Bible
From Bible Exegesis
The Bible (from Greek: η Βίβλος hē biblos, "the book") also sometimes called The Holy Bible, Scripture, is the name used by Christian and Jews for their canons of sacred texts. Christians and Jews, (also Samaritans for Torah) believe the Bible as written by men inspired by God over thousands of years.
The English form of the Greek name Biblia, meaning “books,” the name which in the fifth century began to be given to the entire collection of sacred books, the “Library of Divine Revelation.” The name Bible was adopted by Wickliffe, and came gradually into use in our English language. The Bible consists of sixty-six different books, composed by many different writers, in three different languages, under different circumstances; writers of almost every social rank, statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests, tax-gatherers, tentmakers; educated and uneducated, Jews and Gentiles; most of them unknown to each other, and writing at various periods during the space of about 1600 years: and yet, after all, it is only one book dealing with only one subject in its numberless aspects and relations, the subject of man's redemption.
It is divided into the Old Testament, containing thirty-nine books, and the New Testament, containing twenty-seven books. The names given to the Old in the writings of the New are “the scriptures” (Matthew 21:42), “scripture” (2 Peter 1:20), “the holy scriptures” (Romans 1:2), “the law” (John 12:34), “the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms” (Luke 24:44), “the law and the prophets” (Matthew 5:17), “the old covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:14, R.V.). There is a break of 400 years between the Old Testament and the New.
See Apocrypha.
The Old Testament is divided into three parts:
(1) The Law (Torah), consisting of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses.
(2) The Prophets, consisting of
(a) the former, namely, Joshua, Judges, the Books of Samuel, and the Books of Kings;
(b) the latter, namely, the greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets.
(3)The Hagiographa, or holy writings, including the rest of the books. These were ranked in three divisions:,
(a) The Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, distinguished by the Hebrew name, a word formed of the initial letters of these books, emeth, meaning truth.
(b) Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the five rolls, as being written for the synagogue use on five separate rolls.
(c) Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Between the Old and the New Testament no addition was made to the revelation God had already given. The period of New Testament revelation, extending over a century, began with the appearance of John the Baptist.
The New Testament consists of
(1) the historical books, viz., the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles;
(2) the Epistles; and
(3) the book of prophecy, the Revelation.
The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is altogether of human invention, designed to facilitate reference to it. The ancient Jews divided the Old Testament into certain sections for use in the synagogue service, and then at a later period, in the ninth century A.D., into verses. Our modern system of chapters for all the books of the Bible was introduced by Cardinal Hugo about the middle of the thirteenth century (he died 1263). The system of verses for the New Testament was introduced by Stephens in 1551, and generally adopted, although neither Tyndale's nor Coverdale's English translation of the Bible has verses. The division is not always wisely made, yet it is very useful.
See Bible Versions.
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Composition
The Jewish, Catholic and Protestant Bibles are actually collections of what were a number of independent books.
For Jews, the term Bible refers only to the Hebrew Bible, also called the Tanakh(תנ״ך), which includes the Five Books of Moses (the Torah) as well as the books of the Prophets and Writings.
The Bible as used by the majority of Christians comprises the Hebrew Scripture, known to Christians as the Old Testament or First Testament; and the New Testament, which describes the life and message of Jesus Christ.
For Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, and some Protestants, the Deuterocanonical books (various writings important in the Second-Temple period of Judaism) are considered to be part of the Old Testament and as such part of the Bible. While Jerome included the Deuterocanonical books (such as Tobias, Sirach, and Wisdom) in the publication of the Vulgate or Latin Bible, he called these books the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are those books present in the Greek Septuagint Old Testament but not found in Hebrew Scripture or the modern Hebrew Bible. Protestants beginning with Martin Luther do not consider the Apocrypha to be divinely inspired, but "good for reading." Some books considered deuterocanonical by Orthodox Churches are considered apocryphal by other Orthodox Churches and/or Catholics.
