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73-480: Iapetus was linked to Japheth ( Hebrew : יֶפֶת ), one of the sons of Noah and a progenitor of mankind in biblical accounts. The practice by early historians and biblical scholars of identifying various historical nations and ethnic groups as descendants of Japheth, together with the similarity of their names, led to a fusion of their identities, from the early modern period to the present. Iapetus ("the Piercer")

146-562: A group—if it existed—was only a small minority in early Israel, even though their story came to be claimed by all." Scholars believe Psalm 45 could have northern origins since it refers to a king marrying a foreign princess, a policy of the Omrides . Some psalms may have originated from the shrine in the northern city of Dan. These are the Sons of Korah psalms, Psalm 29 , and Psalm 68 . The city of Dan probably became an Israelite city during

219-778: A range of sources. These include the Septuagint, the Syriac language Peshitta translation, the Samaritan Pentateuch , the Dead Sea Scrolls collection, the Targum Onkelos , and quotations from rabbinic manuscripts . These sources may be older than the Masoretic Text in some cases and often differ from it. These differences have given rise to the theory that yet another text, an Urtext of

292-592: A rejection of God's kingship; nevertheless, God permits it, and Saul of the tribe of Benjamin is anointed king. This inaugurates the united monarchy of the Kingdom of Israel . An officer in Saul's army named David achieves great militarily success. Saul tries to kill him out of jealousy, but David successfully escapes (1 Samuel 16–29). After Saul dies fighting the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 31 ; 2 Chronicles 10 ),

365-577: A special two-column form emphasizing the parallel stichs in the verses, which are a function of their poetry . Collectively, these three books are known as Sifrei Emet (an acronym of the titles in Hebrew, איוב, משלי, תהלים yields Emet אמ"ת , which is also the Hebrew for " truth "). These three books are also the only ones in Tanakh with a special system of cantillation notes that are designed to emphasize parallel stichs within verses. However,

438-717: Is addressed as "son of Iapetus", and no mother is named. However, in Hesiod's Theogony , Clymene is listed as Iapetus' wife and the mother of Prometheus. In Aeschylus 's play Prometheus Bound , Prometheus is son of the goddess Themis with no father named (but still with at least Atlas as a brother). However, in Horace 's Odes, in Ode 1.3 Horace writes "audax Iapeti genus ... Ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit" ("The bold offspring of Iapetus [i.e. Prometheus] ... brought fire to peoples by wicked deceit"). Hesiod and other Greek scholars regarded

511-733: Is consistently presented throughout the [Hebrew Scriptures] as the God who created the world, and as the only God with whom Israel is to be concerned". This special relationship between God and Israel is described in terms of covenant . As part of the covenant, God gives his people the Promised Land as an eternal possession. The God of the covenant is also a God of redemption . God liberates his people from Egypt and continually intervenes to save them from their enemies. The Tanakh imposes ethical requirements , including social justice and ritual purity (see Tumah and taharah ) . The Tanakh forbids

584-563: Is credited as the author of at least 73 of the Biblical Psalms . His son, Solomon , is identified as the author of Book of Proverbs , Ecclesiastes , and Song of Solomon . The Hebrew Bible describes their reigns as a golden age when Israel flourished both culturally and militarily. However, there is no archeological evidence for this, and it is most likely a "retrospective extrapolation" of conditions under King Jeroboam II ( r.  781–742 BCE). Modern scholars believe that

657-508: Is featured in the story of Noah's drunkenness . Ham sees Noah drunk and naked in his tent and tells his brothers, who then cover their father with a cloak while avoiding the sight; when Noah awakes he curses Canaan, the son of Ham , and blesses Shem and Japheth: "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem and may Canaan be his slave ; and may God enlarge Japheth and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave!" Chapter 10 of Genesis,

730-556: Is highly likely that extensive oral transmission of proverbs, stories, and songs took place during this period", and these may have been included in the Hebrew Bible. Elements of Genesis 12–50, which describes the patriarchal age , and the Book of Exodus may reflect oral traditions . In these stories, Israelite ancestors such as Jacob and Moses use trickery and deception to survive and thrive. King David ( c.  1000 BCE )

