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The Old Testament: An Introduction

Torah ~The Law or Instruction Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy		Nebi'im ~ The Prophets Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (2), Kings (2) Latter Prophets: Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel Minor Prophets: Amos, Hosea, Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zechariah, Joel, Jonah, Obadiah, Malachi		Ketubim ~ The Writings Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles (2)

The Deuterocanonical or Apocryphal Books

Some books are included in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament that are not in the Tanak. These are called apocryphal or deuterocanonical books. The Deuterocanonical books are:

Tobit, Judith, Esther, Maccabees (2), Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) and Baruch.

While the Jewish people may have considered them to be inspiring, they did not consider them as inspired, and so did not include them in their canon of scripture.

As the early Christains were using the Greek text of the Bible (the Septuagint), they adopted that as their canonical text. When Judaism enumerated the books of its canon, they chose the shorter list with only thirty-nine books. At the time of the Reformation, the Protestants chose to use the shoter list as well for their canon, considering it to be more reliable.

In Judaism, the Bible is frequently referred to as the Tanak, an acronym based on the first letters of the three parts of the Bible.

Read Pope John Paul's 1996 Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Evolution here.

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Copyright ©Rev. Bruce Janiga