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One claim that is made in our Christian Church is that the Jewish people use the Old Testament and that Christians use both the Old Testament and the New Testament. How correct is this statement?

Do the Jewish people have a collection of books similar to the Old Testament in the same way that the Christian Bible does?

If so:

  • Are there any significant differences in the translations (is the Christian Old Testament a copy with some 'interpretations')?
  • Are there other books added or missing to the Christian Old Testament?
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I would note that from a Jewish perspective, the names "New Testament" and "Old Testament" are misnomers (since we do not believe that anything new can come along and supersede what we have). – Yaakov Ellis May 12 '11 at 6:07
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@Yaakov - I understand and appreciate that, but there's no other way for me to ask for your equivelant to something without using its name. – xiaohouzi79 May 12 '11 at 9:23
Near-duplicate: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/8248. – msh210♦ Jun 14 '11 at 15:59
The short answer is: yes, it's called the Tenakh. The longer, nuanced answer is provided well by Jake below. – JudahGabriel Jul 6 '11 at 2:04
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4 Answers

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The Jewish scriptures are called the "Tanach", which is traditionally divided into 24 separate books.

It is hard to say exactly how it measures up to the Christian Old Testament, since there are different versions as to what is included in the Old Testament depending on what sect of Christianity one belongs to. Here is an excellent chart which shows the differences in inclusion of books and their order in the Old Testament for Judaism and the main strains of Christianity.

As with anything, though, translation is a form of interpretation. There are many Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible, and the differences are many.

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The Tanakh contains exactly the same books as the Protestant Old Testament (but in a different order). – dancek Sep 8 '11 at 22:23
On Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012, this question has 24 votes. I'm not going to give it an up vote to keep it at 24, because maybe 24 is parallel to the number 24 - that there are 24 sifrei tanakh. – Adam Mosheh May 2 at 19:53
@AdamMosheh, Suppose someone else upvotes this answer. Will you downvote it? Or just shev v'al taaseh? – jake May 2 at 20:02
@jake - Of course I would downvote it! – Adam Mosheh May 2 at 20:06
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up vote 1 down vote

The Jews do not use the New Testament. As to the old testament, I trust Jake's answer.

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I don't think the poster was asking whether the Christian New Testament was used by Jews, but rather, whether Jews and Christians share what Christians call the Old Testament. – JudahGabriel Jul 6 '11 at 2:02
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If you mean "Does Judaism have an older collection of books that was superseded by the 'Old Testament', the way the 'Old Testament' was superseded by the 'New Testament' in Christianity?" then the answer is NO.

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I think it's pretty clear that that's not the question. – Seth J Nov 2 '11 at 13:42
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up vote -1 down vote

christians usually refer to the tanach as the old testament. in judaism there's no such analogy since we don't have old/new testament, we have only one testament. in any case these are not the only books we have/use. as per the second part "that Christians use both the Old Testament and the New Testament". not true. christians don't use both, they simply ignore the tanach and its rulings, this is the base of calling it old, like it is irrelevant today.

there are many discrepancies in the translations, each carrying its own interpretations. usually jewish printings even in hebrew comes with commentaries/explanations to help understand the text, a simply translation is not enough to understand it.

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Avraham, they do not "simply" ignore the Tanach. Some parts they interpret based on our commentaries, others they (mistakenly) interpret literally, others they interpret differently (from our tradition of its real meaning) based on their own agendas, and some parts they claim as irrelevant on a practicable level due to their "new covenant". It is never simple. Don't underestimate the Christian scholars and their intelligence level. That is the biggest mistake one can make if he ever wishes to truly know "mah shetashiv!" – Yahu May 13 '11 at 3:12
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@Yahu - Thanks for your excellent summary. – xiaohouzi79 May 13 '11 at 3:42
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Abarbanel is well known for including the interpretations of Christian Bible scholars in his works. – jake May 13 '11 at 7:15
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I didn't mean to offend or underestimate anyone, what I mean is that all commandments are simply cancelled, it is not a matter of diferent understanding like the caraim for example. for example in Christianity there's no concept of cashrut at all – Avraham May 14 '11 at 22:22
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