Biblical 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>