Bible
is the most sacred book of the Jewish and Christian religions. Jews and Christians consider the Bible to be
the Word of God, and they base their most important beliefs, ceremonies, and
holidays on it. The Bible is also known
as Holy Writ or the Holy Scriptures.
The
Bible has two major parts, commonly called the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jews accept only the Old Testament, which is
also known as the Hebrew Bible.
Christians accept both Testaments.
Some Christian groups also accept as part of the Bible a collection of
writings called the Apocrypha.
The
Old Testament begins with an account of God's creation of the heavens and the
earth. It then largely deals with the
history and religious life of ancient Israel from about 1300 B.C. to the 100's B.C. The New Testament
covers about 100 years. It begins by
describing the birth of Jesus Christ and ends about A.D. 125.
The
Bible tells how God worked with and through His people from the time of ancient
Israel to the early days of the Christian church. The Bible views God as the chief character of
the events it describes, though God's role may not always be immediately
apparent. The Bible does not define God
or try to prove His existence. It
testifies to who God is, what He does in the world, and what He expects from
and promises to all human beings. The
Bible was obviously produced by people who believed in God. These people found evidence of God's presence
in the history of ancient Israel, the life of Jesus Christ, and the development of the
early church.
The
Bible began as oral literature (stories passed on by word of mouth) thousands
of years ago. As time passed, people
wrote down various parts of the book.
For many centuries, the Bible existed only in handwritten manuscript
form. During the Middle
Ages, artists decorated many Biblical manuscripts with beautiful designs and
pictures. In the mid-1400's, the Bible
became one of the first books in Europe to be printed from movable type. It was first printed in the workshop of
Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany. The Gutenberg
Bible remains one of the most famous and valuable books ever printed.
Although
the Bible is often thought of as a single book, it actually consists of many
sections called books. Jews and various
Christian groups have chosen for their particular Bible only the books they
believe to have been inspired by God.
The Hebrew Bible has 24 books; the Protestant Bible, 66; and the Roman
Catholic, 73. In fact, the name Bible
comes from a Greek word that means books.
The books officially accepted by any group as part of its Bible are
called the canon.
The
Bible is the most widely read book in history.
It is probably also the most influential. More copies have been distributed of the
Bible than of any other book. It has
also been translated more times, and into more languages, than any other
book. Countless people have turned to
the Bible for comfort, hope, and guidance during times of trouble and
uncertainty. Millions of people have
been named after Biblical characters, and the names of many cities and other
places come from the Bible. Thousands of
works of art have been based on Biblical characters and stories.
The
authors of the Bible used many forms of literature. At least 50 forms appear in the Old Testament
alone. They include love poetry, songs,
hymns, riddles, essays, fiction, history, and proverbs. Much of the Bible consists of stories about
both great and ordinary people. These
stories tell of struggles, hopes, failures, and triumphs. The Bible is admired for its realistic view
of human life, its stirring descriptions of the glories of faith, and its vivid
portraits of people. Most of all,
literary critics have praised the beautiful style found in many books of the
Bible.
Readers
have long differed over how to explain the meaning of parts of the Bible. Some people believe that every event
mentioned in the Bible actually happened exactly as the Bible says it did. Other people feel that many events in the
Bible must be read as symbols of religious belief. Many Biblical scholars today consider the
Bible to be chiefly an expression of faith.
THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
The
table below gives the titles of the books of the Old Testament and the New
Testament. The three lists of Old
Testament books show the names and order of books as accepted by Jews,
Protestants, and Roman Catholics.
Protestants and Roman Catholics accept the same names and the same order
of books in the New Testament.
The Old Testament
Jewish Version
THE LAW
1.
Genesis
2.
Numbers
3.
Exodus
4.
Deuteronomy
5.
Leviticus
THE PROPHETS
1.
Joshua
2.
Isaiah
3.
Judges
4.
Jeremiah
5.
Samuel
6.
Ezekiel
7.
Kings
THE WRITINGS
1.
Psalms
2.
Ruth
3.
Daniel
4.
Proverbs
5.
Lamentations
6.
Ezra-Nehemiah
7.
