Pastoral Introduction to the Old Testament 1

Fr. Dudz Lero, SVD

CP# 09173241201
Getting to Know THE BIBLE
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
The Bible has been called by many as “the Book of Books.”
Other names include “the Written Word of God,” “the
Testament,” “the Holy Book,” “Scriptures,” and “Sacred
Scripture.” However, rather than just being one big book with
many chapters, the Bible is actually a collection of books as
derived from its very name.

Bible, from the Greek τὰ βιβλία (ta biblia) meaning the books
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE

In later scholarship however, the Latin language

borrowed the Greek word, considered βιβλία (biblia) as
a feminine singular noun, and translated it as “the
book” instead of “the books.” It was St. Jerome who
first used this term when he compiled the first
complete version of it in Latin in C.E. 396-400.
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
Significant Dates of Development

1250 BCE Possible earliest date of writings for the Torah

or Pentateuch

250-150 BCE Translation of all Hebrew manuscripts into

Greek Septuagint (LXX); Alexandrian canon
established; 46 books in Old Testament
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
CE 100 Hebrew (Palestinian Canon) established: 39 books
through the Council of Jamnia (AD 85-90)

CE 394 St. Jerome translated and compiled the first Bible

in Latin with 72 books in total, based on the LXX
known as the Vulgata

CE 995 First Anglo-Saxon translation of the New Testament

(Old English)
Here is the Old English
version of the Lord’s Fæder ure þu þe eart on
Prayer (Matthew 6:9-
13), as given in the West heofonum, Si þin nama gehalgod.
Saxon Gospels. to becume þin rice, gewurþe ðin
willa, on eorðan swa swa on
heofonum. urne gedæghwamlican
hlaf syle us todæg, and forgyf us
ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað
urum gyltendum. and ne gelæd
þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of
yfele. soþlice.
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
CE 1394 Wycliffe Bible written in (Middle) English (chief
inspiration and chief cause of the pre-Reformation
movement; John Wycliffe’s idea: “… it helpeth
Christian men to study the Gospel in that tongue
which they know best Christ’s sentence.”
Example: John 3:16 in Wycliffe version:
For God louede so the world, that he ȝaf his oon bigetun
sone, that ech man that bileueth in him perische not, but
haue euerlastynge lijf.
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
CE 1450 Johannes Guttenberg invented the printing press

CE 1522 Martin Luther translated the Bible into German

and adopted the Palestinian Canon.

CE 1525/6 William Tyndale translated the New Testament into

English from the Greek (Erasmus), Latin, and the
illegally acquired German of Luther.
Wycliffe Bible Luther Bible Tyndale Bible
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
CE 1535 Myles Coverdale translated and printed the entire
Bible for the first time into modern English using
the works of Tyndale, Luther, St. Jerome, and Ulrich
Zwingli (Swiss reformer)

CE 1609 Douay-Rheims (France), the first complete English

translation of the Catholic Bible.

CE 1611 King James version (KJV) with Apocrypha

Coverdale Bible Douay-Rheims Bible King James Bible
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
CE 1885 KJV officially removed the Apocrypha

CE 1901 American Standard Version (RSV 1952/NRSV 1989)

CE 1966/85 The Jerusalem Bible

CE 1970 New American Bible (from CCD version). Widely used
after Vatican II and approved for use in liturgy (NABRE
2011)

CE 1973/78 New International Version (NT/Bible)

 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE

Other modern translations

CE 1983 Magandang Balita Biblia. A Common Tagalog Bible,

whose translation is sponsored by the Episcopal
Commission on Biblical Apostolate of the Catholic
Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. It follows
the tradition of the Good News Bible published in
1966 by the American Bible Society.
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE

Other modern translations

CE 1988 Christian Community Bible (Catholic Pastoral

Edition). This is the first English translation of the
Bible done and published from the Third World,
specifically the Philippines, intended "to express
the biblical texts in the language of people who use
English as a second language.“ Also available in
Chinese, Korean, French, and Spanish.
 Getting to Know: THE BIBLE

Other modern translations

CE 2018 New Testament: Pinoy Version. Published by the

Philippine Bible Society. It is a new translation of
the Bible that tries to capture the most natural and
contemporary way of speaking. This means that
two languages are used in the translation: Taglish.
We, Filipinos, have reached a stage where the most
natural way to speak is to use a heterogeneous
language or a mixed language.
2007
Getting to Know: THE BIBLE
(46)
 Getting to Know: The OLD TESTAMENT
Testament: Latin Testamentum (used by St. Jerome in Vulgate,
the Latin translation of the bible)
(Hebrew berith [‫]ב ִרית‬,
ְּ Greek diatheke [διαθήκη] in
the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the
Old Testament completed at Alexandria
before Christ)
- better and more appropriately rendered “covenant,” a
relationship or an arrangement that involves obligations (a
social instrument to establish relationship)
 Getting to Know: The OLD TESTAMENT
OLD vs. NEW
- There is an anti-Semitic offensive connotation of the word
“old”; hence, Hebrew Bible or First Testament (vs. Second
Testament) would be more neutral.
- But Christian theology is insistent on the retention of the
OLD-NEW dichotomy
- One reason: continuity of the old to the new (promise and
fulfillment) – See Jeremiah 31:31ff
 Getting to Know: The OLD TESTAMENT
The other reason is CHRIST
- In CHRIST is the NEW COVENANT
- Luke 22:20 (NABRE)

