Estēr ( Book of Esther) אֶסְתֵר ( Pûrîm) tells of a Hebrew woman in Persia who becomes queen and thwarts a genocide of her people. Paul, an apostle ( A) of Christ Jesus by the will of God, ( B) in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, ( C)

The Protestant Old Testament of the 21st century has a 39-book canon. The number of books (although not the content) varies from the Jewish Tanakh only because of a different method of division. The term "Hebrew scriptures" is often used as being synonymous with the Protestant Old Testament, since the surviving scriptures in Hebrew include only those books. Peter 2:10 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh ( sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 18. The temple I am going to build will be great, ( M) because our God is greater than all other gods. ( N) 6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? ( O) Who then am I ( P) to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?The Latter Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Twelve Minor Prophets, counted as a single book. Hosea, Hoshea (הושע) denounces the worship of gods other than Yehovah, comparing Israel to a woman being unfaithful to her husband. Reading them can be like listening to one half of a conversation, as the writers give answers to questions sent to them either verbally or in writing. Paul was the most prolific writer of such letters, though he was not the only one. The Gospels

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ( N) 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, ( O) but gives us power, ( P) love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed ( Q) of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. ( R) Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, ( S) by the power of God. 9 He has saved ( T) us and called ( U) us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done ( V) but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed ( W) through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, ( X) who has destroyed death ( Y) and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel ( Z) I was appointed ( AA) a herald and an apostle and a teacher. ( AB) 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, ( AC) because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard ( AD) what I have entrusted to him until that day. ( AE) The term "Bible" can refer to the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Bible, which contains both the Old and New Testaments. [1] Then the Spirit ( T) of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, ( U) a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.The Revised Common Lectionary of the Lutheran Church, Moravian Church, Reformed Churches, Anglican Church and Methodist Church uses the apocryphal books liturgically, with alternative Old Testament readings available. [p] Therefore, editions of the Bible intended for use in the Lutheran Church and Anglican Church include the fourteen books of the Apocrypha, many of which are the deuterocanonical books accepted by the Catholic Church, plus 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh, which were in the Vulgate appendix. [148] With a literary tradition spanning two millennia, the Bible is one of the most influential works ever written. From practices of personal hygiene to philosophy and ethics, the Bible has directly and indirectly influenced politics and law, war and peace, sexual morals, marriage and family life, letters and learning, the arts, economics, social justice, medical care and more. [179] The books of 'latter prophets' preserve sayings and stories of religious and political activists ('prophets') who served as the spiritual conscience of the nation throughout its history, reminding people of the social values that would reflect the character of God. Some books are substantial ( Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), others are much shorter (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi). Sometimes, the prophets could be mime artists and dramatists, accompanying their actions by short spoken messages, often delivered in poetic form. These were the sound bites of their day, which made it easy for others to remember them and then write them down. Ezrā ( Book of Ezra– Book of Nehemiah) עזרא tells of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth [ a] and no plant had yet sprung up, ( I) for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth ( J) and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams [ b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed ( K) a man [ c] ( L) from the dust ( M) of the ground ( N) and breathed into his nostrils the breath ( O) of life, ( P) and the man became a living being. ( Q)

during the early centuries of the church, Christian texts were copied in whatever location they were written or taken to. Since texts were copied locally, it is no surprise that different localities developed different kinds of textual tradition. That is to say, the manuscripts in Rome had many of the same errors, because they were for the most part "in-house" documents, copied from one another; they were not influenced much by manuscripts being copied in Palestine; and those in Palestine took on their own characteristics, which were not the same as those found in a place like Alexandria, Egypt. Moreover, in the early centuries of the church, some locales had better scribes than others. Modern scholars have come to recognize that the scribes in Alexandria – which was a major intellectual center in the ancient world – were particularly scrupulous, even in these early centuries, and that there, in Alexandria, a very pure form of the text of the early Christian writings was preserved, decade after decade, by dedicated and relatively skilled Christian scribes. [51] The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible. It is called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch (meaning five books) in Greek; the second oldest part was a collection of narrative histories and prophecies (the Nevi'im); the third collection (the Ketuvim) contains psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories. " Tanakh" is an alternate term for the Hebrew Bible composed of the first letters of those three parts of the Hebrew scriptures: the Torah ("Teaching"), the Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("Writings"). The Masoretic Text is the medieval version of the Tanakh, in Hebrew and Aramaic, that is considered the authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible by modern Rabbinic Judaism. The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of the Tanakh from the third and second centuries BC; it largely overlaps with the Hebrew Bible. Genesis 2:7 The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground (adamah); it is also the name Adam (see verse 20). The five relatively short books of Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Book of Esther are collectively known as the Hamesh Megillot. These are the latest books collected and designated as authoritative in the Jewish canon even though they were not complete until the second century CE. [111] Other books The Isaiah scroll, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, contains almost the whole Book of Isaiah and dates from the second century BCE. But we ought always to thank God for you, ( Y) brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits [ b] ( Z) to be saved ( AA) through the sanctifying work of the Spirit ( AB) and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you ( AC) to this through our gospel, ( AD) that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.The Hebrew names of the books are derived from the first words in the respective texts. The Torah consists of the following five books: