Difference between revisions of "Bible"
(→The Old Testament) |
|||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
− | [[ | + | [[Image:800px-Crop Book of Isaiah 2006-06-06.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The Holy Bible, opened to the Book of Isaiah.]] |
The '''Bible''' is the collection of canonical religious texts in Christianity. | The '''Bible''' is the collection of canonical religious texts in Christianity. | ||
Most Christians believe that the men and women who wrote and translated the Bible were under Divine Inspiration, and/or that the Bible is God's infallible Word to men. | Most Christians believe that the men and women who wrote and translated the Bible were under Divine Inspiration, and/or that the Bible is God's infallible Word to men. |
Revision as of 08:31, March 11, 2007
The Bible is the collection of canonical religious texts in Christianity. Most Christians believe that the men and women who wrote and translated the Bible were under Divine Inspiration, and/or that the Bible is God's infallible Word to men.
The "canon" is the standard set of scriptural books which are deemed to represent the Word of God, as opposed to books which are considered wise or inspirational but not authoritative. The canon has evolved over time.
Some books counted as part of the Bible by the Roman Catholic Church—such as the books of Tobit, Judith, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, The Wisdom of Solomon (or Ecclesiasticus), and Sirach&mash;are regarded as non-canonical by Protestants. Some modern Protestant Bibles, following the example set by the original King James Version, include these books but categorize them as Apocrypha; most omit them.
The early church's determination of the canon was based on several criteria, including authorship, consistency with the rest of Scripture, and the level of general acceptance at the time. [1]
Protestants value direct access to the Bible by worshipers, without the need for intervention or interpretation by clergy. The translation of the Bible into "common" languages such as German and English, and the development of printing by Gutenberg, were motivated by the Protestant desire to make the Bible accessible to everyone.
Contents
Books of the Bible
The Old Testament
The Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible consists of 39 books. "Hebrew" in "Hebrew Bible" may refer to either the Hebrew language or to the Hebrew people who historically used Hebrew as a spoken language, and have continuously used the language in prayer and study, or both. As used by the Jewish community, the word Tanakh describes the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: the Torah ("Teaching or Law"), and also known as the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses; Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and Ketuvim ("Writings,” or Hagiographa). The arrangment of the books in this way is common within the Jewish community; within the familiar Bibles of the English-speaking world the arrangement differs, however the actual writing of each book remains the same.
Torah
The books of the Torah, or "Teaching," is also known as the five books of Moses, thus Chumash or Pentateuch (Hebrew and Greek for "five," respectively):
The Torah focuses on three moments in the changing relationship between God and people.
- The first eleven chapters of Genesis provide accounts of the 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 covenant with the Hebrew patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (also called Israel), and Jacob's children (the "Children of Israel"), especially Joseph. It tells of how God commanded Abraham to leave his family and home in the city of 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. His story coincides with the story of the liberation of the Children of Israel from slavery in Ancient Egypt, to the renewal of their covenant with God at Mount Sinai, and their wanderings in the desert until a new generation would be ready to enter the land of Canaan. The Torah ends with the death of Moses.
Nevi'im
The Nevi'im, or "Prophets," tells the story of the rise of the Hebrew monarchy, its division into two kingdoms, and the prophets who, in God's name, judged the kings and the Children of Israel. It ends with the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians and the conquest of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians, and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Portions of the prophetic books are read by Jews on the Sabbath (Shabbat). The Book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur. According to Jewish tradition, Nevi'im is divided into eight books. Contemporary translations subdivide these into seventeen books:
- I. Joshua
- II. Judges
- III. Books of Samuel
- IV. Books of Kings
- V. Isaiah
- VI. Jeremiah
- VII. Ezekiel
- VIII. The Minor Prophets, which are:
Ketuvim
The Ketuvim, or "Writings," contain lyrical poetry, philosophical reflections on life, and the stories of the prophets and other Jewish leaders during the Babylonian exile. It ends with the Persian decree allowing Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.
Ketuvim contains eleven books:
- Psalms
- Proverbs
- Book of Job
- Song of Songs, also called Song of Solomon
- Book of Ruth
- Lamentations
- Ecclesiastes
- Esther
- Daniel
- Ezra, often divided into two books, Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah
- Books of Chronicles
According to Rabbinic tradition, many of the psalms in the book of Psalms are attributed to David; King Solomon is believed to have written Song of Songs in his youth, Proverbs at the prime of his life, and Ecclesiastes at old age; and the prophet Jeremiah is thought to have written Lamentations. The Book of Ruth is the only biblical book that centers entirely on a non-Jew, a Moabite) who married a Jew and, upon his death, followed in the ways of the Jews, ultimately becoming an ancestor of King David and Jesus Christ. Five of the books, called "The Five Scrolls" (Megilot), are read on Jewish holidays: Song of Songs on Passover; the Book of Ruth on Shavuot; Lamentations on the Ninth of Av; Ecclesiastes on Sukkot; and the Book of Esther on Purim.
