Three hands who edited the Old Testament after it was written, told in four pictures on one line The Old Testament was written, and then it was edited, by people who left parentheses: 'unto this day', 'which is Hebron', 'before there reigned any king'. Sorted by what each parenthesis presupposes, the editors come out as three hands. This page shows them one picture at a time. The full count, every verse and every check is on the Edit points page; this one is the story.
3 hands that edited the text after it was written
268 parentheses they left
3 sign-offs, one on each of Butler's three breaks
0 times an earlier hand mentions a later one
Three words. Strands are who wrote the text. Hands are who reached back into it later. Parentheses are the evidence: the asides a hand leaves because its readers no longer know a name, a custom, a measure, or a kingdom. The line is Butler's: seventeen marks, one per historical book, in book order. It never changes between the four pictures.
1. The quiet picture: three hands on one line Butler's seventeen marks run left to right in book order. Under them, one bar per hand: it starts at the earliest story the hand touched and ends at the dot, where the hand signs off. Hand 1 works from the Patriarchs to the Division of the kingdom. Hand 2 reaches from Babel to the Babylonian exile. Hand 3 runs from the Kingdom to the Return. Each dot sits on one of Butler's three breaks. That is the whole claim.
Creation Flood Babel Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Bondage Exodus Sinai Wilderness Jordan Jericho Judges Kingdom Division Assyria Babylon Return Silence the story, in Butler's book order Hand 1: the kingdom-era compiler: writes from the divided monarchy; settles claims to places ('unto this day'), renames, updates seer to prophet, cites the royal annals, signs off at the Division signs off at Division Hand 1: the kingdom-era compiler signs off: Division Hand 2: the exile hand: closes Kings at 2 Kings 17 and 25:27-30, reaches back only for a word: Ur of the Chaldees, Leviticus 26's exile as past; never shares a chapter with Hand 1 signs off at Babylon Hand 2: the exile hand signs off: Babylon Hand 3: the Persian hand: Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah: Persian coin in David's offering, Zerubbabel's line carried on, the formula re-used for the province's own present signs off at Return Hand 3: the Persian hand signs off: Return a bar: from the earliest story the hand touched to where it signs off. the dot: the sign-off, each on one of Butler's three breaks.
2. The parentheses: the evidence, placed on the hands Every parenthesis is a dot, on the bar of the hand that left it, under the story it sits in. Hand 1's bar is crowded: the place renamings in Genesis, the 'unto this day' monuments of Joshua and Judges, the source citations of Kings. Hand 2's bar is almost bare: a hand that closes Kings and reaches back for a word, 'Ur of the Chaldees'. Hand 3's dots are Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. The weight of the editing is early on the line and early among the hands.
Creation Flood Babel Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Bondage Exodus Sinai Wilderness Jordan Jericho Judges Kingdom Division Assyria Babylon Return Silence the story, in Butler's book order Hand 1: the kingdom-era compiler: writes from the divided monarchy; settles claims to places ('unto this day'), renames, updates seer to prophet, cites the royal annals, signs off at the Division signs off at Division Hand 1: the kingdom-era compiler signs off: Division Genesis 12:6: 'then in the land' - And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaani Genesis 13:7: 'then in the land' - And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and th Genesis 14:2: a place-name update - That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Genesis 14:7: a place-name update - And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekit Genesis 14:8: a place-name update - And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king Genesis 14:14: Dan named before Judges 18 renamed it - pursued them unto Dan Genesis 19:22: a place-name update - Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name o Genesis 19:37: the 'unto this day' formula - And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto Genesis 19:38: the 'unto this day' formula - And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the chi Genesis 21:32: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his Genesis 21:34: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days. Genesis 22:14: the 'unto this day' formula - And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of t Genesis 23:2: a place-name update - And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn f Genesis 23:19: a place-name update - And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: th Genesis 26:1: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isa Genesis 26:8: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines look Genesis 26:14: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Phili Genesis 26:15: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Phil Genesis 26:18: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; Genesis 26:33: the 'unto this day' formula - And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day. Genesis 28:19: a place-name update - And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. Genesis 32:32: the 'unto this day' formula - Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the Genesis 35:8: a place-name update - But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it Genesis 35:19: a place-name update - And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. Genesis 35:20: the 'unto this day' formula - And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. Genesis 35:27: a place-name update - And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abra Genesis 36:31: kings are already a known thing - And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the chi Genesis 47:26: the 'unto this day' formula - And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth pa Genesis 48:7: a place-name update - And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet Genesis 48:15: the 'unto this day' formula - And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God whi Genesis 50:11: a place-name update - And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they sa Exodus 10:6: the 'unto this day' formula - And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egypti Exodus 13:17: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of th Exodus 15:23: a place-name update - And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: ther Exodus 16:35-36: an obsolete measure explained; manna 'until they came to a land inhabited' - Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah Exodus 23:31: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time - And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert Numbers 12:3: the narrator praises Moses in the third person - the man Moses was very meek Numbers 21:14: the compiler names his source scroll - Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the bro Numbers 22:30: the 'unto this day' formula - And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine Numbers 33:36: a place-name update - And they removed from Eziongaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. Deuteronomy 1:1: the narrator stands west of Jordan - These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the p Deuteronomy 1:5: the narrator stands west of Jordan - On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, Deuteronomy 2:10-12: the Emim and Horite aside - as Israel did unto the land of his possession Deuteronomy 2:20-23: the Zamzummim aside - that also was accounted a land of giants Deuteronomy 2:22: the 'unto this day' formula - As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before the Deuteronomy 3:8: the narrator stands west of Jordan - And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this Deuteronomy 3:11: Og's bedstead, a known sight - is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? Deuteronomy 3:14: the 'unto this day' formula - Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and Deuteronomy 3:20: the narrator stands west of Jordan - Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess Deuteronomy 3:25: the narrator stands west of Jordan - I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Deuteronomy 4:41: the narrator stands west of Jordan - Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising; Deuteronomy 4:46: the narrator stands west of Jordan - On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, Deuteronomy 4:47: the narrator stands west of Jordan - And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which wer Deuteronomy 4:48: a place-name update - From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, Deuteronomy 4:49: the narrator stands west of Jordan - And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Deuteronomy 10:6-9: Aaron's death inserted into Moses' speech - there Aaron died, and there he was buried Deuteronomy 10:8: the 'unto this day' formula - At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to s Deuteronomy 11:4: the 'unto this day' formula - And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the wa Deuteronomy 12-26: the law code Ross dates to Josiah's scroll - the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land Deuteronomy 29:4: the 'unto this day' formula - Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this d Deuteronomy 34:1: Dan named before Judges 18 renamed it - all the land of Gilead, unto Dan Deuteronomy 34:5-12: the death of Moses and the prophet who never came - there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses Deuteronomy 34:6: the 'unto this day' formula - And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his Joshua 4:9: the 'unto this day' formula - And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests w Joshua 5:9: the 'unto this day' formula - And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Where Joshua 6:25: the 'unto this day' formula - And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she d Joshua 7:26: the 'unto this day' formula - And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fiercenes Joshua 7:26: a place-name update - And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fiercenes Joshua 8:28: the 'unto this day' formula - And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. Joshua 8:29: the 'unto this day' formula - And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua comma Joshua 9:27: the 'unto this day' formula - And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the Joshua 10:13: the compiler names his source scroll - And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their ene Joshua 11:10: a place-name update - And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Joshua 13:13: the 'unto this day' formula - Nevertheless the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites: but the Geshu Joshua 14:14: the 'unto this day' formula - Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, be Joshua 14:15: a place-name update - And the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the Joshua 15:8: a place-name update - And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the s Joshua 15:9: a place-name update - And the border was drawn from the top of the hill unto the fountain of the water of Nephtoah, and we Joshua 15:10: a place-name update - And the border compassed from Baalah westward unto mount Seir, and passed along unto the side of mou Joshua 15:15: a place-name update - And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher. Joshua 15:25: a place-name update - And Hazor, Hadattah, and Kerioth, and Hezron, which is Hazor, Joshua 15:49: a place-name update - And Dannah, and Kirjathsannah, which is Debir, Joshua 15:54: a place-name update - And Humtah, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, and Zior; nine cities with their villages: Joshua 15:60: a place-name update - Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, and Rabbah; two cities with their villages: Joshua 15:63: the 'unto this day' formula - As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: b Joshua 16:10: the 'unto this day' formula - And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephrai Joshua 18:13: a place-name update - And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward; and Joshua 18:14: a place-name update - And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of the sea southward, from the hill that l Joshua 18:28: a place-name update - And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their v Joshua 20:7: a place-name update - And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharb Joshua 22:3: the 'unto this day' formula - Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the comman Joshua 22:17: the 'unto this day' formula - Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although t Joshua 23:8: the 'unto this day' formula - But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day. Joshua 23:9: the 'unto this day' formula - For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath b Judges 1:10: a place-name update - And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirja Judges 1:11: a place-name update - And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathse Judges 1:17: a place-name update - And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utt Judges 1:21: the 'unto this day' formula - And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebus Judges 1:23: a place-name update - And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) Judges 1:26: the 'unto this day' formula - And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: w Judges 6:24: the 'unto this day' formula - Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet Judges 10:4: the 'unto this day' formula - And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called H Judges 15:19: the 'unto this day' formula - But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had dr Judges 17:6: kings are already a known thing - In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 18:1: kings are already a known thing - In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an Judges 18:12: the 'unto this day' formula - And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehda Judges 18:29: a place-name update - And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Isra Judges 19:1: kings are already a known thing - And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite Judges 19:10: a place-name update - But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, wh Judges 19:30: the 'unto this day' formula - And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the Judges 21:25: kings are already a known thing - In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Ruth 4:7: kings are already a known thing - Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for t 1 Samuel 5:5: the 'unto this day' formula - Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold 1 Samuel 6:18: the 'unto this day' formula - And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the f 1 Samuel 8:8: the 'unto this day' formula - According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt ev 1 Samuel 9:9: a place-name update - (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the 1 Samuel 9:9: kings are already a known thing - (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the 1 Samuel 12:2: the 'unto this day' formula - And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are 1 Samuel 27:6: the 'unto this day' formula - Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this 1 Samuel 27:6: kings are already a known thing - Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this 1 Samuel 27:6: the house of David has lost the north - Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this 1 Samuel 29:3: the 'unto this day' formula - Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princ 1 Samuel 29:6: the 'unto this day' formula - Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and 1 Samuel 29:8: the 'unto this day' formula - And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as 1 Samuel 30:25: the 'unto this day' formula - And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this 2 Samuel 1:18: the compiler names his source scroll - (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book 2 Samuel 4:3: the 'unto this day' formula - And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.) 2 Samuel 6:8: the 'unto this day' formula - And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of t 2 Samuel 7:6: the 'unto this day' formula - Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of 2 Samuel 18:18: the 'unto this day' formula - Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dal 1 Kings 8:1: a place-name update - Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathe 1 Kings 8:8: the 'unto this day' formula - And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the 1 Kings 9:13: the 'unto this day' formula - And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land 1 Kings 9:21: the 'unto this day' formula - Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able 1 Kings 10:12: the 'unto this day' formula - And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king's house, ha 1 Kings 11:41: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in th 1 Kings 12:19: the 'unto this day' formula - So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. 1 Kings 12:19: the house of David has lost the north - So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. 1 Kings 14:19: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in 1 Kings 14:29: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the c 1 Kings 14:29: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the c 1 Kings 15:7: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chr 1 Kings 15:7: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chr 1 Kings 15:23: the house of David has lost the north - The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he bui 1 Kings 15:23: the compiler names his source scroll - The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he bui 1 Kings 15:31: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chro 1 Kings 16:5: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book 1 Kings 16:14: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chron 1 Kings 16:20: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book 1 Kings 16:27: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he shewed, are they not written in 1 Kings 22:39: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all th 1 Kings 22:45: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they n 1 Kings 22:45: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they n 2 Kings 1:18: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles 2 Kings 2:22: the 'unto this day' formula - So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. 2 Kings 8:22: the 'unto this day' formula - Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. 2 Kings 8:23: the house of David has lost the north - And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chro 2 Kings 8:23: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chro 2 Kings 10:27: the 'unto this day' formula - And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house 2 Kings 10:34: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in th 2 Kings 12:19: the house of David has lost the north - And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chro 2 Kings 12:19: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chro 2 Kings 13:8: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in th 2 Kings 13:12: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Am 2 Kings 14:7: the 'unto this day' formula - He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it 2 Kings 14:15: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king 2 Kings 14:18: the house of David has lost the north - And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings 2 Kings 14:18: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings 2 Kings 14:28: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he 2 Kings 15:6: the house of David has lost the north - And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the ch 2 Kings 15:6: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the ch 2 Kings 15:11: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the 2 Kings 15:15: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in t 2 Kings 15:21: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the ch 2 Kings 15:26: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of t 2 Kings 15:31: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the 2 Kings 15:36: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chr 2 Kings 15:36: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chr 2 Kings 16:6: the 'unto this day' formula - At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Sy 2 Kings 16:19: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of 2 Kings 16:19: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of 2 Kings 18:5: the house of David has lost the north - He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Jud 2 Kings 20:17: the 'unto this day' formula - Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in s 2 Kings 20:20: the house of David has lost the north - And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and 2 Kings 20:20: the compiler names his source scroll - And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and 2 Kings 21:15: the 'unto this day' formula - Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day 2 Kings 21:17: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not 2 Kings 21:17: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not 2 Kings 21:25: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of 2 Kings 21:25: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of 2 Kings 23:5: the house of David has lost the north - And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the 2 Kings 23:11: the house of David has lost the north - And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the 2 Kings 23:12: the house of David has lost the north - And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, 2 Kings 23:22: the house of David has lost the north - Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in a 2 Kings 23:28: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chr 2 Kings 23:28: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chr 2 Kings 24:5: the house of