During the last decade one of the most debated issues in the study of prophetic books is the question of The Twelve. Few questions involve so many central methodological issues and have so many implications for the study of the prophetic books in the Hebrew Bible and the intellectual history of ancient Israel. Thomas Römer invited James Nogalski and Ehud Ben Zvi, who have contributed to these debate before, to advance their own positions at "La conference universitaire de Suisse occidentale, troisimème cycle en Bible hébraïque – “Les rédactions des livres prophétiques de la Bible hébraïque.” This volume includes revised versions of their papers and an introduction by Thomas Römer.

Ehud Ben Zvi is a professor at the University of Alberta. He has published several books and articles on prophetic literature and on ancient Israelite historiography. He is the general editor of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures and a former president of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies.

James D. Nogalski has worked with prophetic literature for more than 20 years, beginning in Zurich where he completed his doctoral work under the tutelage of Odil Hannes Steck. In 2007 he joined the faculty of Baylor University. Since the publication of his two influential volumes on the Book of the Twelve, he has collaborated on numerous projects related to the formation of prophetic writings.

• Table of Contents (page 5)
• Introduction: The Book of the Twelve„Fact and Fiction? By Thomas Römer (page 7)
• One Book and Twelve Books: The Nature of the Redactional Work and the Implications of Cultic Source Material in the Book of the Twelve. By James D. Nogalski (page 17)
• 1. Recent Redactional Investigations on the Book of the Twelve (page 18)
• Progress Toward a Consensus (page 18)
• Doubts about the Task (page 22)
• The Nature of the Redactional Work in the Book of the Twelve (page 28)
• 2. Form and Function of the Redactional Work (page 36)
• The Role of a Writings Sitz im Buch Can Affect Its Form (page 36)
• The Functions of the Levites in Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah (page 46)
• Is the Twelve Hypothesis Likely from an Ancient Readers Perspective? By Ehud Ben Zvi (page 53)
• 1. Introduction (page 53)
• 2. Why Readings are Crucial and how to Approximate the Way in which the Present Prophetic Books were Read by their Primary Rereaderships in Yehud (page 60)
• 3. Main Arguments Pointing at a Historical Reading of Fifteen Prophetic Books in Yehud: Data and Implications (page 70)
• 3.1 One Scroll and Readings (page 70)
• 3.2 Main Textually Inscribed Markers Signaling the Intended Readers How to Read„Part I„Superscriptions (page 78)
• 3.3 Main Textually Inscribed Markers Signaling the Intended Readers How to Read„Part II Endings and Individualized Voices (page 83)
• 3.4 Additional Markers„Genre (page 85)
• 3.5 The Central, Connective Weakness of the TH from an Ancient Readers Perspective, or Why the Twelve Prophetic Books Were Not Read as a the Book of the TwelveŽ (page 86)
• Excursus (page 90)
• 4. Back to Methodology: Practical, Concrete Differences Between TH Approaches and the One Advanced Here In Terms of Questions They Raise and How They Shape and Interpret Evidence (page 91)
• 4.1 Practical Differences Concerning Recourse to Memorystudies (page 92)
• 4.2 Practical Differences Concerning Openings and Endings (page 92)
• 4.3 Practical Differences„Sequential vs. Branched Modes of Reading and the Matter of General Web-like Constructions of the Repertoire and Knowledge of Ancient Literati (page 96)
• 4.4 Practical Differences„The Question of Main ThemesŽ (page 100)