Job
8.
Ecclesiastes
9.
Chronicles
10. Song of Songs
11. Esther
Protestant Version (Authorized,
or King James Bible)
PENTATEUCH
1.
Genesis
2.
Numbers
3.
Exodus
4.
Deuteronomy
5.
Leviticus
HISTORICAL BOOKS
1.
Joshua
2.
2 Samuel
3.
2 Chronicles
4.
Judges
5.
1 Kings
6.
Ezra
7.
Ruth
8.
2 Kings
9.
Nehemiah
10. 1 Samuel
11. 1 Chronicles
12. Esther
WISDOM BOOKS
1.
Job
2.
Ecclesiastes
3.
Psalms
4.
Song of Solomon
5.
Proverbs
PROPHETS
1.
Isaiah
2.
Joel
3.
Habakkuk
4.
Jeremiah
5.
Amos
6.
Zephaniah
7.
Lamentations
8.
Obadiah
9.
Haggai
10. Ezekiel
11. Jonah
12. Zechariah
13. Daniel
14. Micah
15. Malachi
16. Hosea
17. Nahum
Roman Catholic Version (New American Bible)
PENTATEUCH
1.
Genesis
2.
Numbers
3.
Exodus
4.
Deuteronomy
5.
Leviticus
HISTORICAL BOOKS
1.
Joshua
2.
2 Kings
3.
Tobit
4.
Judges
5.
1 Chronicles
6.
Judith
7.
Ruth
8.
2 Chronicles
9.
Esther
10. 1 Samuel
11. Ezra
12. 1 Maccabees
13. 2 Samuel
14. Nehemiah
15. 2 Maccabees
16. 1 Kings
WISDOM BOOKS
1.
Job
2.
Song of Songs
3.
Psalms
4.
Wisdom
5.
Proverbs
6.
Sirach
7.
Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiasticus)
PROPHETS
1.
Isaiah
2.
Hosea
3.
Nahum
4.
Jeremiah
5.
Joel
6.
Habakkuk
7.
Lamentations
8.
Amos
9.
Zephaniah
10. Baruch
11. Obadiah
12. Haggai
13. Ezekiel
14. Jonah
15. Zechariah
16. Daniel
17. Micah
18. Malachi
The New Testament
GOSPELS
1.
Matthew
2.
Luke
3.
Mark
4.
John
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
LETTERS
1.
Romans
2.
1 Thessalonians
3.
James
4.
1 Corinthians
5.
2 Thessalonians
6.
1 Peter
7.
2 Corinthians
8.
1 Timothy
9.
2 Peter
10. Galatians
11. 2 Timothy
12. 1 John
13. Ephesians
14. Titus
15. 2 John
16. Philippians
17. Philemon
18. 3 John
19. Colossians
20. Hebrews
21. Jude
REVELATION
The Old Testament
The
Old Testament tells about the ancient Israelites. It begins with the creation of the world, but
most of the story deals with the Israelites after Moses led them out of slavery
in Egypt. Almost all the
Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language. A few parts were written in Aramaic, a
language that resembles Hebrew.
Books of the Old Testament: The Old Testament
canon differs between Judaism and Christianity and even among major Christian
groups. The Jewish canon consists of 24
books. Protestant and Roman Catholic
editions of the Old Testament adopt the Jewish canon but divide some of the
books, increasing the number to 39. In
addition, Catholic Bibles add 7 books to the canon that Protestants consider
part of the Apocrypha. The canon of the Greek
Orthodox Church is the same as that of the Catholic Church, except for 5
additional books. They are 1 and 2 Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, and 3 Maccabees.
The
Jewish canon is organized into three sections.
The sections, with their Hebrew names in parentheses, are the Law
(Torah); the Prophets (Nebiim); and the Writings (Kethubim). The books
of the Christian Bibles are organized into four sections--Pentateuch,
Historical Books, Wisdom Books, and Prophets.
For the complete Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic canons, see the
table in this article.
The
following discussion describes the Old Testament as it is organized into the
three sections of the Hebrew Bible.
