Canon order – the Major Prophets

“Since the book of Kings ends with doom and the book of Jeremiah is all doom, and the book of Ezekiel begins with doom but ends with consolation, while Isaiah is all consolation, you see that we place doom next to doom and consolation next to consolation.” (A note in the Babylonian Talmud quoted in M. Greenberg’s commentary on Ezekiel, page 3).  

The comment provides the reasoning in a tannaitic tradition for the (unusual) ordering of the major prophets: Jeremiah – Ezekiel – Isaiah.

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