Bible is the Name given to several collections

Bible is the name given to several collections of writings held sacred by the Jewish and Christian religions.

It is also known as the Holy Scriptures. Both religions regard the Bible as inspired by God. They base many of their beliefs and customs on the teachings found in the Bible. The Bible is the most widely distributed book in history. It has also been translated more times, and into more languages, than any other book.

The Jewish and Christian Bibles differ from each other in several ways. The Jewish Bible is commonly called the Hebrew Bible because most of it was written in Hebrew. It tells the story of Creation. It also contains information on pre-Israelite times and the history and religious life of ancient Israel from about 1300 B.C. to the 100's B.C.

The Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament, forms the first part of the Christian Bible. The second part of the Christian Bible, the New Testament, was written in Greek. It covers about 100 years, from the birth of Jesus Christ to about A.D. 125.

Some Christian groups also include in the Old Testament additional originally Jewish writings that are not found in the Hebrew Bible. The individual writings collected in the Bible are known as books. The books that are officially accepted by any group as part of its Bible are called the canon.

Both the Jewish and the Christian Bibles view God as the supreme power behind the events they describe, though God's role may not always be apparent. The Bible does not define God or try to prove God's existence. Instead, it testifies to God's presence in history including, in the Christian Bible, the life of Jesus Christ and the development of the early church.

Scholars value the books of the Bible not only as important religious writings but also as great literary works. The Bible includes many forms of literature, such as letters, stories, history, laws, prophecies, prayers, songs, love poems, and epics. Its vivid, realistic tales of the struggles, failures, and triumphs of both great and ordinary people entertain as well as teach. Literary critics have praised its beautiful poetry and stirring calls to faith.

Readers have long differed over how to explain the meaning of the Bible. Some people believe that every event mentioned in the Bible actually happened exactly as the Bible says it did. Others feel that many events in the Bible must be read as symbols of religious belief.

This article presents a broad survey of the Bible. Many World Book articles provide detailed information on various aspects of the Bible. A list of articles appears at the end of this article.

The Hebrew Bible

Almost all of the Hebrew Bible was written in Hebrew. A few parts, especially sections of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Ezra, were written in another ancient language called Aramaic.

Books of the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible consists of 24 books. The Christian Old Testament divides some of the books, increasing their number to 39. In addition, Roman Catholic Bibles add seven books to the Old Testament. These books first appeared in a Jewish translation of the Bible into Greek during the mid-200's B.C. The canon of the Greek Orthodox Church is the same as that of the Catholic Church, with five additional books. They are 1 and 2 Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, and 3 Maccabees.

The books of the Hebrew Bible are organized into three sections - the Law (Pentateuch), the Prophets, and the Writings. The name by which Jews know the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, is formed from the first letter of the Hebrew word for each section: Torah, Nebiim, and Ketubim. The Christian Old Testament is divided into four sections - Pentateuch, Historical Books, Wisdom Books, and Prophets. For a list of all the books found in the Hebrew Bible and the Roman Catholic and Protestant canons, see the table in this article. The following discussion describes the three sections of the Hebrew Bible.

The Law consists of five books. It is also called Pentateuch, from two Greek words meaning five books, and Torah. The Book of Genesis describes God's creation of the world, early human history, and the origin of the Israelites. The other books trace the early history of the Israelites, ancestors of the Jews. They begin with Exodus, containing the departure of the Israelites from Egypt under their leader Moses, and they end with the death of Moses at the entrance to Canaan (what is now Israel). These books also contain the Ten Commandments and many of the laws that serve as the basis of Judaism today.

The Law was the first part of the Bible to be accepted into the canon. A group of Jews called Samaritans still accept only this part of the Bible (see SAMARITANS).

The Prophets were teachers and thinkers who played a major role in the political and religious life of the Israelites. This section of the Hebrew Bible was the second to be accepted into the canon. It is divided into the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The division is based on the order of the books in the Bible and not on the order in which they were written.

