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Hebrew Bible
תַּנַ״ךְ‎, Tanach
Complete set of scrolls, constituting the Tanakh
Information
Religion	Judaism Christianity
Language	Biblical Hebrew Biblical Aramaic
Period	eighth/7th centuries BCE – 2nd/1st centuries BCE
Hebrew Bible at Hebrew Wikisource

The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh ^[a] (;^[ane] Hebrew: תַּנַ״ךְ‎, pronounced [taˈnaχ] or [təˈnax]) is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, including the Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim. These texts are near exclusively in Biblical Hebrew, with a few passages in Biblical Aramaic (in the books of Daniel and Ezra, the verse Jeremiah ten:xi,^[2] and some single words).

The authoritative course of the Hebrew Bible for Rabbinic Judaism is the Masoretic Text (7th to 10th century CE), which consists of 24 books, divided into pesuqim (verses). The contents of the Hebrew Bible are similar to those of the Protestant Christian Old Testament, in which the textile is divided into 39 books and arranged in a different lodge. Catholic Bibles, Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bibles and Ethiopian Orthodox Bibles comprise additional materials, derived from the Septuagint (texts translated into Koine Greek) and other sources.

In addition to the Masoretic Text, modern scholars seeking to understand the history of the Hebrew Bible use a range of sources.^[3] These include the Septuagint, the Syriac language Peshitta translation, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Expressionless Sea Scrolls collection and quotations from rabbinic manuscripts. These sources may be older than the Masoretic Text in some cases and ofttimes differ from it.^[4] These differences accept given ascent to the theory that yet another text, an Urtext of the Hebrew Bible, once existed and is the source of the versions extant today.^[5] Still, such an Urtext has never been plant, and which of the three commonly known versions (Septuagint, Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch) is closest to the Urtext is debated.^{[half dozen]}

The proper name "Tanakh" [edit]

Tanakh is an acronym, made from the starting time Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text'due south 3 traditional divisions: Torah (literally 'Education' or 'Law'),^[7] Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings)—hence TaNaKh.

The three-part segmentation reflected in the acronym Tanakh is well attested in the rabbinic literature.^[8] During that flow, however, Tanakh was not used. Instead, the proper title was Mikra (or Miqra, מקרא, pregnant reading or that which is read) because the biblical texts were read publicly. The acronym 'Tanakh' is starting time recorded in the medieval era.^[ix] Mikra continues to exist used in Hebrew to this day, aslope Tanakh, to refer to the Hebrew scriptures. In modern spoken Hebrew, they are interchangeable.^[10]

The term "Hebrew Bible" [edit]

Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of the term Hebrew Bible (or Hebrew Scriptures) as a substitute for less-neutral terms with Jewish or Christian connotations (eastward.grand. Tanakh or Quondam Attestation).^[eleven] ^[12] The Society of Biblical Literature'due south Handbook of Fashion, which is the standard for major academic journals like the Harvard Theological Review and conservative Protestant journals like the Bibliotheca Sacra and the Westminster Theological Journal, suggests that authors "be enlightened of the connotations of alternative expressions such as...Hebrew Bible [and] Old Testament" without prescribing the utilise of either.^[xiii] Alister McGrath points out that while the term emphasizes that it is largely written in Hebrew and "is sacred to the Hebrew people", it "fails to do justice to the way in which Christianity sees an essential continuity between the Old and New Testaments", arguing that there is "no generally accepted alternative to the traditional term 'Old Testament.'"^{[ verification needed ]} Yet, he accepts that in that location is no reason why non-Christians should feel obliged to refer to these books as the Old Attestation, "apart from custom of use."^[14]

Christianity has long asserted a close relationship betwixt the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, although in that location accept sometimes been movements similar Marcionism (viewed equally heretical past the early church), that accept struggled with it.^[xiv] ^[15] ^[sixteen] Modernistic Christian formulations of this tension include supersessionism, covenant theology, new covenant theology, dispensationalism and dual-covenant theology. All of these formulations, except some forms of dual-covenant theology, are objectionable to mainstream Judaism and to many Jewish scholars and writers, for whom there is one eternal covenant between God and the Israelites, and who therefore reject the term "Old Testament" as a course of antinomianism.