Distribution
The Bible is the most widely distributed book in the world. Both Hebrew Scripture and the Christian Bible have been translated more times and into more languages — more than 2,100 languages in all — than any other book! It is said that more than five billion copies of the Bible have been sold since 1815, making it the best-selling book of all-time.
The Bible has influenced not only religion but language, law and the natural philosophy of mainstream Western Civilization. Some scholars continue to use the Bible as a historical document, as there are archeological sites that match biblical descriptions of events and places, including possible sites for Sodom and Gomorrah, and the ruins remaining after the fall of Jericho.
The Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible (also known as the Jewish Bible, or תנ"ך, Tanakh in Hebrew) consists of 24 books. Tanakh is an acronym for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: the Torah (Pentateuch), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings, or Hagiographia).
Torah
The Torah, or "Teaching," is also known as the five books of Moses, thus Chumash or Pentateuch (Hebrew and Greek for "five," respectively).
The five books are called Pentateuch:
I Genesis (Bereshiit בראשית),
II Exodus (Shemot שמות),
III Leviticus (Vayikra ויקרא),
IV Numbers (Bemidbar במדבר), and
V Deuteronomy (Devarim דברים)
The Torah focuses on three moments in the changing relationship between God and people.
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 Hebrew 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. His story coincides with the story of the liberation of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, to the renewal of their covenant with God at Mount Sinai, and their wanderings in the desert until a new generation would be ready to enter the land of Canaan.
The Torah ends with the death of Moses.
The Torah contains 613 mitzvot, or commandments, of God, revealed during the passage from slavery in the land of Egypt to freedom in the land of Canaan. These commandments provide the basis for Halakha (Jewish religious law).
The Torah is divided into fifty-four portions which are read in turn in Jewish liturgy, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, each Sabbath. The cycle ends and recommences at the end of Sukkot, which is called Simchat Torah.
The Two Torahs
By the Hellenistic period of Jewish history, Jews were divided over the nature of the Torah. Some (for example, the Sadducees) believed that the Chumash contained the entire Torah, that is, the entire contents of what God revealed to Moses at Sinai and in the desert. Others, principally the Pharisees, believed that the Chumash represented only that portion of the revelation that had been written down (i.e., the Written Torah or the Written Law), but that the rest of God's revelation had been passed down orally (thus composing the Oral Law or Oral Torah). Orthodox and Masorti and Conservative (Progressive) Judaism state that the Talmud contains some of the Oral Torah. Reform Judaism also gives credence to the Talmud containing the Oral Torah, but, as with the written Torah, asserts that both were inspired by, but not dictated by, God.
Nevi'im
The Nevi'im, or "Prophets," tells the story of the rise of the Hebrew monarchy, its division into two kingdoms, and the prophets who, in God's name, judged the kings and the Children of Israel. It ends with the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians and the conquest of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians, and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Portions of the prophetic books are read by Jews on the Sabbath (Shabbat). The Book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur.
According to Jewish tradition, Nevi'im is divided into eight books. Contemporary translations subdivide these into seventeen books.
The eight books are:
I. Joshua or Yehoshua [יהושע]
II. Judges or Shoftim [שופטים]
III. Samuel or Shmu'el [שמואל] (often divided into two books; Samuel may be considered the last of the judges or the first of the prophets, as his sons were named judges but were rejected by the Hebrew nation)
IV. Kings or Melakhim [מלכים] (often divided into two books)
V. Isaiah or Yeshayahu [ישעיהו]
VI. Jeremiah or Yirmiyahu [ירמיהו]
VII. Ezekiel or Yehezq'el [יחזקאל]
VIII. Trei Asar (The Twelve Minor Prophets) [תרי עשר]
Hosea or Hoshea [הושע]
Joel or Yo'el [יואל]
Amos [עמוס]
Obadiah or Ovadyah [עבדיה]
Jonah or Yonah [יונה]
Micah or Mikhah [מיכה]
Nahum or Nachum [נחום]
Habakkuk or Habaquq [חבקוק]
Zephaniah or Tsefania [צפניה]
Haggai [חגי]
Zechariah or Zekharia [זכריה]
Malachi or Malakhi [מלאכי]
The Torah and the Nevi'im have an epical quality, although they have no human hero. Moses and David are, in many ways, antiheroes; one may consider the Children of Israel collectively to be the hero of the epic, or, if one must choose a single character, God.
