The Old Testament
The Protestant Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible of Judaism share the same books and texts, but they are organized differently. The Jewish Scriptures number 24 instead of 39 books and are presented in a different order. The Hebrew Bible is called the Tanakh. The first five books are traditionally linked to Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) and are often referred to as the Law or the Torah (Judaism) or the Pentateuch (a Greek term, “penta” meaning five).
The Roman Catholic OT contains additional books unknown to the Protestant OT. These books, also called the Apocrypha (literally “hidden” or “concealed”), are not considered part of the Scriptures by all Christians (more about this later).
When the Bible refers to “the Scriptures,” reference is always to the OT alone, not the NT (as it was not fully completed and available at that time).
The Books of the Old Testament
Traditionally the books of the OT fall into five main groups:
The Torah: The first five books, attributed to Moses, describe the creation of the world, Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood, Abraham and the patriarchs, Joseph and the relocation to Egypt, Moses and the exodus from Egypt and 40 years wandering through the desert. In Exodus Moses receives the Ten Commandments. The book of Leviticus describes in detail God’s instructions for worship and living a holy life. Orthodox Jews still consider the Torah the most important part of the Scriptures and attempt to follow these instructions to the letter.
History: The next 12 books, Joshua through Esther, cover 1,000 years of history (roughly 1400 BC through 400 BC): the campaign to conquer the Promised Land, the time of the judges, the reigns of Saul, David and Solomon, the divided kingdoms of the North (Israel) and the South (Judea), the defeats by the Assyrians and Babylonians, the exile and ultimate return to Judea/Jerusalem.
Wisdom and Poetry: These timeless principles show how to enjoy success and blessing regardless of the political and religious circumstances into which a person is born. These are also called “books of poetry” because they are largely written as poetry, especially the books of Psalms and Proverbs.
Major Prophets: Four prophets are designated as the Major
Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. They are
“major” not because of rank, but due to the length of their
prophetic books. Isaiah called
Minor Prophets: The 12 Minor
Prophets were raised up by God at strategic times during the
The complete OT was written over a span of about 1,000 years,
from 1400 BC (the books of Moses) through about 400 BC (Malachi).
Except for small sections of Daniel and Ezra written in Aramaic (the spoken language in
Read on about: (3) Overview of the New Testament
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