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For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation).
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The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthology—a compilation of texts of a variety of forms—originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophesies, among other genres. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, while understanding what that means in different ways.
The origins of the oldest writings of the Israelites are lost to antiquity. The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah, which was accepted as Jewish canon by the 5th century BCE. A second collection of narrative histories and prophesies was canonized in the 3rd century BCE. A third collection containing psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories, was canonized sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE.[1] The transmission history of these combined collections spans approximately 3000 years, and there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Jewish Hebrew Bible canon was settled in its present form.[2] Some scholars argue that it was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty (140–40 BCE),[a] while others argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later.[3] The Dead Sea scrolls are approximately dated to 250 BCE–100 CE and are the oldest existing copies of the books of the Hebrew Bible. Tanakh is an alternate term for the Hebrew Bible composed of the first letters of the three parts of the Hebrew scriptures: the Torah ("Teaching"), the Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("Writings"). The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch. The Masoretic Text, in Hebrew and Aramaic, is considered the authoritative text by Rabbinic Judaism; the Septuagint, a Koine Greek translation from the third and second centuries BCE, largely overlaps with the Hebrew Bible.
Christianity began as an outgrowth of Judaism, using the Septuagint as the basis of the Old Testament. The early Church continued the Jewish tradition of writing and incorporating what it saw as inspired, authoritative religious books. The gospels, Pauline epistles and other texts coalesced into the "New Testament" very early. In the first three centuries CE, the concept of a closed canon emerged in response to heretical writings in the second century. The list of books included in the Catholic Bible was established as canon by the Council of Rome in 382, followed by those of Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397. Christian biblical canons range from the 73 books of the Catholic Church canon, and the 66-book canon of most Protestant denominations, to the 81 books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church canon, among others.
With estimated total sales of over five billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the best-selling publication of all time.[4][5] It has had a profound influence both on Western culture and history and on cultures around the globe.[b] The study of the Bible through biblical criticism has indirectly impacted culture and history as well. The Bible is currently translated or being translated into about half of the world's languages.
Contents
1Development
2Textual history
3Influence
4Interpretation and inspiration
5Hebrew Bible5.1Torah
5.2Nevi'im5.2.1Former Prophets
5.2.2Latter Prophets
5.3Ketuvim5.3.1The five scrolls
5.3.2Other books
5.3.3Book order
5.4Masoretic Text
6Samaritan Pentateuch
7Septuagint7.1Incorporations from Theodotion
7.2Final form
8Pseudepigraphal books8.1Book of Enoch
9Christian Bible9.1Old Testament9.1.1Deuterocanon and apocrypha
9.2New Testament
9.3Canon variations9.3.1Peshitta
9.3.2Ethiopian Orthodox canon
10Versions and translations
11Archaeological and historical research
12Biblical criticism
13Etymology
14Bible museums
15Gallery
16Illustrations
17See also
18Notes
19References19.1Works cited
20Further reading
21External links
Development
The Gutenberg Bible, the first printed Bible (mid-15th century)
Hebrew Bible from 1300. Genesis.
The Bible is not a single book; it is a collection of books whose complex development is not completely understood. The oldest books began as songs and stories orally transmitted from generation to generation before being written down
. The Bible was written and compiled by many people, some of whom are unknown, from a variety of disparate cultures.[7]
British biblical scholar John K. Riches wrote:[8]
[T]he biblical texts were produced over a period in which the living conditions of the writers – political, cultural, economic, and ecological – varied enormously. There are texts which reflect a nomadic existence, texts from people with an established monarchy and Temple cult, texts from exile, texts born out of fierce oppression by foreign rulers, courtly texts, texts from wandering charismatic preachers, texts from those who give themselves the airs of sophisticated Hellenistic writers. It is a time-span which encompasses the compositions of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Sophocles, Caesar, Cicero, and Catullus. It is a period which sees the rise and fall of the Assyrian empire (twelfth to seventh century) and of the Persian empire (sixth to fourth century), Alexander's campaigns (336–326), the rise of Rome and its domination of the Mediterranean (fourth century to the founding of the Principate, 27 BCE), the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple (70 CE), and the extension of Roman rule to parts of Scotland (84 CE).
