The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is a compilation of texts of a variety of forms (instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, among other genres - anthology) originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts were written by approximately 40 divinely inspired men from different religious communities and of diverse backgrounds around the world, over the course of 1500 years into various official collections; Isaiah was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a tax-collector, John was a fisherman, Paul was a tentmaker, Moses was a shepherd, Luke was a physician. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. 1. The earliest texts: The first five books (Torah in Hebrew) and the Pentateuch (in Greek); 2. The second oldest part: The the Nevi'im (a collection of narrative histories and prophecies); 3. The third collection: The Ketuvim contains psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories. Taken from the masoretic text, the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is a term for the first letters of each of the three parts of the Hebrew scriptures: the Torah ("Teaching"), the Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("Writings") - TaNaKh. 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 Greek translation of the Tanakh. The Tanakh was written in Hebrew (main language), and Aramaic (small portions; Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4–7:28). The authors all present different perspectives, but they all proclaim the same one true God, and the same one way of salvation—Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). The Old Testament said things that happened thousands of years later, and the Bible said things that are happening today in the world. The Bible has had a profound influence both on Western culture and history and on cultures around the globe. The Bible is currently translated or being translated into about half of the world's languages.

The word "Torah" in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה, which means 'to guide' or 'to teach'. The meaning of the word is therefore "teaching", "doctrine", or "instruction". It is a compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the reason why it is also known as Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. God's creation sets the beginning of Torah, and goes through the beginning of the people of Israel, their descent into Egypt, and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It ends with the death of Moses, just before the people of Israel cross to the promised land of Canaan. Interspersed in the narrative are the specific teachings (religious obligations and civil laws) given explicitly (i.e. Ten Commandments) or implicitly embedded in the narrative (as in Exodus 12 and 13 laws of the celebration of Passover). In Hebrew, the five books of the Torah are identified by the incipits in each book; and the common English names for the books are derived from the Greek Septuagint and reflect the essential theme of each book: • Bəreshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית, literally "In the beginning")—Genesis, from Γένεσις (Génesis, "Creation") • Shəmot (שְׁמוֹת, literally "Names")—Exodus, from Ἔξοδος (Éxodos, "Exit") • Vayikra (וַיִּקְרָא, literally "And He called")—Leviticus, from Λευιτικόν (Leuitikón, "Relating to the Levites") • Bəmidbar (בְּמִדְבַּר, literally "In the desert [of]")—Numbers, from Ἀριθμοί (Arithmoí, "Numbers") • Dəvarim (דְּבָרִים, literally "Things" or "Words")—Deuteronomy, from Δευτερονόμιον (Deuteronómion, "Second-Law"). These books of the Pentateuch are covered in more details under the Old Testament studies.