Editing Books of Chronicles (section)

===Origins===
The last events recorded in Chronicles take place in the reign of [[Cyrus the Great]], the Persian king who conquered Babylon in 539&nbsp;BC; this sets the earliest possible date for this passage of the book.

Chronicles appears to be largely the work of a single individual. The writer was probably male, probably a [[Levite]] (temple priest), and probably from Jerusalem. He was well-read, a skilled editor, and a sophisticated theologian. He aimed to use the narratives in the Torah and former prophets to convey religious messages to his peers, the literary and political elite of Jerusalem in the time of the [[Achaemenid Empire]].{{sfn|McKenzie|2004|p=}}

[[File:Cambridge University Library, MS Ff.1.24, fol. 1r.jpg|thumb|First page of ''Chronicles'' in a 10th- or 11th-century Greek manuscript acquired by [[Robert Grosseteste]]]]

Jewish and Christian tradition identified this author as the 5th-century BC figure [[Ezra]], who gives his name to the [[Book of Ezra]]; Ezra is also believed by the [[Amoraim|Talmudic sages]] to have written both his own book (i. e., [[Ezra–Nehemiah]]) and Chronicles up to his own time, the latter having been finished by [[Nehemiah]].<ref name="BB15a"/> Later critics, skeptical of the long-maintained tradition, preferred to call the author "[[the Chronicler]]". However, many scholars maintain support for Ezra's authorship, not only based on centuries of work by Jewish historians, but also due to the consistency of language and speech patterns between Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah. Professor Emeritus Menahem Haran of the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] explains, "the overall unity of the Chronistic Work is … demonstrated by a common ideology, the uniformity of legal, cultic and historical conceptions and specific style, all of which reflect one opus."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2004-05-25|title=Menahem Haran |url=https://www.baslibrary.org/authors/menahem-haran|access-date=2020-11-05|website=The BAS Library |language=en}}</ref>

One of the most striking, although inconclusive, features of Chronicles is that its closing sentence is repeated as the opening of Ezra–Nehemiah.{{sfn|McKenzie|2004|p=}}  In antiquity, such repeated verses, like the "catch-lines" used by modern printers,<ref>[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/catchline#English catchline]</ref> often appeared at the end of a scroll to facilitate the reader's passing on to the correct second book-scroll after completing the first. This scribal device was employed in works that exceeded the scope of a single scroll and had to be continued on another scroll.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-08-24 |author=Menahem Haran |title=Explaining the Identical Lines at the End of Chronicles and the Beginning of Ezra |url= https://www.baslibrary.org/bible-review/2/3/6|access-date=2020-11-05|website=The BAS Library |language=en |quote=These repeated verses at the end of Chronicles are called "catch-lines." In ancient times, catch-lines were often placed at the end of a scroll to facilitate the reader's passing on to the correct second book-scroll after completing the first. This scribal device was employed in works that exceeded the scope of a single scroll and had to be continued on another scroll.}}</ref>

The latter half of the 20th century, amid growing skepticism in academia regarding history in the Biblical tradition, saw a reappraisal of the authorship question. Though there is a general lack of corroborating evidence, many now regard it as improbable that the author of Chronicles was also the author of the narrative portions of Ezra–Nehemiah.{{sfn|Beentjes|2008|p=3}} These critics suggest that ''Chronicles'' was probably composed between 400 and 250 BC, with the period 350–300 BC the most likely.{{sfn|McKenzie|2004|p=}} This timeframe is achieved by estimates made based on genealogies appearing in the Greek [[Septuagint]]. This theory bases its premise on the latest person mentioned in Chronicles, Anani. Anani is an eighth-generation descendant of King [[Jehoiachin]] according to the [[Masoretic Text]]. This has persuaded many supporters of the Septuagint's reading to place Anani's likely date of birth a century later than what had been largely accepted for two millennia.{{sfn|Kalimi|2005|pp=61–64}}