803-524: Is mentioned in the Midrash Koheleth 12:12: Whoever brings together in his house more than twenty four books brings confusion . The original writing system of the Hebrew text was an abjad : consonants written with some applied vowel letters ( " matres lectionis " ). During the early Middle Ages , scholars known as the Masoretes created a single formalized system of vocalization . This

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876-614: Is not mentioned by name in the Quran but is referred to indirectly in the narrative of Noah (Quran 7:64 , 10:73 , 11:40 , 23:27 , 26:119 ). Muslim exegesis of the Quran , however, names all of Noah's sons, and these include Japheth. In identifying Japheth's descendants, Muslim exegesis mostly agrees with the Biblical tradition . In the Islamic tradition, he is usually regarded as

949-710: Is one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis , in which he plays a role in the story of Noah's drunkenness and the curse of Ham , and subsequently in the Table of Nations as the ancestor of the peoples of the Aegean Sea , Anatolia , Caucasus , Greece , and elsewhere in Eurasia . In medieval and early modern European tradition he was considered to be the progenitor of the European peoples . The meaning of

1022-413: Is roughly 2000. The Tanakh consists of twenty-four books, counting as one book each 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel , 1 Kings and 2 Kings , 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles , and Ezra–Nehemiah . The Twelve Minor Prophets ( תרי עשר ) are also counted as a single book. In Hebrew, the books are often referred to by their prominent first words . The Torah ( תּוֹרָה , literally "teaching") is also known as

1095-733: Is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, comprising the Torah , the Nevi'im , and the Ketuvim . Different branches of Judaism and Samaritanism have maintained different versions of the canon, including the 3rd-century BCE Septuagint text used in Second Temple Judaism , the Syriac Peshitta , the Samaritan Pentateuch , the Dead Sea Scrolls , and most recently the 10th-century medieval Masoretic Text compiled by

1168-659: Is the one Titan mentioned by Homer in the Iliad as being in Tartarus with Cronus . He is a brother of Cronus, who ruled the world during the Golden Age but is now locked up in Tartarus along with Iapetus, where neither breeze nor light of the sun reaches them. Iapetus' wife is usually described as a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys named either Clymene (according to Hesiod and Hyginus) or Asia (according to Apollodorus ). In Hesiod 's Works and Days , Prometheus

1241-438: Is trying to wipe the world free of those descended from Cain . Yonah is descended from Cain, despite her good heart and love from the family. Japheth secretly brings her aboard, and she is eventually discovered by Ham and Shem. Japheth defends her from Noah and is about to kill Shem in his rage. Yonah stops and calms him, and Noah decides to let her stay. The flood passes and the brothers all depart for different regions to populate

1314-695: The 3rd - 1st millennia BC . In the Polish tradition of Sarmatism , the Sarmatians , an Iranic people , were said to be descended from Japheth, son of Noah, enabling the Polish nobility to believe that their ancestry could be traced directly to Noah. In Scotland , histories tracing the Scottish people to Japheth were published as late as George Chalmers 's well-received Caledonia , published in 3 volumes from 1807 to 1824. Japheth (in Arabic : Yāfith )

1387-647: The Eastern Mediterranean region. The point of the "blessing of Japheth" seems to be that Japheth (a Greek-descended people ) and Shem (the Israelites ) would rule jointly over Canaan ( Palestine ). From the 19th century until the late 20th century, it was usual to see Japheth as a reference to the Philistines , who shared dominion over Canaan during the pre-monarchic and early monarchic period of Israel and Judah . This view accorded with

1460-524: The Itil and Yaik rivers, and had eight sons named Turk, Khazar, Saqlab, Rus, Ming, Chin, Kemeri, and Tarikh. As Japheth was dying he established Turk, his firstborn son, as his successor. According to the 18th-century Hui Muslim writer Liu Zhi , after Noah's flood, Japheth inherited China as the eastern portion of the Earth, while Shem inherited Arabia as the middle portion, and Ham inherited Europe as

1533-769: The Masoretes added vowel markings to the text to ensure accuracy. Rabbi and Talmudic scholar Louis Ginzberg wrote in Legends of the Jews , published in 1909, that the twenty-four book canon was fixed by Ezra and the scribes in the Second Temple period . According to the Talmud , much of the Tanakh was compiled by the men of the Great Assembly ( Anshei K'nesset HaGedolah ), a task completed in 450  BCE, and it has remained unchanged ever since. The 24-book canon