The Law consists of five books: The Law is also
called the Pentateuch, from two Greek words that mean five books. The books that make up the Law are especially
important in Judaism because they form the basis of Jewish religious life and
education. The Law begins by describing
God's creation of the heavens and the earth.
It then tells about the ancestry of the Israelites and the Exodus--the
departure of the Israelites from Egypt under their leader Moses. The Law ends with the Israelites' approach to
the Promised Land of Canaan and the death of Moses.
The Prophets: Prophets were
teachers and thinkers who played a major role in the political and religious
life of the ancient Hebrews. The
teachings of many of the prophets are contained in the eight books that make up
this section of the Old Testament. The
books are divided into the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets.
The
Former Prophets consist of four books--Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The books deal with Hebrew life from the
settlement in Canaan to the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 or 586 B.C. The authors of the
Former Prophets used historical sources to write about Hebrew kings, judges,
prophets, and other leaders. But they
had mainly a religious purpose rather than a historical one. The authors used Hebrew history to show the
cost of disobedience to God. They called
on their people to repent and to renew their hope in God.
The Latter Prophets consist of four books: Three of the
books are named after the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and include
their teachings. The fourth book, called
The Twelve, contains the teachings of 12 other prophets. The books of the Latter Prophets are less
concerned with history than are the books of the Former Prophets. Instead, the Latter Prophets contain sermon like
messages spoken in the name of God.
The Writings consist of 11 books: The Book of
Psalms contains prayers and hymns. The
Book of Job includes a dialogue between Job and his friends about God's
presence in the world. The Book of
Proverbs contains short sayings, many about proper conduct. The Song of Solomon is a collection of love
poems. Ecclesiastes is a pessimistic
discussion of the meaning of life. The
other books deal with the history of the ancient Hebrews.
Development of the Old Testament: Scholars have
much evidence that the ancient Hebrews adopted some of the religious and legal
traditions of other Near Eastern cultures.
But they have no written sources that tell how the Old Testament began
to develop. Clues to its early
development must be taken almost entirely from the Old Testament itself.
Since
the 1700's, Biblical scholars have paid special attention to how the Law--the
first five books of the Bible--came to be written. According to Jewish and Christian tradition,
these books are "the books of Moses."
But the books themselves do not say Moses was the author. Scholars believe that the Law was written
down after about 1000 B.C.
In analysing the books of the Law, Biblical scholars have
noted differences in vocabulary, style, the names for God, and the idea of
God. They have also noted duplications
of stories. Many scholars believe this
evidence shows that several persons or groups wrote the Law. They suggest that four versions originally
existed. These versions were written
over a period of at least 500 years and were combined by a number of
editors.
The
books of the Prophets partly reflect the way the prophets' words were
remembered and honoured long after their death. The words of later generations are mixed with
those of the prophets, either as an explanation or as actual changes in what
the prophets said. Only by careful study
can modern readers separate the original messages of the prophets from later
revisions.
The
authors of the Writings are unknown, though several books are said to have been
written by such ancient leaders as Daniel and Solomon. According to tradition, David wrote the
Psalms, but most scholars doubt whether he wrote any of them.
The
ancient Jews probably recognized the five books of the Law as a distinct
collection before 250 B.C. A collection of the Prophets existed before 200 B.C.
The final Hebrew canon was established by an assembly of rabbis in Jamnia, Palestine,
in about A.D. 100. A standard text of
the Hebrew Bible had appeared by about A.D. 150.
The New Testament
The
New Testament records the life of Jesus Christ.
It also deals with the early church and the meaning of faith in
Jesus. The New Testament was written in
Greek, which was widely spoken during the time of Jesus. However, Jesus and His disciples spoke
Aramaic.
Books of the New Testament: The New Testament
consists of 27 books organized into four sections--the Gospels, the Acts of the
Apostles, the Letters, and Revelation.
The number of books and their order are the same in the Roman Catholic
and Protestant versions.
The Gospels
consist of four books: Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. They appear as
the first books in the New Testament, though they are not the earliest works in
the canon. The word gospel comes from
the Old English word god spell, which means good news.