David has lost the north - Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the 2 Kings 24:5: the compiler names his source scroll - Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Hand 2: the exile hand: closes Kings at 2 Kings 17 and 25:27-30, reaches back only for a word: Ur of the Chaldees, Leviticus 26's exile as past; never shares a chapter with Hand 1 signs off at Babylon Hand 2: the exile hand signs off: Babylon Genesis 11:28: Chaldean Babylon is already a name - And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. Genesis 11:31: Chaldean Babylon is already a name - And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, Genesis 15:7: Chaldean Babylon is already a name - And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this l Leviticus 26:33-45: exile and return described as past - And I will scatter you among the heathen Judges 18:30: the north is already gone - And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manass 2 Kings 17:23: the 'unto this day' formula - Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So 2 Kings 17:23: the north is already gone - Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So 2 Kings 17:34: the 'unto this day' formula - Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their 2 Kings 17:34: the north is already gone - Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their 2 Kings 17:41: the 'unto this day' formula - So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their chi 2 Kings 25:27-30: the ending written after Jehoiachin's release (561 BCE) - Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin Nehemiah 9:7: Chaldean Babylon is already a name - Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldee Hand 3: the Persian hand: Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah: Persian coin in David's offering, Zerubbabel's line carried on, the formula re-used for the province's own present signs off at Return Hand 3: the Persian hand signs off: Return 1 Chronicles 1:27: a place-name update - Abram; the same is Abraham. 1 Chronicles 3:19-24: Zerubbabel's line carried six generations on - the sons of Zerubbabel 1 Chronicles 4:41: the 'unto this day' formula - And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and smote their tents, and the 1 Chronicles 4:43: the 'unto this day' formula - And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto this day. 1 Chronicles 5:26: the 'unto this day' formula - And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilnese 1 Chronicles 11:4: a place-name update - And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitant 1 Chronicles 13:11: the 'unto this day' formula - And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzza: wherefore that place is call 1 Chronicles 17:5: the 'unto this day' formula - For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone 1 Chronicles 29:7: Persian coin, Persian kings - And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, a 2 Chronicles 5:2: a place-name update - Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathe 2 Chronicles 5:9: the 'unto this day' formula - And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before t 2 Chronicles 8:8: the 'unto this day' formula - But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed no 2 Chronicles 10:19: the 'unto this day' formula - And Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. 2 Chronicles 18:7: a place-name update - And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the LO 2 Chronicles 20:2: a place-name update - Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from 2 Chronicles 20:26: the 'unto this day' formula - And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed th 2 Chronicles 21:10: the 'unto this day' formula - So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. The same time also did Libnah r 2 Chronicles 35:25: the 'unto this day' formula - And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in t 2 Chronicles 36:22: Persian coin, Persian kings - Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jere 2 Chronicles 36:23: Persian coin, Persian kings - Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; Ezra 1:1: Persian coin, Persian kings - Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah mi Ezra 1:2: Persian coin, Persian kings - Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; Ezra 1:8: Persian coin, Persian kings - Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbere Ezra 2:69: Persian coin, Persian kings - They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gol Ezra 3:7: Persian coin, Persian kings - They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them Ezra 4:3: Persian coin, Persian kings - But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye h Ezra 4:5: Persian coin, Persian kings - And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia Ezra 4:7: Persian coin, Persian kings - And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, u Ezra 4:24: Persian coin, Persian kings - Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of Ezra 6:14: Persian coin, Persian kings - And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet Ezra 7:1: Persian coin, Persian kings - Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son Ezra 8:27: Persian coin, Persian kings - Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold. Ezra 9:7: the 'unto this day' formula - Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities Ezra 10:23: a place-name update - Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and E Nehemiah 7:70: Persian coin, Persian kings - And some of the chief of the fathers gave unto the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousa Nehemiah 7:71: Persian coin, Persian kings - And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the treasure of the work twenty thousand drams of gold, Nehemiah 7:72: Persian coin, Persian kings - And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand pound Nehemiah 9:32: the 'unto this day' formula - Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, a dot: one verse with a parenthesis, on the hand that left it, under the story it sits in. hover for the verse.
3. The pointing: each hand treats the one before as scripture Arcs from a later hand to an earlier layer. Green, the later hand copies the earlier text parenthesis included, so Chronicles keeps 'there it is unto this day' about an ark that was gone. Blue, dashed, it cites the earlier layer as a book, 'as it is written in the book of the law of Moses'. Red, it accuses, Jeremiah 8:8 on the scribes' pen. Gold flags are colophons, a hand marking the edge of what it received. Every arc climbs; no hand ever mentions a later one. The lanes hold the Torah layer the hands received and the three hands, oldest at the top.
Creation Flood Babel Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Bondage Exodus Sinai Wilderness Jordan Jericho Judges Kingdom Division Assyria Babylon Return Silence the story, in Butler's book order the Torah layer (received, cited, accused) Hand 1 Hand 2 Hand 3 2 Chronicles 5:9 (H3) copy -> 1 Kings 8:8: 'there it is unto this day' about the ark's staves, kept by a hand writing when there was no ark; the copied 'now' is the fossil 1 Kings 8:8 2 Chronicles 5:9 2 Chronicles 10:19 (H3) copy -> 1 Kings 12:19: 'Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day', kept with no Israel left to rebel 1 Kings 12:19 2 Chronicles 10:19 2 Chronicles 8:8 (H3) copy -> 1 Kings 9:21: the Canaanite levy 'unto this day', carried over verbatim 1 Kings 9:21 2 Chronicles 8:8 2 Chronicles 21:10 (H3) copy -> 2 Kings 8:22: Edom's revolt 'unto this day', carried over verbatim 2 Kings 8:22 2 Chronicles 21:10 2 Chronicles 16:11 (H3) cite -> 1 Kings 15:23: 'the book of the kings of Judah and Israel': Hand 3 names Hand 1's finished work as its source 1 Kings 15:23 2 Chronicles 16:11 1 Chronicles 29:29 (H3) cite -> 1 Samuel 9:9: 'the book of Samuel the seer': Hand 3 cites the Samuel material and keeps the old title 'seer' that Hand 1 had explained away 1 Samuel 9:9 1 Chronicles 29:29 2 Kings 14:6 (H1) cite -> Deuteronomy 24:16: 'as it is written in the book of the law of Moses' and then the verse word for word: Hand 1 citing the Torah layer as scripture Deuteronomy 24:16 2 Kings 14:6 Joshua 8:31 (H1) cite -> Deuteronomy 27:5: the altar of unhewn stones 'as it is written in the book of the law of Moses' Deuteronomy 27:5 Joshua 8:31 Nehemiah 13:1 (H3) cite -> Deuteronomy 23:3: 'they read in the book of Moses' and quote the Ammonite and Moabite rule Deuteronomy 23:3 Nehemiah 13:1 Ezra 6:18 (H3) cite -> Numbers 3: priests in their divisions 'as it is written in the book of Moses' Numbers 3 Ezra 6:18 Daniel 9:2 (H3) cite -> Jeremiah 25:11: 'I Daniel understood by books' the seventy years of Jeremiah: a later hand reading an exile-era prophet as a text Jeremiah 25:11 Daniel 9:2 Zechariah 1:4 (H3) cite -> Jeremiah 25:5: 'the former prophets' named as a body of writing already old Jeremiah 25:5 Zechariah 1:4 Proverbs 25:1 (H1) colophon -> Proverbs 10:1: 'which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out': a copying crew names itself Proverbs 10:1 Proverbs 25:1 Psalm 72:20 (H1) colophon -> its own edge: 'the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended': the edge of a received collection, left in place Psalm 72:20 (H1) colophon -> its own edge: 'the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended': the edge of a received collection, left in place Jeremiah 51:64 (H2) colophon -> its own edge: 'thus far are the words of Jeremiah', after which chapter 52 is Kings copied in Jeremiah 51:64 (H2) colophon -> its own edge: 'thus far are the words of Jeremiah', after which chapter 52 is Kings copied in Job 31:40 (T) colophon -> its own edge: 'the words of Job are ended', with eleven chapters still to come Job 31:40 (T) colophon -> its own edge: 'the words of Job are ended', with eleven chapters still to come Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 (H3) colophon -> its own edge: an epilogue speaking about the author in the third person Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 (H3) colophon -> its own edge: an epilogue speaking about the author in the third person Jeremiah 8:8 (H2) accuse -> Deuteronomy 12-26: 'the pen of the scribes is in vain': a prophet of the Babylon generation says the Torah in his hand has been worked over Deuteronomy 12-26 Jeremiah 8:8 Zephaniah 3:4 (H2) accuse -> Deuteronomy 12-26: 'her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law' Deuteronomy 12-26 Zephaniah 3:4 Ezekiel 22:26 (H2) accuse -> Deuteronomy 12-26: 'her priests have violated my law' Deuteronomy 12-26 Ezekiel 22:26 copy: copies the earlier hand's text, parenthesis included cite: cites the earlier layer as a book colophon: marks the edge of what it received accuse: says the text has been worked over 4. The strands: who wrote the five books, under the same line The Documentary Hypothesis sorts the five books by author: J, E, P, D and the Redactor R who stitched them. One thin column per chapter, split by strand. The strands are who wrote; the hands are who reached back in later. J and E are the layer the hands received. D is closest to Hand 1. P edits by framing, not by asides, so it is thick in the columns and thin in the dots. The barcode stops at Deuteronomy because the hypothesis does; the hands run on to the Return.
