The Book of Ruth & Esther

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The Books of Ruth and Esther The Book of Ruth; Biblical Hebrew: Megilath Ruth "the Scroll of Ruth") is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. In the Jewish canon the Book of Ruth is included in the third division, or the Writings (Ketuvim). In the Christian canon the Book of Ruth is placed between Judges and 1 Samuel.[1] It is a rather short book, in both Jewish and Christian scripture, consisting of only four chapters [1]. The book does not identify its author. Traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel, it is regarded by a number of scholars as a novella of probable Hellenistic-era date.[4][5] A smaller number of scholars date it in either the monarchic or early post-exilic periods.[6] The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim ("writings"), the third section of the Jewish Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and is part of the Christian Old Testament. It tells the story of a Jewish girl named Esther who became queen of Persia and thwarted a plan to commit genocide against her people. Also called the Megillah, the book is the basis and an integral part of the Jewish celebration of Purim. Its full text is read aloud twice during the celebration, in the evening and again the following morning. It is the only book in the Bible that does not explicitly mention God.[1] Esther is usually dated to the 3rd or 4th century BCE. Jewish tradition regards it as a redaction by the Great Assembly of an original text written by Mordecai.[7] The Greek additions to Esther (which do not appear in the Jewish/Hebrew; see "Additions to Esther" below) are dated to around the late 2nd century or early 1st BCE.[8] General overview This paper will be a discussion and analysis of two heroines from the Bible, Ruth and Esther, the tales of whom are told respectively in the Book of Ruth and the Book of Esther. There are many similarities between these

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