The Former Prophets consist of four books - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. These books continue the history of the Israelites from the settlement of Canaan to the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 or 586 B.C. The authors of the Former Prophets drew from historical sources for their discussions of prophets, judges, and kings. But their chief purpose was to demonstrate the power of God and the divine role in history.

The Latter Prophets also consist of four books. Three books relate teachings associated with prophets named Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The fourth book gathers the teachings of 12 other prophets. The Book of Isaiah may include the teachings of more than one prophet. One prophet named Isaiah probably lived in the 700's B.C. Another prophet, also known as Isaiah, probably lived about 200 years later. In general, the earlier prophets, such as Jeremiah and the first Isaiah, called on the people to repent from their sins and renew their faith in God. The later prophets, including Ezekiel and the second Isaiah, taught after the exile of the Jews to Babylonia in 586 B.C. They spoke of their hope for God's forgiveness and a return to their land.

The Writings consist of 11 books of various kinds. The Book of Psalms is made up of religious poetry. The Books of Ruth, Esther, and Daniel are stories drawn from Jewish history. The Song of Songs (also called the Song of Solomon) is a collection of love poems. Lamentations consists of five poems that mourn the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Other books include history (Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles) and wisdom literature, or philosophical writings (Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes). Of these books, Job concerns the unknowable nature of God. Ecclesiastes is a largely pessimistic discussion of the nature of life.

Development of the Hebrew Bible. Scholars have evidence of many similarities between ancient Hebrew literary and legal traditions and those of other Near Eastern cultures, including Mesopotamian law codes, Egyptian wisdom literature, and Canaanite poetry. But no written sources tell how the Hebrew Bible began to develop. Clues to its early development must be taken almost entirely from the Bible itself.

Jewish writers have discussed the origins of the Law since pre-Christian times. According to Jewish and Christian tradition, these books are "the books of Moses." But the books themselves do not say Moses was the author. Some scholars believe the Law began as oral literature and was written down following the reign of King David - that is, after about 1000 B.C.

In analyzing the books of the Law, Biblical scholars have noted differences in vocabulary, style, the names for God, and the idea of God. They have also noted duplications of stories. Many scholars believe this evidence shows that several persons or groups wrote the Law. They suggest that four documents originally existed. These documents were written over at least 500 years and were combined by a number of editors.

The books of the Prophets may reflect the way the prophets' words were remembered and honoured long after their deaths. The words of later generations are partly mixed with those of the prophets, either as an explanation or as actual changes in what the prophets said. Only by careful study can modern readers try to separate the original messages of the prophets from later revisions.

The authors of the Writings are unknown, though several are associated with various ancient leaders. Many of the Psalms begin with a one-line heading or introduction. The headings in about one-half of the Psalms contain David's name and some people take these references as indications of authorship. Other individuals are also mentioned in these headings, and may have been authors of some Psalms. The Book of Psalms, which actually consists of at least five ancient books, is best understood as a collection of anthologies of psalms written by many people. David's son Solomon is said to have written the Song of Songs. These traditions may have arisen because verses in the books can be understood as "Psalm of David" or "Song of Solomon." In fact, the Hebrew word used in these verses may mean of, to, or for.

Development of the Christian Old Testament. Jews living in Palestine used the Bible in its original Hebrew version. But many Jews living outside of Palestine spoke other languages. During the mid-200's B.C., Jewish scholars in Egypt translated the Bible into Greek. For more information on this translation, see the section on The first translations in this article.

Other books were added to the Hebrew Bible in its Greek translation. Some of these books were translations of Hebrew works. Others were original compositions in Greek. In addition, the Greek translation expanded the books of Esther and Daniel.

When Christianity began to spread throughout the Greek-speaking world about the A.D. 50's, Christians used the Greek translation of the Bible. This translation became the Christian Old Testament.

During the A.D. 1500's, some Protestant scholars became concerned that the Old Testament contained books not found in the Hebrew Bible. The scholars removed these books from the Old Testament and called them Apocrypha. For this reason, the Protestant Old Testament includes only those writings that form the Hebrew Bible. Some Protestant editions of the Bible include the Apocrypha as a separate section. The word apocrypha comes from a Greek word meaning hidden. Scholars disagree on why the word was applied to these writings.