Considered to be scriptures (sacred, authoritative religious texts), the books were compiled by different religious communities into various biblical canons (official collections of scriptures). The earliest compilation, containing the first five books of the Bible and called the Torah (meaning "law", "instruction", or "teaching") or Pentateuch ("five books"), was accepted as Jewish canon by the 5th century BCE. A second collection of narrative histories and prophesies, called the Nevi'im ("prophets"), was canonized in the 3rd century BCE. A third collection called the Ketuvim ("writings"), containing psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories, was canonized sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE. These three collections were written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some parts in Aramaic, which together form the Hebrew Bible or "TaNaKh"
(an abbreviation of "Torah", "Nevi'im", and "Ketuvim").[1] The transmission history of the Tanakh spans approximately 3000 years.[2]
Greek-speaking Jews in Alexandria and elsewhere in the Jewish diaspora considered additional scriptures, composed between 200 BCE and 100 CE and not included in the Hebrew Bible, to be canon. These additional texts were included in a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Koine Greek (common Greek spoken by ordinary people) known as the Septuagint which began as a translation of the Torah made around 250 BCE and continued to develop for several centuries. The Septuagint contained all of the books now in the Hebrew Bible, reorganized and with some textual differences, with additional scriptures interspersed throughout.[9]
The Masoretes began developing the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible in Rabbinic Judaism near the end of the Talmudic period (c. 300–c. 500 CE), but the actual date is difficult to determine.[10][11][12] In the sixth and seventh centuries, three Jewish communities contributed systems for writing the precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the mas'sora (from which we derive the term masoretic).[13] In the seventh century, the first codex form was produced, and in 1488, the first complete printed press version of the Hebrew Bible was produced.[14]
Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, c. 1619 painting by Valentin de Boulogne
During the rise of Christianity in the 1st century CE, new scriptures were written in Koine Greek about the life and teachings of Jesus, whom some believed was the messiah prophesied in the Hebrew scriptures. Two collections of these new scriptures, the Pauline epistles and the Gospels, were accepted as canon by the end of the 2nd century CE. A third collection, the catholic epistles, were canonized over the next two centuries with Revelation being the last book accepted into the canon in the fourth century. Christians called these new scriptures the "New Testament", and began referring to the Septuagint as the "Old Testament".[15]
Between 385 and 405 CE, the early Christian church translated its canon into Vulgar Latin (the common Latin spoken by ordinary people), a translation known as the Vulgate, which included in its Old Testament the books that were in the Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Bible. The Vulgate introduced stability to the Bible, but also began the East-West Schism between Latin-speaking Western Christianity (led by the Catholic Church) and multi-lingual Eastern Christianity (led by the Eastern Orthodox Church). Christian denominations' biblical canons varied not only in the language of the books, but also in their selection, organization, and text.[16]
A number of biblical canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents from denomination to denomination.[17] Christians have held ecumenical councils to standardize their biblical canon since the 4th century CE. The Council of Trent (1545–63), held by the Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reformation, authorized the Vulgate as its official Latin translation of the Bible. The church deemed the additional books in its Old Testament that were interspersed among the Hebrew Bible books to be deuterocanonical (meaning part of a second or later canon). Protestant Bibles either separated these books into a separate section called the "Apocrypha" (meaning "hidden away") between the Old and New Testaments, or omitted them altogether. The 17th-century Protestant King James Version was the most ubiquitous English Bible of all time, but it has largely been superseded by modern translations.[18]