The New Testament
The Bible as used by the majority of Christians includes the Hebrew Bible in its part as the Old Testament together with the New Testament, which relates the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the Epistles, or letters, of the Apostle Paul and other disciples to the early church, and ending with the Book of Revelation.
The New Testament is a collection of 27 books, produced by Christians, with Jesus as its central figure, written primarily in Koine Greek in the early Christian period. Nearly all Christians recognize the New Testament (as stated below) as canonical. These books can be grouped into:
- Pauline Epistles
- Epistle to the Romans
- First Epistle to the Corinthians
- Second Epistle to the Corinthians
- Epistle to the Galatians
- Epistle to the Philippians
- Epistle to Philemon
- First Epistle to the Thessalonians
- Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
- Epistle to the Ephesians
- Epistle to the Colossians
- First Epistle to Timothy
- Second Epistle to Timothy
- Epistle to Titus
- Epistle to the Hebrews
History of the Bible
Related articles
External links
Bible societies
- American Bible Society
- United Bible Society
- The International Bible Society (New York/Colorado Springs)
- World Bible Translation Center
- Wycliffe Bible Translators
Bible texts
Hebrew
- Hebrew-English Bible (JPS 1917 translation; includes Hebrew audio)
- XML Hebrew-English (KJV) Bible
- Old Testament in Hebrew
Latin
- Latin Vulgate — Latin Vulgate with parallel Douay-Rheims and King James English translations
- SacredBible.org — Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible
- Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405 A.D.)
English
- AudioBible — Audio version of the King James Version.
- Blue Letter Bible — On-line interactive reference library continuously updated from the teachings and commentaries of selected pastors and teachers who hold to the conservative, historical Christian faith.
- E-sword — Downloadable Bible in many different versions, for MS Windows.
- American Standard Version.
- English Standard Version from Good News/Crossway (the publisher).
- King James Version with dictionary.
- King James Version.
- New Living Translation
- New Revised Standard Version.
- New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
- World English Bible.
- LDS King James Version with audio, extensive commentary and cross-references.
- King James Version built using AJAX technologies, with Strongs and Greek Morphological Codes by Robinson.
Turkish
- Turkish Bible (Turkish Old and New Testament)
Klingon
Others
- The Hypertext Bible with side-by-side translations in English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew at the Internet Sacred Text Archive
- Bible Gateway at GospelCom.net text search in any one of many translations/languages, or lookup complete passages in up to five different translations/languages at once. Select from among NIV, NASB, MSG, AMP, NLT, KJV, ESV, CEV, NKJV, ASV, NLV, NIrV and many others.
- The Brick Testament — Bible stories accurately rendered, illustrated in Lego(tm) blocks
- Bible Read-Through — read through the Bible aid that has a standard one year read through as well as the ability to design your own read through.
- TheFreeBible.com provides free Bible software downloads
- Interlinear (word-by-word) translation of the Christian Bible from the original Hebrew and Koine Greek
- Aramaic New Testament resources
- Over 40 versions of the Bible
- Eastern and Western Armenian Bible
- Online Bible (King James Version & Old Testament)
- Bible — Louis Segond de 1910
- Spanish Bible PDT version
- Complete Sayings of Christ (long download)
- Crosswalk.com Parallel Bible to see two versions side by side, any of NAS, ASV, ESV, NKJV, KJV, NLT, NRS, GNT, WEB, MSG, NIV, NIrV and many others.
- Blue Letter Bible provides resources on a verse by verse basis, such as commentaries, definitions, concordance with Hebrew/Greek, related information and parallel bible on the one selected verse in KJV, NKJV, NLT, NIV, ESV, NASB, RSV, ASV and others.
- American Bible Society to search NASB, KJV, CEV, ASV and others.
- University of Virginia Library for word proximity searches on the KJV bible.
- Many translations in English, verse by verse
- Nava Karar NT Translation from Greek to Marathi 2005 and Greek-Marathi wordbook by R H Kelkar
- The Bible Collection Collection of Sacred Books for Different Religions
- Gender-neutral Bible translations.
Commentaries
- Biblical History, The Jewish History Resource Center — project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- Judaica Press Translation — online Jewish translation of the books of the Bible. Includes the Tanakh and Rashi's entire commentary.
- Reading and Understanding the Bible.
- Source for Bible Answers.
- Amazing Facts Bible Studies.
- Learning Bible Today — a historical approach the Bible.
- John Gill's Exposition of the Bible — verse by verse commentary.
- Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible — unabridged.