The
early church probably accepted the four Gospels as authentic, even though the
authors were unknown. Gradually, the
church associated the Gospels with two of Christ's apostles, Matthew and John,
and two companions of apostles, Mark and Luke.
Traditionally, they are considered to be the authors of the
Gospels.
The Gospels describe the life of Jesus: Matthew, Mark,
and Luke have similarities of detail and arrangement. They are called the Synoptic Gospels. The word synoptic comes from a Greek word
that means see together.
The
Synoptic Gospels differ from the Gospel of John in several ways. In the Synoptic Gospels, for example, Jesus
expresses His teachings chiefly in short sayings and in brief stories called
parables. In John, He teaches through
long statements.
Although
the Synoptic Gospels generally deal with the same events, each of the four
Gospels regards Jesus differently.
Matthew describes Him as the lawgiver who tells how Christians and their
church should act. Mark shows Him as the
Saviour who triumphs through suffering. Luke presents Jesus as the Saviour of all people.
John concentrates on Jesus' divine nature.
Many
scholars believe that Mark was the earliest Gospel, written just before or
after the Romans captured Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Matthew and Luke were written a little later. The contents of these two Gospels indicate
that both authors knew Mark's Gospel but not each other's. John was written last, perhaps in the A.D.
90's.
The
Acts of the Apostles is one book. It
continues the story told in Luke and was written by the same author. Acts tells about the expansion of the early
church. The story opens in Jerusalem, where the apostles gather after Jesus is raised from
the dead. The book ends in Rome, where Saint Paul, the church's first great missionary, preaches to the
Jews while a Roman prisoner.
The Letters make up 21 books: These books
contain some of the earliest writings in the New Testament, though they appear
in the canon after the Gospels and the Acts.
The Letters are also known as the Epistles, from a Greek word meaning to
send.
The
first 13 letters are called the Pauline Letters because most of them were
written by Saint Paul. The last 8 are
called the General Letters. Early church
leaders wrote them, but scholars do not know who the authors were or disagree
on who they might have been.
The Pauline Letters preserve Paul's
preaching. He wrote the letters to Christian
congregations he had founded. Most of
the letters were probably written in the A.D. 50's and early 60's. Paul's letters discuss problems of faith and
conduct.
The
General Letters were written over a number of years until about A.D. 125. They deal with problems faced by second- and
third-generation Christians.
Revelation is one book: It is also called
the Apocalypse, from a Greek word meaning to reveal. A man named John wrote the book, but he is
probably not the same person who wrote the Gospel of John.
Revelation
begins as letters "to the seven
churches that are in Asia." It then gives a symbolic description of God's
final triumph, through Christ, over evil and death. This description comes from a series of
visions of the future sent by God to the author through an angel.
Development of the New Testament: The first
generation of Christians preserved memories of Jesus' teachings, deeds, and
Crucifixion largely by word of mouth.
The story of Jesus was not written down in the Gospels until the second
generation of the church.
The
authors of the New Testament did not deliberately try to create a Christian
Bible. The early church already had a
Bible, the Old Testament of Judaism.
However, differing views of Christian faith during the A.D. 100's led
the church to form the New Testament canon.
It needed the canon as authority against unacceptable religious views. The church also wanted to preserve the
authentic story of Jesus' life and death.
In
selecting books for the canon, the church judged writings chiefly by three
standards. (1) The writings had to be widely accepted and used in the
church.
(2)
They had to follow the church's traditional teachings.
(3)
They had to be believed to have been written or authorized by an apostle. By about A.D. 200, the church had a canon
that included all the present New Testament books except Hebrews and
Revelation. These two books were added
in the next century.
The Apocrypha
The
Apocrypha consists of 15 books or parts of books. The writings date from about 200 B.C. to A.D.
100. Some were written in Hebrew, others
in Greek, and still others in Aramaic.
The word apocrypha comes from a Greek word that means hidden. Scholars disagree on why the word was applied
to these writings.
The
titles in the Apocrypha differ in various editions of the Bible. The following list gives the titles and order
of the books in the Revised Standard Version.
1.
1 Esdras
2.
2 Esdras
3.
Tobit
4.
Judith
5.
Additions to the Book of Esther
6.