The Bible is one of the world's most published books, with estimated total sales of over five billion copies.[5] As such, the Bible has had a profound influence on literature and history, especially in the Western world, where the Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed in Europe using movable type.[b][19] According to the March 2007 edition of Time, the Bible "has done more to shape literature, history, entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world history is unparalleled, and shows no signs of abating."[b] John Riches, professor of divinity and biblical criticism at the University of Glasgow, provides the following view of the diverse historical influences of the Bible:
It has inspired some of the great monuments of human thought, literature, and art; it has equally fuelled some of the worst excesses of human savagery, self-interest, and narrow-mindedness. It has inspired men and women to acts of great service and courage, to fight for liberation and human development; and it has provided the ideological fuel for societies which have enslaved their fellow human beings and reduced them to abject poverty. ... It has, perhaps above all, provided a source of religious and moral norms which have enabled communities to hold together, to care for, and to protect one another; yet precisely this strong sense of belonging has in turn fuelled ethnic, racial, and international tension and conflict.[20]
Textual history
See also: Biblical manuscript and Textual criticism
The books of the Bible were initially written and copied by hand on papyrus scrolls.[21] No originals survive, and the oldest currently existing scrolls, the Dead Sea Scrolls, are those discovered in the caves of Qumran in 1947. These scrolls date between 250 BCE and 100 CE and are the oldest existing copies of the books of the Hebrew Bible of any considerable length.[22] The earliest manuscripts were probably written in paleo-Hebrew, a kind of cuneiform pictograph similar to other pictographs of the same period.[23] The exile to Babylon most likely prompted the shift to square script (Aramaic) in the fifth to third centuries BCE.[24] From the time of the Dead Sea scrolls, the Hebrew Bible was written with spaces between words to aid in reading.[25] By the eighth century CE, the Masoretes added vowel signs.[26] Levites or scribes maintained the texts, and some texts were always treated as more authoritative than others.[27] Scribes preserved and changed the texts by changing the script and updating archaic forms while also making corrections. These Hebrew texts were copied with great care.[28]
The textual history of New Testament texts is quite different.[29] The Hebrew Bible is three times the length of the New Testament, was composed over a long period of time, possibly three thousand years, and was subsequently carefully copied by trained scribes throughout that same extended period.[30] In contrast, copies of the gospels and Paul's letters were made by individual Christians very soon after the originals were written.[31] There is evidence in the Synoptic Gospels, in the writings of the early church fathers, from Marcion, and in the Didache that Christian documents were in circulation before the end of the first century.[32][33] Paul's letters were circulated during his lifetime, and his death is thought to have occurred before 68 during Nero's reign.[34][35] Most early copyists were not trained scribes.[36] James R. Royce explains that "The story of the manuscript tradition of the New Testament is the story of progression from a relatively uncontrolled tradition to a rigorously controlled tradition ...".[37]
The New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work, but this only increases the difficulties associated with its textual history.[38][39] Only a half dozen papyrus manuscripts of the New Testament were known and edited before the twentieth century, but the discovery of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri in Egypt provided 54 of the current 127 NT papyri representing 124 manuscripts as well as 12 majuscules (a style of lettering).[40] Their dates run from the beginning of the second century (P 52) to the eighth century, constituting just over 2% of all Greek NT manuscripts, with sixty–two dating to the late third and early fourth centuries.[41] Chester Beatty and Bodmer added 8 more to the elite group of early papyri.[42] The book of Revelation has its own textual history and is found in only about 300 manuscripts.[43]
Existing New Testament manuscripts also include about 300 great uncial codices, which are vellum or parchment books written in block Greek letters, mostly dating between the 3rd and 9th centuries CE; and about 2,900 minuscules, written in a cursive style (using connected letters) that superseded uncials beginning in the 9th century. These manuscripts differ in varying degrees from one another and are grouped according to their similarities into textual families or lineages; the four most commonly recognized are Alexandrian, Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine.[44]
The Rylands fragment P52 verso is the oldest existing fragment of New Testament papyrus.[45] It contains phrases from the Book of John.