The strands: who wrote each chapter of the five books, by the Documentary Hypothesis, with this page's markers above Creation Flood Babel Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Bondage Exodus Sinai Wilderness Jordan Jericho Judges Kingdom Division Assyria Babylon Return Silence Genesis 1: P, Priestly 31 of 31 verses Genesis 2: J, Jahwist 22 of 25 verses Genesis 2: P, Priestly 4 of 25 verses Genesis 2: R, Redactor 11 of 25 verses Genesis 3: J, Jahwist 24 of 24 verses Genesis 3: R, Redactor 8 of 24 verses Genesis 4: J, Jahwist 26 of 26 verses Genesis 5: J, Jahwist 1 of 32 verses Genesis 5: P, Priestly 31 of 32 verses Genesis 5: R, Redactor 1 of 32 verses Genesis 6: J, Jahwist 9 of 22 verses Genesis 6: P, Priestly 14 of 22 verses Genesis 6: R, Redactor 1 of 22 verses Genesis 7: J, Jahwist 10 of 24 verses Genesis 7: P, Priestly 16 of 24 verses Genesis 7: R, Redactor 1 of 24 verses Genesis 8: J, Jahwist 12 of 22 verses Genesis 8: P, Priestly 14 of 22 verses Genesis 8: R, Redactor 1 of 22 verses Genesis 9: J, Jahwist 8 of 29 verses Genesis 9: P, Priestly 21 of 29 verses Genesis 9: R, Redactor 2 of 29 verses Genesis 10: J, Jahwist 19 of 32 verses Genesis 10: P, Priestly 12 of 32 verses Genesis 10: R, Redactor 1 of 32 verses Genesis 11: J, Jahwist 11 of 32 verses Genesis 11: P, Priestly 21 of 32 verses Genesis 11: R, Redactor 2 of 32 verses Genesis 12: J, Jahwist 19 of 20 verses Genesis 12: P, Priestly 2 of 20 verses Genesis 13: J, Jahwist 17 of 18 verses Genesis 13: P, Priestly 3 of 18 verses Genesis 14: J, Jahwist 21 of 24 verses Genesis 14: E, Elohist 3 of 24 verses Genesis 14: R, Redactor 1 of 24 verses Genesis 15: E, Elohist 18 of 21 verses Genesis 15: R, Redactor 7 of 21 verses Genesis 16: J, Jahwist 11 of 16 verses Genesis 16: P, Priestly 4 of 16 verses Genesis 16: R, Redactor 1 of 16 verses Genesis 17: P, Priestly 27 of 27 verses Genesis 18: J, Jahwist 33 of 33 verses Genesis 19: J, Jahwist 37 of 38 verses Genesis 19: P, Priestly 1 of 38 verses Genesis 20: E, Elohist 18 of 18 verses Genesis 21: J, Jahwist 10 of 34 verses Genesis 21: E, Elohist 21 of 34 verses Genesis 21: P, Priestly 4 of 34 verses Genesis 22: J, Jahwist 5 of 24 verses Genesis 22: E, Elohist 15 of 24 verses Genesis 22: R, Redactor 4 of 24 verses Genesis 23: P, Priestly 20 of 20 verses Genesis 24: J, Jahwist 67 of 67 verses Genesis 24: R, Redactor 1 of 67 verses Genesis 25: J, Jahwist 21 of 34 verses Genesis 25: P, Priestly 15 of 34 verses Genesis 25: R, Redactor 1 of 34 verses Genesis 26: J, Jahwist 29 of 35 verses Genesis 26: P, Priestly 6 of 35 verses Genesis 27: J, Jahwist 45 of 46 verses Genesis 27: P, Priestly 1 of 46 verses Genesis 28: J, Jahwist 7 of 22 verses Genesis 28: E, Elohist 9 of 22 verses Genesis 28: P, Priestly 9 of 22 verses Genesis 28: R, Redactor 1 of 22 verses Genesis 29: J, Jahwist 33 of 35 verses Genesis 29: R, Redactor 2 of 35 verses Genesis 30: J, Jahwist 35 of 43 verses Genesis 30: E, Elohist 10 of 43 verses Genesis 30: P, Priestly 1 of 43 verses Genesis 31: J, Jahwist 1 of 55 verses Genesis 31: E, Elohist 51 of 55 verses Genesis 31: P, Priestly 2 of 55 verses Genesis 31: R, Redactor 1 of 55 verses Genesis 32: J, Jahwist 27 of 32 verses Genesis 32: E, Elohist 6 of 32 verses Genesis 32: R, Redactor 3 of 32 verses Genesis 33: J, Jahwist 17 of 20 verses Genesis 33: E, Elohist 3 of 20 verses Genesis 33: P, Priestly 1 of 20 verses Genesis 34: J, Jahwist 8 of 31 verses Genesis 34: E, Elohist 25 of 31 verses Genesis 34: R, Redactor 2 of 31 verses Genesis 35: J, Jahwist 11 of 29 verses Genesis 35: E, Elohist 4 of 29 verses Genesis 35: P, Priestly 17 of 29 verses Genesis 35: R, Redactor 3 of 29 verses Genesis 36: P, Priestly 8 of 43 verses Genesis 36: R, Redactor 35 of 43 verses Genesis 37: J, Jahwist 21 of 36 verses Genesis 37: E, Elohist 17 of 36 verses Genesis 37: P, Priestly 2 of 36 verses Genesis 37: R, Redactor 1 of 36 verses Genesis 38: J, Jahwist 30 of 30 verses Genesis 39: J, Jahwist 23 of 23 verses Genesis 39: R, Redactor 1 of 23 verses Genesis 40: E, Elohist 23 of 23 verses Genesis 40: R, Redactor 3 of 23 verses Genesis 41: J, Jahwist 7 of 57 verses Genesis 41: E, Elohist 51 of 57 verses Genesis 41: P, Priestly 3 of 57 verses Genesis 41: R, Redactor 2 of 57 verses Genesis 42: J, Jahwist 38 of 38 verses Genesis 43: J, Jahwist 34 of 34 verses Genesis 44: J, Jahwist 34 of 34 verses Genesis 45: J, Jahwist 28 of 28 verses Genesis 46: J, Jahwist 8 of 34 verses Genesis 46: E, Elohist 5 of 34 verses Genesis 46: P, Priestly 22 of 34 verses Genesis 46: R, Redactor 2 of 34 verses Genesis 47: J, Jahwist 23 of 31 verses Genesis 47: P, Priestly 9 of 31 verses Genesis 47: R, Redactor 1 of 31 verses Genesis 48: E, Elohist 17 of 22 verses Genesis 48: P, Priestly 6 of 22 verses Genesis 49: J, Jahwist 28 of 33 verses Genesis 49: P, Priestly 5 of 33 verses Genesis 50: J, Jahwist 20 of 26 verses Genesis 50: E, Elohist 4 of 26 verses Genesis 50: P, Priestly 2 of 26 verses Exodus 1: J, Jahwist 6 of 22 verses Exodus 1: E, Elohist 8 of 22 verses Exodus 1: P, Priestly 8 of 22 verses Exodus 2: J, Jahwist 13 of 25 verses Exodus 2: E, Elohist 10 of 25 verses Exodus 2: P, Priestly 3 of 25 verses Exodus 3: J, Jahwist 14 of 22 verses Exodus 3: E, Elohist 10 of 22 verses Exodus 3: R, Redactor 2 of 22 verses Exodus 4: J, Jahwist 27 of 31 verses Exodus 4: E, Elohist 1 of 31 verses Exodus 4: R, Redactor 3 of 31 verses Exodus 5: J, Jahwist 23 of 23 verses Exodus 6: J, Jahwist 1 of 30 verses Exodus 6: P, Priestly 29 of 30 verses Exodus 7: J, Jahwist 10 of 25 verses Exodus 7: P, Priestly 17 of 25 verses Exodus 8: J, Jahwist 26 of 32 verses Exodus 8: P, Priestly 8 of 32 verses Exodus 8: R, Redactor 1 of 32 verses Exodus 9: J, Jahwist 25 of 35 verses Exodus 9: P, Priestly 12 of 35 verses Exodus 10: J, Jahwist 22 of 29 verses Exodus 10: P, Priestly 9 of 29 verses Exodus 10: R, Redactor 2 of 29 verses Exodus 11: J, Jahwist 8 of 10 verses Exodus 11: P, Priestly 2 of 10 verses Exodus 12: J, Jahwist 13 of 51 verses Exodus 12: P, Priestly 41 of 51 verses