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1606-602: The Masoretes , currently used in Rabbinic Judaism . The terms "Hebrew Bible" or "Hebrew Canon" are frequently confused with the Masoretic Text; however, this is a medieval version and one of several texts considered authoritative by different types of Judaism throughout history . The current edition of the Masoretic Text is mostly in Biblical Hebrew , with a few passages in Biblical Aramaic (in

1679-823: The Masoretic Text , compiled by the Jewish scribes and scholars of the Early Middle Ages , comprises the Hebrew and Aramaic 24 books that they considered authoritative. The Hellenized Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria produced a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible called "the Septuagint ", that included books later identified as the Apocrypha , while the Samaritans produced their own edition of

1752-713: The Table of Nations , describes how earth was populated by the sons of Noah following the Flood, beginning with the descendants of Japheth: Japheth (in Hebrew : Yā́p̄eṯ or Yép̄eṯ ) may be a transliteration of the Greek Iapetos , the ancestor of the Hellenic peoples . His sons and grandsons associate him with the geographic area comprising the Aegean Sea , Greece , the Caucasus , and Anatolia : Ionia / Javan , Rhodes / Rodanim , Cyprus / Kittim , and other places in

1825-542: The patriarchs : Abraham , his son Isaac , and grandson Jacob . God promises Abraham and his descendants blessing and land. The covenant God makes with Abraham is signified by male circumcision . The children of Jacob become the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel . Jacob's son Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, but he becomes a powerful man in Egypt. During a famine, Jacob and his family settle in Egypt. Jacob's descendants lived in Egypt for 430 years. After

1898-464: The "Pentateuch", or as the "Five Books of Moses". Printed versions (rather than scrolls) of the Torah are often called Chamisha Chumshei Torah ( חמישה חומשי תורה "Five fifth-sections of the Torah") and informally as Chumash . Nevi'im ( נְבִיאִים Nəḇīʾīm , "Prophets") is the second main division of the Tanakh, between the Torah and Ketuvim . This division includes the books which cover

1971-584: The 5th century BCE. This is suggested by Ezra 7 :6, which describes Ezra as "a scribe skilled in the law ( torah ) of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given". The Nevi'im had gained canonical status by the 2nd century BCE. There are references to the "Law and the Prophets" in the Book of Sirach , the Dead Sea Scrolls , and the New Testament . The Book of Daniel, written c.  164 BCE ,

2044-641: The Exodus , the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years. God gives the Israelites the Law of Moses to guide their behavior. The law includes rules for both religious ritual and ethics (see Ethics in the Bible ) . This moral code requires justice and care for the poor, widows, and orphans. The biblical story affirms God's unconditional love for his people, but he still punishes them when they fail to live by

2117-487: The Hebrew Bible resulting from centuries of hand-copying. Scribes introduced thousands of minor changes to the biblical texts. Sometimes, these changes were by accident. At other times, scribes intentionally added clarifications or theological material. In the Middle Ages, Jewish scribes produced the Masoretic Text , which became the authoritative version of the Tanakh. Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels, but

2190-410: The Hebrew Bible were composed and edited in stages over several hundred years. According to biblical scholar John J. Collins , "It now seems clear that all the Hebrew Bible received its final shape in the postexilic, or Second Temple, period." Traditionally, Moses was considered the author of the Torah, and this part of the Tanakh achieved authoritative or canonical status first, possibly as early as

2263-580: The Hebrew Bible, but the books are arranged in different orders. The Catholic , Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox , and Assyrian churches include the Deuterocanonical books , which are not included in certain versions of the Hebrew Bible. In Islam , the Tawrat ( Arabic : توراة ) is identified not only with the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses ), but also with the other books of

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2336-533: The Hebrew Bible, once existed and is the source of the versions extant today. However, such an Urtext has never been found, and which of the three commonly known versions (Septuagint, Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch) is closest to the Urtext is debated. There are many similarities between the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament . The Protestant Old Testament has the same books as

2409-421: The Hebrew Bible. Tanakh is an acronym , made from the first Hebrew letter of each of the Masoretic Text 's three traditional divisions: Torah (literally 'Instruction' or 'Law'), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings)—hence TaNaKh. The three-part division reflected in the acronym Tanakh is well attested in the rabbinic literature . During that period, however, Tanakh was not used. Instead,

