Introduction to Religious Scriptures
Senior 4 · General and Religious Studies
Introduction to Religious Scriptures
Lesson 1 of 5
40 min
Ask a Jewish reader how many books are in the Hebrew Bible and she will say 24. Ask a Protestant reader how many books are in the Old Testament and he will say 39. Both are holding the same Hebrew text, word for word. How can both be right?
The answer lies in how the books are divided and grouped. This lesson studies the Tanakh, the Jewish scriptures: its three parts, its languages, how it was copied over 2,000 years, and how it relates to the Christian Old Testament.
Definition
Scripture: writings that a religious community holds to be sacred and authoritative.
Tanakh: the Hebrew Bible, named from the first letters of its three parts: Torah (Instruction), Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings).
Canon: the fixed list of books a community accepts as scripture (from the Greek for "measuring rod").
Masoretic Text: the standard Hebrew text of the Tanakh, copied and annotated by Jewish scholars (the Masoretes) between the seventh and tenth centuries CE.
Dead Sea Scrolls: nearly 1,000 ancient texts (981 by one count) found between 1946–47 and 1956 in caves near Qumran, by the Dead Sea, including the oldest known copies of books of the Tanakh.
Septuagint: the ancient Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures, used by many early Christians.
| Part | Contents | Use in Jewish life |
|---|---|---|
| Torah | Creation, the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), the Exodus from Egypt, the covenant and the law at Sinai | Read in full from the scroll in the synagogue every year, a portion each Sabbath (Unit 10) |
| Nevi'im | Former prophets tell Israel's history in the land (Joshua to Kings); latter prophets are messages of judgement, justice and hope (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and twelve shorter prophets counted as one book) | A passage (haftarah) is read after the Torah portion |
| Ketuvim | Poetry and prayer (Psalms), wisdom (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes), stories (Ruth, Esther), history (Ezra–Nehemiah, Chronicles) and Daniel | Psalms are prayed daily; five short books are read at festivals |
Languages. The Tanakh is written in Hebrew, with a few chapters in Aramaic, for example in Daniel and Ezra.
Authorship. Jewish tradition holds that Moses received the Torah from God and that prophets and sages wrote the other books. Scholars see a long process: the books were written, collected and edited over many centuries, roughly from the eighth to the second century BCE.
Before printing, every copy was written by hand. The Masoretes counted letters and words and wrote notes in the margins so that copyists would not change a single letter. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, scholars could compare them with medieval Masoretic copies more than a thousand years younger. The Great Isaiah Scroll differs mainly in spelling and small details, which shows how faithfully the text had been passed on.
Christians accept the books of the Tanakh as the first part of their Bible, the Old Testament, but count and order them differently: they split some books and end with the prophets, which look forward to the coming of Christ. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles also include books found in the Greek Septuagint, such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and 1 and 2 Maccabees.
Worked example: from 24 books to 39
The Protestant Old Testament has the same contents as the Tanakh. The difference is in counting: Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and Ezra–Nehemiah are each split in two (adding 4 books), and "the Twelve" are counted separately (adding 11 more books):
The Catholic Old Testament adds the 7 books from the Septuagint: . So the answer to "How many books?" depends on the community asking, not on a difference in the shared Hebrew text.
Warning
Common mistakes
Important
Discuss. Christians call these books the "Old Testament", while many scholars and interfaith groups prefer "Hebrew Bible". Why might the name matter to Jewish readers? What name would you use when Jews and Christians study the books together?
Jewish Learning Institute: "Every Book of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), Explained", about 9 minutes. As you watch, place each book in Figure 1.
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the opening, Figure 1, the tables, the worked example and the exercises.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each part of the Tanakh to its meaning.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
