Hebrew Bible

11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum

Hebrew Bible (Hebrew: תנ"ך) is a term that refers to the common portions of the Jewish and Christian biblical canons. Its use is favored by some academic Biblical scholars as a neutral term that is preferred in academic writing both to "Old Testament" (which alludes to the Christian doctrine of supersessionism) and to "Tanakh" (an acronym used commonly by Jews but unfamiliar to many English speakers and others) .

"Hebrew" in "Hebrew Bible" may refer to either the Hebrew language or to the Hebrew people who historically used Hebrew as a spoken language, and have continuously used the language in prayer and study, or both.

Because "Hebrew Bible" refers to the common portions of the Jewish and Christian biblical canons, it does not encompass the deuterocanonical books (largely from the Koine Greek Septuagint translation (LXX), included in the canon of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches). Thus the term "Hebrew Bible" corresponds most fully to the Old Testament in use by Protestant denominations (adhering to Jerome's Hebraica veritas doctrine). Nevertheless, the term can be used accurately by all Christian denominations in general contexts, except where reference to specific translations or books is called for.

See also

* Books of the Bible for the differences between Bible versions of different groups, or the much more detailed Biblical canon.
*Greek Scriptures
* Masoretic Text, the standard Hebrew text recognized by most Judeo-Christian groups.
*Society of Biblical Literature, creators of the SBL Handbook which recommends standard biblical terminology.
* Table of books of Judeo-Christian Scripture
* Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible
* Torah

References

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Bibliography

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