Old Testament
Poetry & Wisdom
Ketuvim's heart · songs, sayings, laments, and reflections
These books are Israel's poetry: prayer, protest, praise, love song, and hard-won wisdom.
They sit at the centre of the Ketuvim (Writings) in the Hebrew canon and shape the daily prayer life of both synagogue and church.
Period
Contents range from the pre-monarchic period (some Psalms and possibly Job) through the post-exilic era (Ecclesiastes); collected form crystallises between the 10th and 3rd centuries BCE.
Themes
- Suffering and the justice of God
- The life of prayer
- Wisdom, folly, and the fear of the Lord
- The vanity of things under the sun
- Love as strong as death
Traditional Authorship
The Talmud (Bava Batra 14b–15a) assigns Job to Moses; Psalms to David, gathering ten elder authors — including Adam, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, Heman, Jeduthun, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah; Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes to Solomon (with Song and Ecclesiastes edited by Hezekiah's men, per Proverbs 25:1).
Modern Scholarly Proposals
Critical scholarship sees the Psalter as an anthology compiled across centuries and finalised in the post-exilic Second Temple. Job is often dated 6th–4th c. BCE. Ecclesiastes' late Hebrew places it in the Persian or early Hellenistic period. Proverbs preserves older wisdom material re-edited under Hezekiah and later. Song of Songs is usually dated to the post-exilic period despite its Solomonic frame.
The Books
5 booksClick any title to open it in the reader at chapter 1.
- Job42 ch
Patriarchal-era frame; composed somewhere from the monarchy to the Hellenistic age.
Iyov, third book of the Writings. The Accuser persuades God to test righteous, wealthy Job with disaster. Job and his friends argue why the righteous suffer — acceptance and anger by turns. God answers that a human cannot fully grasp God’s ways. Job’s household is restored.
- Psalms150 ch
Poems from c. 1000 BCE into the Second Temple era; arranged as five books.
Tehillim, first book of the Writings: 150 poems attributed to David and others — praise, communal and personal lament, anger, despair, hope, and thanks. They fill Jewish liturgy and are often sung or chanted as prayer in their own right.
- Proverbs31 ch
Largely ascribed to Solomon, with collections under Hezekiah and later.
Mishlei, second of the Writings: poems and short sayings for a wise, moral life — observations of human nature and direct counsel. Avoid bad company, work hard, use speech well, fear God. Wisdom calls in the street.
- Ecclesiastes12 ch
Persian or early Hellenistic Hebrew; ascribed to Qoheleth, “a son of David” (traditionally Solomon).
Kohelet, a megillah often read on Sukkot. It reckons with death, futility, and purpose: “all is vanity,” “nothing new under the sun” — yet concludes that life’s purpose is found in fearing God and keeping the commandments.
- Song of Solomon8 ch
Attributed to Solomon; often dated post-exilic.
Shir Hashirim, a megillah, often read on Passover or Shabbat evening. Two lovers pursue each other through vineyards and blossom. Traditionally a figure of the love between God and Israel — and still a book of human desire.