Editing Bible (section)

=== Hebrew Bible ===
{{Further|Hebrew Bible|Development of the Hebrew Bible canon}}
{{Tanakh}}

The authoritative Hebrew Bible is taken from the masoretic text (called the [[Leningrad Codex]]) which dates from 1008. The Hebrew Bible can therefore sometimes be referred to as the Masoretic Text.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tov |first1=Professor Emmanuel |title=The Bible and the Masoretic Text |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-bible-and-the-masoretic-text |website=The Torah.com |access-date=3 July 2022 |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525004814/https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-bible-and-the-masoretic-text |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Hebrew Bible is also known by the name Tanakh ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: {{Script/Hebrew|תנ"ך}}). This reflects the threefold division of the Hebrew scriptures, [[Torah]] ("Teaching"), [[Nevi'im]] ("Prophets") and [[Ketuvim]] ("Writings") by using the first letters of each word.{{sfn|Metzger & Katz|2010|p=651, footnote 1}} It is not until the Babylonian Talmud ({{circa|550 BCE}}) that a listing of the contents of these three divisions of scripture are found.{{sfn|Pace|2016|p=354}}

The Tanakh was mainly written in [[Biblical Hebrew]], with some small portions (Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4–7:28)<ref>{{Bibleverse|Ezra|4:8–6:18}} and {{Bibleref2-nb|Ezra|7:12–26}}, {{Bibleverse|Jeremiah|10:11}}, {{Bibleverse|Daniel|2:4–7:28}}</ref> written in [[Biblical Aramaic]], a language which had become the ''[[lingua franca]]'' for much of the Semitic world.<ref name="Driver">{{cite web |last1=Driver |first1=Godfrey |author1-link=Sir Godfrey Driver |title=Introduction to the Old Testament |url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/driver1.html |website=www.bible-researcher.com |access-date=30 November 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091109185323/http://www.bible-researcher.com/driver1.html |archive-date=9 November 2009}}</ref>

==== Torah ====
{{Main|Torah}}
{{See also|Oral Torah}}
[[File:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG|thumb|A [[Torah scroll]] recovered from [[Glockengasse Synagogue]] in [[Cologne]]]]
[[File:Samaritan Inscription containing portion of the Bible in nine lines of Hebrew text, currently housed in the British Museum.jpg|thumb|Samaritan Inscription containing a portion of the Bible in nine lines of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] text, currently housed in the [[British Museum]] in London]]
The Torah (תּוֹרָה) is also known as the "Five Books of [[Moses]]" or the [[Pentateuch]], meaning "five scroll-cases".{{sfn|Barnstone|2009|p=[[iarchive:isbn 9780393064933/page/647|647]]}} Traditionally these books were considered to have been [[Mosaic authorship|dictated to Moses]] by God himself.{{sfn|Robinson|2006|p=97}}{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=1072}} Since the 17th century, scholars have viewed the original sources as being the product of multiple anonymous authors while also allowing the possibility that Moses first assembled the separate sources.{{sfn|Nahkola|2007|pp=vii, xvi, 197, 204, 216–217}}{{sfn|Baden|2012|p=13}} There are a variety of hypotheses regarding when and how [[Composition of the Torah|the Torah was composed]],{{sfn|Greifenhagen|2003|p=206}} but there is a general consensus that it took its final form during the reign of the Persian [[Achaemenid Empire]] (probably 450–350 BCE),{{sfn|Greifenhagen|2003|pp=206–207}}{{sfn|Newsom|2004|p=26}} or perhaps in the early [[Hellenistic period]] (333–164 BCE).{{sfn|Greifenhagen|2003|p=224 n. 49}}

The Hebrew names of the books are derived from the [[Incipit|first words]] in the respective texts. The Torah consists of the following five books:
* [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], ''Bereshith'' (בראשית)
* [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], ''Shemot'' (שמות)
* [[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]], ''Vayikra'' (ויקרא)
* [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]], ''Bamidbar'' (במדבר)
* [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]], ''Devarim'' (דברים)

The first eleven chapters of Genesis provide accounts of the [[Genesis creation narrative|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 [[biblical covenant|covenant]] with the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|biblical patriarchs]] [[Abraham]], [[Isaac]] and [[Jacob]] (also called [[Israel (name)|Israel]]) and Jacob's children, the "[[Children of Israel]]", especially [[Joseph (Hebrew Bible)|Joseph]]. It tells of how God commanded Abraham to leave his family and home in the city of [[Ur of the Chaldees|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. He leads the Children of Israel from slavery in [[ancient Egypt]] to the renewal of their covenant with God at [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mount Sinai]] and their wanderings in the desert until a new generation was ready to enter the land of Canaan. The Torah ends with the death of Moses.{{sfn|Rossel|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AzZlANCOIRgC&pg=PA355 355]}}

The commandments in the Torah provide the basis for [[Halakha|Jewish religious law]]. Tradition states that there are [[613 commandments]] (''taryag mitzvot'').

