The Tanakh

The five books of Moses move from the origins of the world and the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to slavery in Egypt, liberation, and the covenant at Sinai. Narrative and law are interwoven, and Deuteronomy restates the law as Moses' farewell before Israel enters the land. The Torah is read aloud in synagogue in weekly portions, completing the cycle each year on Simchat Torah. Traditional Judaism holds it to be given through Moses; most modern scholars see a long history of composition and editing.

These books narrate settlement, the era of the judges, the rise of Saul and David, Solomon's Temple, the split into northern and southern kingdoms, and destruction by Assyria and Babylon. Jewish tradition counts them as prophecy, not merely history, because they judge kings and people by their faithfulness to the covenant. Samuel and Kings are each one book in the traditional count.

Isaiah spans Assyrian threat and, in its later chapters, return from Babylonian exile; many scholars divide it into two or three sections from different periods. Jeremiah speaks before and during Jerusalem's fall in 587/586 BCE, and Ezekiel prophesies among the exiles in Babylon. Passages from these books are read as haftarot, the prophetic readings that follow the Torah portion on Sabbaths and festivals.

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were copied on one scroll and count as one book in the Jewish reckoning of twenty-four. They range from Amos's attack on injustice in the eighth century BCE to the post-exilic concerns of Haggai and Malachi. Jonah is read in full on the afternoon of Yom Kippur.

Ketuvim opens with three poetic books. The 150 Psalms hold praise, lament, and protest, and supply much of the Jewish prayer book. Proverbs gathers practical instruction, and Job stages a long argument between a suffering man, his friends, and finally God.

Each megillah is read in synagogue at a set time of year: Song of Songs at Passover, Ruth at Shavuot, Lamentations on Tisha b'Av, Ecclesiastes at Sukkot, and Esther at Purim. Their moods run from love poetry to mourning for the destroyed Temple to Ecclesiastes' questioning of what any effort secures. Esther never names God, a fact the tradition has long discussed.

Daniel combines court tales with apocalyptic visions; in Jewish order it stands among the Writings rather than the Prophets, and parts are in Aramaic. Ezra-Nehemiah, one book in the traditional count, describes rebuilding in Jerusalem under Persian rule. In printed Hebrew Bibles, Chronicles comes last and ends with Cyrus's decree allowing the exiles to go up to Jerusalem, although some medieval manuscripts, such as the Aleppo Codex, place it first among the Writings.