Exodus 13: J, Jahwist 4 of 22 verses Exodus 13: E, Elohist 2 of 22 verses Exodus 13: P, Priestly 1 of 22 verses Exodus 13: R, Redactor 17 of 22 verses Exodus 14: J, Jahwist 16 of 31 verses Exodus 14: P, Priestly 18 of 31 verses Exodus 15: J, Jahwist 23 of 27 verses Exodus 15: E, Elohist 2 of 27 verses Exodus 15: P, Priestly 2 of 27 verses Exodus 15: R, Redactor 1 of 27 verses Exodus 16: J, Jahwist 7 of 36 verses Exodus 16: P, Priestly 29 of 36 verses Exodus 17: J, Jahwist 7 of 16 verses Exodus 17: E, Elohist 9 of 16 verses Exodus 17: P, Priestly 1 of 16 verses Exodus 18: E, Elohist 25 of 27 verses Exodus 18: R, Redactor 4 of 27 verses Exodus 19: J, Jahwist 15 of 25 verses Exodus 19: E, Elohist 11 of 25 verses Exodus 19: P, Priestly 2 of 25 verses Exodus 19: R, Redactor 1 of 25 verses Exodus 20: E, Elohist 9 of 26 verses Exodus 20: R, Redactor 17 of 26 verses Exodus 21: E, Elohist 36 of 36 verses Exodus 22: E, Elohist 31 of 31 verses Exodus 23: E, Elohist 33 of 33 verses Exodus 23: R, Redactor 2 of 33 verses Exodus 24: J, Jahwist 5 of 18 verses Exodus 24: E, Elohist 12 of 18 verses Exodus 24: P, Priestly 3 of 18 verses Exodus 24: R, Redactor 1 of 18 verses Exodus 25: P, Priestly 40 of 40 verses Exodus 26: P, Priestly 37 of 37 verses Exodus 27: P, Priestly 19 of 21 verses Exodus 27: R, Redactor 2 of 21 verses Exodus 28: P, Priestly 43 of 43 verses Exodus 29: P, Priestly 46 of 46 verses Exodus 30: P, Priestly 38 of 38 verses Exodus 31: E, Elohist 1 of 18 verses Exodus 31: P, Priestly 18 of 18 verses Exodus 32: J, Jahwist 5 of 35 verses Exodus 32: E, Elohist 23 of 35 verses Exodus 32: R, Redactor 9 of 35 verses Exodus 33: J, Jahwist 17 of 23 verses Exodus 33: E, Elohist 7 of 23 verses Exodus 33: R, Redactor 1 of 23 verses Exodus 34: J, Jahwist 8 of 35 verses Exodus 34: E, Elohist 4 of 35 verses Exodus 34: P, Priestly 7 of 35 verses Exodus 34: R, Redactor 20 of 35 verses Exodus 35: P, Priestly 35 of 35 verses Exodus 36: P, Priestly 38 of 38 verses Exodus 37: P, Priestly 29 of 29 verses Exodus 38: P, Priestly 31 of 31 verses Exodus 39: P, Priestly 43 of 43 verses Exodus 40: P, Priestly 38 of 38 verses Leviticus 1: P, Priestly 17 of 17 verses Leviticus 2: P, Priestly 16 of 16 verses Leviticus 3: P, Priestly 17 of 17 verses Leviticus 4: P, Priestly 35 of 35 verses Leviticus 5: P, Priestly 19 of 19 verses Leviticus 6: P, Priestly 30 of 30 verses Leviticus 7: P, Priestly 38 of 38 verses Leviticus 8: P, Priestly 36 of 36 verses Leviticus 9: P, Priestly 24 of 24 verses Leviticus 10: P, Priestly 20 of 20 verses Leviticus 11: P, Priestly 47 of 47 verses Leviticus 12: P, Priestly 8 of 8 verses Leviticus 13: P, Priestly 59 of 59 verses Leviticus 14: P, Priestly 57 of 57 verses Leviticus 15: P, Priestly 33 of 33 verses Leviticus 16: P, Priestly 34 of 34 verses Leviticus 17: P, Priestly 16 of 16 verses Leviticus 18: P, Priestly 30 of 30 verses Leviticus 19: P, Priestly 37 of 37 verses Leviticus 20: P, Priestly 27 of 27 verses Leviticus 21: P, Priestly 24 of 24 verses Leviticus 22: P, Priestly 33 of 33 verses Leviticus 23: P, Priestly 43 of 44 verses Leviticus 23: R, Redactor 1 of 44 verses Leviticus 24: P, Priestly 23 of 23 verses Leviticus 25: P, Priestly 55 of 55 verses Leviticus 26: P, Priestly 46 of 46 verses Leviticus 27: P, Priestly 34 of 34 verses Numbers 1: P, Priestly 54 of 54 verses Numbers 2: P, Priestly 34 of 34 verses Numbers 3: P, Priestly 51 of 51 verses Numbers 4: P, Priestly 49 of 49 verses Numbers 5: P, Priestly 31 of 31 verses Numbers 6: P, Priestly 27 of 27 verses Numbers 7: P, Priestly 89 of 89 verses Numbers 8: P, Priestly 26 of 26 verses Numbers 9: P, Priestly 23 of 23 verses Numbers 10: J, Jahwist 8 of 36 verses Numbers 10: P, Priestly 28 of 36 verses Numbers 11: J, Jahwist 19 of 35 verses Numbers 11: E, Elohist 13 of 35 verses Numbers 11: R, Redactor 5 of 35 verses Numbers 12: E, Elohist 16 of 16 verses Numbers 12: R, Redactor 1 of 16 verses Numbers 13: J, Jahwist 14 of 33 verses Numbers 13: P, Priestly 21 of 33 verses Numbers 14: J, Jahwist 23 of 45 verses Numbers 14: P, Priestly 23 of 45 verses Numbers 15: P, Priestly 41 of 41 verses Numbers 16: E, Elohist 15 of 50 verses Numbers 16: P, Priestly 38 of 50 verses Numbers 16: R, Redactor 4 of 50 verses Numbers 17: P, Priestly 13 of 13 verses Numbers 18: P, Priestly 32 of 32 verses Numbers 19: P, Priestly 22 of 22 verses Numbers 20: E, Elohist 12 of 29 verses Numbers 20: P, Priestly 20 of 29 verses Numbers 21: J, Jahwist 8 of 35 verses Numbers 21: E, Elohist 22 of 35 verses Numbers 21: P, Priestly 3 of 35 verses Numbers 21: R, Redactor 4 of 35 verses Numbers 22: J, Jahwist 39 of 41 verses Numbers 22: P, Priestly 1 of 41 verses Numbers 22: R, Redactor 4 of 41 verses Numbers 23: J, Jahwist 30 of 30 verses Numbers 24: J, Jahwist 14 of 25 verses Numbers 24: R, Redactor 11 of 25 verses Numbers 25: J, Jahwist 4 of 18 verses Numbers 25: E, Elohist 3 of 18 verses Numbers 25: P, Priestly 12 of 18 verses Numbers 25: R, Redactor 3 of 18 verses Numbers 26: P, Priestly 60 of 65 verses Numbers 26: R, Redactor 7 of 65 verses Numbers 27: P, Priestly 23 of 23 verses Numbers 28: R, Redactor 31 of 31 verses Numbers 29: R, Redactor 40 of 40 verses Numbers 30: P, Priestly 16 of 16 verses Numbers 31: P, Priestly 49 of 54 verses Numbers 31: R, Redactor 8 of 54 verses Numbers 32: E, Elohist 14 of 42 verses Numbers 32: P, Priestly 22 of 42 verses Numbers 32: R, Redactor 13 of 42 verses Numbers 33: R, Redactor 56 of 56 verses Numbers 34: P, Priestly 29 of 29 verses Numbers 35: P, Priestly 34 of 34 verses Numbers 36: R, Redactor 13 of 13 verses Deuteronomy 1: P, Priestly 1 of 46 verses Deuteronomy 1: D, Deuteronomist 44 of 46 verses Deuteronomy 1: R, Redactor 1 of 46 verses Deuteronomy 2: D, Deuteronomist 27 of 37 verses Deuteronomy 2: R, Redactor 10 of 37 verses Deuteronomy 3: D, Deuteronomist 27 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 3: R, Redactor 2 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 4: D, Deuteronomist 27 of 49 verses Deuteronomy 4: R, Redactor 