On what to call the 'Bible'

"Bible" refers to the various collections of authoritative texts for the Christian and Jewish communities. The word itself entered Middle English during the middle ages from the Old French language, deriving from ecclesiastical Latin biblia.

Latin biblia was itself derived from Greek plural βιβλια biblia ‘books,’ from Greek singular βιβλιον biblion ‘book,’ which was originally a diminutive of βιβλος biblos ‘papyrus, scroll,’ which came from a word of unknown Semitic origin.

So, from an etymological perspective, bible means "papyrus books." Many people forget that the word bible is a plural - books. So a better translation for bible might be "collection," "anthology," or "library." I like to read the books, I like to read the library, I like to read the anthology, or the collection.

But then the question arises: to which books or to which library or collection are you referring?

Well, I respond, I am referring to the Judaeo-Christian books.

There are many books in the world. And there are many sacred books, books considered holy and authoritative to given religious communities.

So just saying the books to refer to what we now call the Bible might be confusing to some. Are you referring to the Buddhist books, or the Hindu books, or the Celtic books, or to all the books of the world?

So now we have to modify these books with a qualifier. Jewish books. Christian books. But how are we to separate books written by Jews and Christians nowadays from the sacred books used by Jews and Christians?

Jewish sacred text and Christian sacred text is clumsy, but could work. Scholars call the Jewish sacred text the Hebrew Scriptures or the Hebrew Bible. But there is a problem: not everything in the Jewish sacred text is written in Hebrew, so calling it the Hebrew Scriptures is misleading. True, most of it is written in Hebrew, but large sections (Genesis 31:47; Jeremiah 10:10-11; Daniel 2:4 - 7:28; Ezra 4:8 - 6:18, 7:12-26) are written in Aramaic, not Hebrew. Should we call it the Hebrew/Aramaic Scriptures?

And calling it the Jewish Scriptures, as some do, is problematic too, because the writings which are commonly called the New Testament were also written by Jews, so the New Testament writings deserve to be called the Jewish Scriptures just as much as the "old testament" writings do.

Also, restricting the term Hebrew Scriptures to the "old testament" also neglects the fact that scholars believe that many books of the new testament were written in Hebrew too (e.g., the Gospel of Matthew).

So far, we have learned that calling it the Hebrew Scriptures overlooks the Aramaic text, and that both what are called the old testament and the new testament equally deserve the titles Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish Scriptures, as both were written by Jews and both had parts written in Hebrew.

So what are we to call the old and the new testaments?

I suggest we use the Hebrew terms for them. (Gasp! What a surprise that I am saying this!)

The Hebrew term for the "old testament" is Tanak, the English transliteration of the Hebrew acronym תַּנַ"ךְ‎.

תַּנַ"ךְ is an acronym for the three divisions of the "old testament":

1. ת, the first letter of תּוֹרָה, torah, which means "teaching," "direction," "orientation," or "instruction"
2. נ, the first letter of נְבִיאִים, Nəḇî'îm, which means "prophets"
3. כ, the first letter of כְּתוּבִים, Kəṯûḇîm, which means "writings"

Thus, combining T and N and K and filling in with some vowels gives one TaNaK. Sometimes you might see it vocalized as Tenak or Tenakh or Tenach.

Thus, our 'new' word for the old testament is Tanak - which sounds cooler anyway.

How about the "new testament"?

In Hebrew, the new testament is called the בְרִית חֲדָשָׁה, or berith khadashah.

Like the Tanak, the בְרִית חֲדָשָׁה too has three divisions:

1. בְּשׂוֹרָת הַגְּאֻלָּה, besorath hageulah, the "good news of redemption," or the four gospels and Acts = five books
2. הִתְגַּלּוּת, hithgaluth, "unveiling" or "uncovering," aka the Revelation, comparable to the Prophets in Tanak
3. אִגְּרוֹת, 'iggeroth, "letters," or epistles, comparable to the Writings in Tanak

בְרִית means a "covenant."

And חֲדָשָׁה, well that will take some more time to explain. חֲדָשָׁה is the feminine singular form of the masculine singular adjective חָדָשׁ, khadash.

חָדָשׁ derives from the noun חֹ֫דֶשׁ, khodesh. חֹ֫דֶשׁ means roughly "new moon" or "month."

But the "true" meaning is found in the verb which all these words are related to: חָדַשׁ, khadash.

חָדַשׁ means to "repair" or to "renew" or to "restore," or to make new or even to refresh or make fresh.

The Hebrews thought symbolically. They called the moon חֹ֫דֶשׁ because the new moon is always restored or renewed to its previous location. חָדַשׁ, then, means to bring back to a prior state.

So if a בְרִית, a covenant, is brought back to a prior state, what does that make it?

Well it makes the covenant a renewed covenant, or a restored, or even a refreshed covenant. And that's what the new testament is.

It's a renewed covenant. A covenant that went through a development and came back to its original state. It's not necessarily a "new" covenant, but a restored covenant. A refreshed covenant.

G-d renewed, restored, refreshed his covenant. It's not a completely new covenant. It's the same "old" covenant restored, refreshed, and renewed. It's actually going back in time and bringing the past to the present. The new covenant is actually an old covenant.

The covenant was: I will be your god and you will be my people, and I will protect you and deliver you. Now walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and worship Me only.

The covenant is: I will be your god and you will be my people, and I will protect you and deliver you. Now walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and worship Me only.

The covenant was just for the people of Israel and to any aliens or strangers who might reside in their encampments. But with the restored covenant, G-d adds gentiles to the mix. In the restoration of the world, returning to as it was supposed to be, not only Jews but also gentiles will worship G-d. Through the mashiakh, G-d will bring all peoples back to himself, to enjoy a period of peace and shalom.

So maybe, in light of that restoration, we should call the "Bible" by its proper name: Tanak and B'rit Khadashah. One bible. Two mirrors reflecting that one truth, in three divisions each.