The Qumran scrolls attest to different biblical text types. In addition to the Qumran scrolls, there are three major manuscript witnesses (historical copies) of the Hebrew Bible: the Septuagint, the Masoretic Text, and the Samaritan Pentateuch. Existing complete copies of the Septuagint, a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, date from the 3rd to the 5th centuries CE, with fragments dating back to the 2nd century BCE. The Masoretic Text is a standardized version of the Hebrew Bible that began to be developed in the 1st century CE and has been maintained by the Masoretes since the latter half of the first millennium CE. Its oldest complete copy in existence is the Leningrad Codex, dating to c. 1000 CE. The Samaritan Pentateuch is a version of the Torah maintained by the Samaritan community since antiquity and rediscovered by European scholars in the 17th century; the oldest existing copies date to c. 1100 CE.[46]
All biblical texts were treated with reverence and care by those that copied them, yet there are transmission errors, called variants, in all biblical manuscripts.[47] A variant is simply any deviation between two texts. Textual critic Daniel B. Wallace explains that "Each deviation counts as one variant, regardless of how many MSS attest to it."[48] Hebrew scholar Emmanuel Tov says the term is not evaluative; it is simply a recognition that the paths of development of different texts have separated.[49]
The majority of variants are accidental, such as spelling errors, but some changes were intentional.[50] Differences in the Hebrew Bible include memory differences, lexical equivalents, semantic and grammar differences, shifts in order, and some intentional changes for updating doctrine.[51] Intentional changes in New Testament texts were made to improve grammar, eliminate discrepancies, harmonize parallel passages, combine and simplify multiple variant readings into one, and for theological reasons.[50][52] Bruce K. Waltke observes that one variant for every ten words was noted in the recent critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, leaving 90% of the Hebrew text without variation. The Fourth edition of the United Bible Society's Greek New Testament notes variants affecting about 500 out of 6900 words, or about 7% of the text.[53]
Influence
Main article: Role of Christianity in civilization
See also: Category:Operas based on the Bible
With a literary tradition spanning two millennia, the Bible has been the single most influential book of all time.[54] It has been a cornerstone of Western culture and many other cultures across the globe. From practices of personal hygiene to philosophy and ethics, the Bible has directly and indirectly influenced politics and law, war and peace, sexual morals, marriage and family life, letters and learning, the arts, economics, social justice, care giving and more.
The Bible has been used to support and oppose political power, even inspiring revolution and "a reversal of power" because God is so often portrayed as choosing what is "weak and humble (the stammering Moses, the infant Samuel, Saul from an insignificant family, David confronting Goliath, etc.) to confound the mighty".[55][56] Biblical texts have been the catalyst for political concepts like democracy, religious toleration and religious freedom.[57]: 3 These have, in turn, inspired movements ranging from abolitionism in the 18th and 19th century, to the civil rights movement, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, and liberation theology in Latin America.
Critics view certain biblical stories to be morally problematic and accuse the Bible of advocating for slavery, supersessionism, the death penalty, violence, patriarchy, sexual intolerance and colonialism. Some say it has been used to justify, and even inspire, genocide.[58] The Bible has been the source of many peace movements around the world and efforts at reconciliation.[59]
The roots of modern concepts of human rights and many modern laws can be found in the Bible's teachings on due process, fairness in criminal procedures, and equity in the application of the law.[60] Judges are told not to accept bribes (Deuteronomy 16:19), are required to be impartial to native and stranger alike (Leviticus 24:22; Deuteronomy 27:19), to the needy and the powerful alike (Leviticus 19:15), and to rich and poor alike (Deuteronomy 1:16,17; Exodus 23:2–6). The right to a fair trial, and fair punishment, are also found in the Bible (Deuteronomy 19:15; Exodus 21:23–25). Those most vulnerable in a patriarchal society—children, women, and strangers—are singled out in the Bible for special protection (Psalm 72:2,4).[61]: 47–48
The Bible advocates care for the sick, hungry and poor. This led to the first hospital for the poor in Caesarea in the fourth century and, eventually, to modern health care. The biblical practices of feeding and clothing the poor, visiting prisoners, supporting widows and orphan children have had sweeping impact.[62][63][64]
The Bible has directly and indirectly influenced literature: St Augustine's Confessions is widely considered the first autobiography in Western Literature.[65] The Summa Theologica, written 1265–1274, is "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature."[66] These both influenced the writings of Dante's epic poetry and his Divine Comedy, and in turn, Dante's creation and sacramental theology has contributed to influencing writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien[67] and William Shakespeare.[68]
Salomé, by Henri Regnault (1870).
