Editing Old Testament (section)

{{Short description|First division of Christian Bibles}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}{{about|a section of the Christian Bible|the related Jewish text|Hebrew Bible}}
{{redirect|The Old Testament|the 2006 Sunz of Man album|The Old Testament (album){{!}}''The Old Testament'' (album)|the 1962 film|The Old Testament (film){{!}}''The Old Testament'' (film)}}
{{Infobox religious text|religion=[[Judaism]], [[Christianity]]|name=Old Testament<br>{{small|{{Small|Part of the [[Bible]]}}}}|language=Hebrew, Aramaic|books=39 (Protestant), 46 (Catholic), up to 49 (Orthodox)|chapters=929|verses=23,145|nextletter=}}
{{Bible-related |CB}}
{{Christianity|state=collapsed}}

The '''Old Testament''' ('''OT''') is the first division of the [[Biblical canon#Christian canons|Christian biblical canon]], which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the [[Hebrew Bible]], or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious [[Hebrew (language)|Hebrew]] and occasionally [[Aramaic]] writings by the [[Israelites]].{{Sfn | Jones | 2000 | p = 215}} The second division of Christian Bibles is the [[New Testament]], written in [[Koine Greek]].

The Old Testament consists of many distinct books [[Authorship of the Bible|by various authors]] produced over a period of centuries.<ref name="Lim 2005 41">{{cite book |title= The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction|last= Lim|first= Timothy H.|year= 2005|publisher= Oxford University Press |location= Oxford|page= 41}}</ref> Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible 101: A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament |url=https://www.simplycatholic.com/bible-101-a-brief-introduction-to-the-old-testament/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=Simply Catholic |date=13 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref> the first five books or Pentateuch (which corresponds to the Jewish [[Torah]]); the history books telling the history of the Israelites, from their [[conquest of Canaan]] to their [[Babylonian captivity|defeat and exile in Babylon]]; the poetic and [[Poetic Books|wisdom literature]], which explore themes of human experience, morality, and divine justice; and the books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God.

The Old Testament canon differs among Christian denominations. The [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] and [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodox]] Churches include up to 49 books, the [[Catholic Bible|Catholic]] canon contains 46, and the [[Protestant Bible|Protestant]] Bible typically has 39.{{Sfn | Barton | 2001 | p = 3}} Most of these books are shared across all Christian canons, corresponding to the 24 books of the [[Tanakh#Books of the Tanakh|Tanakh]] but with differences in order and text. Some books found in Christian Bibles, but not in the Hebrew canon, are called [[deuterocanonical books]], mostly originating from the [[Septuagint]], an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. [[Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] churches include these, while most [[Protestant]] Bibles exclude them, though some [[Anglican]] and [[Lutheran]] versions place them in a separate section called [[biblical apocrypha|Apocrypha]].

While early histories of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|Israel]] were largely based on biblical accounts, their reliability has been increasingly questioned over time. Key debates have focused on the historicity of the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|Patriarchs]], the [[The Exodus|Exodus]], the Israelite conquest, and the [[United Monarchy]], with archaeological evidence often challenging these narratives. Mainstream scholarship has balanced skepticism with evidence, recognizing that some biblical traditions align with archaeological findings, particularly from the [[9th century BC]] onward.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Ancient Israelite World |last=Faust |first=Avraham |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-000-77324-8 |page=78-79 |editor-last=Keimer |editor-first=Kyle H. |chapter=Between the Biblical Story and History: Writing an Archaeological History of Ancient Israel |editor-last2=Pierce |editor-first2=George A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4beREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA78}}</ref>