Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible, also called the Jewish Bible or Tanakh, is a very important collection of holy books for Jewish people. It has three main parts: the Torah, which are the five Books of Moses; the Nevi'im, the Books of the Prophets; and the Ketuvim, which means 'Writings' and includes eleven other books. Different Jewish groups have kept slightly different versions of these books throughout history.

The version most commonly used today in Jewish tradition is called the Masoretic Text. It was put together by Jewish scholars many centuries ago and has 24 books. Other ancient versions exist too, like the Septuagint, a Greek translation made long ago, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, which is the Torah according to the Samaritan people. These versions can be different from each other in small ways.

The Hebrew Bible shares many books with the Christian Old Testament, though they are often arranged in a different order. Some Christian churches also include extra books that are not part of the Hebrew Bible. The stories in the Hebrew Bible mix folktales and history, and some parts have been checked against archaeology, while other parts are still debated by scholars.

Terminology

Tanakh

Further information: Hebrew abbreviations and Abjad

Tanakh is a special word made from the first letters of three main parts of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (which means 'Instruction' or 'Law'), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).

People long ago called these books Mikra or Miqra, meaning 'reading' because they were read out loud in public places. The name Tanakh came later. Today, both names are used in Hebrew to talk about the Hebrew scriptures.

Hebrew Bible

See also: Biblia Hebraica (disambiguation)

Some scholars use the term Hebrew Bible or Hebrew Scriptures instead of other names that might favor one religion over another. "Hebrew" tells us the language these books were written in, though a few parts are in Aramaic. These books were cared for by Jewish people from ancient times through today.

Content

Genres and themes

The Tanakh contains many types of stories and teachings. The Torah includes the five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It has laws and stories from the past. The Book of Psalms is a collection of songs, and other books like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes share wise sayings.

Some books tell about prophets who spoke for God. The Book of Daniel is a special type of story about future events. A big idea in the Tanakh is believing in one God. The people who wrote it, the Israelites, lived among others who believed in many gods, but they chose to follow just one God.

Narrative

The Tanakh starts with the story of how the world was made. It tells of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and how God promised to protect their family. Jacob’s son Joseph moved his family to Egypt, where they lived for many years.

Later, the Israelites left Egypt and wandered for a time before coming to the land God promised them, Canaan. They were led by leaders called judges. Eventually, they asked for a king, and Saul became the first king. After Saul, David became king and made Jerusalem the capital. David’s son Solomon built a special temple there.

After Solomon, the kingdom split into two parts. One part was called the northern Kingdom of Israel, and the other was the southern Kingdom of Judah. Both faced hard times, but later, some people were allowed to return home and rebuild their temple.

Development

Main article: Development of the Hebrew Bible canon

Religious tradition says that Moses wrote the Torah, also called the Law of Moses. But the Torah itself only says Moses wrote some parts. Scholars think Moses may have lived long before writing existed, so the Torah was likely written later, perhaps after Israel and Judah became countries. Still, many stories may have been passed down by word of mouth for a long time.

King David is said to have written many Psalms, and his son Solomon wrote books like the Book of Proverbs. The Hebrew Bible describes their times as a golden age, but historians aren’t sure if that was really true.

Over time, the books that make up the Hebrew Bible were written and changed. Scholars think the Hebrew Bible took its final shape after the exile, during a time called the Second Temple period.

The Torah became accepted as holy writing early on. The Nevi'im, or Prophets, were accepted by the 2nd century BCE. The Ketuvim, or Writings, were the last part to be accepted, probably by the 2nd century CE. Scholars don’t all agree on exactly when the Hebrew Bible was finally set.

The Masoretic Text, made by Jewish scribes in the Middle Ages, became the main version of the Hebrew Bible. These scribes added marks to the ancient Hebrew text to show vowel sounds, helping to keep the writings accurate.

Language and pronunciation

The Hebrew Bible was originally written using a special writing system called an abjad, where only consonants were written down, with a few letters used to show vowels. Later, during the early Middle Ages, scholars called the Masoretes created a uniform way to show how the words should be pronounced. They added special marks to the text to show the correct sounds and pauses when reading aloud.