==== Nevi'im ====
{{Main|Nevi'im}}
Nevi'im ({{langx|he|נְבִיאִים|translit=Nəḇī'īm}}, "Prophets") is the second main division of the Tanakh, between the Torah and Ketuvim. It contains two sub-groups, the Former Prophets ({{lang|he-Latn|Nevi'im Rishonim}} {{lang|he|נביאים ראשונים|rtl=yes}}, the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) and the Latter Prophets ({{lang|he-Latn|Nevi'im Aharonim}} {{lang|he|נביאים אחרונים|rtl=yes}}, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the [[Twelve Minor Prophets]]).

The Nevi'im tell a story of the rise of the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Hebrew monarchy]] and its division into two kingdoms, the [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] and the [[Kingdom of Judah]], focusing on conflicts between the [[Israelites]] and other nations, and conflicts among Israelites, specifically, struggles between believers in "the {{LORD}} God"<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Kings.18:24; 1 Kings.18:37–39|multi=yes}}</ref> ([[Yahweh]]) and believers in foreign gods,{{efn|"Each king is judged either good or bad in black-and-white terms, according to whether or not he "did right" or "did evil" in the sight of the Lord. This evaluation is not reflective of the well-being of the nation, of the king's success or failure in war, or of the moral climate of the times, but rather the state of cultic worship during his reign. Those kings who shun idolatry and enact religious reforms are singled out for praise, and those who encourage pagan practices are denounced." {{harvnb|Savran|1987|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=O4hYlvzWui8C&pg=PA146 146]}}}}{{efn|"The fight against Baal was initiated by the prophets" {{harvnb|Kaufmann|1956a|p=54}}}} and the criticism of unethical and unjust behaviour of Israelite elites and rulers;{{efn|"The immediate occasion of the rise of the new prophecy was the political and social ruin caused by the wars with Israel's northerly neighbour, Aram, which continued for more than a century. They raged intensely during the reign of Ahab, and did not end until the time of Jeroboam II (784–744). While the nation as a whole was impoverished, a few&nbsp;– apparently of the royal officialdom&nbsp;– grew wealthy as a result of the national calamity. Many of the people were compelled to sell their houses and lands, with the result that a sharp social cleavage arose: on the one hand a mass of propertyless indigents, on the other a small circle of the rich. A series of disasters struck the nation&nbsp;– drought, famine, plagues, death and captivity (Amos 4: 6–11), but the greatest disaster of all was the social disintegration due to the cleavage between the poor masses and the wealthy, dissolute upper class. The decay affected both Judah and Israel ... High minded men were appalled at this development. Was this the people whom YHWH had brought out of Egypt, to whom He had given the land and a law of justice and right? it seemed as if the land was about to be inherited by the rich, who would squander its substance in drunken revelry. it was this dissolution that brought the prophetic denunciations to white heat." {{harvnb|Kaufmann|1956b|pp=57–58}}}}{{efn|"What manner of man is the prophet? A student of philosophy who runs from the discourses of the great metaphysicians to the orations of the prophets may feel as if he were going from the realm of the sublime to an area of trivialities. Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and becoming, of matter and form, of definitions and demonstrations, he is thrown into orations about widows and orphans, about the corruption of judges and affairs of the market place. Instead of showing us a way through the elegant mansions of the mind, the prophets take us to the slums. The world is a proud place, full of beauty, but the prophets are scandalized, and rave as if the whole world were a slum. They make much ado about paltry things, lavishing excessive language upon trifling subjects. What if somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich? .... Indeed, the sorts of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice&nbsp;– cheating in business, exploitation of the poor – is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us an injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence; to us an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world." {{harvnb|Heschel|2001|pp=3–4}}}}{{efn|"Samuel is thus a work of national self-criticism. It recognizes that Israel would not have survived, either politically or culturally, without the steadying presence of a dynastic royal house. But it makes both that house and its subjects answerable to firm standards of prophetic justice&nbsp;– not those of cult prophets or professional ecstatics, but of morally upright prophetic leaders in the tradition of Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, and others ..." {{harvnb|Rosenberg|1987|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=O4hYlvzWui8C&pg=PA141 141]}}}} in which prophets played a crucial and leading role. It ends with the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], followed by the conquest of the Kingdom of Judah by the [[neo-Babylonian Empire]] and the destruction of the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple in Jerusalem]].