Biblical teachings on sexual morality changed the Roman empire and the millennium that followed.[69] Scriptures dealing with sexuality are extensive. Subjects include: the Apostolic Decree (Acts 15), sexual immorality, divine love (1 Corinthians 13), mutual self-giving (1 Corinthians 7), bodily membership between Christ and between husband and wife (1 Corinthians 6:15–20) and honor versus dishonor of adultery (Hebrews 13:4) among others.
Influence on learning has been formidable. For centuries after the fall of the western Roman Empire, all schools in Europe were church schools, and outside of monastic settlements almost no one had the ability to read or write. These schools eventually led to the West's first universities in the Middle Ages which have spread around the world in the modern day.[70] Protestant Reformers wanted all members of the church to be able to read the Bible, so compulsory education for both boys and girls was introduced. Translations of the Bible into local vernacular languages have supported the development of national literatures, the invention of alphabets, "movements of indigenization, and cultural liberation ... and has become the benchmark of awakening and renewal".[71]
Many of the unsurpassed masterpieces of Western art were inspired by Biblical themes: from Michelangelo's David and Pietà sculptures, to Da Vinci's Last Supper and Raphael's various Madonna paintings. There are hundreds of examples. Eve, the temptress who disobeys God's commandment, is probably the most widely portrayed figure in art.[72] The Renaissance preferred the sensuous female nude, while the "femme fatale" Delilah from the nineteenth century onward demonstrates how the Bible and art both shape and reflect views of women.[73][74]
The scientific revolution,[75] the founding of the English and American democracies, the repression of usury,[76][77] the origins of banking,[78] and a sociological thesis that asserts the Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the development of capitalism and the industrial revolution, all reflect the widespread influence of the Bible.[79]
The Bible has many rituals of purification which speak of clean and unclean in both literal and metaphorical terms.[80] The Biblical toilet etiquette encourages washing after all instances of defecation, hence the invention of the bidet.[81][82]
Interpretation and inspiration
Main articles: Biblical inspiration, Biblical literalism, Biblical infallibility, and Biblical inerrancy
A Bible is placed centrally on a Lutheran altar, highlighting its importance
Much of the Bible does not give instruction on what to believe or do. Even those texts that seem to do so must be interpreted according to their original context, and then it is determined how – and what – to apply to modern times. It is left to the reader to determine good and bad, right and wrong, and the path to understanding and practice is rarely straightforward.[83] God is sometimes portrayed as having a role in the plot, but more often there is little about God's reaction to events, and no mention at all of approval or disapproval of what the characters have done or failed to do.[84] The writer makes no comment, and the reader is left to infer what they will.[84] Biblical texts have always required interpretation, and this has given rise to multiple views and approaches according to the interplay between various religions and the book.[85]
Christians often treat the Bible as a single book, and while John Barton says they are "some of the most profound texts humanity has ever produced", it is a collection of books that are not perfect.[86] Conservative and fundamentalist Christians see the Bible differently and interpret it differently than liberals and moderates do.[87] Christianity interprets differently than Judaism does.[88] There are creeds in Christianity and laws in Judaism that are seen as derived from the Bible which are not directly in the Bible.[89] Judaism has long accepted a single authoritative text whereas Christianity has never had an official version, only many different manuscript traditions.[90] How inspiration works and what kind of authority it means the Bible has are different for different traditions.[91]
The Second Epistle to Timothy says that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". (2 Timothy 3:16)[92] Various related but distinguishable views on divine inspiration include:
the view of the Bible as the inspired word of God: the belief that God, through the Holy Spirit, intervened and influenced the words, message, and collation of the Bible[93]