The Hebrew Bible contains about 8,679 different words. Out of these, 1,480 words appear only once in the entire Bible. Many of these words share the same root, with about 2,000 different roots used in the text.

Books

The Tanakh has twenty-four books. Some books are grouped together, like 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles. The Twelve Minor Prophets are also counted as one book. In Hebrew, these books are often known by their first words.

Torah

Main article: Torah

The Torah, also called the "Five Books of Moses," includes these books:

• Bərē'šīṯ (בְּרֵאשִׁית) – Genesis
• Šəmōṯ (שְׁמֹות) – Exodus
• Vayyīqrā' (וַיִּקְרָא) – Leviticus
• Bəmīḏbar (בְּמִדְבַּר) – Numbers
• Dəvārīm (דְּבָרִים) – Deuteronomy

Nevi'im

Main article: Nevi'im

Nevi'im, meaning "Prophets," is the second main part of the Tanakh. It includes books from when the Israelites entered the Land of Israel until the Babylonian captivity of Judah. The books are:

The Former Prophets:

• Yəhōšúaʿ (יְהוֹשֻעַ) – Joshua
• Šōfṭīm (שֹׁפְטִים) – Judges
• Šəmūʾēl (שְׁמוּאֵל) – Samuel
• Məlāḵīm (מְלָכִים) – Kings

The Latter Prophets:

• Yəšaʿyāhū (יְשַׁעְיָהוּ) – Isaiah
• Yīrməyāhū (יִרְמְיָהוּ) – Jeremiah
• Yəḥezqēʾl (יְחֶזְקֵאל) – Ezekiel

The Twelve Minor Prophets, counted as one book:

• Hōšēaʿ (הוֹשֵׁעַ) – Hosea
• Yōʾēl (יוֹאֵל) – Joel
• ʿĀmōs (עָמוֹס) – Amos
• ʿŌḇaḏyā (עֹבַדְיָה) – Obadiah
• Yōnā (יוֹנָה) – Jonah
• Mīḵā (מִיכָה) – Micah
• Naḥūm (נַחוּם) – Nahum
• Ḥăḇaqqūq (חֲבַקּוּק) – Habakkuk
• Ṣəfanyā (צְפַנְיָה) – Zephaniah
• Ḥaggay (חַגַּי) – Haggai
• Zəḵaryā (זְכַרְיָה) – Zechariah
• Malʾāḵī (מַלְאָכִי) – Malachi

Ketuvim

Main article: Ketuvim

Ketuvim, meaning "Writings," has eleven books.

Lyrical books

Further information: Ketuvim § Sifrei Emet

Psalms, Proverbs, and Job are special books known as Sifrei Emet. They often show their verses in a two-column format.

• Təhīllīm (תְהִלִּים) – Psalms
• Mīšlē (מִשְׁלֵי) – Proverbs
• 'Īyyōḇ (אִיּוֹב) – Job

Five scrolls

Further information: Five Megillot

These five short books are read at special times during the year:

• Šīr hašŠīrīm (שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים) – Song of Songs (on Passover)
• Rūṯ (רוּת) – Ruth (on Shavuot)
• 'Ēḵā (אֵיכָה) – Lamentations (on Tisha B'Av)
• Qōheleṯ (קֹהֶלֶת) – Ecclesiastes (on Sukkot)
• 'Esṯēr (אֶסְתֵר) – Esther (on Purim)

Other books

The remaining books in Ketuvim are Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah, and Chronicles. These books tell stories from later times.

• Dānīyyē'l (דָּנִיֵּאל) – Daniel
• 'Ezrā' (עֶזְרָא) – Ezra and Nehemiah
• Dīvrē hayYāmīm (דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים) – Chronicles

Book order

The order of books in Ketuvim was never fully decided. Different traditions use different orders.

Nach

Nach, sometimes called Nakh, refers to the Nevi'im and Ketuvim parts of the Tanakh. It is often studied separately from the Torah in schools. In many Orthodox high schools for girls, Nach is a main subject taught by special teachers. Boys in these schools usually study only certain books of Nach, like Joshua, Judges, and the Five Megillot.

