Tanakh
Bereshit ( "In the beginning " ) Shemot ( " name " ) Vayikra ( " He called " ) Bemidbar ( " In the desert " ) Devarim ( "words" )
Book of Joshua book of Judges First and Second Samuel First and Second Book of Kings Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Twelve Prophets
Book of Psalms Job Book of Proverbs Book of Ruth canticles Ecclesiastes Lamentations Book of Esther Book of Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah First and Second Chronicles Book
As Tanach or Tanakh [ tanaχ ] or [ tənaχ ] (Hebrew תנ"ך TNK ) is the Judaism the Bible texts that are considered normative for one's own religion. The Tanakh consists of three parts: the Torah ( " instruction " ), Nevi'im ( " Prophets" ) and Ketuvim ( "Writings "). TNK is the acronym of the initials of these parts. They contain a total of 24 written in Hebrew books; two of them contain some Aramaic passages of text. In the recent secondary literature of the Tanakh is often referred to as the " Jewish Bible " or " Hebrew Bible ".
Christianity has taken over all the books of the Tanach and canonized in a slightly different arrangement than his Old Testament. It includes in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the deuterocanonical writings.
Name
" TNK " is a composite of the Hebrew initials of the three main parts acronym. The consonants Tav ( ת ), Nun ( נ ) and Kaph ( כ; closing form ך ) are vocalized to the Tanakh or Tenakh ( IPA: [ TANAX ] or [ tənax ]); the Schlusskonsonant is pronounced as a fricative [ χ ].
Other Hebrew names for the Bible are miqra ( מקרא ) or Torah, according to its most important for Judaism part ( pars pro toto ).
Origin and Classification
The Tanakh was created as a collection of different, religious and secular Jewish writings in a complex process of about 1200 years in the history of Israel. Its oldest parts are orally transmitted legends wreaths, etiological tales and legends of origin of individual clans and tribes that grew together gradually, later recorded and have been integrated into a theologically conceived history of salvation and received as whole Israelite importance.
The Torah was created since the state formation in Israel and was already in pre-exilic period in parts as a written Code and the basis of the Jerusalem Temple cult before. It was finally completed until 250 BC, and then translated into Greek, thus forming the basis for the Septuagint.
Since around 400 BC, the Torah is divided into five books. This was due to theological reasons and the extent of rolled parchment writings. That is why the Torah in Hebrew and Chumash [ חומש ] is ( " the five" ) and in Greek known as the Pentateuch ( "five scrolls - container ").
The writing books of the prophets and the Book of the Twelve Prophets were largely associated to 200 BC. In 190 BC Book of Sirach incurred a three-part collection of sacred writings is provided for the first time. At the time, the third part was just unfinished.
90 Josephus told the Tanakh according to the number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet in 22 individual books (Greek biblia ) a. He was one of the Books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra / Nehemiah, the twelve "minor" prophets, judges / Ruth and Jeremiah / Lamentations than ever a book. The fourth book of Ezra, however, informed the Tanakh into 24 books, by counting Judges, Ruth, Jeremiah and Lamentations individually. It reached as an analogy to the twelve tribes of Israel and the divided into twelve months year cycle.
Scope and division of the Tanakh were finalized in Judaism at the end of the 1st century AD. The order of the books in the prophets and writing part and the raising and allocation of other books on the writing part remained controversial to about 200. As one of the last books founded around 165 BC Daniel was taken up, but not associated with the writings of the prophets.
Construction
The three main parts of the Tanakh ( Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim ) are arranged in the order of their canonization. According to orthodox Jewish beliefs your ranking reflects a decreasing degree of Inspiration: The Torah is therefore based on direct dialogue Moses with God, the Nevi'im are based on gottgesandtem reception of the word, dreams and visions, and the Ketuvim based on indirect influence on the human authors by the Ruach HaQodesh, literally "holy breath", also called Ruach YHWH "breath of the Lord " means. In this graduated scheme of order more books of the Bible were classified according to the assumed or actual dates of origin and theological points of view.
Torah
The Torah contains YHWH consistently valid election of the people of God and revelation of its legal system, to the creation of the world aims from the start: why is this also the first theologically important main part of the Tanakh, the two developed later parts remain related.
Nevi'im
Under the title Nevi'im connect two parts. The so-called front prophets contain the records of the history of Israel, which is now regarded in science as deuteronomistisches historical work. To the rear prophets include the books of classical prophecy in the Tanach. These indicate the history of Israel from the outset rather than mere memory of the past, but as a future promise. Thus appear the front prophets whose preaching was not taken in their own books, as the legitimate successor of the Toraempfängers and prophet Moses (Deut 18:18; 34,10 ) and as a pioneer of written prophecy, whose theology the historical work influenced decisively. So Samuel, Nathan, Ahijah set of Shiloh, the man of God from Judah, Micaiah ben Imlah, Elijah, Elisha and the prophetess Huldah in the books of Kings and over again the course for the future of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and often to the in the Torah revealed God's will remember and justify their intervention so.
