Biblical canon

==Jewish canons==
{{Main|Development of the Hebrew Bible canon}}

===Rabbinic Judaism===
{{Judaism|state=collapsed}}
[[Rabbinic Judaism]] ({{Lang-he|יהדות רבנית}}) recognizes the twenty-four books of the [[Masoretic Text]], commonly called the ''Tanakh'' ({{lang|he|תַּנַ"ךְ}}) or [[Hebrew Bible]].<ref>For the number of books of the Hebrew Bible see: {{cite book |author-last=Darshan |author-first=G. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/7021817 |chapter=The Twenty-Four Books of the Hebrew Bible and Alexandrian Scribal Methods |editor-last=Niehoff |editor-first=M. R. |title=Homer and the Bible in the Eyes of Ancient Interpreters: Between Literary and Religious Concerns |location=Leiden |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |year=2012 |pages=221–244}}</ref> Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD, and a popular position is that the [[Torah]] was canonized {{Circa|400 BC}}, the [[Neviim|Prophets]] {{Circa|200 BC}}, and the [[Ketuvim|Writings]] {{Circa|100 AD}}{{sfnp|McDonald|Sanders|2002|p=4}} perhaps at a hypothetical [[Council of Jamnia]]—however, this position is increasingly criticised by modern scholars.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/jts/026_347.pdf |title=The Jamnia Period in Jewish History |first=Christie |last=W. M. |journal=Journal of Theological Studies |year=1925 |volume=os-XXVI |issue=104 |pages=347–364|doi=10.1093/jts/os-XXVI.104.347 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author-first=Jack P. |author-last=Lewis |author-link=Jack P. Lewis |journal=Journal of Bible and Religion |volume=32 |issue=2 |date=April 1964 |title=What Do We Mean by Jabneh? |pages=125–132 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |jstor=1460205}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=David Noel |year=1992 |title=[[Anchor Bible Dictionary]], Vol. III |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |pages=634–637}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=McDonald |editor-first1=L. M. |editor-last2=Sanders |editor-first2=J. A. |year=2002 |last=Lewis |first=Jack P. |title=The Canon Debate |chapter=Jamnia Revisited |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers}}</ref>{{sfnp|McDonald|Sanders|2002|p=5}}<ref>Cited are Neusner's ''Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine'', pp. 128–145, and ''Midrash in Context: Exegesis in Formative Judaism'', pp. 1–22.</ref> According to [[Marc Zvi Brettler]], the Jewish scriptures outside the Torah and the Prophets were fluid, with different groups seeing authority in different books.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Brettler |author-first=Marc Zvi |author-link=Marc Zvi Brettler |title=How To Read The Bible |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39nQafdJ_ssC&pg=PA274 |isbn=978-0-8276-1001-9 |pages=274–275}}</ref>

[[File:Scroll.jpg|thumb|left|250px|alt=Scroll with the text of the Book of Esther in Hebrew|A [[scroll]] of the [[Book of Esther]], one of the [[five megillot|five ''megillot'']] of the [[Tanakh]]]]
The [[Book of Deuteronomy]] includes a prohibition against adding or subtracting ({{bibleverse-nb||Deut|4:2}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Deut|12:32}}) which might apply to the book itself (i.e. a "closed book", a prohibition against future [[scribe|scribal]] editing) or to the instruction received by [[Moses]] on [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=McDonald |editor-first1=L. M. |editor-last2=Sanders |editor-first2=J. A. |year=2002 |author-last=Blenkinsopp |author-first=Joseph |title=The Canon Debate |chapter=The Formation of the Hebrew Canon: Isaiah as a Test Case |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |page=60}}</ref> The book of [[2&nbsp;Maccabees]], itself not a part of the Jewish canon, describes [[Nehemiah]] ({{Circa|400 BC}}) as having "founded a library and collected books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings" ({{bibleverse-nb||2Macc|2:13–15|NRSV}}).

The [[Book of Nehemiah]] suggests that the priest-scribe [[Ezra]] brought the Torah back [[Babylonian exile|from Babylon]] to [[Jerusalem]] and the [[Second Temple]] ({{bibleverse-nb||Nehemiah|8–9}}) around the same time period. Both 1 and 2&nbsp;Maccabees suggest that [[Judas Maccabeus]] ({{Circa|167 BC}}) likewise collected sacred books ({{bibleverse-nb||1Macc|3:42–50|NRSV}}, {{bibleverse-nb||2Macc|2:13–15|NRSV}}, {{bibleverse-nb||2Macc|15:6–9|NRSV}}), indeed some scholars argue that the [[Hasmonean dynasty]] (140&nbsp;BCE to 37&nbsp;BCE) fixed the Jewish canon.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=McDonald |editor-first1=L. M. |editor-last2=Sanders |editor-first2=J. A. |year=2002 |author-last=Davies |author-first=Philip R. |title=The Canon Debate |chapter=The Jewish Scriptural Canon in Cultural Perspective |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |page=50 |quote=With many other scholars, I conclude that the fixing of a canonical list was almost certainly the achievement of the Hasmonean dynasty.}}</ref>

