephus' canon 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.Henshaw, p. 17
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 (); the Council of Jamnia hypothesis is largely discredited today. Anchor Bible Dictionary Vol. III, pp. 634–7 (New York 1992).McDonald & Sanders, editors, The Canon Debate, 2002, chapter 9: "Jamnia Revisited" by Jack P. Lewis.
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 a haftarah from Ketuvim on Shabbat afternoons, but this does not survive in any community. Some Reform Judaism communities that operate a triennial cycle choose haftarot on Shabbat morning from Ketuvim as well as Neviim.
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 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.
There is, however, no "official" eastern (Babylonian) targum to Ketuvim, equivalent to Targum Onkelos on 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.
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