Ketuvim
The third main part mainly contains books that deal with and reflect the human response to God's revelation ( part 1) and its self-interpretation in the prophetic history of Israel steered ( Part 2). Therefore, it includes both pre-exilic formed parts such as the collected Psalm prayers as also drafted late and Aramaic books as the apocalyptic Book of Daniel. The two-part chronicle book that treats the same time as the King books, but continues beyond the end of the first Temple in Jerusalem back was provided at the end of the third principal part. Thus, the Cyrus edict forms for the release of the exiled Jews with permission to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem around 539 BC, the programmatic conclusion of the Tanakh: The history of salvation of YHWH aims at a renewed life of his chosen people in the promised land and the restoration of his sanctuary, to Israel peace ( Shalom ) with its neighbors and God. The Ketuvim are also the five Megillot, these are the books of Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and esters, which are read in the feasts of Shavuot, Passover, Sukkot, Tisha Beav and Purim.
Content
The Tanakh tells the story of creation and the people of Israel under YHWH's gracious leadership over a period of about 1300 years. It contains a variety of traditions of the various tribes of semi-nomadic people that are united by the belief in the God YHWH in the area of today's Palestine / Israel as a people. These include Ortsätiologien, cult legends, memories of victories and defeats of all kinds and bid collections. They were joined by various authors editorially to a total history of Israel.
Some of these commandments reflects bygone, vorantike to detailed controlled living conditions. Such bids are today difficult to understand and to be understood against the background of the then living conditions and reinterpreted for today.
Major key elements of the Jewish Torah, however, are entered into the cultural heritage of the Modern Age: These mainly include the Decalogue and the human dignity of each individual. It is used in Tanach with the deliverance of Israel from slavery in ancient times commonly used, which is understood as the election of a people for the blessing of all nations, and established the image of God in man.
Some layers of the Tanakh reflect other than the Yahwist tradition. With the arrival of the semi-nomadic tribes in the land of Canaan culture, each tribe brought his family to God. They were together, followed by the experience of God of the Hebrews from the room of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula merged ( Ex 3 ), but also partly together with deities of the Canaanites worshiped syncretic. While about the creator deity of the Canaanite pantheon, El could be easily identified with YHWH (Gen 14:17 f ), fertility and astral gods such as Baal, Astarte, Marduk were among others as one's own faith identity rejected alien. The unifying role of the monotheism of the first commandment sat down only gradually in Israel.
Textual history
The Hebrew script is not suitable for clay tablets, which were otherwise described in the Ancient Orient in cuneiform. Even with sacred texts described potsherds ( ostraca ) have not been found in Israel. The usual writing materials were handmade papyrus, sporadically leather scrolls, written with ink from sooty olive oil or iron gall ink.
The oldest known related Bible texts are the scrolls from the Dead Sea, created between about 250 BC and 100 AD They include most of the books of the first two principal components, including a nearly 7.5 meter long roll of the complete book of Isaiah ( chapter 66 ). This differs only slightly from the 1100 years younger medieval Bible manuscripts of the Masoretic text, so that assumed an enormous discipline and adherence to the text in the generations of copies of Bible texts.
Since the 1st century parchment was gradually replaced papyrus as a writing material from: Now it was possible to bundle several significant scrolls to a "Code". The oldest Hebrew Bible codex is Codex Cairensis from the year 895; it contains only the books of the 12 "minor" prophets.
The 1616 re-discovered Samaritan Pentateuch differs in about 6,000 cases, mostly orthographic from previously known Masoretentext from, but is consistent in one third of cases with the Septuagint. From 1896 came discoveries from a Geniza (sealed chamber for disposal no longer used texts) in Cairo which will have been prepared and published by Solomon Schechter. Thus, we now know that the well-known 1945 text version has predominantly been handed the Palestinian tradition that was not the only one before the year 135.
The consonantal text, especially the Torah was 135 - after the defeat of Simon bar Kokhba in the last Jewish uprising attempt against the Roman Empire - fixed. The fact that he followed the old pre-Christian, but not yet canonized tradition, is by the finds at Qumran and the Nash Papyrus ( made around 170 BC ) were found. Until then, there have been several versions of the Hebrew Bible side by side: the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Hebrew- Aramaic preforming the Tanach with slight variations, indicating the intra- biblical parallel texts: for example, Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22 or Isaiah 2:2-4 and Micah 4:1-3.
After determining the consonant text, the 1000 -year-old " Masora " began ( philological ) of the then -called " Masoretes ": Jewish scribes in Palestine - here especially in Tiberias - and Babylonia, who were concerned with collecting, copying, and editing of biblical manuscripts. Her responsibilities included the dotting of the specified text consonants by vowels, accents, punctuation, and Verseinteilungen. Furthermore, according to their strict rules had to be destroyed older, deviating from the text version agreed as valid copies.
The consonantal text contains some inconsistently used letters as Vokalisierungshilfe that matres lectionis (Latin for " mothers of reading "). In the early Middle Ages, the Masoretes codified the oral tradition of the reading of the Tanakh, by introducing two additional systems of signs:
One is Nikud (Hebrew נִקּוּד ), a system of punctuation or vowel signs, which is used to represent vowels in the Hebrew written language. The other is the cantillation (Hebrew ta ` amei ha - mikra or short te ` amim; Yiddish trope, also in English use) the text to lecture notes complements about to Tonhebungen and end of the block. Some of these characters were also used in medieval manuscripts of the Mishnah. Then, for example, the beginning was the first book of Moses:
Until about the year 1000, the Masoretes standardized the text of the Tanakh. The oldest complete textual witness is Codex Leningradensis (handwriting B19) from the year 1008. This Hebrew- Aramaic Masoretentext was only rediscovered during the Renaissance and the Reformation of Christians and then the basis for their translations of the Bible, especially that of Martin Luther ( 1534). These known since the Middle Ages Masoretic manuscripts of the Bible have long been considered "orchestral " of the Bible. On their codes are based all modern editions of the Tanakh, Biblia Hebraica as the (Editor Rudolf Kittel ) Biblia Hebraica and Stuttgartensia (Editor Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph).
Use in worship
The Tanakh is used in Jewish worship on the Sabbath in the synagogue regularly for Bible readings and then as Mikra: means ( מִקְרָא " reading "). From the Torah continuously in week sections ( parashah ) is read aloud, so that in the course of a year, the entire Torah is recited; for every Torah weekly portion has a selected text shorter prophets ( Haftarah ), which will each then presented. For the third part, the writings, the Psalms are especially used liturgy and the five fixed roles to the five festivals of Passover (Song ), Shavuot ( Ruth ) 9th of Av ( Lamentations ), Feast of Tabernacles ( Ecclesiastes ), Purim ( Esther ).
Relation to the Old Testament
In Christianity, all the books of the Tanakh were compared along with some other of the Septuagint since about 190 as Old Testament (AT) to the New Testament (NT) and finally canonized by 400. So that the Church Fathers rejected the separation of the creator God of the Bible of Jesus Christ, the Savior, as heresy from, had represented the Marcion by 150.
The Tanakh thus remained fully valid part of the biblical canon and therefore normative Word of God. His books have been incorporated in its entire text matter, but arranged differently and different in three main parts divided: the first part includes the " history books " (1 Genesis to the Book of Esther ), the second part of " seal " or " wisdom " (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, song of Songs ), and the third part includes the " prophets."
Mapping and sequence of the assumed writings differ depending on the Christian religion. The Protestant AT contains only the writings of the Tanakh. The writing prophets were distinguished from the history books and moved to the end. This already shows that Christians saw Jewish history rather than completed past and the prophetic future promises in relation to Jesus Christ, while Jews for all the continuous history of Israel a prophetic dimension reserved: Historical memory was for them at the same time current future promise.
The Torah opens the Bible, in both religions. But in the OT it does not form a separate part, but is with the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Ruth, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and esters in a row. This is the revealed will of God in the Torah in some way to a memory of past history. The other Writings ( Ketuvim ) are assigned different. In the order of the so-called " rear " prophets ( Nevi'im ), both versions match.
The Roman Catholic Church is one of the history books or the books of Tobit and Judith, who are not part of the Tanakh.
In Christianity, the Five Books of Moses are thus mainly read as historical testimonies of the people of Israel and less than current teaching or instruction, apart from the Ten Commandments, early promises to the patriarchs and the prophets of Israel Messianic prophecies. The Church Fathers translated by the inclusion of AT in the Christian Bible canon, however, there were many prophetic promises, Psalm prayers and stories of creation allegorically or typologically as evidence of the coming of Jesus Christ.
The term " Old Testament" goes back to the talk of the " old" and "new " covenant in Hebrews. She was often mistakenly interpreted as detachment of God's covenant with Israel through the new people of God, the church, so that was " old " interpreted " outdated " or " obsolete " as. Thus, the " theological expropriation" of Judaism in the substitution theology was connected.
To avoid this traditional devaluation, some Christians, theologians and churches call the Tanakh or the AT today First Testament, Hebrew Bible or Hebrew Scriptures. So they set themselves apart from the Christian anti-Judaism and emphasize the common ground of both religions. Because the NT announces the " new covenant " as a final confirmation of the first covenant of God with his people Israel (Rom. 11:2), but now also includes all other peoples (John 4). At the living relationship of the one God to his first and consistently chosen people keep professing Jews and Christians after the experience of the Holocaust jointly.