Wisdom of Solomon
7.
Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom
of Jesus the Son of Sirach
8.
Baruch
9.
Letter of Jeremiah
10. Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men
11. Susanna
12. Bel and the Dragon
13. Prayer of
Manasseh
14. 1 Maccabees
15. 2 Maccabees
Some
Bibles include the Letter of Jeremiah in Baruch, reducing the number of books
to 14.
The
Hebrew Bible excludes all the books of the Apocrypha. The Roman Catholic Church places 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh after the New
Testament. It distributes the 12
remaining books throughout the Old Testament, either as separate titles or as
parts of other books. Some Protestant
Bibles place the entire Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments. A few place it after the New Testament. Some Protestant churches omit the Apocrypha
from their versions of the Bible.
The
books of the Apocrypha cover a broad variety of subjects and include various
forms of literature. For example, 1 Esdras and 1 Maccabees concern
Jewish history. The Wisdom of Solomon
deals with philosophy, and Ecclesiasticus tells how
young men should behave. Tobit, Judith, and Susanna are among the most popular
writings because of their exciting tales of adventure and devotion. Bel and the Dragon consists of two stories that teach a moral.
Since
the mid-1900's, scholars have taken renewed interest in the Apocrypha. They consider its writings of great
importance to the understanding of Judaism during the period between the end of
the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.
Translations of the Bible
The
first translations of the Bible were oral versions of the Old Testament in
Aramaic. An Aramaic translation is
called a Targum, which comes from a Hebrew word
meaning translation. Targums
were made for ancient Jewish communities that spoke Aramaic rather than
Hebrew. Jews who spoke only Aramaic
could not understand the Bible when it was read aloud in Hebrew. A translator would stand beside the reader in
a synagogue and translate passages from the Hebrew into the local Aramaic
dialect. Perhaps as early as the 100's
B.C., the Jews recognized standard translations, which were written Targums.
Jews
who lived in Greek-speaking parts of the world also needed a translation of the
Bible. Scholars first translated the Law
into Greek, perhaps about 250 B.C. According to tradition, 70 (or 72) Jewish
scholars working in Alexandria, Egypt, translated the entire Old Testament into Greek during
the mid-200's B.C. This translation became known as the Septuagint, from the
Latin word meaning seventy.
Most
of the first Christians spoke Greek, and so the early church used the
Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.
But the need for additional translations arose as Christianity spread to
Syria and to Latin-speaking countries. Bibles translated into Syriac
and Latin appeared in the A.D. 100's.
About
A.D. 383, Saint Jerome began a revision of the Latin Bible at the request of
Pope Saint Damasus I. As his sources for the Old
Testament, Jerome used Hebrew and Greek texts and Latin translations. For the New Testament, he used Greek texts
and Latin translations. He completed the
project in A.D. 405. His translation
became the basis of the version known as the Vulgate, from the Latin word
meaning popular. For centuries, the
Vulgate was the only version of the Bible authorized by the Roman Catholic
Church.
Early English translations: The first
complete English translation of the Bible appeared in the 1380's. The translation was made by John Wycliffe, an
English priest, and his followers.
The
German Protestant reformer Martin Luther translated the New Testament into
German in 1522 and the rest of the Bible in 1534. About the same time, William Tyndale, an Englishman, translated the Bible into English
while living in Germany. Tyndale based some of his translation on Luther's German
version. Publication of Tyndale's New Testament began in Cologne, Germany, in 1525.
Portions of the Old Testament appeared in 1530 and 1531. The vigorous language of Tyndale's
translation greatly influenced most later translations
of the Bible in English.
Miles
Coverdale, an English bishop, prepared the first
complete English Bible to be printed. He
used much of Tyndale's translation and translated
portions of Luther's Bible and the Vulgate.
Coverdale's Bible was printed in Germany in 1535.
English
refugees living in France made the first Roman Catholic translation of the Bible
from Latin into English. The New
Testament was published in Rheims,
France, in 1582. The Old
Testament was published in Douay,
France, in 1609 and 1610.
The translation came to be known as the Douay-Rheims
Bible or the Douay Bible.