22 of 49 verses Deuteronomy 5: D, Deuteronomist 33 of 33 verses Deuteronomy 5: R, Redactor 1 of 33 verses Deuteronomy 6: D, Deuteronomist 25 of 25 verses Deuteronomy 7: D, Deuteronomist 26 of 26 verses Deuteronomy 8: D, Deuteronomist 20 of 20 verses Deuteronomy 9: D, Deuteronomist 28 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 9: R, Redactor 1 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 10: D, Deuteronomist 16 of 22 verses Deuteronomy 10: R, Redactor 6 of 22 verses Deuteronomy 11: D, Deuteronomist 30 of 32 verses Deuteronomy 11: R, Redactor 2 of 32 verses Deuteronomy 12: D, Deuteronomist 32 of 32 verses Deuteronomy 13: D, Deuteronomist 18 of 18 verses Deuteronomy 14: D, Deuteronomist 29 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 15: D, Deuteronomist 23 of 23 verses Deuteronomy 16: D, Deuteronomist 22 of 22 verses Deuteronomy 17: D, Deuteronomist 20 of 20 verses Deuteronomy 18: D, Deuteronomist 22 of 22 verses Deuteronomy 19: D, Deuteronomist 21 of 21 verses Deuteronomy 20: D, Deuteronomist 20 of 20 verses Deuteronomy 21: D, Deuteronomist 23 of 23 verses Deuteronomy 22: D, Deuteronomist 30 of 30 verses Deuteronomy 23: D, Deuteronomist 25 of 25 verses Deuteronomy 24: D, Deuteronomist 21 of 22 verses Deuteronomy 24: R, Redactor 1 of 22 verses Deuteronomy 25: D, Deuteronomist 19 of 19 verses Deuteronomy 26: D, Deuteronomist 19 of 19 verses Deuteronomy 27: D, Deuteronomist 8 of 26 verses Deuteronomy 27: R, Redactor 18 of 26 verses Deuteronomy 28: D, Deuteronomist 68 of 68 verses Deuteronomy 29: D, Deuteronomist 22 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 29: R, Redactor 7 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 30: D, Deuteronomist 10 of 20 verses Deuteronomy 30: R, Redactor 10 of 20 verses Deuteronomy 31: E, Elohist 3 of 30 verses Deuteronomy 31: D, Deuteronomist 27 of 30 verses Deuteronomy 31: R, Redactor 1 of 30 verses Deuteronomy 32: P, Priestly 5 of 52 verses Deuteronomy 32: D, Deuteronomist 47 of 52 verses Deuteronomy 33: J, Jahwist 29 of 29 verses Deuteronomy 34: J, Jahwist 5 of 12 verses Deuteronomy 34: E, Elohist 2 of 12 verses Deuteronomy 34: P, Priestly 5 of 12 verses Deuteronomy 34: R, Redactor 2 of 12 verses Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Genesis 11:28: Chaldean Babylon is already a name Genesis 11:31: Chaldean Babylon is already a name Genesis 12:6: 'then in the land' Genesis 13:7: 'then in the land' Genesis 14:2: a place-name update Genesis 14:7: a place-name update Genesis 14:8: a place-name update Genesis 14:14: Dan named before Judges 18 renamed it Genesis 15:7: Chaldean Babylon is already a name Genesis 19:22: a place-name update Genesis 19:37: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 19:38: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 21:32: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Genesis 21:34: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Genesis 22:14: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 23:2: a place-name update Genesis 23:19: a place-name update Genesis 26:1: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Genesis 26:8: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Genesis 26:14: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Genesis 26:15: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Genesis 26:18: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Genesis 26:33: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 28:19: a place-name update Genesis 32:32: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 35:8: a place-name update Genesis 35:19: a place-name update Genesis 35:20: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 35:27: a place-name update Genesis 36:31: kings are already a known thing Genesis 47:26: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 48:7: a place-name update Genesis 48:15: the 'unto this day' formula Genesis 50:11: a place-name update Exodus 10:6: the 'unto this day' formula Exodus 13:17: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Exodus 15:23: a place-name update Exodus 16:35-36: an obsolete measure explained; manna 'until they came to a land inhabited' Exodus 23:31: a Philistine or a Rameses before their time Leviticus 26:33-45: exile and return described as past Numbers 12:3: the narrator praises Moses in the third person Numbers 21:14: the compiler names his source scroll Numbers 22:30: the 'unto this day' formula Numbers 33:36: a place-name update Deuteronomy 1:1: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 1:5: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 2:10-12: the Emim and Horite aside Deuteronomy 2:20-23: the Zamzummim aside Deuteronomy 2:22: the 'unto this day' formula Deuteronomy 3:8: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 3:11: Og's bedstead, a known sight Deuteronomy 3:14: the 'unto this day' formula Deuteronomy 3:20: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 3:25: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 4:41: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 4:46: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 4:47: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 4:48: a place-name update Deuteronomy 4:49: the narrator stands west of Jordan Deuteronomy 10:6-9: Aaron's death inserted into Moses' speech Deuteronomy 10:8: the 'unto this day' formula Deuteronomy 11:4: the 'unto this day' formula Deuteronomy 12-26: the law code Ross dates to Josiah's scroll Deuteronomy 29:4: the 'unto this day' formula Deuteronomy 34:1: Dan named before Judges 18 renamed it Deuteronomy 34:5-12: the death of Moses and the prophet who never came Deuteronomy 34:6: the 'unto this day' formula ticks: this page's markers, coloured by edit point; columns: one chapter each, split by strand J, Jahwist E, Elohist P, Priestly D, Deuteronomist R, Redactor unassigned source: Wikiversity colour-coded KJV via kjv-sources; five books only
