TheTanakh (Hebrew:תָּנָ״ךְ) orMikra orHebrew Bible is the canonical collection of Jewish texts, which is also a textual source for the ChristianOld Testament.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When Godיהוה made earth and heaven—when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because Godיהוה had not sent rain upon the earth and there were no human beings to till the soil, but a flow would well up from the ground and water the whole surface of the earth—Godיהוה formed the Human from the soil's humus, blowing into his nostrils the breath of life: the Human became a living being.
And theLord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and thereconfound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
"I amEl Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless. I will establish Mycovenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous." (Genesis 17:1–2)
When Abram was ninety-nine years old,יהוה appeared to Abram and said to him, "I amEl Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless. I will establish Mycovenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous."
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, theLord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am theAlmighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make mycovenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, theLord appeared to him and said, "I amGod Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make mycovenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
Moses said toGod, "When I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers' [house] has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is [God's] name?' what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh," continuing, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites, 'Ehyeh sent me to you.'"
AndMoses said untoGod, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses,I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,I Am hath sent me unto you.
AfterwardMoses andAaron went and said toPharaoh, "Thus saysיהוה, the God of Israel:Let My people go that they may celebrate a festival for Me in the wilderness."
AndMoses stretched out his hand over the sea; and theLord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, andthe waters were divided.
You shallnot murder. You shallnot commit adultery. You shallnot steal. You shallnot bear false witness against your neighbor. You shallnot covet your neighbor's house: you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am theLord your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am theLord.
The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am theLord your God.
Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on thedoorposts of your house and on your gates.
If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving your Godיהוה and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil—I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill.
Thine, OLord is thegreatness, and thepower, and theglory, and thevictory, and themajesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, OLord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of theLord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of theLord hath spoken it.
They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, "What have I done?" Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am theLord which exerciselovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith theLord.
"Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of sinners, or joined the company of the insolent; rather, the teaching of theLord is his delight, and he studies that teaching day and night." (Psalms 1:1–2)
Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of sinners, or joined the company of the insolent; rather, the teaching of theLord is his delight, and he studies that teaching day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, whose foliage never fades, and whatever it produces thrives.
TheLord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of theLord for ever.
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
"But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living ... for the price of wisdom is above rubies." (Job 28:12–18)
But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
The problem of reading theHoly Book—if you have faith that it is the Word of God—is the most difficult problem in the whole field of reading. There have been more books written about how to read Scripture than about all other aspects of the art of reading together. The Word of God is obviously the most difficult writing men can read; but it is also, if you believe itis the Word of God, the most important to read. The effort of the faithful has been duly proportionate to the difficulty of the task. It would be true to say that, in the European tradition at least, theBible isthe book in more senses than one. It has been not only the most widely read, but also the most carefully read, book of all.
In the Old Testament stories, ... the sublime influence of God here reaches so deeply into the everyday that the two realms of the sublime and the everyday are not only actually unseparated but basically inseparable.
Erich Auerbach,Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (1946), p. 22
TheChristians wrested the Old Testament out of the hands of theJews and used it as a weapon against them. The belief in their own selection by God was turned into an expression of the absolute and exclusive position of Christianity, and JewishMessianism was twisted into the doctrine ofChrist's return.
Biblical scholars maintain that the vast majority of thewritten materials that comprise the Hebrew Bible began as traditions communicated from generation to generation by word of mouth and by the example of how people lived daily. Only gradually were thesestories,ideas, andpractices committed to writing in what we know as the Hebrew Bible.
AlthoughOrthodox Jews believe that the whole Torah was revealed byGod toMoses atMount Sinai,Conservative andReform Jews accept theconclusions ofbiblical scholarship that the Torah consists of documents originating inoral traditions and committed to writing between theeleventh andsixth centuries BC, and edited together by the time ofEzra (mid-fifth century BC). Some later strands of the Torah interpret earlier strands, and this process of creating new interpretations and applications of earlier materials and new traditions altogether in the latter centuries of the biblical period and after the close of the biblical canon constitutes what we know asRabbinic literature.
The Bible is an incomparable book. Millions of people have devoted a major portion of their lives to Bible study. Hundreds of thousands of books have been written about the subject, and we now have ready access to dozens of translations and dozens of commentaries. The Bible is an inexhaustible resource that has been challenging people's minds and hearts for centuries.
Whenever it is a question of the eternal truths of reason, it does not saybelieve, butunderstand andknow.
Moses Mendelssohn,Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism (1783), as translated by Allan Arkush (1983), p. 100
There is scant archaeological or related textual evidence to support any of these putative episodes ofgenocide described in the Hebrew Bible as historical events. But more important than the historicity of the described destruction of peoples and towns is the fact that the biblical rendition of genocide reveals what men and women ofantiquity believed was possible, even likely, in the relations between nations, while at the same time setting precedents, patterns, and norms for the future. The leaders of theHebrews—Moses,Samuel,Saul,David, andJoshua—implemented the will ofGod to commit mass murder. Sometimes, the killing was in righteousretribution for alleged acts committed against the Hebrews. But most often, peoples were attacked and eliminated because they lived in the land that God had promised to the Hebrews. Those eliminated were blamed for their own fate, a widespread phenomenon in mass killing that has repeated itself over the centuries. Sometimes,women andchildren were spared asslaves and concubines, or even taken aswives.
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