What is the Jewish Bible called? Is it the Old Testament?

The three parts

Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Nevi’im: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Twelve minor prophets (counted as one book). Ketuvim: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah and Chronicles. Samuel, Kings, Ezra–Nehemiah and Chronicles each count as one book, giving 24.

The order

The Talmud records the traditional order of the Prophets and Writings. The Tanakh ends with Chronicles and the call to go up to Jerusalem; Christian Bibles end the Old Testament with Malachi, leading into the New Testament. Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments also include books such as Maccabees and Tobit, which are not in the Tanakh.

Why not “Old Testament”

“Old Testament” assumes a New Testament that replaces or completes it, which Judaism does not accept. Jews say Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, or simply the Bible; the Torah portion is often called the Chumash, from the Hebrew for “five”.

The text

The Hebrew text is the Masoretic text, preserved with vowel and cantillation marks by the Masoretes of Tiberias. Translations differ – for instance, “young woman” rather than “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 – so Jewish readers rely on Jewish translations and commentaries – Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Radak and others – to understand the plain meaning and the tradition behind it.