What to take away Hand 1: the kingdom-era compiler writes from the divided monarchy; settles claims to places ('unto this day'), renames, updates seer to prophet, cites the royal annals, signs off at the Division
Hand 2: the exile hand closes Kings at 2 Kings 17 and 25:27-30, reaches back only for a word: Ur of the Chaldees, Leviticus 26's exile as past; never shares a chapter with Hand 1
Hand 3: the Persian hand Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah: Persian coin in David's offering, Zerubbabel's line carried on, the formula re-used for the province's own present
The one rule the pictures share. Every arc climbs and every bar ends at a break. A later hand copies, cites or accuses an earlier one; no earlier hand knows a later one exists. That is why the hands can be ordered at all, and why the count can say "three" without saying a year.
Living notes: other ways to read the same pictures The four pictures above stay as drawn. Below them, ideas about the same evidence are collected as they come up; none of them is a decision yet. One rule for every entry: the ruler is order, not the calendar. The text keeps its own time by genealogies and by what each layer knows, copies and cites, so every reading says how it orders the hands from the text itself, and what would test it.
What a sign-off dot means: a floor, not a stopping point explains the pictures added 2026-10-12
A hand's 'today' shows in its asides: 'unto this day' is the editor saying where it stands. The dot is meant to mark that standpoint. Two things set it, and both are floors: the hand stands no earlier than this.
First, what the aside presupposes. 'So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day' (1 Kings 12:19) needs a writer who knows two kingdoms, so after the Division. The dots use this rule only.
Second, where the aside sits in the story. 'The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?' (2 Kings 24:5) speaks of a finished reign, so its writer stands after Jehoiakim. The dots do not yet use this rule.
That is why Hand 1's bar runs past its dot in picture 1: 28 of its markers sit under Assyria and 17 under Babylon, most of them that source-citation formula. Two ways it could be settled, neither chosen: move Hand 1's dot to Babylon, where it meets Hand 2 and the two may be one hand; or split the source citations into a layer of their own, a compiler who copied the royal records up to the exile, leaving Hand 1 as the renamer and 'unto this day' writer. Only Hand 2 (2 Kings 25:27-30, the close of Kings) and Hand 3 (2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Cyrus's decree, repeated as Ezra 1:1-2) end on a passage that is a real ending.
Orders by: what each aside presupposes, and which events it narrates as already past
What would test it: re-place each dot at the later of the two floors and see whether the three hands stay three
Sources: diagram_data/Edit-Points-Of-The-Old-Testament.json, plotted.hits by stratum and mark (2026-10-12)
All three hands after the story was finished open idea added 2026-10-12
Chad's deduction, 2026-10-12: the asides only ever say 'no earlier than'. Nothing in them stops all three hands from working after the whole story was complete, each reaching into a finished text in turn. On that reading the bars keep their left ends, the dots slide right, and the three hands could even sit together after the Return.
What survives the move is the order. A later hand copies, cites or accuses an earlier one, and never the reverse: Chronicles keeps Kings' 'there it is unto this day' about an ark that was gone (2 Chronicles 5:9), so the Kings text already existed when the Chronicles hand worked. What is lost is the spacing: the pictures could no longer say how far apart the hands stood, only who came after whom.
Some asides were first written early even if the editing was late. A line that went false at a known turn in the story ('rebelled against the house of David unto this day' only reads true while the north stands) was written before that turn; a later hand that carries it unchanged is copying, not composing. That separates two questions: when an aside was first written, and when the text was last worked over.
Orders by: copy, cite and accuse arcs between the hands; stale 'unto this day' lines a hand carries without correcting
What would test it: for each hand, count the 'unto this day' lines already false by the Return: a hand carrying many stale lines is copying older material. Where two surviving copies of a passage differ, the shorter one stands before the edit, which orders the edit without a date. The genealogy numbers of Genesis 5 and 11 differ between the Hebrew, Samaritan and Greek texts: each tradition's reworking of the chronology is a hand of its own to place in order.
Sources: conversation with Chad, 2026-10-12; the scholarly models below, corpus folder AcademicRedactionHistory (46 documents, gathered 2026-10-12)
Three editors, all after the fall of Jerusalem: the Göttingen layers scholarly model added 2026-10-12
The closest scholarly match to the idea above. Smend found a law-minded addition in Joshua 1:7-9 that turns a battle speech into a call to obey the law of Moses, and named its writer DtrN, the nomist. Dietrich added DtrP, a prophetic editor who set the prophet stories into Kings. With the first historian, DtrH, that makes three layers on Joshua to Kings, all working after Jerusalem fell: historian, then prophetic editor, then law editor.
Pakkala pushes further: every editor of Kings stands after the fall, and only the excerpts from the royal annals are older. His ordering tool is dependence: a passage that borrows another's wording and cannot be understood without it comes after it. His monotheistic passages are 'dependent on nomistic texts', so they come after the nomists, who are themselves additions to the historian's text.
Römer keeps three stages too but starts the first earlier, under the kings, partly because 'unto this day' fits a writer who still has a king and a temple. Others (Otto, Knauf, Westermann) deny that one Deuteronomistic history ever existed.