the view that the Bible is also infallible, and incapable of error in matters of faith and practice, but not necessarily in historic or scientific matters
the view that the Bible represents the inerrant word of God, without error in any aspect, spoken by God and written down in its perfect form by humans
Within these broad beliefs many schools of hermeneutics operate. "Bible scholars claim that discussions about the Bible must be put into its context within church history and then into the context of contemporary culture."[94] Fundamentalist Christians are associated with the doctrine of biblical literalism, where the Bible is not only inerrant, but the meaning of the text is clear to the average reader.[95]
Jewish antiquity attests to belief in sacred texts,[96][97] and a similar belief emerges in the earliest of Christian writings. Various texts of the Bible mention divine agency in relation to its writings.[98] In their book A General Introduction to the Bible, Norman Geisler and William Nix write: "The process of inspiration is a mystery of the providence of God, but the result of this process is a verbal, plenary, inerrant, and authoritative record."[99] Most evangelical biblical scholars[100][101] associate inspiration with only the original text; for example some American Protestants adhere to the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy which asserted that inspiration applied only to the autographic text of scripture.[102] Among adherents of biblical literalism, a minority, such as followers of the King-James-Only Movement, extend the claim of inerrancy only to a particular version.[103]
Hebrew Bible
Further information: Hebrew Bible and Development of the Hebrew Bible canon
Tanakh
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The name Tanakh (Hebrew: תנ"ך) reflects the threefold division of the Hebrew scriptures, Torah ("Teaching"), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings").[104] It is not until the Babylonian Talmud (c.550 BCE) that a listing of the contents of these three divisions of scripture are found.[105]
The Tanakh was mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some small portions (Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4–7:28)[106] written in Biblical Aramaic, a language which had become the lingua franca for much of the Semitic world.[107]
Torah
Main article: Torah
See also: Oral Torah
A Torah scroll recovered from Glockengasse Synagogue in Cologne.
The Torah (תּוֹרָה) is also known as the "Five Books of Moses" or the Pentateuch, meaning "five scroll-cases".[108] Traditionally these books were considered to have been dictated to Moses by God himself.[109][110] Since the 17th century, scholars have viewed the original sources as being the product of multiple anonymous authors while also allowing the possibility of Moses being the one who first assembled the separate sources.[111][112] There are a variety of hypotheses regarding when and how the Torah was composed,[113] but there is a general consensus that it took its final form during the reign of the Persian Achaemenid Empire (probably 450–350 BCE),[114][115] or perhaps in the early Hellenistic period (333–164 BCE).[116]
Samaritan Inscription containing portion of the Bible in nine lines of Hebrew text, currently housed in the British Museum
The Hebrew names of the books are derived from the first words in the respective texts. The Torah consists of the following five books:
Genesis, Beresheeth (בראשית)
Exodus, Shemot (שמות)
Leviticus, Vayikra (ויקרא)
Numbers, Bamidbar (במדבר)
Deuteronomy, Devarim (דברים)
The first eleven chapters of Genesis provide accounts of the creation (or ordering) of the world and the history of God's early relationship with humanity. The remaining thirty-nine chapters of Genesis provide an account of God's covenant with the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (also called Israel) and Jacob's children, the "Children of Israel", especially Joseph. It tells of how God commanded Abraham to leave his family and home in the city of Ur, eventually to settle in the land of Canaan, and how the Children of Israel later moved to Egypt.
The remaining four books of the Torah tell the story of Moses, who lived hundreds of years after the patriarchs. He leads the Children of Israel from slavery in ancient Egypt to the renewal of their covenant with God at Mount Sinai and their wanderings in the desert until a new generation was ready to enter the land of Canaan. The Torah ends with the death of Moses.[117]
The commandments in the Torah provide the basis for Jewish religious law. Tradition states that there are 613 commandments (taryag mitzvot).
