Although Leviticus 19:28 clearly prohibits tattoos, it does not give an explicit reason why. This begs the question: Why does the Bible prohibit tattoos? Read more…
Hebrew Bible
A term used by Biblical scholars, “Hebrew Bible” refers to the Jewish scriptures, or the Tanakh. The Books of the Hebrew Bible roughly correspond to the Protestant Old Testament. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Old Testaments contain additional books not found in the Hebrew Bible. The Books of the Hebrew Bible (in English) are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 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.
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What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos?
• 04/07/2018
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Who Was Moses? Was He More than an Exodus Hero?
• 03/13/2018
Who was Moses? Was he more than an Exodus hero? Discover the Biblical Moses with Peter Machinist in his article “The Man Moses.” Read more…
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Exodus in the Bible and the Egyptian Plagues
• 03/11/2018
The Book of Exodus describes ten Egyptian plagues that bring suffering to the land of pharaoh. Are these Biblical plagues plausible on any level? Read more…
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Who Was the Wife of Cain?
• 01/07/2018
Who did Cain marry? Where did she come from? Mary Joan Winn Leith suggests that while the Israelite storyteller knew that other men and women in Genesis existed outside of Read more…
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What Happened to Cain in the Bible?
• 12/28/2017
What happened to Cain in the Bible? In the Book of Genesis, we are told about Cain’s birth, his violent act of fratricide and his subsequent exile. We learn that Read more…
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The Adam and Eve Story: Eve Came From Where?
• 12/21/2017
The Book of Genesis tells us that God created woman from one of Adam’s ribs. But Biblical scholar Ziony Zevit says that the traditional translation of the Biblical text is Read more…
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Jonah and the Whale
• 09/23/2017
The Book of Jonah is read in the synagogue on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the sacred Day of Atonement. Why, of all Read more…
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Bible Animals: From Hyenas to Hippos
• 09/01/2017
Lions and crocodiles and monkeys, oh my! There are about a hundred different types of animal species mentioned in the Bible. In this post, Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin discusses the Read more…
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Job Challenges God by Suing: God Responds
• 08/15/2017
After losing his health, wealth and children in inexplicable tragedies, the righteous and devout man Job questions God as to what he must have done to deserve such a heavy Read more…
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Left-Handed People in the Bible
• 06/13/2017
Were the warriors from the tribe of Benjamin left-handed by nature or nurture? Read more…
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Did I Find King David’s Palace?
• 05/12/2017
Digging just south of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, Eilat Mazar uncovered a monumental building from the tenth century B.C.—the right time and the right place for David’s royal residence. Read more…
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The Doorways of Solomon’s Temple
• 05/11/2017
In the Bible, the inner shrine of Solomon’s Temple is described as having five mezuzot. What are they? The question has puzzled Biblical scholars for centuries. Does a recently discovered Read more…
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When Was the Hebrew Bible Written?
• 05/10/2017
When was the Hebrew Bible written? Ostraca with Hebrew inscriptions excavated from the Iron Age fortress at Arad in Israel may provide clues, say researchers from Tel Aviv University. Read more…
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High Places, Altars and the Bamah
• 04/23/2017
The open-air altar shrine, called a bamah (plural bamot), is known through several books of the Biblical canon. Often referred to as “high places” in translations of the Bible, bamot Read more…
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Did Pharaoh Sheshonq Attack Jerusalem?
• 03/27/2017
Israeli scholar Yigal Levin’s article “Did Pharaoh Sheshonq Attack Jerusalem” in the July/August 2012 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review examines the historical veracity of both the Egyptian Pharaoh’s account and Read more…
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The Search for Noah’s Flood
• 03/27/2017
If we wanted to find the flood that gave rise to the legend of Noah’s Flood, we should look for a big flood in northern Mesopotamia, says scholar Ronald S. Read more…
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Joshua in the Bible
• 03/26/2017
World-renowned author and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel reflects on the Biblical figure Joshua in a Supporting Roles column for Bible Review. Read more…
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Free Hebrew Bible Course with Shaye Cohen
• 02/28/2017
Learn about the Hebrew Bible in a free course of 25 video lectures by Shaye Cohen, Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University. Read more…
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The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls
• 01/20/2017
Do insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls add to the Masoretic text, and if so, should the original Hebrew Bible text be modified based this information? Scholars from both sides Read more…
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Lilith in the Bible and Mythology
• 01/18/2017
Who were the original humans that God created in the Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve? Or Adam and Lilith? A close look at the opening chapters of Genesis—and ancient Read more…
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How Was the Bible Written During and After the Exile?
• 01/09/2017
How was the Bible written during and after the Babylonian Exile? Did the Biblical authors continue to use the Hebrew language even though they were living in lands where Hebrew Read more…
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The Aleppo Codex Online
• 01/07/2017
Throughout its long history, the Aleppo Codex has been carefully and jealously guarded. Today, however, the Aleppo Codex online project has placed the Aleppo Codex among the ranks of other Read more…
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The Aleppo Codex
• 01/07/2017
The world’s oldest Hebrew Bible, the Aleppo Codex, is missing pages—and not just a couple leaves, but four of the Five Books of Moses! What happened to them? Read more…
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What Is the Oldest Hebrew Bible?
• 12/16/2016
The oldest Hebrew Bible texts are the Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 250 B.C.E.–115 C.E.), but the most nearly complete copies of the Hebrew Bible are codices from a thousand years Read more…
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The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet
• 12/10/2016
A recently translated Old Babylonian flood tablet describes how to build a circular ark.
Read more…