The list below gives the titles and order of the books in the Revised Standard Version of the Apocrypha.

1 Esdras
2 Esdras

Tobit
Judith

Additions to the Book of Esther
Wisdom of Solomon

Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach
Baruch

Letter of Jeremiah
Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men

Susanna (Additions to Daniel)
Bel and the Dragon

Prayer of Manasseh
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees

The Roman Catholic Old Testament includes all of these books except 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh. The Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Azaria, and Bel and the Dragon occur as additions to Old Testament books. The Greek Orthodox Old Testament includes all of the books on this list.

The New Testament

The New Testament records the life of Jesus Christ. It also deals with the development of the early church and the meaning of faith in Jesus. The New Testament was written in Greek, which was widely spoken during the time of Jesus. Jesus and His disciples spoke Aramaic.

Books of the New Testament. The New Testament consists of 27 books organized into four sections - the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters, and Revelation. The number of books and their order are the same in the Roman Catholic and Protestant versions. For the complete canon, see the table in this article.

The Gospels consist of four books - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They appear as the first books in the New Testament, though they are not the earliest works in the canon. The word gospel comes from the Old English word god spell, which means good news.

The Gospels themselves do not mention their authors' names. However, the early church attributed them to two of Christ's apostles, Matthew and John, and two companions of apostles, Mark and Luke. Today, many scholars doubt that these men were the actual authors of the gospels.

All four Gospels describe the life of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have similarities of detail and arrangement. They are called the Synoptic Gospels. The word synoptic comes from a Greek word that means see together.

The Synoptic Gospels differ from the Gospel of John in several ways. In the Synoptic Gospels, for example, Jesus expresses His teachings chiefly in short sayings and in brief stories called parables. In John, He teaches through long statements.

Although the Synoptic Gospels generally deal with the same events, each of the four Gospels regards Jesus differently. Matthew describes Him as the lawgiver who tells how Christians and their church should act. Mark shows Him as the Saviour who triumphs through suffering. Luke presents Jesus as the Saviour of all people. John concentrates on Jesus' divine nature.

Many scholars believe that Mark was the earliest Gospel. It was probably written just before or after the Roman army captured Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Matthew and Luke were written a little later. The contents of these two Gospels indicate that both authors knew Mark's Gospel but not each other's. John was written last, perhaps in the A.D. 90's. Each Gospel was probably first used in only one geographic area.

The Acts of the Apostles continues the story told in Luke and was written by the same author. Acts tells about the expansion of the early church. The story opens in Jerusalem, where the apostles gather after Jesus is raised from the dead. The book ends in Rome, where Saint Paul, the church's first great missionary, preaches to the Jews while a Roman prisoner.

The Letters make up 21 books. These books contain some of the earliest writings in the New Testament, though they appear in the canon after the Gospels and the Acts. The Letters are also known as Epistles, from a Greek word meaning letter. The first 13 letters are called the Pauline letters. They claim to be letters from Saint Paul mainly to Christian congregations he had founded. The last eight letters are called General Letters. Most of them claim to be letters from early church leaders.

Most scholars doubt that Paul actually wrote all 13 of the Pauline Letters. The letters he did write provide a record of Paul's preaching. The letters discuss problems of faith and conduct. Most of them were probably written in the A.D. 50's and early 60's.

The General Letters were written over a number of years to about A.D. 125. They deal with problems faced by second- and third-generation Christians. In form, the General Letters resemble the Pauline Letters.

Revelation is also called the Apocalypse, from a Greek word meaning revelation. A man named John wrote the book, but he is probably not the same person who wrote the Gospel of John.

Revelation begins as a letter "to the seven churches that are in Asia." It then gives a symbolic description of God's final triumph, through Christ, over evil and death. This description comes from a series of visions of the future sent by God to the author through an angel.

Development of the New Testament. The first generation of Christians preserved memories of Jesus Christ's teachings, deeds, and Crucifixion largely by word of mouth. The story of Jesus was not written down in the Gospels until the second generation of the church.