Ketuvim
The Ketuvim, or "Writings," were probably written during or after the Babylonian Exile and were among the last books to be canonized. According to Rabbinic tradition, many of the psalms in the book of Psalms are attributed to David; King Solomon is believed to have written Song of Songs in his youth, Proverbs at the prime of his life, and Ecclesiastes at old age; and the prophet Jeremiah is thought to have written Lamentations. The Book of Job is the only biblical book that centers entirely on a non-Jew. The book of Ruth tells the story of a non-Jew (specifically, a Moabite) who married a Jew and, upon his death, followed in the ways of the Jews; according to the Bible, she was the great-grandmother of King David. Five of the books, called "The Five Scrolls" (Megilot), are read on Jewish holidays: Song of Songs on Passover; the Book of Ruth on Shavuot; Lamentations on the Ninth of Av; Ecclesiastes on Sukkot; and the Book of Esther on Purim. Collectively, the Ketuvim contain lyrical poetry, philosophical reflections on life, and the stories of the prophets and other Jewish leaders during the Babylonian exile. It ends with the Persian decree allowing Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.
Ketuvim contains eleven books:
I. Tehillim (Psalms) [תהלים]
II. Mishlei (Book of Proverbs) [משלי]
III. 'Iyyov (Book of Job) [איוב]
IV. Shir ha-Shirim (Song of Songs) [שיר השירים]
V. Ruth (Book of Ruth) [רות]
VI. Eikhah (Lamentations) [איכה] [Also called Kinnot (קינות) in Hebrew.]
VII. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) [קהלת]
VIII. Esther (Book of Esther) [אסתר]
IX. Daniel (Book of Daniel) [דניאל]
X. Ezra (often divided into two books, Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah [(עזרא (נחמיה]
XI. Divrei ha-Yamim (Chronicles, often divided into two books) [דברי הימים]
Translations And Editions
The Tanakh was mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Aramaic. Some time in the 2nd or 3rd century BC, the Torah was translated into Koine Greek, and over the next century, other books were translated as well. This translation became known as the Septuagint and was widely used by Greek-speaking Jews, and later by Christians. It differs somewhat from the later standardized Hebrew (Masoretic Text). This translation was promoted by way of a legend that seventy separate translators all produced identical texts, indicating that the translation was divinely inspired.
From the 800s to the 1400s, Rabbinic Jewish scholars known as the Masoretes compared the text of all known Biblical manuscripts in an effort to create a unified, standardized text; a series of highly similar texts eventually emerged, and any of these texts are known as Masoretic Texts (MT). The Masoretes also added vowel points (called niqqud) to the text, since the original text only contained letters. This sometimes required the selection of an interpretation, since some words differ only in their vowels — their meaning can vary in accordance with the vowels chosen. In antiquity, variant Hebrew readings existed, some of which have survived in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea scrolls, and other ancient fragments, as well as being attested in ancient versions in other languages.
Versions of the Septuagint contain several passages and whole books beyond what was included in the Masoretic texts of the Tanakh. In some cases these additions were thought by some scholars to have originally composed in Greek, while in other cases they are translations of Hebrew books or variants not present in the Masoretic texts. But recent discoveries have shown that more of the Septuagint additions have a Hebrew origin than was once thought. While there are no complete surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew texts on which the Septuagint was based, some scholars believe that they represent a different textual tradition ("vorlage") from the one that became the basis for the Masoretic texts.
Jews also produced nonliteral translations or paraphrases known as targums, primarily in Aramaic. They frequently expanded on the text with additional details taken from Rabbinic oral tradition.
