Division. The division of Chronicles into two books (as in the English Versions) probably originated in the Septuagint (LXX.); the MSS. A and B both mark the division. It entered the English Version through the Latin Vulgate. On the other hand, Rabbinical evidence (Talmud, Baba Bathra 15a; and the Masōrah) and the Christian Fathers testify that among the Hebrews the book was undivided: so Origen (apud Eusebius Church History vi. 25, 2) and Jerome (Domnioni et Rogatiano).
Position in Canon. In the English Version Chronicles stands next after Kings, the Historical Books being grouped together. This arrangement was derived from the Septuagint through the Latin Vulgate. The order of the Hebrew Bible is different. There the books are arranged in three sections, of which the first contains the Books of the Pentateuch, the second includes the Historical Books from Joshua to Kings, while the third (Hebrew “Kĕthūbhīm”) contains Chronicles. The books of this third section seem to have been the last to receive Canonical Authority among the Jews. Kings thus appears to have been taken into the Canon before Chronicles.
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.
(2) The Old Latin Version was made from the old LXX. which is now lost except for the last two chapters of Chronicles, as stated above. It would therefore be of great value for criticism, but alas! only a few fragments survive.
The later Latin Version, the Vulgate, made by Jerome, is of small value, as it represents only the official Hebrew text.
(3) The Syriac Version, known as the Peshitṭa, is of even smaller value for textual criticism. Unlike the close rendering of other books in the Peshitṭa, Chronicles constantly has the characteristics of a paraphrase rather than a translation. One example will suffice. For “Joel the chief and Shaphat the second,” 1 Chronicles v. 12, the Peshitṭa has “And Joel went forth at their head and judged them and taught them the scriptures well.” The Peshitṭa is further noteworthy for curious omissions (and substitutions), e.g. 2 Chronicles iv. 10–22; xi. 5–xii. 12 (for which 1 Kings xii. 25–30, followed by 1 Kings xiv. 1–9, is substituted).