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| | MyJewishLearning.com - Texts: What is the Bible? |
 | | The Hebrew Bible, also known as Mikra (“what is read”) or TaNaKh, an acronym referring to the traditional Jewish division of the Bible into Torah (Teaching), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings), is the founding document of the people of Israel, describing its origins, history, and visions of a just society. |
 | | Perhaps our conception of the Bible as one book is a result of our having one-volume printed Bibles; in ancient times, individual books were published in smaller scrolls; the word Bible, however, comes from the Greek ta biblia, which is plural and means books. |
 | | A biblical narrative does not stand on its own; some contemporary literary theorists of the Bible take their lead from the midrash and read the Bible as a whole, reading how parts of the Torah reflect on other parts, and how the Prophets and Writings similarly refer to earlier narratives and laws. |
| www.myjewishlearning.com /texts/bible/TO_aboutbible_530.htm?GL=true (610 words) |
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