Main article: Yeshiva § Torah and Bible study

Historicity

Further information: Historicity of the Bible § Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Early scholarship

Some stories in the first part of the Hebrew Bible might come from very old sources. Scholars have noticed that the story of a big flood in the book of Genesis is similar to an ancient story called the Gilgamesh flood myth. There are also similarities between the beginning of the story of Moses and the beginning of the story of a leader named Sargon of Akkad. One writer said that the Bible includes both folklore and real history, and that history is often told by the people who won battles. When the Israelites entered the city of Jericho around 1400 BCE, they became important in history.

Recent scholarship

In 2007, a scholar of ancient Judaism explained that older experts believed the Bible unless there was proof against it. Until around the 1970s, many people in the United States believed the early stories in the Bible and that the Israelites took over the land together. However, today, most experts are more careful, especially about the very early stories.

In 2022, an archaeologist said that while early histories of Israel used the Bible as a guide, people now question how exact these stories are. Big discussions have happened about whether certain important events really happened the way the Bible says. While some very strict experts in the 1990s thought the Bible wasn’t very historical, most experts today look at both the Bible and archaeological discoveries. They find that some Bible stories match what has been found from around the 9th century BCE and later.

Translations

Further information: Jewish English Bible translations, Septuagint, Targum, Old Testament, and Bible translations

Some important translations of the Hebrew Bible include:

• The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text: A New Translation with the aid of Previous Versions & with the Constant Consultation of Jewish Authorities from 1917, updated in 1985 as Tanakh by the Jewish Publication Society
• Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society, 1985, ISBN 0-8276-0252-9
• Tanach: The Stone Edition, Hebrew with English translation, Mesorah Publications, 1996, ISBN 0-89906-269-5, named after benefactor Irving I. Stone
• Tanakh Ram, a modern Hebrew translation started in 2010 by Avraham Ahuvya
• The Living Torah and The Living Nach by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, starting with the Torah in 1981
• The Koren Jerusalem Bible, a Hebrew/English Tanakh published in Israel in 1962 by Koren Publishers Jerusalem

Jewish commentaries

Main article: Jewish commentaries on the Bible

The most important guide for studying the Chumash is the Rashi commentary. The Rashi and Metzudot commentaries are key guides for the Nach as well.

There are two main ways people study and write about the Tanakh. In Jewish tradition, one way is to see the Bible as something special and inspired. Another way looks at the Bible as a human creation, which some groups see as a different kind of study. Some important Jewish teachers, like Abraham ibn Ezra, Gersonides, and Maimonides, used history, science, and language studies in their writings. The Modern Orthodox Jewish community uses more modern ways of studying books outside the Torah. Other Jewish groups, such as those in Conservative and Reform Judaism, use both traditional and modern ways to study the Bible.

Influence on Jewish identity

The Hebrew Bible played a big role in shaping Jewish identity long ago. Scholars say it helped Jews feel connected as a group by telling their shared history and rules. Stories in the Bible traced Jewish family lines and gave a sense of common ancestors. It also included important laws, like observing special days and certain food rules, which set Jewish people apart from others.

The Bible helped keep the Hebrew language alive, even when many people spoke different languages. By translating the Bible into Greek and Aramaic, Jewish traditions could be shared widely while still keeping their identity strong. Over time, parts of the Bible were written during hard times to strengthen Jewish unity. This connection to their past helped Jewish people stay united for thousands of years and influenced the creation of modern Israel.

Influence on Christianity

Main article: Development of the Christian Biblical canon

Christianity sees a strong link between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In Protestant Bibles, the Old Testament has the same books as the Hebrew Bible, but they are arranged differently. Catholic Bibles, Eastern Orthodox Bibles, and those in the Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian churches include extra books, known as Deuterocanonical books. These books were once in Protestant Bibles but were later removed to save costs.

Early Christians used a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Septuagint. This translation was very important to early Christianity because it was the main version used by Christian writers in the first century.