2482-724: The Hebrew canon, but modern scholars believe there was no such authoritative council of rabbis. Between 70 and 100 CE, rabbis debated whether certain books "make the hands unclean" (meaning the books are holy and should be considered scripture), and references to fixed numbers of canonical books appear. There were several criteria for inclusion. Books had to be older than the 4th century BCE or attributed to an author who had lived before that period. The original language had to be Hebrew, and books had to be widely used. Many books considered scripture by certain Jewish communities were excluded during this time. There are various textual variants in

2555-581: The Jacob cycle must be older than the time of King Josiah of Judah ( r.  640 – 609 BCE ), who pushed for the centralization of worship at Jerusalem. The story of Moses and the Exodus appears to also originate in the north. It existed as a self-contained story in its oral and earliest written forms, but it was connected to the patriarchal stories during the exile or post-exile periods. The account of Moses's birth ( Exodus 2 ) shows similarities to

2628-527: The Roman–Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews , I.VI.122 ( Whiston ): Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus , they proceeded along Asia, as far as the river Tanais (Don), and along Europe to Cadiz ; and settling themselves on the lands which they light upon, which none had inhabited before, they called

2701-571: The Talmudic tradition ascribes late authorship to all of them; two of them (Daniel and Ezra) are the only books in Tanakh with significant portions in Aramaic . The Jewish textual tradition never finalized the order of the books in Ketuvim. The Talmud gives their order as Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Scroll of Esther, Ezra, Chronicles. This order

2774-499: The Tanakh is monotheism , worshiping one God . The Tanakh was created by the Israelites , a people who lived within the cultural and religious context of the ancient Near East . The religions of the ancient Near East were polytheistic , but the Israelites rejected polytheism in favor of monotheism. Biblical scholar Christine Hayes writes that the Hebrew Bible was "the record of [the Israelites'] religious and cultural revolution". According to biblical scholar John Barton , " YHWH

2847-571: The Tanakh, such as Exodus 15, 1 Samuel 2, and Jonah 2. Books such as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are examples of wisdom literature . Other books are examples of prophecy . In the prophetic books, a prophet denounces evil or predicts what God will do in the future. A prophet might also describe and interpret visions. The Book of Daniel is the only book in the Tanakh usually described as apocalyptic literature . However, other books or parts of books have been called proto-apocalyptic, such as Isaiah 24–27, Joel, and Zechariah 9–14. A central theme throughout

2920-466: The Torah to Moses . In later Biblical texts, such as Daniel 9:11 and Ezra 3:2, it is referred to as the " Torah (Law) of Moses ". However, the Torah itself credits Moses with writing only some specific sections. According to scholars , Moses would have lived in the 2nd millennium BCE , but this was before the development of Hebrew writing. The Torah is dated to the 1st millennium BCE after Israel and Judah had already developed as states. Nevertheless, "it

2993-533: The Torah, the Samaritan Pentateuch . According to the Dutch–Israeli biblical scholar and linguist Emanuel Tov , professor of Bible Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , both of these ancient editions of the Hebrew Bible differ significantly from the medieval Masoretic Text. In addition to the Masoretic Text, modern biblical scholars seeking to understand the history of the Hebrew Bible use

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3066-562: The ancestor of the Gog and Magog tribes. Islamic tradition also tends to identify the descendants of Japheth as including the Turks , Khazars , Chinese , Mongols , and Slavs . According to Abū'l-Ghāzī who wrote the 17th-century ethnographic treatise Shajara-i Tarākima ("Genealogy of the Turkmen"), the descendants of Ham went to Africa , Shem to Iran , and Japheth went to the banks of

3139-530: The ancient Israelites mostly originated from within Canaan. Their material culture was closely related to their Canaanite neighbors, and Hebrew was a Canaanite dialect . Archaeological evidence indicates Israel began as loosely organized tribal villages in the hill country of modern-day Israel c.  1250  – c.  1000 BCE . During crises, these tribes formed temporary alliances. The Book of Judges , written c.  600 BCE (around 500 years after