===== Former Prophets =====
The Former Prophets are the books Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. They contain narratives that begin immediately after the death of Moses with the divine appointment of Joshua as his successor, who then leads the people of Israel into the [[Promised Land]], and end with the release from imprisonment of the last [[Kings of Judah|king of Judah]]. Treating Samuel and Kings as single books, they cover:
* Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan (in the [[Book of Joshua]]),
* the struggle of the people to possess the land (in the [[Book of Judges]]),
* the people's request to God to give them a king so that they can occupy the land in the face of their enemies (in the [[Books of Samuel]])
* the possession of the land under the divinely appointed kings of the [[Davidic line|House of David]], ending in conquest and foreign exile ([[Books of Kings]])

===== Latter Prophets =====
{{Further|Major prophet}}
The Latter Prophets are [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]], [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]], [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] and the [[Twelve Minor Prophets]], counted as a single book.
* [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]], ''Hoshea'' (הושע) denounces the worship of gods other than ''Yahweh'' (God), comparing Israel to a woman being unfaithful to her husband.
* [[Book of Joel|Joel]], ''Yo'el'' (יואל) includes a lament and a promise from God.
* [[Book of Amos|Amos]], ''Amos'' (עמוס) speaks of social justice, providing a basis for natural law by applying it to unbelievers and believers alike.
* [[Book of Obadiah|Obadiah]], ''Ovadya'' (עבדיה) addresses the judgment of Edom and restoration of Israel.
* [[Book of Jonah|Jonah]], ''Yona'' (יונה) tells of a reluctant redemption of Ninevah.
* [[Book of Micah|Micah]], ''Mikha'' (מיכה) reproaches unjust leaders, defends the rights of the poor, and looks forward to world peace.
* [[Book of Nahum|Nahum]], ''Nakhum'' (נחום) speaks of the destruction of Nineveh.
* [[Book of Habakkuk|Habakkuk]], ''Havakuk'' (חבקוק) upholds trust in God over Babylon.
* [[Book of Zephaniah|Zephaniah]], ''Tzefanya'' (צפניה) pronounces coming of judgment, survival and triumph of remnant.
* [[Book of Haggai|Haggai]], ''Khagay'' (חגי) rebuild Second Temple.
* [[Book of Zechariah|Zechariah]], ''Zekharya'' (זכריה) God blesses those who repent and are pure.
* [[Book of Malachi|Malachi]], ''Malakhi'' (מלאכי) corrects lax religious and social behaviour.

==== Ketuvim ====
{{Main|Ketuvim|Poetic Books}}
[[File:Bhs psalm1.png|thumb|[[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] text of [[Psalms|Psalm]] 1:1–2]]
Ketuvim (in {{langx|hbo|כְּתוּבִים|translit=Kəṯūḇīm}} "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh. The Ketuvim are believed to have been written under the inspiration of [[Holy Spirit in Judaism|Ruach HaKodesh]] (the Holy Spirit) but with one level less authority than that of [[prophecy]].{{sfn|Henshaw|1963|p=20}}

In Masoretic manuscripts (and some printed editions), Psalms, Proverbs and Job are presented in a special two-column form emphasizing their internal parallelism, which was found early in the study of Hebrew poetry. "Stichs" are the lines that make up a verse "the parts of which lie parallel as to form and content".{{sfn|Kraus|1993|p=33}} Collectively, these three books are known as ''Sifrei Emet'' (an acronym of the titles in Hebrew, איוב, משלי, תהלים yields ''Emet'' אמ"ת, which is also the Hebrew for "truth"). Hebrew cantillation is the manner of chanting ritual readings as they are written and notated in the Masoretic Text of the Bible. Psalms, Job and Proverbs form a group with a "special system" of accenting used only in these three books.{{sfn|Kraus|1993|p=12}}

===== The five scrolls =====
{{Further|Five Megillot}}
[[File:Egon Tschirch- Hohelied Nr. 11 (high resolution).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Song of Songs (Egon Tschirch)|''Song of Songs (Das Hohelied Salomos), No. 11'']] by [[Egon Tschirch]], published in 1923]]
The five relatively short books of [[Song of Songs]], [[Book of Ruth]], the [[Book of Lamentations]], [[Ecclesiastes]], and [[Book of Esther]] are collectively known as the ''Hamesh Megillot''. These are the latest books collected and designated as authoritative in the Jewish canon even though they were not complete until the second century CE.{{sfn|Coogan|2009|p=5}}