The authors of the New Testament did not deliberately try to create a Christian Bible. The early church had a Bible, the Hebrew Bible, especially in its Greek translation. But, differing views of Christian faith in the A.D. 100's led the church to form the New Testament canon. It needed the canon as authority against unacceptable religious views. The church also wanted to preserve the authentic story of Jesus' life and death in writing for future generations of Christians.

The church asked three main questions about the writings it considered for the canon. (1) Were the writings widely accepted and used in the church? (2) Did they follow the church's traditional teachings? (3) Were they thought to have been written or authorized by an apostle?

By about A.D. 200, the church canon included most of today's New Testament. In A.D. 367, the content of the New Testament was first listed exactly as we now know it. This canon was gradually adopted by all Christians.

The Bible as history

Historical study of the Bible has two main aspects. One aspect concerns the historical accuracy of events mentioned in the Bible. The second concerns how scholars can use the Bible to learn more about the history and people of the ancient Near East.

Historical accuracy of the Bible. Scholars have been able to confirm many of the statements of the Bible through archaeology and the study of documents written by other peoples of the ancient Near East. For example, scholars have discovered the decree of Cyrus, king of Persia, permitting the peoples exiled by his Babylonian predecessors to return to their ancestral lands and to reclaim their sacred shrines and holy objects. For this reason, the Biblical story of Cyrus' permitting the Jews to return to Israel with the utensils from the Jerusalem Temple and to rebuild the Temple may be taken as historically verified.

It is impossible to confirm the miraculous events described in the Bible. People may explain them in several ways. Some people regard miraculous occurrences, such as the appearance of angels, as dreams or prophetic visions. Others seek scientific explanations for Biblical miracles. They suggest that the story of Joshua's making the sun stand still in the sky represents a solar eclipse, or that Jesus and Elisha brought seemingly dead children back to life using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But such theories can never be proved, and they do not explain all Biblical miracles.

Many scholars and religious authorities believe that some Biblical stories originated in the desire of ancient Hebrew leaders to disprove certain ancient Near Eastern beliefs. Scholars have found such meanings in a number of Biblical stories, including the Creation, the Flood, and the Ten Plagues.

The Bible as a historical source. The authors of the Bible did not intend only to record the facts of history. They interpreted the facts and events to teach their philosophy of history and their beliefs about God and God's role in history. However, the Bible is the best source of information about many historical periods and events. In other cases, the Bible can add to what is already known from other sources. Whichever the case, it is the job of the historian to separate the facts of history from the Bible's interpretation of it. The historian must reconstruct this history using facts from the Bible and those obtained from non-Biblical sources.

An example of the Bible's treatment of history appears in the story of the Israelites' escape from Egypt and their journey to the land of Canaan. The Book of Exodus tells how God parted the waters of the Red Sea, leaving a dry path for the Israelites to walk across. God then closed the waters and drowned the pursuing Egyptians. The book goes on to describe the route the Israelites took in their journey to Canaan, and the battles and adventures they had along the way. Unfortunately, many of the locations mentioned are unknown today.

Some historians deny that the Israelites were ever in Egypt. Others argue that, because the Exodus is the most popular theme in the Hebrew Bible, it is impossible for it not to be true. There is a wide range of other opinion about the event. Some writers have sought scientific explanations for the crossing of the Red Sea, such as shifts in tides or storms. Others have interpreted the story of the crossing as a myth.

Translations of the Bible

The first translations of the Bible were oral versions of the Hebrew Bible in Aramaic. An Aramaic translation is called a Targum, which comes from a Hebrew word meaning translation. Targums were made for ancient Jewish communities that spoke Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Jews who spoke only Aramaic could not understand the Bible when it was read aloud in Hebrew. A translator would stand beside the reader in a synagogue and translate Hebrew passages into the local Aramaic language. Rabbinic tradition suggests that the practice of translating the Torah into Aramaic originated with the prophet Ezra when the Jews returned from Babylonia in the 400's B.C.

