This page was migrated in July 2022 from my older website, biblicalambiguities.net. As such, it is subject to the biblicalambiguities-general-disclaimer and the biblicalambiguities-general-disclaimer.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Five Megillot are a set of works found within the Ketuvim, the third and final division of the Hebrew Bible. They are the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Qoheleth, and Esther. So the Ketuvim, then, consist of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Megillot, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles.
So instead of memorizing a sequence of eleven books, you can just memorize the five Megillot and then the six books that surround them. Everything is easier to remember in groups of seven or less.
The Bible is the Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim. The Neviim, in turn, are the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets.
The Torah (Pentateuch) is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy -- five books. Deuteronomy and the Former Prophets make up the Deuteronomistic History: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings -- five books. The Latter Prophets fill out the picture painted by the Former Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Samuel, Kings -- four books. Add to these the Ketuvim, and you've got the whole Hebrew Bible.
Now, if I could just figure out an easy way to memorize the individual works within The Twelve ...
As with other pages migrated from biblicalambiguities.net, this page may contain material paraphrased or even outright copied without direct attribution from the KJV, RV, ASV, JPS (1917), WEB, NHEB, Kittel's BH, the pre-1923 volumes of the ICC series, or the commentaries on Genesis of Dillmann, Skinner, and Driver. More details on this policy can be found here: biblicalambiguities-general-disclaimer and biblicalambiguities-translation-disclaimer.