===== Other books =====
[[File:Great Isaiah Scroll.jpg|thumb|The [[Isaiah scroll]], part of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]], contains almost the whole [[Book of Isaiah]] and dates from the second century BCE.]]
The books of [[Book of Esther|Esther]], [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]], [[Ezra–Nehemiah|Ezra-Nehemiah]]{{Efn|Originally, Ezra and Nehemiah were one book, which were divided in later traditions.}} and [[Books of Chronicles|Chronicles]] share a distinctive style that no other Hebrew literary text, biblical or extra-biblical, shares.{{sfn|Young|2013|p=23}} They were not written in the normal style of Hebrew of the post-exilic period. The authors of these books must have chosen to write in their own distinctive style for unknown reasons.{{sfn|Young|2013|p=24}}
* Their narratives all openly describe relatively late events (i.e., the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent restoration of Zion).
* The Talmudic tradition ascribes late authorship to all of them.
* Two of them (Daniel and Ezra) are the only books in the Tanakh with significant portions in [[Biblical Aramaic|Aramaic]].

===== Book order =====
The following list presents the books of Ketuvim in the order they appear in most current printed editions.
* ''Tehillim'' ([[Psalms]]) תְהִלִּים is an anthology of individual Hebrew religious hymns.
* ''Mishlei'' ([[Book of Proverbs]]) מִשְלֵי is a "collection of collections" on values, moral behaviour, the meaning of life and right conduct, and its basis in faith.
* ''Iyov'' ([[Book of Job]]) אִיּוֹב is about faith, without understanding or justifying suffering.
* ''Shir ha-Shirim'' ([[Song of Songs]]) or (Song of Solomon) שִׁיר הַשִׁירִים ([[Passover]]) is poetry about love and sex.
* ''Ruth'' ([[Book of Ruth]]) רוּת ([[Shavuot]]) tells of the Moabite woman Ruth, who decides to follow the God of the Israelites, and remains loyal to her mother-in-law, who is then rewarded.
* ''Eikha'' ([[Book of Lamentations|Lamentations]]) איכה ([[Ninth of Av]]) [Also called ''Kinnot'' in Hebrew.] is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.
* ''Qoheleth'' ([[Ecclesiastes]]) קהלת ([[Sukkot]]) contains wisdom sayings disagreed over by scholars. Is it positive and life-affirming, or deeply pessimistic?
* ''Ester'' ([[Book of Esther]]) אֶסְתֵר ([[Purim]]) tells of a Hebrew woman in Persia who becomes queen and thwarts a genocide of her people.
* ''Dani’el'' ([[Book of Daniel]]) דָּנִיֵּאל combines prophecy and eschatology (end times) in story of God saving Daniel just as He will save Israel.
* ''‘Ezra'' ([[Book of Ezra]]–[[Book of Nehemiah]]) עזרא tells of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.
* ''Divrei ha-Yamim'' ([[Books of Chronicles|Chronicles]]) דברי הימים contains genealogy.

The Jewish textual tradition never finalized the order of the books in Ketuvim. The [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]] ([[Bava Batra]] 14b–15a) gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles.{{sfn|Rodkinson|2008|p=53}}

One of the large scale differences between the Babylonian and the Tiberian biblical traditions is the order of the books. Isaiah is placed after Ezekiel in the Babylonian, while Chronicles opens the Ketuvim in the Tiberian, and closes it in the Babylonian.{{sfn|Phillips|2016|pp=300–301}}

The Ketuvim is the last of the three portions of the Tanakh to have been accepted as canonical. While the Torah may have been considered canon by Israel as early as the fifth century BCE and the Former and Latter Prophets were canonized by the second century BCE, the Ketuvim was not a fixed canon until the second century CE.{{sfn|Coogan|2009|p=5}}

Evidence suggests, however, that the people of Israel were adding what would become the Ketuvim to their holy literature shortly after the canonization of the prophets. As early as 132 BCE references suggest that the Ketuvim was starting to take shape, although it lacked a formal title.{{sfn|Henshaw|1963|pp=16–17}} ''[[Against Apion]]'', the writing of [[Flavius Josephus|Josephus]] in 95 CE, treated the text of the Hebrew Bible as a closed canon to which "... no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable..."{{sfn|Lightfoot|2003|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=89oz-U-JJ0sC&pg=PA154 154–155]}} For an extended period after 95CE, the divine inspiration of Esther, [[the Song of Songs]], and [[Ecclesiastes]] was often under scrutiny.{{sfn|Henshaw|1963|p=17}}