The Ketuvim (/kətuːˈviːm,kəˈtuːvɪm/;[1]Biblical Hebrew: כְּתוּבִים, romanized: Kǝṯuḇim, lit. 'Writings')[2] is the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible, after the Torah ("instruction") and the Nevi'im "Prophets". In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually titled "Writings" or "Hagiographa".[3]
In the Ketuvim, 1–2 Chronicles form one book as do Ezra and Nehemiah which form a single unit entitled Ezra–Nehemiah.[4] (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.
^Khan, Geoffrey (2020). The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. Open Book Publishers. ISBN978-1783746767.
^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.