3212-795: The arrogant Menoetius, rash violence. Iapetus as the progenitor of mankind has been equated with Japheth ( יֶפֶת ), the son of Noah , based on the similarity of their names and the tradition, reported by Josephus ( Antiquities of the Jews ), which made Japheth the ancestor of the " Japhetites ", i.e. the Indo-European speaking peoples . Iapetus was linked to Japheth by 17th-century theologian Matthew Poole (and more recently by Robert Graves ) and by John Pairman Brown. Japheth Japheth / ˈ dʒ eɪ f ɛ θ / ( Hebrew : יֶפֶת Yép̄eṯ , in pausa יָפֶת ‎ Yā́p̄eṯ ; Greek : Ἰάφεθ Iápheth ; Latin : Iafeth, Iapheth, Iaphethus, Iapetus ; Arabic : يافث Yāfith )

3285-402: The beginning and end of the book of Job are in the normal prose system. The five relatively short books of the Song of Songs , Ruth , Lamentations , Ecclesiastes , and Esther are collectively known as the Ḥamesh Megillot (Five Megillot). In many Jewish communities, these books are read aloud in the synagogue on particular occasions, the occasion listed below in parentheses. Besides

3358-512: The birth of Sargon of Akkad , which suggests Neo-Assyrian influence sometime after 722 BCE. While the Moses story is set in Egypt, it is used to tell both an anti-Assyrian and anti-imperial message, all while appropriating Assyrian story patterns. David M. Carr notes the possibility of an early oral tradition for the Exodus story: "To be sure, there may have been a 'Moses group,' themselves of Canaanite extraction, who experienced slavery and liberation from Egypt, but most scholars believe that such

3431-430: The books of Daniel and Ezra ), written and printed in Aramaic square-script , which was adopted as the Hebrew alphabet after the Babylonian exile . The Tanakh includes a variety of genres, including narratives of events set in the past. The Torah ( Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy ) contains legal material. The Book of Psalms is a collection of hymns, but songs are included elsewhere in

3504-403: The books of Daniel and Ezra , and the verse Jeremiah 10:11 ). The authoritative form of the modern Hebrew Bible used in Rabbinic Judaism is the Masoretic Text (7th to 10th century CE), which consists of 24 books, divided into chapters and pesuqim (verses). The Hebrew Bible developed during the Second Temple Period , as the Jews decided which religious texts were of divine origin;

3577-433: The connotations of alternative expressions such as ... Hebrew Bible [and] Old Testament" without prescribing the use of either. "Hebrew" refers to the original language of the books, but it may also be taken as referring to the Jews of the Second Temple era and their descendants, who preserved the transmission of the Masoretic Text up to the present day. The Hebrew Bible includes small portions in Aramaic (mostly in

3650-418: The content of the Ketuvim remained fluid until the canonization process was completed in the 2nd-century CE. There is no scholarly consensus as to when the Hebrew Bible canon was fixed: some scholars argue that it was fixed by the Hasmonean dynasty , while others argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later. The speculated late-1st-century Council of Jamnia was once credited with fixing

3723-511: The covenant. God leads Israel into the Promised Land of Canaan , which they conquer after five years. For the next 470 years, the Israelites were led by judges . In time, a new enemy emerged called the Philistines . They continued to trouble Israel when the prophet Samuel was judge (1 Samuel 4:1–7:1). When Samuel grew old, the people requested that he choose a king because Samuel's sons were corrupt and they wanted to be like other nations ( 1 Samuel 8 ). The Tanakh presents this negatively as

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3796-406: The elder", which could mean that either is the eldest. Most modern writers accept Shem–Ham–Japheth as reflecting their birth order, but this is not always the case: Moses and Rachel also appear at the head of such lists despite explicit descriptions of them as younger siblings. However, Japheth is considered to have been the eldest son of Noah in Rabbinic literature . Following the Flood, Japheth

3869-430: The events it describes), portrays Israel as a grouping of decentralized tribes, and the Song of Deborah in Judges 5 may reflect older oral traditions. It features archaic elements of Hebrew and a tribal list that identifies Israel exclusively with the northern tribes. By the 9th or 8th centuries BCE, the scribal culture of Samaria and Judah was sufficiently developed to produce biblical texts. The Kingdom of Samaria

3942-432: The exploitation of widows, orphans, and other vulnerable groups. In addition, the Tanakh condemns murder, theft, bribery, corruption, deceitful trading, adultery, incest, bestiality, and homosexual acts. Another theme of the Tanakh is theodicy , showing that God is just even though evil and suffering are present in the world. The Tanakh begins with the Genesis creation narrative . Genesis 12–50 traces Israelite origins to

