What I’m learning – (Jewish) Books of the Bible

Below are my notes regarding what I’m learning about the contents of the Bible in Hebrew. I honestly don’t know how to actually pronounce all of these yet, but I want to and will work on that next.

Tanakh – What we Christians call the Old Testament. It is made up of three parts

Torah – The first five books of the Bible constitute the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moshe (Moses).
1. B’resheet (Genesis)
2. Sh’mot (Exodus)
3. Vayikra (Leviticus)
4. B’midbar (Numbers)
5. D’varim (Deuteronomy)

The Prophets are divided into two parts, the Early Prophets and Later Prophets

Nevi’im Rishonim (Early Prophets)
1. Y’hoshua (Joshua)
2. Shof’tim (Judges)
3. Sh’mu’el Alef and Bet (1 – 2 Samuel)
4. M’lakhim Alef and Bet (1 – 2 Kings)

Nevi’im Acharonim (Later Prophets)
1. Yesha’yahu (Isaiah)
2. Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah)
3. Yechezk’el (Ezekiel)
4. Shneim-‘Asar (The Twelve, known also as the Minor Prophets)

The Twelve include:
1. Hoshea (Hosea)
2. Yo’el (Joel)
3. ‘Amos (Amos)
4. ‘Ovadyah (Obadiah)
5. Yonah (Jonah)
6. Mikhah (Micah)
7. Nachum (Nahum)
8. Havakuk (Habakkuk)
9. Tz’fanyah (Zephaniah)
10. Hagai (Haggai)
11. Z’kharyah (Zechariah)
12. Mal’akhi (Malachi)

K’tuvim (The Writings)
1. Tehillim (Psalms)
2. Mishlei (Proverbs)
3. Iyov (Job)
4. The Five Megillot (Scrolls) - see below
5. Dani'el (Daniel)
6. Ezra-Nechemyah (Ezra-Nehemiah)
7. Divrei-HaYamim Alef and Bet (1-2 Chronicles)

The Five Megillot (Scrolls) include:
1. Shir-HaShirim (Song of Solomon/Song of Songs)
2. Rut (Ruth)
3. Eikhah (Lamentations)
4. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)
5. Ester (Esther)

There are differences between the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Tanakh which I will try to go into more depth on at a later time (when I understand them better myself), however as you can see from above, the order of the books is one of those differences. The number of books are also one difference because the Jewish Tanakh combines some books the Christian Old Testament separate out (ie The Twelve).

More to come. . . My next posting will be regarding the Christian New Testament.