Jews who lived in Greek-speaking parts of the world also needed a translation of the Bible. In the mid-200's B.C., a group of scholars working in Alexandria, Egypt, translated the Law into Greek. According to tradition, Ptolemy, the Greek king of Egypt, called 70 or 72 Jewish scholars to Alexandria to translate the Law for his famous library. The story tells that the scholars, working separately, all arrived at the same translation. The translation is called the Septuagint, from a Latin word meaning seventy. Later Greek translations of the rest of the Bible came to be considered part of the Septuagint.

Most of the first Christians spoke Greek, and so the early church used the Septuagint. But the need for more translations arose as Christianity spread to Syria and to Latin-speaking countries. Bibles translated into Syriac (an Aramaic dialect) and Latin appeared in the A.D. 100's.

About A.D. 383, Saint Jerome began a revision of the Latin Bible at the request of Pope Saint Damasus I. As his sources for the Old Testament, Jerome used Hebrew and Greek texts and Latin translations. For the New Testament, he used Greek texts and Latin translations. He completed the project in A.D. 405. His version became known as the Vulgate, from the Latin word meaning popular. For centuries, it was the only version of the Bible authorized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Early English translations. The first complete English translation of the Bible appeared in the 1380's. The translation was made by John Wycliffe, an English priest, and his followers.

The German Protestant reformer Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German in 1522. He and his colleagues finished translating the rest of the Bible in 1534. About the same time, William Tyndale, an Englishman, translated the Bible into English while living in Germany. Tyndale based some of his translation on Luther's German version. Publication of Tyndale's New Testament began in Cologne, Germany, in 1525. Portions of the Old Testament appeared in 1530 and 1531. The vigorous language of Tyndale's translation greatly influenced most later translations and revisions of the Bible in English.

Miles Coverdale, an English bishop, prepared the first complete English Bible to be printed. He used much of Tyndale's translation, portions of Luther's Bible, and the Vulgate. Coverdale's Bible was printed in Germany in 1535.

English refugees living in France made the first Roman Catholic translation of the Bible from Latin into English. The New Testament was published in Reims (also spelled Rheims), France, in 1582. The Old Testament was published in Douay, France, in 1609 and 1610. The translation became known as the Douay-Rheims Bible or the Douay Bible.

The King James Version. In 1604, King James I of England authorized a committee of about 50 scholars to prepare a revision of earlier English translations of the Bible. The new version appeared in 1611 and became known as the King James, or Authorized, Version. The beauty and grace of the translation established the King James Version as one of the great treasures of the English language. No important English translations of the Bible appeared for more than 200 years after the publication of the King James Version. During this time, the King James Version was the most widely used translation in the English-speaking world.

By the mid-1800's, scholars and religious leaders were calling for fresh translations of the Bible. Scholars had more accurate knowledge of the original Hebrew and Greek Biblical texts and so uncovered many errors in the texts used by the King James revisers. Scholars also gained more knowledge of other ancient Near Eastern languages, which added to their understanding of the Biblical languages. In addition, the English language itself had changed greatly over the years. Many words in the King James Version no longer had the same meaning or were even understood by readers of the Bible.

In 1870, the Church of England decided to revise the King James Version. The New Testament appeared in 1881, the Old Testament in 1885, and the Apocrypha in 1895. But the early popularity of the translation, called the Revised Version, did not last. Most individuals and churches still preferred the King James Version.

Modern English translations. Several modern English translations of the Bible have tried to replace the out-of-date language of older versions. They have attempted to reproduce the flavour of everyday speech. These translations also have made improvements in printing the text of the Bible. For example, paragraphs separate the text into logical divisions, dialogue is enclosed in quotation marks, and poetry is printed to show its verse form.

In the early 1900's, James Moffatt, a Scottish scholar, translated the Bible in a rather free style. His New Testament appeared in 1913, and his Old Testament in 1924. In the United States, Edgar Good speed published a translation of the New Testament in 1923, and four other scholars published a version of the Old Testament in 1927. Their translations appeared in 1931 under the title The Bible: An American Translation.