4015-456: The kingdom is divided between his son Eshbaal and David (David ruled his tribe of Judah and Eshbaal ruled the rest). After Eshbaal's assassination, David was anointed king over all of Israel ( 2 Samuel 2–5). David captures the Jebusite city of Jerusalem ( 2 Samuel 5 :6–7) and makes it his capital. Jerusalem's location between Judah in the southern hills and the northern Israelite tribes made it an ideal location from which to rule over all

4088-459: The name Japheth ( יפת ‎: y-p-t ) is disputable. There are two possible sources to the meaning of the name: Japheth first appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the three sons of Noah, saved from the Flood through the Ark . In the Book of Genesis , they are always in the order "Shem, Ham, and Japheth" when all three are listed. Genesis 9:24 calls Ham the youngest, and Genesis 10:21 refers ambiguously to Shem as "brother of Japheth

4161-548: The nations by their own names. The Sefer haYashar ("Book of Jasher"), written by Talmudic rabbis in the 17th century, attributed some new names for Japheth's grandchildren which are not found in the Hebrew Bible, and provided a much more detailed genealogy . In the Jewish tradition, Abraham 's wife Keturah is sometimes considered a descendant of Japheth. In the 7th century AD, Hispano–Roman archbishop and scholar Isidore of Seville wrote his noted encyclopedic-historical treatise titled Etymologiae , in which he traces

4234-824: The origins of most of the European peoples back to Japheth. Scholars in almost every European nation continued to repeat and develop Isidore of Seville's assertion of descent from Noah through Japheth into the 19th century. William Shakespeare 's play Henry IV, Part II contains a wry comment about people who claim to be related to royal families. Prince Hal notes of such people, ...they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it from Japhet. (II.ii 117-18) The Georgian historian and linguist Ivane Javakhishvili associated Japheth's sons with certain ancient tribes, called Tubals ( Tabals , in Greek: Tibarenoi ) and Meshechs (Meshekhs/Mosokhs, in Greek: Moschoi ), who claimed to represent non-Indo-European and non-Semitic, possibly "Proto-Iberian" tribes that inhabitated Anatolia during

4307-408: The proper title was Mikra (or Miqra , מקרא, meaning reading or that which is read ) because the biblical texts were read publicly. The acronym 'Tanakh' is first recorded in the medieval era. Mikra continues to be used in Hebrew to this day, alongside Tanakh, to refer to the Hebrew scriptures. In modern spoken Hebrew , they are interchangeable. Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of

4380-494: The reign of King Jeroboam II (781–742   BCE). Before then, it belonged to Aram , and Psalm 20 is nearly identical to an Aramaic psalm found in the 4th century BCE Papyrus Amherst 63 . The author of the Books of Kings likely lived in Jerusalem. The text shows a clear bias favoring Judah, where God's worship was centralized in Jerusalem. The Kingdom of Samaria is portrayed as a godless breakaway region whose rulers refuse to worship at Jerusalem. The books that make up

4453-574: The revelation at Sinai , since it is impossible to read the original text without pronunciations and cantillation pauses. The combination of a text ( מקרא mikra ), pronunciation ( ניקוד niqqud ) and cantillation ( טעמים te`amim ) enable the reader to understand both the simple meaning and the nuances in sentence flow of the text. The number of distinct words in the Hebrew Bible is 8,679, of which 1,480 are hapax legomena , words or expressions that occur only once. The number of distinct Semitic roots , on which many of these biblical words are based,

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4526-443: The sons of Iapetus as mankind's ancestors and as such, some of humanity's worst qualities were said to have been inherited from these four gods, each of whom were described with a particular moral fault that often led to their own downfall. For instance, sly and clever Prometheus could perhaps represent crafty scheming; the inept and guileless Epimetheus, foolish stupidity; the enduring, strongest and powerful Atlas, excessive daring; and

4599-464: The term Hebrew Bible (or Hebrew Scriptures ) as a substitute for less-neutral terms with Jewish or Christian connotations (e.g., Tanakh or Old Testament ). The Society of Biblical Literature 's Handbook of Style , which is the standard for major academic journals like the Harvard Theological Review and conservative Protestant journals like the Bibliotheca Sacra and the Westminster Theological Journal , suggests that authors "be aware of

