MEGHILLOTH, HAMESH («Five Scrolls»). — A term that arose around the time of St. Jerome, derived from the synagogue liturgy, to designate the «five volumes» of the Old Testament, each of which is read in its entirety during the major Jewish festivals: the Song of Songs on the eighth day of Passover; Ruth on Pentecost; Lamentations on the 9th of Av for the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Zach. 7:3) and later by Titus; Ecclesiastes during the Feast of Tabernacles; and Esther on Purim (the 14th of Adar). This grouping is characteristic of the Hebrew Bible, among the Ketubim, and dates back to the end of the 4th century; it is absent in the Septuagint and the Vulgate.
The order varies in manuscripts. The one currently in use follows the chronological sequence of the five feasts to which the Hamesh Megillot refer; it is given by the first three editions of the complete Bible (Socino 1488; Naples 1491–93; Brescia 1494), which, however, place the Hamesh Megillot immediately after the Pentateuch.