Orders by: dependence: who borrows whose wording, and whose additions only make sense on top of another's
What would test it: for each of the three hands here, check whether its asides borrow the wording of another hand's asides; borrowing gives order with no date
Sources: ARH-roemer-2013-deuteronomistic-history-ebr; ARH-roemer-2015-current-discussion-so-called-dtrh; ARH-person-2009-conversation-with-roemer-so-called-dtrh; ARH-peterson-2014-authors-dtrh-ch1-since-noth; ARH-pakkala-2007-monotheism-dtrh; ARH-pakkala-2010-why-cult-reforms-probably-did-not-happen; ARH-wikipedia-2026-deuteronomist
'Unto this day' may be many hands, not one scholarly model added 2026-10-12
Childs (1963) read every 'until this day' in the Old Testament. His conclusion: the formula 'reflects the age of many different redactors'. It is a writer's personal testimony added to a tradition he received, and most of it sits inside older source material (the Acts of Solomon, the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, the prophet stories), not in the frame around it; the frame uses it only rarely (2 Kings 17:23, 34).
Geoghegan (2003, 2006, 2007) reads the same formula the other way: one editor writing while the temple and the kings still stood, which would make it a single early layer.
This bears straight on Hand 1, which is mostly 'unto this day'. If Childs is right, Hand 1 is several hands folded together, and the split suggested in the first card (the source citations as their own layer) is the start of pulling them apart.
Orders by: whether an aside sits inside a quoted source or in the frame that quotes it: the frame is later than what it frames
What would test it: tag each of the 143 first-point markers as inside source material or in the editor's frame, and see whether the two groups behave like different hands
Sources: ARH-childs-1963-formula-until-this-day; ARH-geoghegan-2003-until-this-day-preexilic-redaction; ARH-geoghegan-2007-levites-literature-late-seventh-century
Edits you can see: two copies of the same passage scholarly model added 2026-10-12
Some edits are not inferred at all; two surviving copies show the text before and after. A Dead Sea Scroll of Judges (4QJudg-a) runs from 6:6 straight to 6:11, without the unnamed prophet's speech of 6:7-10 that critics had already marked as an insertion into a finished story. The Greek Jeremiah, with Hebrew fragments from Qumran, keeps a short first edition; the longer Hebrew Jeremiah adds headings, fuller names and stock phrases 'during the final stage of the growth of the book'. 1 Samuel 17-18 lays a second David and Goliath story over a first.
Berman's survey of such documented cases gives a ceiling: they rarely show more than two or three stages of major revision. Three hands sits at the upper edge of what the documented cases support.
The limit: a shorter copy can be the result of a cut, not the text before an addition, and the study of 4QJudg-a weighs both.
Orders by: two copies of one passage: the edition the other presupposes comes first
What would test it: list which of the 268 markers sit in passages where the Greek or a scroll differs from the Hebrew; any marker missing from an older edition is caught being added
Sources: ARH-ausloos-2014-judges-6-4qjudga-literary-textual-criticism; ARH-tov-1985-literary-history-jeremiah-textual-history; ARH-tov-1985-composition-1-samuel-16-18-septuagint; ARH-tov-2003-large-scale-differences-lxx-mt; ARH-tov-2008-septuagint-and-deuteronomists; ARH-tov-2009-textual-harmonizations-deuteronomy; ARH-tov-2015-source-of-source-criticism; ARH-muller-2014-evidence-of-editing-introduction; ARH-dyck-2014-review-evidence-of-editing; ARH-berman-2016-empirical-models-textual-growth; ARH-sigrist-2017-review-ulrich-developmental-composition
The genealogies as an edited chronology scholarly model added 2026-10-12
The text keeps its own time by genealogies, and the genealogies were edited too. The ages in Genesis 5 come in three editions: Hebrew, Samaritan and Greek. Hendel reads them as three rival fixes for one problem the first text created, patriarchs who outlive the Flood; all three come before the Greek translation and before Jubilees, and the Samaritan sectarian touches come last. That is an order of editions built from the numbers alone.
The 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1 is twelve generations of forty: a schematic count, read by Hughes as a late adjustment to the priestly scheme and by Laato as older than the Deuteronomistic editors. Wilson and Johnson show genealogies changing with use, so a genealogy is itself a layer with hands of its own.
Orders by: which version's numbers solve a problem another version created: the fix comes after the problem
What would test it: lay the three versions of Genesis 5 and 11 side by side, mark which edit fixes which, and place those chronology hands on the same line as the asides
Sources: ARH-hendel-2012-hasmonean-edition-mt-genesis-chronology; ARH-klein-1974-archaic-chronologies-textual-history; ARH-holloway-1991-review-hughes-secrets-of-the-times; ARH-laato-2016-mysterious-number-480-1-kings-6-1; ARH-ray-2016-role-functions-biblical-genealogies; ARH-wilson-1975-old-testament-genealogies-recent-research; ARH-tenhoopen-2017-genesis-5-formation-primeval-history; AKP-northcote2007 (already in the corpus)
Who copied whom: Kings and Chronicles from a shared text scholarly model added 2026-10-12
Picture 3 draws Chronicles copying Kings. Auld reverses that: Kings and Chronicles both draw on an older shared story, and the material only Kings has (the Elijah and Elisha stories among it) was built later out of that shared text. Nihan and Römer argue against him.
Either way the ark line survives as evidence of order: 'there it is unto this day' stands in both 1 Kings 8:8 and 2 Chronicles 5:9, so on Auld's reading it belongs to the shared text and is older than both books that carry it.
Orders by: what both books share against what only one has
What would test it: split the Kings and Chronicles markers into shared and one-book-only; if the one-book-only markers in Kings behave like a later hand, Auld's order fits the count
Sources: ARH-auld-2017-continuing-life-in-kings; ARH-nihan-roemer-1999-source-commune-rois-chroniques-auld
Written late as a whole, and the reply scholarly model added 2026-10-12
A stronger form of the all-late idea: not only the editing but most of the writing happened late, in the Persian or Greek period (Lemche, Thompson and Davies, the Copenhagen school; Gmirkin and Wajdenbaum for a Greek-period Torah). Van Seters puts the Yahwist late and calls him an author, not a collector of sources.
The reply (Dever): 'no one denies late editing', but a text written in the Persian period should show Persian details, and he challenges anyone to name them. In this count the two Persian markers scanned for, drams and 'king of Persia', occur in the KJV only in Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel, never in Genesis to Kings; David's drams are in Chronicles' retelling, not in Samuel.
Ordering by the Hebrew itself is contested: Hornkohl finds the Masoretic Torah keeps older forms that the Qumran rewritings modernise; Young, Rezetko and Ehrensvärd answer that late scribes could write classical Hebrew, so old-sounding language does not prove an early passage.
Orders by: anachronisms (what a passage could not know if written early) and the stage of the language
What would test it: grow the Persian and Greek marker list beyond drams and 'king of Persia' and see whether any land in Genesis to Kings
Sources: ARH-wikipedia-2026-biblical-minimalism; ARH-lemche-1993-hellenistic-book; ARH-lemche-2000-pre-hellenistic-history; ARH-thompson-2009-history-and-fiction; ARH-davies-2002-minimalism-ancient-israel; ARH-davies-2005-origin-of-biblical-israel; ARH-dever-2003-contra-davies; ARH-wajdenbaum-2016-plato-to-moses; ARH-anthonioz-2018-review-gmirkin-plato; ARH-gmirkin-2018-response-to-anthonioz; ARH-schmid-2020-textual-authority-israel-judah; ARH-vanseters-2007-author-or-redactor; ARH-vanseters-2015-dating-the-yahwist; ARH-hornkohl-2017-hebrew-diachrony-reworked-pentateuch; ARH-young-2010-linguistic-dating-biblical-texts; ARH-young-2019-review-hendel-joosten-how-old