Christian usage of the "Onetime Testament" does non refer to a universally agreed-upon ready of books but, rather, varies depending on denomination. Lutheranism and Protestant denominations that follow the Westminster Confession of Faith accept the unabridged Jewish canon every bit the Old Testament without additions, although in translation they sometimes give preference to the Septuagint (LXX) rather than the Masoretic Text; for case, see Isaiah vii:14.

"Hebrew" refers to the original language of the books, only it may besides be taken as referring to the Jews of the Second Temple era and their descendants, who preserved the transmission of the Masoretic Text up to the nowadays day.^[17] The Hebrew Bible includes pocket-size portions in Aramaic (mostly in the books of Daniel and Ezra), written and printed in Aramaic square-script, which was adopted as the Hebrew alphabet after the Babylonian exile.

Development and codified [edit]

The inter-human relationship between various significant ancient manuscripts of the Sometime Testament (some identified past their siglum). Mt being the Masoretic text. The lowermost text "(lost)" would be the Urtext.

There is no scholarly consensus equally to when the Hebrew Bible canon was fixed: some scholars argue that information technology was stock-still by the Hasmonean dynasty,^[18] while others contend it was non fixed until the second century CE or even subsequently.^[xix]

According to Louis Ginzberg'due south Legends of the Jews, the 20-four book canon of the Hebrew Bible was fixed past Ezra and the scribes in the Second Temple period.^[20]

According to the Talmud, much of the Tanakh was compiled by the men of the Great Assembly (Anshei Yard'nesset HaGedolah), a job completed in 450 BCE, and it has remained unchanged ever since.^[21]

The 24-book canon is mentioned in the Midrash Koheleth 12:12: Whoever brings together in his house more than twenty four books brings confusion.^[22]

Language and pronunciation [edit]

The original writing system of the Hebrew text was an abjad: consonants written with some applied vowel messages ("matres lectionis"). During the early Middle Ages, scholars known as the Masoretes created a unmarried formalized system of voice. This was chiefly done past Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, in the Tiberias school, based on the oral tradition for reading the Tanakh, hence the proper name Tiberian vocalization. Information technology also included some innovations of Ben Naftali and the Babylonian exiles.^[23] Despite the comparatively late process of codified, some traditional sources and some Orthodox Jews hold the pronunciation and cantillation to derive from the revelation at Sinai, since it is impossible to read the original text without pronunciations and cantillation pauses.^[24] The combination of a text ( מקרא mikra), pronunciation ( ניקוד niqqud) and cantillation ( טעמים te`amim) enable the reader to sympathize both the uncomplicated meaning and the nuances in sentence menstruation of the text.

Number of dissimilar words used [edit]

The number of distinct words in the Hebrew Bible is 8,679, of which one,480 are hapax legomena,^[25] ^: 112 words or expressions that occur only once. The number of distinct Semitic roots, on which many of these biblical words are based, is roughly 2000.^[25] ^: 112

Books of the Tanakh [edit]

The Tanakh consists of twenty-four books, counting equally ane book each 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings, ane Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, and Ezra–Nehemiah. The Twelve Minor Prophets ( תרי עשר ) are likewise counted as a unmarried book. In Hebrew, the books are often referred to by their prominent beginning word(s).

Torah [edit]

The Torah (תּוֹרָה, literally "educational activity"), besides known every bit the "Pentateuch", or as the "Five Books of Moses". Printed versions (rather than scrolls) of the Torah are often called "Chamisha Chumshei Torah"" ( חמישה חומשי תורה "Five fifth-sections of the Torah") and informally a "Chumash".

Bərē'šīṯ (בְּרֵאשִׁית, literally "In the kickoff") – Genesis
Šəmōṯ (שְׁמֹות, literally "The names [of]") – Exodus
Vayyīqrā' (וַיִּקְרָא, literally "And He called") – Leviticus
Bəmīḏbar (בְּמִדְבַּר, literally "In the desert [of]") – Numbers
Dəvārīm (דְּבָרִים, literally "Things" or "Words") – Deuteronomy

Nevi'im [edit]

Nevi'im ( נְבִיאִים Nəḇī'īm , "Prophets") is the second principal division of the Tanakh, betwixt the Torah and Ketuvim. This division includes the books which cover the time from the archway of the Israelites into the Land of Israel until the Babylonian captivity of Judah (the "menses of prophecy"). Their distribution is non chronological, only noun.