The Authorized Version: In 1604, King
James I of England authorized a committee of about 50 scholars to prepare a
revision of earlier English translations of the Bible. The new version appeared in 1611 and became
known as the Authorized, or King James, Version. The beauty and grace of the translation
established the Authorized Version as one of the great treasures of the English
language.
No
important English translations of the Bible appeared for more than 200 years
after the publication of the Authorized Version. During this time, the Authorized Version was
the most widely used translation in the English-speaking world.
By
the mid-1800's, scholars and religious leaders were calling for fresh
translations of the Bible. Scholars had
more accurate knowledge of the original Hebrew and Greek texts and uncovered
many errors in the texts used by the Authorized revisers. Scholars had also gained more knowledge of
other ancient Near Eastern languages, which added to their understanding of the
Biblical languages. In addition, the
English language had changed greatly over the years. Many words in the King James Version no
longer had the same meaning or were even understood by readers of the
Bible.
In
1870, the Church of England decided to revise the Authorized Version. The New Testament appeared in 1881, the Old
Testament in 1885, and the Apocrypha in 1895.
But the early popularity of the translation, called the Revised Version,
did not last. Most individuals and
churches still preferred the Authorized Version.
Modern English translations: Several modern
English translations of the Bible have tried to replace the out-of-date
language of the older versions. They
have attempted to reproduce the flavour of everyday
speech. These translations also have
made improvements in printing the text of the Bible. For example, paragraphs separate the text
into logical divisions, dialogue is enclosed in quotation marks, and poetry is
printed to show its verse form.
Among
the earliest of the numerous translations of the Bible that appeared in the
1900's was The American Standard Version of 1901, produced by a committee of
American translators. In Britain, R.F. Weymouth's The New Testament in Modern Speech
appeared in 1903. The Scots Biblical
scholar James Moffatt translated the Bible twice. His second version (New Testament 1913, Old
Testament 1924) used a rather free, colloquial style. The U.S. translator Edgar Godspeed published a translation of the
New Testament in 1923, and four other American scholars produced a version of
the Old Testament in 1927. Their
efforts, which sought to reflect the flavour of
contemporary American speech, appeared in 1931 as The Bible: An American
Translation.
The
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. sponsored a translation called the Revised Standard
Version, which became highly popular.
The New Testament was published in 1946, the Old Testament in 1952, and
the Apocrypha in 1957. A new revision of
this version, called the Common Bible, appeared in 1973. This was the first Bible translation to be
approved by Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Greek Orthodox religious
leaders. A further revision of the
Revised Standard Version, called the New Revised Standard Version, was in fact
a new translation. It appeared in 1990.
J. B.
Phillips translated the New Testament in sections from 1947 to 1958. His translation was called The New Testament
in Modern English. It tended toward
paraphrase, conveying the overall sense of the Biblical text rather than the
meaning of the words.
In
the 1950's, British Protestant churches set to work on a translation called The
New English Bible. The New Testament
appeared in 1961. The Old Testament and
Apocrypha appeared in 1970. This
translation sought to achieve literary quality, and the translators had as one
of their advisors the poet T. S. Eliot.
A revision of this translation, entitled The Revised English Bible,
appeared in 1989. It made an effort to
avoid the male-oriented language of earlier translations. The New American Standard Bible, translated by
American Protestant scholars, appeared in full in 1971.
The
American Bible Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society sponsored a
translation called Today's English Version (New Testament 1966, Old Testament
1976). This version is commonly called
The Good News Bible. It uses everyday
language and is particularly popular with people whose first or native language
is not English. The New International
Version (New Testament 1973, Old Testament 1976), sponsored by the New York
Bible Society, is the most popular among Evangelical Christians. The American author Kenneth N. Taylor
produced The Living Bible Paraphrased, a free and highly readable version, in
1971.
Roman
Catholic translations include the R. A. Knox Version (New Testament 1945, Old Testament
1949), a translation that has official status for British Roman Catholics, and
The Jerusalem Bible (1966). The
Jerusalem Bible has an introduction and notes translated from a French version
of 1956 and present a text based on Hebrew and Aramaic sources. The New Jerusalem Bible, a thorough revision,
appeared in 1985. The first complete
American Roman Catholic translation was The New American Bible of 1970.