Nevi'im
Main article: Nevi'im
Books of Nevi'im
Former Prophets
Joshua
Judges
Samuel
Kings
Latter Prophets (major)
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Latter Prophets (Twelve minor)
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Hebrew Bible
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Nevi'im (Hebrew: נְבִיאִים, romanized: Nəḇî'îm, "Prophets") is the second main division of the Tanakh, between the Torah and Ketuvim. It contains two sub-groups, the Former Prophets (Nevi'im Rishonim נביאים ראשונים, the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Nevi'im Aharonim נביאים אחרונים, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets).
The Nevi'im tell a story of the rise of the Hebrew monarchy and its division into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah, focusing on conflicts between the Israelites and other nations, and conflicts among Israelites, specifically, struggles between believers in "the LORD God"[118] (Yahweh) and believers in foreign gods,[c][d] and the criticism of unethical and unjust behaviour of Israelite elites and rulers;[e][f][g] in which prophets played a crucial and leading role. It ends with the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, followed by the conquest of the Kingdom of Judah by the neo-Babylonian Empire and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Former Prophets
The Former Prophets are the books Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. They contain narratives that begin immediately after the death of Moses with the divine appointment of Joshua as his successor, who then leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land, and end with the release from imprisonment of the last king of Judah. Treating Samuel and Kings as single books, they cover:
Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan (in the Book of Joshua),
the struggle of the people to possess the land (in the Book of Judges),
the people's request to God to give them a king so that they can occupy the land in the face of their enemies (in the Books of Samuel)
the possession of the land under the divinely appointed kings of the House of David, ending in conquest and foreign exile (Books of Kings)
Latter Prophets
Further information: Major prophet
The Latter Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets, counted as a single book.
Hosea, Hoshea (הושע)
Joel, Yoel (יואל)
Amos, Amos (עמוס)
Obadiah, Ovadyah (עבדיה)
Jonah, Yonah (יונה)
Micah, Mikhah (מיכה)
Nahum, Nahum (נחום)
Habakkuk, Havakuk (חבקוק)
Zephaniah, Tsefanya (צפניה)
Haggai, Khagay (חגי)
Zechariah, Zekharyah (זכריה)
Malachi, Malakhi (מלאכי)
Ketuvim
Hebrew text of Psalm 1:1–2
Main articles: Ketuvim and Poetic Books
Books of the Ketuvim
Three poetic books
Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Five Megillot (Scrolls)
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Other books
Daniel
Ezra–Nehemiah (Ezra
Nehemiah)
Chronicles
Hebrew Bible
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Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm (in Biblical Hebrew: כְּתוּבִים "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh. The Ketuvim are believed to have been written under the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) but with one level less authority than that of prophecy.[119]
In Masoretic manuscripts (and some printed editions), Psalms, Proverbs and Job are presented in a special two-column form emphasizing their internal parallelism, which was found early in the study of Hebrew poetry. "Stichs" are the lines that make up a verse "the parts of which lie parallel as to form and content".[120] Collectively, these three books are known as Sifrei Emet (an acronym of the titles in Hebrew, איוב, משלי, תהלים yields Emet אמ"ת, which is also the Hebrew for "truth"). Hebrew cantillation is the manner of chanting ritual readings as they are written and notated in the Masoretic Text of the Bible. Psalms, Job and Proverbs form a group with a "special system" of accenting used only in these three books.[121]
The five scrolls
Further information: Five Megillot
The five relatively short books of Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Book of Esther are collectively known as the Hamesh Megillot. These are the latest books collected and designated as "authoritative" in the Jewish canon even though they were not complete until the 2nd century CE.[122]
Other books
The books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah[h] and Chronicles share a distinctive style that no other Hebrew literary text, biblical or extra-biblical, shares.[123] They were not written in the normal style of Hebrew of the post-exilic period. The authors of these books must have chosen to write in their own distinctive style for unknown reasons.[124]
Their narratives all openly describe relatively late events (i.e., the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent restoration of Zion).