The Former Prophets ( נביאים ראשונים Nevi'im Rishonim )

Yəhōšua' (יְהוֹשֻעַ) – Joshua
Šōfṭīm (שֹׁפְטִים) – Judges
Šəmū'ēl (שְׁמוּאֵל) – Samuel
Məlāḵīm (מְלָכִים) – Kings

The Latter Prophets ( נביאים אחרונים Nevi'im Aharonim )

Yəša'yāhū (יְשַׁעְיָהוּ) – Isaiah
Yīrməyāhū (יִרְמְיָהוּ) – Jeremiah
Yəḥezqē'50 (יְחֶזְקֵאל) – Ezekiel

The Twelve Minor Prophets ( תרי עשר , Trei Asar, "The Twelve"), which are considered one book

Hōšēa' (הוֹשֵׁעַ) – Hosea
Yō'ēl (יוֹאֵל) – Joel
'Āmōs (עָמוֹס) – Amos
'Ōḇaḏyā (עֹבַדְיָה) – Obadiah
Yōnā (יוֹנָה) – Jonah
Mīḵā (מִיכָה) – Micah
Naḥūm (נַחוּם) – Nahum
Ḥăḇaqqūq (חֲבַקּוּק) – Habakkuk
Ṣəfanyā (צְפַנְיָה) – Zephaniah
Ḥaggay (חַגַּי) – Haggai
Zəḵaryā (זְכַרְיָה) – Zechariah
Mal'āḵī (מַלְאָכִי) – Malachi

Ketuvim [edit]

Kəṯūḇīm ( כְּתוּבִים , "Writings") consists of eleven books.

Poetic books [edit]

In Masoretic manuscripts (and some printed editions), Psalms, Proverbs and Job are presented in a special 2-column grade emphasizing the parallel stichs in the verses, which are a function of their verse. 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 likewise the Hebrew for "truth").

These 3 books are as well the only ones in Tanakh with a special system of cantillation notes that are designed to emphasize parallel stichs within verses. Withal, the beginning and cease of the book of Job are in the normal prose system.

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

Five scrolls [edit]

The five relatively brusque books of the Song of Songs, the Volume of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther are collectively known as the Ḥamesh Megillot (Five Megillot). These are the latest books collected and designated equally "authoritative" in the Jewish canon, with the latest parts having dates ranging into the 2d century BCE. These scrolls are traditionally read over the form of the year in many Jewish communities.

These books are read aloud in the synagogue on particular occasions, the occasion listed below in parenthesis.

Šīr hašŠīrīm (שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים) – Song of Songs, too known as Vocal of Solomon (on Passover)
Rūṯ (רוּת) – Book of Ruth (on Shavuot)
'Ēḵā (אֵיכָה) – Book of Lamentations (on Tisha B'Av^[26])
Qōheleṯ (קֹהֶלֶת) – Ecclesiastes (on Sukkot)
'Estēr (אֶסְתֵר) – Book of Esther (on Purim)

Other books [edit]

Likewise the iii poetic books and the five scrolls, the remaining books in Ketuvim are Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah and Chronicles. Although there is no formal grouping for these books in the Jewish tradition, they nevertheless share a number of distinguishing characteristics.

Their narratives all openly describe relatively late events (i.eastward. 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 merely books in Tanakh with significant portions in Aramaic.

Dānī'ēl (דָּנִיֵּאל) – Book of Daniel
'Ezrā (עֶזְרָא) – Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah
Dīvrē hayYāmīm (דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים) – Books of Chronicles

Book social club [edit]

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 Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles.

In Tiberian Masoretic codices, including the Aleppo Codex and the St. petersburg Codex, and often in old Castilian manuscripts as well, the order is Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Vocal of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra.^[27]

Nach [edit]

Nach, likewise anglicized Nakh , refers to the Nevi'im and Ketuvim portions of Tanakh.^[28] ^[29] Nach is often referred to as its own field of study,^[xxx] separate from Torah.^[31]

It is a major subject in the curriculum of Orthodox loftier schools for girls and in the seminaries which they subsequently attend,^[28] and is often taught by different teachers than those who teach Chumash.^[30] The curriculum of Orthodox high schools for boys includes just some portions of Nach, such as the book of Joshua, the book of Judges,^[32] and the Five Megillot.^[33]

Translations [edit]

