When we talk about the original manuscripts we are talking about those that have been preserved through time, but of these there are few left, there are only copies of the originals, here we will tell you how many books the original Bible has.
If you also want to know how many books the Evangelical Christian Bible has, click on this link.
Find out how many books are in the original Bible
The original Bible, or TaNaJ, contains all the writings of the Torah, the historical books, and the prophetic books of the Holy Scriptures.
It is known to its own people as the TaNaJ (תַּנַךְ) and means “reading” or “that which is read”, you may find it spelt TaNaK in some places.
In the division of the original Bible we can find this:
1.-The Torah contains the five books that we know as the Pentateuch.
- Bereshit (Genesis)
- Shemot (Exodus)
- Vayikra (Leviticus)
- Bamidvar (Numbers)
- Devarim (Deuteronomy)
These were written by Moses and contain the laws or instructions that God gave to His people.
These five powerful books comprise the core of the entire TaNaJ.
Jews tell that Moses received the Torah when he was on Mount Sinai in the year 2248 after the world was created.
These five books contain all the laws and ordinances of Almighty God for His people Israel.
They determined the life of each one of them, the blessings and the curses, whether they obeyed or not.
This means that the Jews depended on these commandments and could even pay with their lives if they were not fulfilled.
This is why the Torah is the most important part of the Bible for Jews.
You can find out much more about how many books are in the Jewish Bible by clicking on this link.
2.-The second group of books are called the Books of the Prophets or the Neviim.
Neviim Rishonim (First Prophets)
- Yehoshua (Joshua)
- Shofetim (Judges)
- Shmuel (Samuel)
- Melachim (Kings)
Neviim Acharonim (Last Prophets)
- Yeshayahu (Isaiah)
- Irmiahu (Jeremiah)
- Yechezkel (Ezekiel)
- Tereh Asar (Twelve)
This book of the prophets is called Tere Asar, which means Twelve, because it is a compendium of twelve books by different prophets.
But because they were very short, they were combined and made into one book.
The twelve books are as follows
1) Hoshea – Hosea
2) Ioel – Joel
3) Amos
4) Ovadiah – Obadiah
5) Ionah – Jonah
6) Micah – Micah
7) Nahum – Nahum
8) Jabakkuk – Habakkuk
9) Tzephaniah – Zephaniah
10) Haggai – Haggai
11) Zechariah – Zechariah
12) Malachi – Malachi
These are the ones known in the Christian or Protestant Bible as the minor prophets, precisely because they are short.
Here in the original Bible they were grouped together to form a single book, the Tere Asar (Twelve).
In this way we can understand how many books the original Bible has and so we can understand the others.
In this article we learn that it is not that they do not have these twelve books that appear in other Bibles, it is just that they have them in one book.
In this article you can find out much more about how many books the Hebrew Bible has in order to understand it better.
3.- And the third group of writings called the Ketuvim
1) Tehillim (Psalms)
2) Iob (Job)
3) Mishleh (Proverbs)
4) Ruth
5) Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)
6) Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)
7) Elah (Lamentations)
8) Esther
9) Daniel
10) Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra and Nehemiah)
11) Dibre Haiamim (Chronicles)
This is how the original TaNaJ or Hebrew Bible is divided.
But how many books in total does the original Bible have?
We can conclude that this is the number of books that make up the Tanakh: 24.
Among them we find the 5 books of the Torah, the 8 books of the Prophets and we finish with the 11 books of the Ketuvim.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
There is a collection of 972 manuscripts found in the caves of Qumran.
Found on the shores of the Dead Sea, they are called the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Qumran Scrolls.
They are called the Qumran Scrolls because of the place where they were found.
One of the earliest manuscripts found in this lot was a scroll from the Book of Isaiah.
It was found among the first 7 and is 7.4 metres long.
Of all the scrolls found, this one was the best preserved.
This incredible scroll has 54 rows, each containing 66 of the chapters of the Hebrew Bible version of the Book of Isaiah.
It is thought to be thousands of years older than the earliest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible.
Things to consider when translating
As we have seen, many years have passed since the first translation of the Bible was made.
As a result, each translation has a variation of thousands of years from the original Hebrew.
Considering all these variables, we can understand that the Bibles sometimes have certain variations.
It is one thing for them to have certain peculiarities which are characteristic of the language into which they have been translated, but it is quite another to change the meaning of the Scriptures.
For this reason we must be careful that the Bible we use, though it may have certain changes, is not seen to have changed the very meaning for which it was written.
It will not be seen to have changed the meaning for which it was written.
Fundamentally, we must understand that we will never have a translation that is 100% faithful to the original writing.
For we must remember that many of these manuscripts were found in poor condition.
And that parts of these manuscripts were missing.
In the same way, finding such precious pieces as the Dead Sea Scrolls gives us a glimmer of hope.
To think that we can use them as a guide for the next translations to be made.
It has been proven that they are ancient and that many of them are in remarkably good condition.
Now that we know how valuable it is to know how many books the original Bible has, we can move towards choosing a Bible that matches or comes close to the original translations.
So I invite you to study the different options available to you so that you can make the right choice.
With this article on how many books the original Bible has, we will finish these little comments that we make so that you can learn much more.
You can learn about the symbols of the early Christians by clicking on this link.
