The Jewish Scriptures

The Jewish Scriptures is the collection of writings acknowledged by the Jews as scripture. This collection is also known as the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament.

During the first century CE, Jesus and his fellow Jews living in the land of Israel accepted 24 books as scripture:

  1. Genesis
  2. Exodus
  3. Leviticus
  4. Numbers
  5. Deuteronomy
  6. Joshua
  7. Judges
  8. Samuel
  9. Kings
  10. Isaiah
  11. Jeremiah
  12. Ezekiel
  13. The Twelve
  14. Psalms
  15. Proverbs
  16. Job
  17. Song of Songs
  18. Ruth
  19. Lamentations
  20. Ecclesiastes
  21. Esther
  22. Daniel
  23. Ezra-Nehemiah
  24. Chronicles

These 24 books correspond exactly to the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament Scriptures. The difference in number is due to the way that the books were later counted:

  1. The Book of Samuel was later divided into 1 and 2 Samuel.
  2. The Book of Kings was later divided into 1 and 2 Kings.
  3. The Book of the Twelve was later divided into the Books of its constituent prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
  4. The Book of Ezra-Nehemiah was later divided into the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
  5. The Book of Chronicles was later divided into 1 and 2 Chronicles.