This first activity provides with an overview of the Hebrew Bible – a three-part collection of scrolls known as the Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim, or TaNaK. Like all ancient Jews, Jesus read the Scriptures as a three-part collection of scrolls known as the TaNaK. In the video, you’ll explore why this matters and what happens when you read the Hebrew Scriptures in the traditional Jewish order.

TaNaK, the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, refers to the collection of Hebrew (and some Aramaic) books that were recognized as Scripture in ancient Israel. The traditional order of these books is called the TaNaK. The TaNaK is an acronym for the names of the three large subcollections of the Hebrew Bible: Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim.

Note: The video from The Bible Project refers to the Protestant version of the Old Testament. The Catholic version of the Old Testament includes all of the books in the Protestant Bible and an additional seven books that are not found in the Protestant Bible. These are called the Deuterocanonical Books which the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches consider to be part of the Old Testament (“canonical”). Protestant Christians do not consider these seven books part of the Old Testament and omit them from the Bible. The deuterocanonical books are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees.

Explore the storyline and literary design of the entire Old Testament, also known as the TaNaK, through the video presentation.

Watch: What is the TaNaK or Old Testament? (The Bible Project, 12:44 minutes) at https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/old-testament-tanak/ (This link will open another window to watch the video. Please close this window to return to this page.)

Use the “Old Testament Overview” in the Old Testament Guide while you watch the video.