The Bible Portal
The Bible is a collection of religious texts and scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, and partly in Judaism, Samaritanism, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, and other Abrahamic religions. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. The texts include instructions, stories, poetry, prophecies, and other genres. The collection of materials accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text varies.
The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch (meaning five books) in Greek. The second-oldest part was a collection of narrative histories and prophecies (the Nevi'im). The third collection, the Ketuvim, contains psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories. "Tanakh" (Hebrew: תָּנָ״ךְ, romanized: Tanaḵ) is an alternate term for the Hebrew Bible, which is composed of the first letters of the three components comprising scriptures written originally in Hebrew: the Torah ("Teaching"), the Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("Writings"). The Masoretic Text is the medieval version of the Tanakh—written in Hebrew and Aramaic—that is considered the authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible by modern Rabbinic Judaism. The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of the Tanakh from the third and second centuries BCE; it largely overlaps with the Hebrew Bible.
Christianity began as an outgrowth of Second Temple Judaism, using the Septuagint as the basis of the Old Testament. The early Church continued the Jewish tradition of writing and incorporating what it saw as inspired, authoritative religious books. The gospels, Pauline epistles, and other texts quickly coalesced into the New Testament.
With estimated total sales of over five billion copies, the Bible is the best-selling publication of all time. It has had a profound influence both on Western culture and history and on cultures around the globe. The study of it through biblical criticism has also indirectly impacted culture and history. The Bible is currently translated or is being translated into about half of the world's languages. The most widely used version (Christian and otherwise) is the Catholic Bible, with its current edition being the Nova Vulgata.
Some view biblical texts as morally problematic, historically inaccurate, or corrupted by time; others find it a useful historical source for certain peoples and events or a source of moral and ethical teachings. The Bible neither calls for nor condemns slavery outright, but there are verses that address dealing with it. These verses have been used to support the institution of slavery, but the Bible has also been used to support abolitionism. Some have written that Christian supersessionism is rooted in the book of Hebrews, whereas others locate its beginnings in the culture of the fourth-century Roman Empire. The Bible has been used to support the death penalty, patriarchy, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and bigotry, the violence of total war, and colonialism. It has also been used to support charity, culture[vague], healthcare and education. (Full article...)
Selected article -
The Eliot Indian Bible (Massachusett: Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God; also known as the Algonquian Bible) was the first translation of the Christian Bible into an indigenous American language, as well as the first Bible published in British North America. It was prepared by English Puritan missionary John Eliot by translating the Geneva Bible into the Massachusett language. Printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the work first appeared in 1661 with only the New Testament. An edition including all 66 books of both the Old and New Testaments was printed in 1663.
The inscription on the 1663 edition's cover page, beginning with Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up Biblum God, corresponds in English to The Whole Holy His-Bible God, both Old Testament and also New Testament. This turned by the servant of Christ, who is called John Eliot. The preparation and printing of Eliot's work was supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, whose governor was the eminent scientist Robert Boyle. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Alice King overcame her disability to lead Bible classes and write eleven novels?
- ... that Albert Sack wrote the "bible" for a generation of weekend antique furniture buyers?
- ... that meetings between Biblical and post-Biblical characters, such as when Moses sees Rabbi Akiva teach and be martyred, are rare in Talmudic stories?
- ... that all known writing in Ancient Hebrew totals just 300,000 words, versus 9.9 million in Akkadian?
- ... that the New Zealand Geographic Board initially rejected the name of the Garden of Eden Ice Plateau for being biblical in origin?
- ... that the Biblical Magi dispense mysterious vision-inducing foods in the Revelation of the Magi, which a scholar proposed to be an account of ritual hallucinogen intake?
List articles
- List of animals in the Bible
- Biblical canon
- List of capital crimes in the Torah
- Prophets of Christianity
- List of English Bible translations
- List of films based on the Bible
- List of minor Old Testament figures, A–K
- List of minor Old Testament figures, L–Z
- List of minor biblical tribes
- List of biblical names
- List of New Testament pericopes
- List of New Testament papyri
- List of New Testament uncials
- Lists of New Testament minuscules
- List of New Testament lectionaries
- List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations
- List of Hebrew Bible events
- List of Jewish biblical figures
- List of biblical places
- List of plants in the Bible
Related portals
Selected quote -
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11
Categories
WikiProjects
Web resources
- Audio Bible Online
- Bible Hub
- Bible Portal
- BibleGateway.com
- BibleStudyTools.com
- Biblia.com
- Blue Letter Bible
- Free Bible Images
- Multilingual Online Bible
- Remember Me online Bible verse memorisation
- The Holy Bible, a Standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures A jw.org Jehovah Witnesses portal of New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
Topics
More did you know -
- ...that The Sheep and the Goats or "The Judgment of the Nations" was a discourse of Jesus recorded in the New Testament? (Matthew 25:31-46)
- ...that the Northern Kingdom of Israel is sometimes referred to as Ephraim, which was the dominant tribe, and that the Southern Kingdom of Judah included Jerusalem?
- ...that Ezekiel saw a creature like a wheel and full of eyes? Ezekiel 1
Selected chapters
Genesis - Exodus - Leviticus - Numbers - Deuteronomy - Joshua - Judges - Ruth - 1 Samuel - 2 Samuel - 1 Kings - 2 Kings - 1 Chronicles - 2 Chronicles - Ezra - Nehemiah - Esther - Job - Psalms - Proverbs - Ecclesiastes - Song of Solomon - Isaiah
Associated Wikimedia
Bible on Wikiquote Quotes |
Bible on Commons Images |
Bible on Wikisource Texts |
Sources