What is the Old Testament?

# What is the Old Testament?

Quick summary

The Old Testament is the Christian name for the first major part of the Bible. It gathers books about creation, covenant, law, wisdom, poetry, Israel’s history, exile, restoration, and prophetic hope. In Judaism, many of these same writings are known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible.

What does it include?

In many Protestant Bibles the Old Testament has 39 books. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles count additional books and additions that are often called deuterocanonical in Catholic usage and apocrypha in many Protestant contexts. The main blocks usually include the Pentateuch or Torah, historical books, wisdom and poetic writings, and the Prophets.

Is it the same as the Hebrew Bible?

The overlap is large, but the terms are not identical. The Hebrew Bible has its own Jewish order and structure: Torah, Prophets, and Writings. Christian Old Testaments place these writings before the New Testament and often read them in relation to Christian claims about Jesus, covenant, promise, and fulfillment.

Why it matters

Without the Old Testament, many New Testament themes become hard to understand: covenant, temple, sacrifice, Messiah, sin, justice, wisdom, exile, and restoration. The language of the Gospels and apostolic letters is deeply shaped by Israel’s Scriptures.

Reading carefully

The Old Testament is not one book written at one time. It is a library formed over centuries and made of many literary genres. A ritual law, a lament psalm, a royal narrative, a proverb, and a prophetic vision should not be read as if they worked the same way.

Read also

• What is the biblical canon?
• What is the Tanakh?
• What is the difference between the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament?
• What is the difference between Torah, Pentateuch, and Law of Moses?

Sources and recommended reading

• Britannica Old Testament
• Britannica Biblical Literature
• Jewish Virtual Library Tanakh
• Sefaria

Editorial note: this article is written in an informational, non-confessional tone. Where traditions disagree, the page should describe differences of reception, use, and canon without presenting one tradition as the universal default.