bible_ot

The Old Testament consists of 39 writings or books. In the Hebrew Bible the books are arranged into three divisions: the Law (tora), the Prophets (nebiim), and the Writings (ketubim). The Law is the first five books of the Old Testament and are called the “Pentateuch,” which comes from two Greek words meaning “five scrolls” and is called the five “books of Moses”. The main purpose of the Pentateuch is to present the story of God’s people from the call of Abraham to the death of Moses. It was preceded by a prologue (Genesis 1-11) that consists of the ancient records and documents which give the creation of the world and of man, the fall of man and the pre-flood world, the flood, the division of nations and predecessors of Abraham. The rest of Genesis (12-50) tells the story of the four generations of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Genesis ends with the children of Israel in Egypt. The rest of the Pentateuch (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteromomy) tells the story of the exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses and the giving of the Covenant of the Law.

The Prophets are divided into two subdivisions: the “Former Prophets”, comprising Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings; and the “Later Prophets”, comprising Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and “The Book of the Twelve Prophets”. The Writings contains the rest of the books; first Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, then the five “Scroll” (megillot), containing Canticles (Song of Solomon), Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther; and finally Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. The total number of books are reckoned traditionally as 24, but these 24 correspond to our common count of 39, since the minor prophets are counted as 12 books, and Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah as two books each.

In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Septuagint (LXX) the books are arranged according similarity of subject-matter. The Pentateuch is followed by the historical books, these are followed by the books of poetry and wisdom, and these by the prophets. This order in its essential features is perpetuated (via the Vulgate) into most Christian editions of the Bible. In many respects this order is truer to the chronological order sequence of the narrative contents than that of the Hebrew Bible; for example, Ruth appears immediately after Judges (since it records events which happened during the days of the Judges) and the work of the Chronicler appears in the order: Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. The threefold division of the Hebrew Bible is reflected in the wording of the New Testament (Luke 24:44 “the law of Moses … the prophets, … the psalms”); more commonly, the New Testament refers to “the law and prophets” (Matt. 5:17, etc.) or “Moses and prophets” (Luke 16:29, etc.).