The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. sponsored a translation called the Revised Standard Version, which became highly popular. The New Testament was published in 1946, the Old Testament in 1952, and the Apocrypha in 1957. Several British Protestant churches sponsored a translation called the New English Bible. The New Testament appeared in 1961, and the Old Testament and the Apocrypha appeared in 1970. American Protestant scholars prepared the New American Standard Bible. The New Testament was published in 1963 and both Testaments in 1971. The American Bible Society sponsored a version commonly known as the Good News Bible. The New Testament was published in 1966 and the Old Testament in 1976. Kenneth N. Taylor, an American author, completed The Living Bible Paraphrased in 1971. Taylor based his version on the American Standard Version, a 1901 revision of the King James Version. The New York Bible Society sponsored the New International Version (New Testament, 1973; Old Testament, 1976).

Roman Catholic scholars in England produced the Jerusalem Bible in 1966. They based their translation on a French version published in 1956. The first completely American Roman Catholic translation of the Bible was published in 1970 as the New American Bible.

Before the mid-1800's, English-speaking Jews used either the original Hebrew text or the King James Version of the Old Testament. Then, during the last half of the 1800's, Jewish scholars in Britain made several translations of the Hebrew Bible into English. But their translations were largely revisions of the King James Version. In 1917, a new translation of the Hebrew Bible into English was published in the United States. The Jewish Publication Society of America and the Central Conference of American Rabbis sponsored the project. The Jewish Publication Society also sponsored a new translation of the Hebrew Bible. Publication began in 1962 and was completed in 1981. This translation is noteworthy for its commitment to following the Hebrew Bible.

In 1973, a new edition of the Revised Standard Version appeared as the Common Bible. This edition was the first English translation of the Bible to be approved by Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Greek Orthodox religious leaders. In 1990, leaders of the major Christian faiths endorsed another new edition called the New Revised Standard Version. This edition, sponsored by the National Council of Churches, replaced many masculine words with words applying to both sexes.

The Bible in worship

Jews and Christians use the Bible in private and public worship. In public worship, Jews and many Christian groups read parts of the Bible according to an official schedule. The reading is often accompanied by teaching or preaching of an important lesson taken from it. In early Christian times, there were two systems of Torah reading in synagogues on the Sabbath. In Babylonia, Jews read the entire Torah every year. In Palestine, the reading took from 3 to 31/2 years. Eventually the Babylonian system became the accepted one. During the Middle Ages, the holiday of Simhat Torah was established to celebrate the conclusion of the annual reading cycle. But some parts of the Bible are never read as part of a public reading cycle. These parts include Job, Proverbs, Daniel, and Chronicles.

In some Protestant churches, the minister often selects the Biblical readings, which may be related to the topic of the sermon. Readings from the Bible are also included in morning and evening prayer services of the Church of England and other Anglican churches.

In the Roman Catholic Church, Bible passages are read during Mass. A series of daily prayers called the divine office consists almost entirely of Bible passages. In addition, parts of the Bible are read during such ceremonies as baptism, marriage, and funerals.

The Book of Psalms has an important role in Jewish and Christian worship. Many psalms have been set to music and sung as hymns. Congregations and choirs often sing these psalms at the beginning of and during services.

Questions

Who produced the Vulgate translation of the Bible? What was the original language of the Hebrew Bible? Of the New Testament?

How did the Septuagint get its name?

What are some ways in which the Bible is used in public worship services? Why are the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke called the Synoptic Gospels? What is meant by the canon?

How many books are in the Hebrew Bible? In the New Testament?

What is the purpose of a Targum? Who translated the King James Version of the Bible?

In what way have readers long differed in how to explain the meaning of parts of the Bible?

Contributor: B. Barry Levy, Ph.D., Prof. of Biblical Studies, Chairman of Jewish Studies Department, and Director of Jewish Teacher Training Program, McGill Univ.

Terrance D. Callan, Ph.D., Prof. of New Testament, Athenaeum of Ohio.