What we call Tanakh |תנ"ך| is a library consisting of 24 books divided in three collections. This library was canonized by Jewish sages in the 1st century CE. It became sacred to Judaism and Christianity (although the latter has included in its canon some other Hebrew texts). It has also deeply influenced Islam.
The word "Tanakh" is an acrostic formed by the first Hebrew letters of each of the parts of this collection: T for Torah |תורה| (also know as the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses), N for Neviyim |נביאים| (Prophets) and K, Kh ou Ch for Ketuvim |כתובים| (Writings).
Another synonym for Tanakh is Miqra |מקרא|, which means "reading" or "that which is read".
The Tanakh
Today, thanks to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we know that the Israelites had many more books that might have been considered inspired by God. The sages of the 1st century, though, might have not been aware of all those different books, once they were hidden from the Romans in the caves of Qumran and vicinities; or else, they might have simply believed that those 24 were fundamental to organize the Jewish faith wherever the Jews lived in the diaspora.
Thus...
The Book became the Temple,
The Book became the Land.
STUDIES CENTER
לימודי המקרא
Biblical Studies
[Esta seção está somente em inglês | English only]
As my greatest love, the Tanakh |תנ"ך| (the Hebrew Bible) is subject to scrutiny in this section. I try to bring information from many disciplines in order to better understand the context of the words we read and, therefore, to grasp a little bit of what it was to be in the skin of the biblical authors, seeing what they saw, thinking what they thought and making sense of it .
A note on the spelling
Because this section is meant to illuminate several aspects of the Tanakh, some of the choices I made might tend to be academic rather than popular. This is why you will find, among other things, the spelling of the names (characters' and places') closer to the IPA (International Phonetic Association) transliteration than the ones we might be more accostumed to—for instance, Moshe instead of Moses.
In Jewish tradition, we publicly read a portion of the Torah Scroll (the Pentateuch) on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays (Shabbat). The text of the Pentateuch was partitioned in 54 portions many centuries ago and we read one per week (sometimes two). The portions are listed below. In the pages of the parashot, the first set of chapters shows the Torah portion, while the second refers to the Haftarah, that is, the Prophets' portion that is also read on Shabbatot, Festivals and fast days.
The "Teaching" is the first collection and it deals with the Creation of the Earth, of Mankind and the first families. The whole of the Tanakh tells the story of a God who wants to dwell among mankind and in this first collection the biblical author tells many stories concerning the difficulties encountered by God in this endeavor.
The Sacred Texts used in this website is graciously offered by Sefaria. It is an incredible endeavor with tons of texts of the Hebrews produced along the millenia.
Two chapter references are given in the Torah section:
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Torah chapters
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Haftarah chapters (readings of the Prophets that follow the reading of the Torah on shabbat)
LIST OF ALL BOOKS
בראשית
Gn. 1:1-6:8 | Is. 42:5-43:10
נח
Gn. 6:9-11:32 | Is. 54:1-55:5
לך לך
Gn. 12:1-17:27 | Is. 40:27-41:16
וירא
Vayera
Gn. 18:1-22:24 | 2Ks. 4:1-37
חיי שרה
Gn. 23:1-25:18 | 1Rs. 1:1-31
תולדת
Gn. 25:19-28:9 | Ml. 1:1-2:7
ויצא
Gn. 28:10-32:3 | Ho. 11:7-14:9
וישלח
Vayishlach
Gn. 32:4-36:43 | Ob. 1:1-21
וישב
Vayeshev
Gn. 37:1-40:23 | Am. 2:6-3:8
מקץ
Gn. 41:1-44:17 | 1Ks. 3:15-4:1
ויגש
Gn. 44:18-47:27 | Ez. 37:15-28
ויחי
Gn. 47:28-50:26 | 1Ks. 2:1-12
שמות
Ex. 1:1-6:1 | Is. 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23
וארא
Ex. 6:2-9:35 | Ez. 28:25-29:21
בא
Ex. 10:1-13:16 | Jr. 46:13-28
בשלח
Ex. 13:17-17:16 | Jd. 4:4-5:31
יתרו
Ex. 18:1-20:23 | Is. 6:1-7:6; 9:6-7
משפטים
Ex. 21:1-24:18 | Jr. 34:8-22, 33:25-26
תרומה
Ex. 25:1-27:19 | 1Ks. 5:12-6:13
תצוה
Ex. 27:20-30:10 | Ez. 43:10-27
כי תשא
Ex. 30:11-34:35 | 1Ks. 18:1-39
ויקהל
Ex. 35:1-38:20 | 1Ks. 7:40-50
פקודי
Ex. 38:21-40:38 | 1Ks. 7:51-8:21
ויקרא
Lv. 1:1-5:26 | Is. 43:21-44:23
צו
Lv. 6:1-8:36 | Jr. 7:21-8:3, 9:23-24
שמיני
Shemini
Lv. 9:1-11:47 | 2Sm. 6:1-7:17
תזריע
Lv. 12:1-15:33 | 2Ks. 4:42-5:19
מצרע
Metzorʿa
Lv. 14:1-15:33 | Ml. 3:4-3:24
אחרי מות
Lv. 16:1-18:30 | 1Sm. 20:18-20:42
קדשים
Qedoshim
Lv. 19:11-20:27 | Am. 9:7-15
אמר
Emor
Lv. 21:1-24:23 | Ez. 44:15-31
בהר סיני
Lv. 25:1-26:2| Jr. 32:6-27, 16:19-17:14
בחקתי
Lv. 26:3–27:34 | Jr. 32:6-27
במדבר
Nm. 1:1-4:20 | Ho. 2:1-22
נשא
Nm. 4:21-7:89 | Jd. 13:2-25
בהעלתך
Nm. 8:1-12:16 | Zc. 2:14-4:7
שלח
Nm. 13:1-15:41 | Js. 2:1-24
קרח
Nm. 16:1-18:32 | 1Sm. 11:14-12:22
חקת
Chuqat
Nm. 19:1-22:1 | Jz. 11:1-33
בלק
Nm. 22:2-25:9 | Mc. 5:6-6:8
פנחס
Nm. 25:10-30:1 | Jr. 1:1-2:3
מטות
Nm. 30:2-32:42 | Jr. 1:1-2:3
מסעי
Nm. 33:1-36:13 | Jr. 2:4-28, 3:4
דברים
Dt. 1:1-3:22 | Is. 1:1-27
ואתחנן
Dt. 3:23-7:11 | Is. 40:1-26
עקב
Dt. 7:12-11:25 | Is. 49:14-51:3
ראה
Dt. 11:26-16:17 | Is. 54:11-55:5
שפטים
Dt. 16:18-21:9 | Is. 51:12-52:12
כי תצא
Dt. 21:10-25:19 | Is. 54:1-10
כי תבוא
Dt. 26:1-29:8 | Is. 60:1-22
נצבים
Dt. 29:9-30:20 | Is. 61:10-63:9
וילך
Dt. 31:1-30 | Is. 55:6-56:8
האזינו
Dt. 32:1-52 | 2Sm. 22:1-51
וזאת הברכה
Dt. 33:1-34:12 | Js. 1:1-18
TORAH
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