===Samaritan canon===
{{Main|Samaritan Pentateuch}}
Another version of the Torah, in the [[Samaritan alphabet]], also exists. This text is associated with the [[Samaritans]] ({{lang-he|שומרונים}}; {{lang-ar|السامريون}}), a people of whom the ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' states: "Their history as a distinct community begins with the taking of Samaria by the Assyrians in 722&nbsp;BC."<ref name="Samaritans">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=110&letter=S&search=Samaritan |chapter=Samaritans |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |year=1906 |publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com}}</ref>

[[File:Samaritan Pentateuch (detail).jpg|thumb|250px|The Abisha Scroll, the oldest scroll among the Samaritans in Nablus]]
The Samaritan Pentateuch's relationship to the Masoretic Text is still disputed. Some differences are minor, such as the ages of different people mentioned in genealogy, while others are major, such as a commandment to be monogamous, which appears only in the Samaritan version. More importantly, the Samaritan text also diverges from the Masoretic in stating that Moses received the [[Ten Commandments]] on [[Mount Gerizim]]—not [[biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]]—and that it is upon Mount Gerizim that sacrifices to God should be made—not in Jerusalem. Scholars nonetheless consult the Samaritan version when trying to determine the meaning of text of the original Pentateuch, as well as to trace the development of text-families. Some scrolls among the [[Dead Sea scrolls]] have been identified as proto-Samaritan Pentateuch text-type.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=McDonald |editor-first1=L. M. |editor-last2=Sanders |editor-first2=J. A. |year=2002 |author-last=VanderKam |author-first=James C. |title=The Canon Debate |chapter=Questions of Canon through the Dead Sea Scrolls |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |page=94}} Citing private communication with Emanuel Tov on ''biblical manuscripts'': Qumran scribe type c.&nbsp;25%, proto-Masoretic Text c.&nbsp;40%, pre-Samaritan texts c.&nbsp;5%, texts close to the Hebrew model for the Septuagint c. 5% and nonaligned c. 25%.</ref>

Samaritans consider the Torah to be inspired scripture, but do not accept any other parts of the Bible—probably a position also held by the [[Sadducees]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=40&letter=S&search=Sadducees |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |chapter=Sadducees |publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com |year=1906 |quote=With the destruction of the Temple and the state the Sadducees as a party no longer had an object for which to live. They disappear from history, though their views are partly maintained and echoed by the Samaritans, with whom they are frequently identified (see Hippolytus, "Refutatio Hæresium", ix. 29; Epiphanius, l.c. xiv.; and other Church Fathers, who ascribe to the Sadducees the rejection of the Prophets and the Hagiographa; comp. also Sanh. 90b, where "Ẓadduḳim" stands for "Kutim" [Samaritans]; Sifre, Num.&nbsp;112; Geiger, l.c. pp.&nbsp;128–129), and by the Karaites (see Maimonides, commentary on Ab. i. 3; Geiger, "Gesammelte Schriften", iii. 283–321; also Anan ben David; Karaites).}}</ref> They did not expand their canon by adding any Samaritan compositions. There is a [[Book of Joshua (Samaritan)|Samaritan Book of Joshua]]; however, this is a popular chronicle written in Arabic and is not considered to be scripture. Other non-canonical [[Samaritans#Religious texts|Samaritan religious texts]] include the ''Memar Markah'' ("Teaching of Markah") and the ''Defter'' (Prayerbook)—both from the 4th century or later.<ref>{{cite book |title=Samaritan Documents, Relating To Their History, Religion and Life |editor-last=Bowman |editor-first=John |translator-last=Bowman |translator-first=John |series=Pittsburgh Original Texts & Translations Series No.&nbsp;2 |year=1977}}</ref>

The people of the remnants of the Samaritans in modern-day [[Israel]]/[[State of Palestine|Palestine]] retain their version of the Torah as fully and authoritatively canonical.<ref name=Samaritans/> They regard themselves as the true "guardians of the Law". This assertion is only re-enforced by the claim of the Samaritan community in [[Nablus]] (an area traditionally associated with the ancient city of [[Shechem]]) to possess the oldest existing copy of the Torah—one that they believe to have been penned by Abisha, a grandson of [[Aaron]].<ref>Crown, Alan D. (October 1991). "The Abisha Scroll – 3,000 Years Old?". ''Bible Review''.</ref>