Jewish translations: Before the
mid-1800's, English-speaking Jews used either the Hebrew text of the Old
Testament or the Authorized Version. In
the late 1800's, a few translations appeared that were based on the Authorized
Version. The first modern English translation
of the Hebrew text appeared in the United States in 1917. This
translation, sponsored by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS), was based on
the Revised Version. The JPS also
sponsored the New Jewish Version (1962-1981).
Harold Fisch's translation (1964) preserved
much of the feeling of the Authorized Version.
Translations of the New Testament that reflect the Jewish viewpoint
include Hugh J. Schonfield's Authentic New Testament
(1955) and Heinz W. Cassirer's God's New Covenant
(1989).
Some
translations aim at simplicity. The
Bible in Basic English (1949) uses a vocabulary of only 1,000 words. The New Testament: A New Translation in Plain
English (1952) uses a vocabulary of 1,500 words.
The Bible as history
The
Bible refers to many events in the history of ancient Israel and the early church.
Such events include the deeds of kings and the journeys of
apostles. But authors of the Bible did
not write it as a history book. They
intended it to be a statement of faith about the meaning of life revealed by
God. However, there are many historical
events covered in the Bible that represent the only or best information about a
particular period.
An
example of the Bible's treatment of history appears in Miriam's song in Exodus
15: 21. This poem refers to the
Israelites' escape from Egypt through the Red
Sea:
Sing to
the Lord, for He
has
triumphed gloriously;
the
horse and his rider He has
thrown
into the sea.
The
song says God saved the Israelites from the pursuing Egyptians but only hints
at how He did it. Prose accounts in
Exodus 14, which was written later, tell more about the event and try to
explain how God accomplished it. These
accounts describe the parting of the Red
Sea, which left a dry path for
the Israelites to walk across. After the
Israelites reached the other side, the waters suddenly closed back over the
path, drowning the pursuing Egyptians.
Many
people believe that the escape through the Red Sea
happened exactly as described in the Bible.
Others suggest that the prose accounts should not be read as fact but as
statements of faith in God's miraculous protection of His chosen people.
The
Bible in worship
Jews
and Christians use the Bible in private and public worship. In public worship, Jews and many Christian
groups read parts of the Bible according to an official schedule. Judaism especially emphasizes the Torah, or
Law. In worship services, Jews read the
entire Torah over a one-year period. Simhat Torah, an important Jewish festival, celebrates the
completion of one year's reading and the beginning of the next years.
In
some Protestant churches, the minister may select Biblical readings related to
the topic of the sermon. Readings taken from the Bible are also included in the morning
and the evening prayer services of the Church of England and other Anglican
churches.
In
the Roman Catholic Church, Bible passages are read during Mass. A series of daily
prayers called the divine office consists almost entirely of Bible passages. Appropriate passages from the Bible are read
during such ceremonies as baptism, marriage, and funerals.
The Book of Psalms has an important role in Jewish and
Christian worship. Many psalms have been
set to music and are sung as hymns.
Congregations and choirs often sing these psalms during services
Lord's Prayer
Lord's
Prayer is the most widely said Christian prayer. By tradition, it is one of the three basic
statements of Christian faith. The other
two are the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments. For over 1,000 years, people who have been
raised as Christians or have become Christians have memorized the Lord's
Prayer.
The
words of the Lord's Prayer vary among the many translations of the New
Testament. Three familiar versions from
Matthew are:
The King James Version (Protestant)
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread. And
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and
the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.
The New Revised Standard Version (Protestant)
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be
your name. Your
kingdom come. Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread. And forgive us
our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil
one.
From the new catechism of the Catholic Church
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass
against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
The
Lord's Prayer is also called the pater noster, two Latin words meaning Our Father, the first two
words of the prayer. The prayer appears
in two forms in the New Testament--in Matthew 6: 9-13 and in Luke 11: 2-4. Protestants and Roman Catholics now both use
the longer form from Matthew.
The
Lord's Prayer praises God, asks for food and forgiveness, and pleads for
protection against evil. Both Gospels
tell that Jesus taught the prayer to His followers as the best way to pray to
God. Many scholars believe the prayer
expresses the religion that Jesus taught His followers and wanted them to practice.
In
the King James, or Authorized, version of the prayer, the line "Forgive us
our debts" is in Matthew, and "Forgive us our sins" is in
Luke. A third version of the prayer uses
"Forgive us our trespasses."
The words debts, sins, and trespasses all are translations from the same
word used in the original Greek version.
The Greek word means to miss the mark.
All Christian denominations say the Lord's Prayer, both
in public worship and in private prayers.
The prayer is also said by nonreligious groups, including athletic teams
before or after games and organizations at meetings. Many composers have set the prayer to music.
Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament of
the Bible. They are the primary source
of information about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are named after the four men who
are said to have written them: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But many scholars today doubt that these men
actually wrote the Gospels. The word
gospel comes from god spell, an Old English word meaning good news.
None of the Gospels gives a complete story of the life of
Jesus. Each is a collection of His acts
and words, written as an expression of the faith of a particular Christian
community. All four Gospels describe the
teachings and miracles of Jesus' ministry.
They also describe Jesus' betrayal, arrest, Crucifixion, and
Resurrection.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree on
additional details of Jesus' career.
These Gospels are so similar that they can be arranged side by side in
parallel columns. Such an arrangement is
called a synopsis. Matthew, Mark, and
Luke are called Synoptic Gospels because they can be arranged in this way. Most scholars explain the similarity of the
Synoptic Gospels by assuming that Mark was the first Gospel and was then used
as a source for Matthew and Luke.
Scholars also suggest that Matthew and Luke used a second source, which
they call Q. But no copy of the Q source has been found.
The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the Gospels. It was probably written shortly before or
after A.D. 70. A major focus of Mark is
what scholars call the messianic secret.
This term refers to two features of Mark's presentation of Jesus. First, Jesus often commands others not to
reveal what they know about Him. Second,
He gives private instruction to His disciples, but they still fail to
understand Him. Mark may present Jesus
in this way to remind the reader that Jesus is a mysterious figure and that
faith in Him cannot be taken for granted.
The Gospel of Matthew was probably written around A.D.
80. Matthew includes almost all of Mark,
but adds much more of Jesus' teaching.
This teaching is arranged in the form of long speeches. The most famous is the Sermon on the Mount. Thus, Matthew presents Jesus as a messianic
teacher. Matthew emphasizes that Jesus
is the fulfillment of God's promise to the Jews, the final interpreter of the
law, and the inaugurator of the Kingdom
of God. Matthew also
shows that the Kingdom of God is meant to include all nations.
The Gospel of Luke was probably written about A.D.
85. It includes about half of Mark. Luke has inserted most of his new material
into his account of Jesus' journey from Galilee
to Jerusalem. In doing this,
Luke presents Jesus mainly as the prophet-messiah going to His death. Luke shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of
the hopes of Israel and the means to salvation for all nations. These themes also underlie the continuation
of the Gospel of Luke in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Gospel of John was probably written sometime between
A.D. 90 and 110. John's presentation
differs from that of the Synoptic Gospels.
For example, in John's account, Jesus traveled back and forth between Galilee
and Jerusalem during His public ministry. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus spent His
entire ministry near Galilee until He journeyed to His death in Jerusalem. The focus of
John's presentation of Jesus is the view that Jesus is the eternal Word of God
who became human for the salvation of the world. John tells the story of Jesus' acts and
teachings to show how He revealed Himself to the world as the Word or Son of
God.
ญญญญญญญญญญ Beatitudes
Beatitudes are sayings of Jesus Christ found
in the New Testament of the Bible. The
best-known occur in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3-12), and concern certain
virtues and dispositions. They include
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven,"
and
"Blessed are the meek: for they shall
inherit the earth."
The beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke announce comfort for
the oppressed, such as "Blessed are you poor,"
and
"Blessed are you that hunger."
The
word beatitude comes from the Latin word beatitudo, which means
blessedness or happiness.