The Hebrew Bible
כְּתוּבִים
The writings
Poetry, protest and wisdom. The part of the library where the Bible asks its own questions.
The Writings are the least unified of the three divisions, and that is their character rather than a flaw. A hymnbook sits beside a lament, a love poem beside a court tale, and a book that doubts loudly beside a book of proverbs that does not.
Five of them, the Megillot, are each read at a particular point in the year, which is why they are grouped together and often printed together.
Poetry and wisdom
- תְּהִלִּים150 ch
Psalms
Tehillim, praises
A hundred and fifty poems, and more complaint in them than the title admits.
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- מִשְׁלֵי31 ch
Proverbs
Mishlei, proverbs
Instruction in short sayings, built on the claim that the world is learnable.
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- אִיּוֹב42 ch
Job
Iyov, job
A sustained argument against the idea that suffering is deserved.
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The five scrolls
Chamesh Megillot, each tied to a point in the year.
- שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים8 ch
Song of Songs
Shir HaShirim, the song of songs
Love poetry, with no mention of law, temple or nation.
Open the book
- רוּת4 ch
Ruth
Rut, ruth
Four chapters about loyalty, gleaning, and a foreign woman who stays.
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- אֵיכָה5 ch
Lamentations
Eikhah, how
Acrostic poems over a destroyed city: formally tight, emotionally unguarded.
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- קֹהֶלֶת12 ch
Ecclesiastes
Kohelet, the assembler
A book that keeps concluding, and then reopening the question.
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- אֶסְתֵּר10 ch
Esther
Ester, esther
A court tale of reversal in which God is never named.
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Narrative and vision
- דָּנִיֵּאל12 ch
Daniel
Daniel, god is my judge
Court tales, then visions. Parts of it are in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.
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- עֶזְרָא־נְחֶמְיָה23 ch
Ezra and Nehemiah
Ezra-Nechemyah, ezra, nehemiah
Return, rebuilding, and the arguments that came with both.
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- דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים65 ch
Chronicles
Divrei HaYamim, the events of the days
The history told again, with different emphases. Comparing it to Samuel and Kings is a study in itself.
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