The Hebrew Bible is known in Judaism as the Tanakh (תנ״ך, an acronym of its three parts): Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim. It contains twenty-four books in the Jewish reckoning. Christian Old Testaments hold the same material, counted as thirty-nine books, because Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah are each split in two and the Twelve Prophets are counted separately.
Torah
The five books of Moses, (תורה, instruction), read in the synagogue in an annual cycle. Each Hebrew name comes from an opening word of the book.
| # | Hebrew | Name | English | Meaning of the Hebrew |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | בְּרֵאשִׁית | Bereshit | Genesis | In the beginning |
| 2 | שְׁמוֹת | Shemot | Exodus | Names |
| 3 | וַיִּקְרָא | Vayikra | Leviticus | And he called |
| 4 | בְּמִדְבַּר | Bemidbar | Numbers | In the wilderness |
| 5 | דְּבָרִים | Devarim | Deuteronomy | Words |
Nevi’im
The Prophets, (נביאים, prophets), in two groups: the Former Prophets, which continue the history from the entry into the land, and the Latter Prophets.
| # | Hebrew | Name | English | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | יְהוֹשֻׁעַ | Yehoshua | Joshua | Former Prophets |
| 7 | שׁוֹפְטִים | Shofetim | Judges | Former Prophets |
| 8 | שְׁמוּאֵל | Shemuel | Samuel | Former Prophets |
| 9 | מְלָכִים | Melakhim | Kings | Former Prophets |
| 10 | יְשַׁעְיָהוּ | Yeshayahu | Isaiah | Latter Prophets |
| 11 | יִרְמְיָהוּ | Yirmeyahu | Jeremiah | Latter Prophets |
| 12 | יְחֶזְקֵאל | Yehezkel | Ezekiel | Latter Prophets |
| 13 | תְּרֵי עֲשַׂר | Trei Asar | The Twelve | Latter Prophets |
The Twelve, counted as one book, are Hosea (הוֹשֵׁעַ, Hoshea), Joel (יוֹאֵל, Yoel), Amos (עָמוֹס, Amos), Obadiah (עֹבַדְיָה, Ovadyah), Jonah (יוֹנָה, Yonah), Micah (מִיכָה, Mikhah), Nahum (נַחוּם, Nahum), Habakkuk (חֲבַקּוּק, Havakkuk), Zephaniah (צְפַנְיָה, Tzefanyah), Haggai (חַגַּי, Haggai), Zechariah (זְכַרְיָה, Zekharyah) and Malachi (מַלְאָכִי, Malakhi).
Ketuvim
The Writings, (כתובים, writings), gather poetry, wisdom, history and the five scrolls read at festivals.
| # | Hebrew | Name | English | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | תְּהִלִּים | Tehillim | Psalms | Praises |
| 15 | מִשְׁלֵי | Mishlei | Proverbs | |
| 16 | אִיּוֹב | Iyov | Job | |
| 17 | שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים | Shir haShirim | Song of Songs | Scroll, Passover |
| 18 | רוּת | Rut | Ruth | Scroll, Shavuot |
| 19 | אֵיכָה | Eikhah | Lamentations | Scroll, Ninth of Av |
| 20 | קֹהֶלֶת | Kohelet | Ecclesiastes | Scroll, Sukkot |
| 21 | אֶסְתֵּר | Esther | Esther | Scroll, Purim |
| 22 | דָּנִיֵּאל | Daniel | Daniel | Partly in Aramaic |
| 23 | עֶזְרָא־נְחֶמְיָה | Ezra-Nehemiah | Ezra and Nehemiah | Partly in Aramaic |
| 24 | דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים | Divrei haYamim | Chronicles | Events of the days |
Order and text
The order above is the traditional Jewish one, which differs from Christian Bibles: the Tanakh closes with Chronicles, while Christian Old Testaments close with the prophets, so that the prophetic books stand immediately before the Gospels. The text in use is the Masoretic Text, fixed with vowel points and accents by the Masoretes between the seventh and tenth centuries CE. The Dead Sea Scrolls, copied between the third century BCE and the first century CE, give witnesses a thousand years older, most of them close to the Masoretic Text.
Continue with The Christian Bible, The Qur’an or the Glossary.