4672-401: The three poetic books and the five scrolls, the remaining books in Ketuvim are Daniel , Ezra–Nehemiah and Chronicles . Although there is no formal grouping for these books in the Jewish tradition, they nevertheless share a number of distinguishing characteristics: their narratives all openly describe relatively late events (i.e. the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent restoration of Zion);

4745-607: The time from the entrance of the Israelites into the Land of Israel until the Babylonian captivity of Judah (the "period of prophecy" ). Their distribution is not chronological, but substantive. The Former Prophets ( נביאים ראשונים Nevi'im Rishonim ): The Latter Prophets ( נביאים אחרונים Nevi'im Aharonim ): The Twelve Minor Prophets ( תרי עשר , Trei Asar , "The Twelve"), which are considered one book: Kəṯūḇīm ( כְּתוּבִים , "Writings") consists of eleven books. In Masoretic manuscripts (and some printed editions), Psalms, Proverbs and Job are presented in

4818-472: The tribes. He further increased Jerusalem's importance by bringing the Ark of the Covenant there from Shiloh ( 2 Samuel 6 ). David's son Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem. After Solomon's death, the united kingdom split into the northern Kingdom of Israel (also known as the Kingdom of Samaria) with its capital at Samaria and the southern Kingdom of Judah with its capital at Jerusalem. The Kingdom of Samaria survived for 200 years until it

4891-475: The understanding of the origin of the Book of Genesis, which was seen as having been composed in stages beginning with the time of King Solomon , when the Philistines still existed (they vanished from history after the Assyrian conquest of Canaan ). However, Genesis 10:14 identifies their ancestor as Ham rather than Japheth. In the Hebrew Bible , Japheth is ascribed seven sons: Gomer , Magog , Tiras , Javan , Meshech , Tubal , and Madai . According to

4964-438: The western portion. Some Muslim traditions narrated that 36 languages of the world could be traced back to Japheth. Japheth is a major character in the second act of Stephen Schwartz 's musical, Children of Eden . In this rendition, Japheth has fallen in love with the family servant, Yonah (created entirely for the show). He wants to bring her onto the ark to allow her to survive the flood, but Noah forbids this as Father (God)

5037-479: The world, but Japheth and Yonah decide they want to search for Eden . Noah blesses their journey by passing the staff of Adam to Japheth. Smaller casts of the show usually have the actor who portrays Cain to also portray Japheth. Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh ( / t ɑː ˈ n ɑː x / ; Hebrew : תַּנַ״ךְ ‎ Tanaḵ ), also known in Hebrew as Miqra ( / m iː ˈ k r ɑː / ; Hebrew : מִקְרָא ‎ Mīqrāʾ ‍ ),

5110-408: Was chiefly done by Aaron ben Moses ben Asher , in the Tiberias school, based on the oral tradition for reading the Tanakh, hence the name Tiberian vocalization . It also included some innovations of Ben Naftali and the Babylonian exiles . Despite the comparatively late process of codification, some traditional sources and some Orthodox Jews hold the pronunciation and cantillation to derive from

5183-464: Was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. The Kingdom of Judah survived for longer, but it was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Temple was destroyed, and many Judeans were exiled to Babylon . In 539 BCE, Babylon was conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia, who allowed the exiles to return to Judah . Between 520 and 515 BCE, the Temple was rebuilt (see Second Temple ) . Religious tradition ascribes authorship of

5256-552: Was more powerful and culturally advanced than the Kingdom of Judah. It also featured multiple cultic sites, including the sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan . Scholars estimate that the Jacob tradition (Genesis 25–35) was first written down in the 8th century BCE and probably originated in the north because the stories occur there. Based on the prominence given to the sanctuary at Bethel (Genesis 28), these stories were likely preserved and written down at that religious center. This means

5329-536: Was not grouped with the Prophets presumably because the Nevi'im collection was already fixed by this time. The Ketuvim was the last part of the Tanakh to achieve canonical status. The prologue to the Book of Sirach mentions "other writings" along with the Law and Prophets but does not specify the content. The Gospel of Luke refers to "the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" ( Luke 24 :44). These references suggest that

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