Bava Batra 15a — the Talmud in English

and by three sons of Korah,

who recited the psalm “A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah,” and likewise many other psalms whose beginnings mention that they are for the “sons of Korah.”

Jeremiah wrote

the

Book, and

likewise he wrote

the Book of Kings and Lamentations,

the Scroll of Lamentations.

Hezekiah and his company

[the members of his generation who lived many years after him],

wrote

the following books:

the sign YMSHK

for the initial letters of the names of the books.

The Book of

Isaiah,

because Isaiah the prophet did not manage to write his book, since King Manasseh killed him, and the prophets would write their books only before their deaths.

The Book of

Proverbs.

As is explicit in the Book of Proverbs [25:1]: “The proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.” And although Hezekiah himself did not write it, as it is explained in this verse that the men of Hezekiah wrote it, nevertheless the book is called by Hezekiah’s name, because he caused them to engage in Torah, as explained in tractate Sanhedrin [94b].

And Hezekiah and his company likewise wrote the Scroll of

Song of Songs and

the Scroll of

Ecclesiastes.

The Men of the Great Assembly,

who were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, Zerubbabel and Mordecai, and their colleagues,

wrote

the following books:

the sign KNDG

for the letters appearing in the names of the books.

Ezekiel,

because Ezekiel the prophet himself did not write his book, since he was outside the Land, and prophecy was not given to be written outside the Land.

And

likewise they wrote the Book of

the Twelve

[the Twelve Minor Prophets], because some of the prophecies in the Book of the Twelve were not written by the prophets who prophesied them, since their prophecies were small in quantity. And Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi [who were the later prophets] came and wrote their prophecies, and attached all these small prophecies to their books, and made them together into one large book, so that those prophecies would not be lost because of their smallness.

The Men of the Great Assembly also wrote the Book of

Daniel and the Scroll of Esther.

For Daniel and Esther could not write their prophecies, since they were outside the Land, and prophecy was not given to be written outside the Land.

Ezra wrote

his

book,

but he did not finish it,

and

likewise Ezra wrote the

genealogy of the words of Chronicles,

that is, the Book of Chronicles, which deals with the order of the genealogies of the generations,

up to him,

until it reached his own genealogy.

And this beraita, in which it is explained that Ezra wrote the order of his genealogy,

supports Rav.

For Rav Judah said in the name of Rav: Ezra did not ascend from Babylonia until he traced his own genealogy, and

only then

did he ascend

and who brought it to completion?

Who finished writing the Book of Ezra? [See the following note.]

Nehemiah son of Hachaliah!

The Master said: Joshua wrote his book, and

likewise wrote the

eight

of the

verses

at the end

of the Torah,

as is explained below.

It was taught,

we learned in a beraita,

according to the one who says

above that

the eight verses

at the end

of the Torah, Joshua

wrote them,

and not Moses.

For it was taught,

it is stated in the Book of Deuteronomy [34:5]: “

And Moses the servant of the Lord died there.”

And the beraita explains that it is impossible to say that Moses wrote these verses. For is it

possible

that

Moses was alive,

and wrote, “And Moses died there”?

Rather, until here Moses wrote. From here onward,

from “And Moses died” until the end of the Torah, eight verses,

Joshua wrote them—these are the words of Rabbi Judah,

and some say,

there are those who say that these are the words of

Rabbi Nehemiah.

Rabbi Shimon said to him:

If we say that Joshua completed the writing of the Torah after Moses’s death, it follows that before Moses died the Torah scroll was not complete. This cannot be, for is it

possible

that there should be

a Torah scroll lacking

even

one letter

before Moses’s death!?

And

it is

written,

that Moses said to the Levites [Deuteronomy 31]: “

Take this Torah scroll,”

which implies that the Torah scroll was already complete at that time!

Rather, until here,

until the verse “And Moses died there,”

the Holy One, blessed be He, says

the words of the Torah to Moses,

and Moses writes

in ink.

But

from here onward,

from “And Moses died,”

the Holy One, blessed be He, says, and Moses writes in tears,

and not in ink. And the beraita brings proof that this was indeed the order of the writing of the Torah at its conclusion: the Holy One, blessed be He, says and Moses writes. For this was likewise the order of the writing of the Prophets.

As it is said below

in the prophet Jeremiah [chapter 36], when the ministers asked Baruch: “Tell us how you wrote all these words from his mouth” [of Jeremiah]? “

And he said to them: Baruch, from his mouth he would read to me,

Jeremiah would call to me with his mouth

all these words, and I would write on the scroll with ink.”