The Talmudic tradition ascribes late authorship to all of them.
Two of them (Daniel and Ezra) are the only books in the Tanakh with significant portions in Aramaic.
Book order
The following list presents the books of Ketuvim in the order they appear in most printed editions.
Tehillim (Psalms) תְהִלִּים
Mishlei (Book of Proverbs) מִשְלֵי
Iyyôbh (Book of Job) אִיּוֹב
Shīr Hashshīrīm (Song of Songs) or (Song of Solomon) שִׁיר הַשִׁירִים (Passover)
Rūth (Book of Ruth) רוּת (Shābhû'ôth)
Eikhah (Lamentations) איכה (Ninth of Av) [Also called Kinnot in Hebrew.]
Qōheleth (Ecclesiastes) קהלת (Sukkôth)
Estēr (Book of Esther) אֶסְתֵר (Pûrîm)
Dānî'ēl (Book of Daniel) דָּנִיֵּאל
'Ezrā (Book of Ezra–Book of Nehemiah) עזרא
Divrei ha-Yamim (Chronicles) דברי הימים
The Jewish textual tradition never finalized the order of the books in Ketuvim. The Babylonian Talmud (Bava Batra 14b–15a) gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles.[125]
The Tiberian tradition, which became the medieval Masoretic tradition, is built upon the Babylonian tradition which Samuel b. Jacob merged with the Tiberian leaving numerous traceable differences. One of the large scale differences is book order. In the Babylonian order, as recorded in the talmudic tractate b.Bava Bathra 14b, Isaiah is placed after Ezekiel making the order of the major prophets different from the Masoretic. In the Tiberian tradition, 1 Chronicles opens the Ketuvim section whereas it closes it in the Babylonian. [126]
The Ketuvim is the last of the three portions of the Tanakh to have been accepted as canonical. While the Torah may have been considered canon by Israel as early as the 5th century BCE and the Former and Latter Prophets were canonized by the 2nd century BCE, the Ketuvim was not a fixed canon until the 2nd century of the Common Era.[122]
Evidence suggests, however, that the people of Israel were adding what would become the Ketuvim to their holy literature shortly after the canonization of the prophets. As early as 132 BCE references suggest that the Ketuvim was starting to take shape, although it lacked a formal title.[127] Many scholars believe that the limits of the Ketuvim as canonized scripture were determined by the Council of Jamnia c. 90 CE. Against Apion, the writing of Josephus in 95 CE, treated the text of the Hebrew Bible as a closed canon to which "... no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable..."[128] For an extended period after 95CE, the divine inspiration of Esther, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes was often under scrutiny.[129]
The Isaiah scroll, which is a part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, contains almost the whole Book of Isaiah. It dates from the 2nd century BCE
.
Masoretic Text
The Nash Papyrus (2nd century BCE) contains a portion of a pre-Masoretic Text, specifically the Ten Commandments and the Shema Yisrael prayer.
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Hebrew Bible. It defines the books of the Jewish canon, and also the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and accentuation. The oldest extant manuscripts of the Masoretic Text date from approximately the 9th century CE,[i] (once the oldest complete copy of the Masoretic Text, but now missing its Torah section) dates from the 10th century. The term "Keter" (crown, from the Arabic, taj) originally referred to this particular manuscript. Over the years, the term Keter came to refer to any full text of the Hebrew Bible, or significant portion of it, bound as a codex (not a scroll) and including vowel points, cantillation marks, and Masoretic notes.
Medieval handwritten manuscripts were considered extremely precise, the most authoritative documents from which to copy other texts.[131] Even so, David Carr asserts that Hebrew texts contain both accidental and intentional types of variants, which are differences in the manuscripts: "memory variants" are generally accidental differences evidenced by such things as the shift in word order found in 1 Chronicles 17:24 and 2 Samuel 10:9 and 13. Variants also include the substitution of lexical equivalents, semantic and grammar differences, and larger scale shifts in order, with some major revisions of the Masoretic texts that must have been intentional.[51]