In the Hebrew Bible the “Kĕthūbhīm” (Hagiographa) are usually arranged thus:――first the Poetical Books (Psalms, Proverbs, Job), next the Five Rolls or _Megillōth_ (Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther), and lastly the three books Daniel, Ezra‒Nehemiah, and Chronicles. This is the usual Hebrew tradition, though it is surprising to find Ezra (which begins with the closing verses of Chronicles) put before Chronicles. The wording of Matthew xxiii. 35, however, “From the blood of Abel the righteous (see Genesis iv. 10 f.) unto the blood of Zachariah (see 2 Chronicles xxiv. 20 ff.)” suggests that as early as our Lord’s day Chronicles was regarded as the last, just as Genesis was the first, book of the Hebrew Canon. It is probable, therefore, that Chronicles found its way into the Canon _after_ Ezra‒Nehemiah, the latter book being needed to represent the post-exilic period of the history, whereas Chronicles covered ground already occupied by the books of Samuel and Kings. § 10. TEXT AND VERSIONS OF CHRONICLES _Text._ The Hebrew (Masoretic) text in Chronicles is, on the whole, well preserved, although by no means free from textual errors (compare 1 Chronicles vi. 28). Many of these occur, as one would expect, in the lists of proper names. Olstead (in the _American Journal of Semitic Languages_, October 1913) has given reasons for holding that occasionally the original text of Chronicles may have suffered from assimilation to the text of Samuel‒Kings. Further, we note a few phrases and passages which seem to be scribal additions (see § 3, p. xxii). An interesting scribal omission of late date is noted on 2 Chronicles xxviii. 20. In passages which are parallel to the older canonical books Chronicles has occasionally preserved a superior reading, e.g. 1 Chronicles xx. 4, Hebrew and LXX. “there arose war _at Gezer_” = 2 Samuel xxi. 18, “there was again war ... _at Gob_”; or again, 1 Chronicles viii. 53, “Eshbaal” = 2 Samuel ii. 8 “Ishbosheth”; or compare 1 Chronicles xiv. 14, note on _go not up_. _Versions._ (1) _Greek Versions._ What is commonly called the Septuagint (LXX.) of Chronicles is now recognised to be not the _original_ LXX., but a later Greek translation, which most scholars (especially Torrey, _Ezra Studies_) consider to be the rendering of Theodotion. [For criticism of the view that it is Theodotion’s rendering see the article by Olstead mentioned above.] In the main this rendering is a close reproduction of the Masoretic text, and of little value except for determining the official Hebrew text of the second century. The _old_ LXX., unfortunately, no longer exists for 1 Chronicles i.‒2 Chronicles xxxiv.; but for 2 Chronicles xxxv., xxxvi. it has been preserved in 1 Esdras i.――a fact of great good fortune, not merely for the textual criticism of that passage, but for the light it sheds on the relations and characteristics of the Greek Versions.