“And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup is
the NEW COVENANT in my blood, which will be shed for you.”
 Getting to Know: The OLD TESTAMENT
Dei Verbum 15
The Old Testament comes “to prepare for the coming of
Christ, the redeemer of all and of the messianic kingdom, to
announce this coming by prophecy.”
Dei Verbum 16
“God, inspirer and author of both Testaments, wisely arranged
that the New Testament should be hidden in the Old and the
Old should be made manifest in the New.”
 Getting to Know: The OLD TESTAMENT
Therefore, CCC 121 teaches that:

The “Old Testament is an indispensable part

of Sacred Scripture.”
Getting to Know: What is the Old Testament?

The Old Testament

is a history of the
nation of Israel.
Getting to Know: What is the Old Testament?

The Old Testament

is a library, a
collection of 46
different books
written between
1000BC and 150BC.
Getting to Know: What is the Old Testament?

The Old Testament

is a handbook for
Israel’s religion.
Getting to Know: What is the Old Testament?

The Old Testament

is a collection of
teachings about
God.
Getting to Know: What is the Old Testament?

The Old Testament is communication.

 Getting to Know: Old Testament Period
The whole Old Testament covers the entire period from the
antediluvian era to the Babylonian captivity. This period spans
nearly 2,000 years.

Relevant Dates
1800-1600 BCE Patriarchs
1600 BCE Hebrews (Jews) in Egypt
1250 BCE Exodus
 Getting to Know: Old Testament Period

1210-1020 BCE Judges

1020-1000 BCE King Saul
1000-961 BCE King David
961-922 BCE King Solomon
922 BCE Divided Kingdom
721 BCE Conquest of Israel (North) by Assyrians
587-538 BCE Conquest of Judah (South) by Babylonians;
destruction of the Temple
Getting to Know: OLD TESTAMENT DIVISION
Note:
Pente – Five
Teuchos - Scrolls

Source: http://www.jforum.fr/les-traductions-du-tanakh-par-onkelos-et-yonathan-ben-ouziel.html
Getting to Know: OLD TESTAMENT DIVISION
 Getting to Know: OLD TESTAMENT DIVISION

Canon
The term canon, from a Hebrew-Greek word meaning “cane”
or “measuring rod,” passed into Christian usage to mean
“norm” or “rule of faith.” The Church Fathers of the 4th
century CE (Council of Nicaea of 325) first employed it in
reference to the definitive, authoritative nature of the body of
sacred Scripture.
 Jewish Protestant Catholic
Bible Bible Bible

Old 39 39 39
Testament

New 27 27
Testament

Deuterocanon 7

Total 39 66 73
Canon and Community Relationship
Old Testament Terms
 Old Testament Terms
Protocanonical – are biblical books whose inspiration was
never doubted (literally means “belonging to the first canon”)

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua,

Judges, Ruth, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra,
Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. (39)
 Old Testament Terms
Deuterocanonical – these are the biblical books for which
some time and for some group of people are doubted as to
their inspiration (literally means “belonging to the second
canon”)
Tobit Judith
Wisdom (also called the Wisdom of Solomon)
Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus) Baruch
1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees (7)
Old Testament Terms
Apocryphal/Pseudopigraphal – these books are not
recognized by the Church as canonical and inspired though
they claim to be by their title or author

1 Esdras Psalm 151

3 Maccabees 4 Maccabees
Prayer of Manasseh Psalms of Solomon
Catholic vs. Protestant Bible
Catholic vs. Protestant Bible
Be careful with your choice of bible; there are corrupted
translations!
Ex. YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEXLUGQhU2U&t=36s
Fr. Darwin Gitgano Vs. INC Ministro Marcelo Ramirez

Juan 8:40
CHAPTERS AND VERSES OF
THE BIBLE
Chapters

The introduction of chapters into the Bible came in only in

the early 13th century, and the verses in the 16th century.
Before that, the Bible scroll has always been divided by blank
spaces at the end (petuhoth) or middle (setumoth) of the
lines.
Chapters
Stephen Cardinal Langton (1150-1228) divided the
biblical books into chapters in 1214. Although
another cleric, Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro is
also known to have come up with a systematic
division of the Bible, it is Langton’s arrangement of
books and chapters that remains in use today.
Verses
Verses
Santes Pagnino (Xanthus Pagninus, 1470-1541), a Dominican
and one of the leading Philologists and Biblicists of his day,
published in 1528 a Bible in which each chapter was divided
into verses.
Verses

Robert Estienne (1503-1559), also known as

Robert Stephens (Robertus Stephanus), a French
printer, published several editions of the Bible in
which he retained Pagnino’s verse divisions in
some books and created his own for the other
books.
Verses
Estienne was a former Catholic who became an evangelical late
in his life and this first to print the Bible divided into standard
numbered verses. In 1532 he published the Thesaurus Linguae
Latinae and twice he published the entire Hebrew Bible. He
also published four editions of the Greek New Testament in
1546, 1549, 1550, and 1531. The Concordance that he
published in 1555 was based on these editions and the verse
divisions eventually became the generally accepted one.