The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text: A New Translation with the aid of Previous Versions & with the Constant Consultation of Jewish Authorities was published in 1917 past the Jewish Publication Society. It was replaced by their Tanakh in 1985
Tanakh, Jewish Publication Club, 1985, ISBN 0-8276-0252-ix
Tanach: The Stone Edition, Hebrew with English translation, Mesorah Publications, 1996, ISBN 0-89906-269-five, named after benefactor Irving I. Stone.
Tanakh Ram, an ongoing translation to Mod Hebrew (2010–) by Avraham Ahuvya (RAM Publishing Firm Ltd. and Miskal Ltd.)
The Living Torah and The Living Nach, a 1981 translation of the Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan and a subsequent posthumous translation of the Nevi'im and Ketuvim following the model of the kickoff volume

[edit]

The major commentary used for the Chumash is the Rashi commentary. The Rashi commentary and Metzudot commentary are the major commentaries for the Nach.^[34] ^[35]

There are two major approaches to the report of, and commentary on, the Tanakh. In the Jewish community, the classical approach is a religious study of the Bible, where it is assumed that the Bible is divinely inspired.^[36] Some other arroyo is to report the Bible as a human being creation.^[37] In this approach, Biblical studies can be considered as a sub-field of religious studies. The latter do, when practical to the Torah, is considered heresy^[38] by the Orthodox Jewish community.^[39] As such, much modernistic twenty-four hours Bible commentary written by non-Orthodox authors is considered forbidden^[40] past rabbis education in Orthodox yeshivas. Some classical rabbinic commentators, such equally Abraham Ibn Ezra, Gersonides, and Maimonides, used many elements of gimmicky biblical criticism, including their cognition of history, science, and philology. Their use of historical and scientific analysis of the Bible was considered acceptable past historic Judaism due to the writer's faith commitment to the thought that God revealed the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The Modernistic Orthodox Jewish community allows for a wider array of biblical criticism to be used for biblical books exterior of the Torah, and a few Orthodox commentaries at present comprise many of the techniques previously found in the bookish world,^[41] e.m. the Da'at Miqra series. Non-Orthodox Jews, including those affiliated with Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism, accept both traditional and secular approaches to Bible studies. "Jewish commentaries on the Bible", discusses Jewish Tanakh commentaries from the Targums to classical rabbinic literature, the midrash literature, the classical medieval commentators, and modern-mean solar day commentaries.

References [edit]

Footnotes

^ Also called Tanah, Tanach, Tenakh, Tenak, or sometimes the Miqra (מִקְרָא‎)

Sources

^ "Tanach". Random Business firm Webster'due south Unabridged Lexicon.
^ Jeremiah 10:11
^ "Scholars seek Hebrew Bible's original text – but was there i?". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2014-05-xiii. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
^ "Controversy lurks as scholars try to work out Bible'due south original text". The Times of Israel . Retrieved 25 September 2015.
^ Isaac Leo Seeligmann, Robert Hanhart, Hermann Spieckermann: The Septuagint Version of Isaiah and Cognate Studies, Tübingen 2004, pp. 33–34.
^ Shanks, Herschel (1992). Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls (1st ed.). Random House. p. 336. ISBN978-0679414483.
^ "Torah". Online Etymology Dictionary . Retrieved 21 February 2021. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "Mikra'ot Gedolot".
^ It appears in the masorah magna of the Biblical text, and in the responsa of the Rashba (five:119); see Inquiry Query: Tanakh/תנ״ך
^ Biblical Studies Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading, and Interpretation. Norton Irish Theological Quarterly. 2007; 72: 305–306
^ Safire, William (1997-05-25). "The New Old Testament". The New York Times. .
^ Hamilton, Mark. "From Hebrew Bible to Christian Bible: Jews, Christians and the Word of God". PBS . Retrieved 2007-xi-19 . Modern scholars often use the term 'Hebrew Bible' to avoid the confessional terms Old Attestation and Tanakh.
^ Alexander, Patrick H; et al., eds. (1999). The SBL Handbook of Style. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. p. 17 (section 4.3). ISBN978-1-56563-487-9. See Club of Biblical Literature: Questions Regarding Digital Editions…
^ ^a ^b McGrath, Alister, Christian Theology, Oxford: Blackwell, 2011, pp. 120, 123. ISBN 978-1444335149.
^ von Harnack, Carl Gustav Adolf (1911). "Marcion". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 691–693.
^ For the recorded teachings of Jesus on the subject run into Antithesis of the Police#Antitheses, for the modern argue, run into Christian views on the old covenant
^ "Scanning an Ancient Biblical Text That Humans Fear to Open". The New York Times. January 5, 2018.
^ Davies, Philip R. (2001). "The Jewish Scriptural Catechism in Cultural Perspective". In McDonald, Lee Martin; Sanders, James A. (eds.). The Canon Debate. Baker Academic. p. PT66. ISBN978-one-4412-4163-4. With many other scholars, I conclude that the fixing of a approved list was almost certainly the achievement of the Hasmonean dynasty.
^ McDonald & Sanders, The Canon Fence, 2002, p. 5, cited are Neusner's Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine, pp. 128–145, and Midrash in Context: Exegesis in Determinative Judaism, pp. i–22.
^ Ginzberg, Louis (1909). The Legends of the Jews Vol. 4 : Chapter XI Ezra (Translated by Henrietta Szold) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.
^ (Bava Batra 14b–15a, Rashi to Megillah 3a, 14a)
^ Midrash Qoheleth 12:12
^ Kelley, Page H.; Mynatt, Daniel S.; Crawford, Timothy G. (1998). The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Introduction and Annotated Glossary. p. 20. ISBN978-0802843630.
^ John Gill (1767). A Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language: Letters, Vowel-points, and Accents. G. Keith. pp. 136–137. also pp. 250–255
^ ^a ^b Zuckermann, Ghil'advertizement (2020). Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Commonwealth of australia and Beyond. New York: Oxford University Printing. ISBN978-0199812790.
^ As well called Kinnot in Hebrew.
^ Swete, Henry Barclay (1902). An Introduction to the Old Attestation in Greek. Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. p. 200.
^ ^a ^b "Guide to Israel Schools (Tiferet)". Yeshiva University. .. classes in Chumash, Nach, Practical Halacha, Tefilla, ...
^ "Who's Agape of Change? Rethinking the Yeshivah Curriculum". Jewish Activeness (OU). know little Nach, are unexcited by the study of ..
^ ^a ^b "Tova .. our new ." Tova joined the .. faculty this fall as a Nach teacher .. High School for Girls.
^ Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (1995). The Living Nach. ISBN978-1885-22007-3.
^ covered in or before 8th form (and so information technology'southward a review)
^ Esther, Rus, Shir HaShirim, Eicha and KoHeles: these are read aloud in synagogue, each at a item bespeak in the yearly Holiday cycle.
^ Mishlei. Shai LaMora "Eshkol".
^ "NACH – Shai LaMorah – All Volumes". Description. Nach metzudos on ...
^ Peter Steinfels (September 15, 2007). "Irreconcilable Differences in Bible's Interpretations". The New York Times. of divine origin
^ Michael Massing (March 9, 2002). "New Torah For Modern Minds". The New York Times. man rather than divine document
^ David Plotz (September 16, 2007). "Reading Is Believing, or Non". The New York Times. Modern scholars have too unmoored ... Nearly unsettling to religious Jews
^ Natalie Gittelson (September 30, 1984). "American Jews Rediscover Orthodoxy". The New York Times. watered-down Judaism soon turns to water
^ Chaim Potok (October 3, 1982). "The Bible'south Inspired Art". The New York Times. Song of Songs ... was entirely profane .. could non have been written by Solomon
^ Mitchell Showtime (January 11, 2018). "Rabbi Hayyim Angel's 13th Book Is Compilation of Tanach-Related Topics". Jewish Link NJ.

External links [edit]

Judaica Press Translation of Tanakh with Rashi's commentary Complimentary online translation of Tanakh and Rashi's entire commentary
Mikraot Gedolot (Rabbinic Bible) at Wikisource in English (sample) and Hebrew (sample)
A Guide to Reading Nevi'im and Ketuvim – Detailed Hebrew outlines of the biblical books based on the natural menstruum of the text (rather than the chapter divisions). The outlines include a daily study-cycle, and the explanatory material is in English, by Seth (Avi) Kadish.
Tanakh Hebrew Bible Projection—An online project that aims to present disquisitional text of the Hebrew Bible with important ancient versions (Samaritan Pentateuch, Masoretic Text, Targum Onkelos, Samaritan Targum, Septuagint, Peshitta, Aquila of Sinope, Symmachus, Theodotion, Vetus Latina, and Vulgate) in parallel with new English translation for each version, plus a comprehensive disquisitional appliance and a textual commentary for every verse.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible