A little lesson and a little bit of fun

“And he (Jesus) said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44).

The writings Jesus referred to is called the Tanakh. The Christian Old Testament (OT) is derived from it. The Tanakh is composed of three separate books, covering the three different areas mentioned by Jesus in the above verse.

“the law of Moses” is called the “Torah” or “Teachings”. It contains the five books of Moses, (the first five books of the Christian OT).

“and in the prophets” that book is called the “Nevi'im” or “Prophets”. It includes major prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah as well as the twelve, which encompass books such as Hosea and Jonah.

“...and in the psalms” is called the “Ketuvim” or "Writings". This book includes books such as Psalms, Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes.

The word “Tanakh” is actually an acronym of the three books.

I have read the Tanakh online. But I have not owned a copy of it.  But within the past couple of months I have been able to buy 2 of the 3 books. They were the Torah and the Nevi’im, both of which were published by the Jewish Publication Society of America in the 70’s. Both are in mint condition. The Torah I stumbled across in Morehead City, the Nevi’im from a book store in California. The grand total cost for both was only $11.

The significance of it is this. The Jewish Publication Society of America translated the Tanakh from the original text into English, first 100 years ago and then again 50 years ago. Because it is translated directly from the Masoretic text to modern English, it is the most accurate translation (at least in my opinion) of Old Testament scripture available without having to learn Hebrew or Aramaic languages of the Biblical time period.

Does it read differently than say the King James Version? Yes it does. Are their significant differences? Sometimes. The Tanakh does paint a clearer more complete picture than any other English version I am aware of. It has too, it is a direct translation and not a translation from a translation of a translation. Nor does it suffer from the distortions that occur of the translations time period. Language evolves. Each translation from a different time period can augment the message. This problem is compounded with each success translation.

I am real big proponent of possessing a hard copy. In other words, I believe in owning the book, not just having the URL address. To have lucked into these 2 books in mint condition after 50 years and at such a low price is nothing short of a blessing.

I have the Ketuvim left to buy. I’m only interested in a Jewish Publication Society of America copy. The coast of North Carolina and California produced the first two. Let’s see where the third and final book comes from.

Bill Hitchcock