Explore the complete collection of Tanakh texts with detailed metadata
Genesis (“Bereshit”) is the first book of the Torah, Judaism’s foundational text, and the only one consisting almost entirely of stories, with just three explicit laws. It tells of the origins of mank...
Exodus (“Shemot”) is the second book of the Torah, Judaism’s foundational text. It describes the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt, their miraculous redemption through ten plagues, and the splitting of...
Leviticus (“Vayikra”) is the third book of the Torah. It primarily delineates the details of sacrificial worship in the Mishkan (Tabernacle), a temporary and portable sanctuary built to serve God in t...
Numbers (“Bamidbar”) is the fourth book of the Torah, Judaism’s foundational text. It describes events from 40 years of the Israelites’ wanderings in the desert, beginning with a census and preparatio...
Deuteronomy (“Devarim”) is the fifth and last book of the Torah, primarily consisting of Moses’ final speeches ahead of his death. He reminds the Israelites of seminal events that happened in the dese...
Joshua (“Yehoshua”) is the first book of the Prophets, beginning after the death of Moses and marking the onset of a new chapter for the Israelites as they settle in their homeland. Under Joshua’s lea...
Judges (“Shoftim”) is the second book of the Prophets, describing the period after Joshua’s leadership and before the advent of monarchy, when Israel lacked long-term centralized leadership. The book ...
Samuel I (“Shmuel Aleph”) is the third book of the Prophets, which begins with the birth and leadership of the prophet Samuel. The Israelites request a king and God chooses Saul, who leads the nation ...
Samuel II (“Shmuel Bet”) is the second part of the third book of the Prophets. It begins as David hears about the deaths of Saul and his son, Jonathan. David is anointed king, first by the tribe of Ju...
Kings I (“Melakhim Aleph”) is the fourth book of the Prophets, which begins with the death of David. David is succeeded by his son Solomon, who receives wisdom from God and builds the Temple. When Sol...
Kings II (“Melakhim Bet”) is the second part of the fourth book of the Prophets. It details the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel and southern kingdom of Judah toward the end of the First Temple...
Isaiah (“Yeshayahu”) is the fifth book of the Prophets and is known for its visions of universal peace and renewal. Beginning in the period of the First Temple against the backdrop of a rising Assyria...
Jeremiah (“Yirmiyahu”) is the sixth book of the Prophets, with prophecies from the period leading up to the First Temple’s destruction as the Babylonian empire was on the rise. The prophet comes out s...
Ezekiel (“Yechezkel”) is the seventh book of the Prophets. Speaking from Babylonian exile during the First Temple’s destruction, Ezekiel often symbolically performs prophecies, like binding himself wi...
Hosea (“Hoshea”) is the first of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. Prophesying in the period of the First Temple, Hosea primarily rebukes Israel for abandoning God a...
Joel (“Yoel”) is the second of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. The prophet begins by describing the devastation wrought by a locust plague and calling for repentan...
Amos is the third of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. The prophet is presented in the book as a shepherd and tender of sycamore trees from the southern town of Teko...
Obadiah (“Ovadiah”) is the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible, at just 21 verses, and is the fourth of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”). It focuses on the kingdom of Edom, an oppressor of Israe...
Jonah (“Yonah”) is one of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. It begins as Jonah tries to escape a mission of prophecy, ending up on a ship in the midst of a storm. Th...
Micah (“Micha”) is one of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar)”, marked by their shortness. Speaking during the First Temple period, the prophet berates Israel and its leadership for insincere ritu...
Nahum is one of the 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), taking place in the 7th century BCE. Unlike most other prophets, Nahum (whose name means “comfort”) does not rebuke or call for reform, bu...
Habakkuk is one of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. Speaking during the First Temple period, likely toward the end of the 7th century BCE, the prophet opens by char...
Zephaniah is one of the 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. Speaking during the 7th century BCE, the prophet opens by describing a future “day of God.” On that day, Ze...
Haggai is one of 12 books of Minor Prophets (“Trei Asar”), marked by their shortness. Speaking in the 6th century BCE, 18 years after Cyrus the Great’s decree allowing exiled Jews to return to Israel,...
The Book of Zechariah is the eleventh of the Tere Asar (Twelve Minor Prophets). The term denotes the short length of the text in relation to the longer prophetic texts known as the Major Prophets. Zec...
Malachi is the last book of the Prophets, and according to rabbinic tradition, marks the end of prophecy in Israel. Speaking during the Second Temple period, Malachi criticizes the priests for their d...
Psalms (“Tehillim”), the first book of the section in the Hebrew Bible called Writings, is an anthology of 150 poems attributed to King David and to others. It includes songs of praise to God, laments...
Proverbs (“Mishlei”), the second book of the section in the Hebrew Bible called Writings, contains guidance for living a wise, moral, and righteous life, in the form of poems and short statements. It ...
Job (“Iyov”) is the third book of the section in the Hebrew Bible called Writings. It opens with Satan convincing God to test the faith of the righteous and wealthy Job by striking him with tragedy. T...
Song of Songs (“Shir Hashirim”) is one of the five megillot (scrolls), part of the section of the Hebrew Bible called Writings. Attributed in its opening verse to King Solomon, the book records poetic...
The Book of Ruth is one of the five megillot (scrolls), part of the section of the Hebrew Bible called Writings, and is traditionally read on the holiday of Shavuot. It tells the story of Ruth, a wido...
The Book of Lamentations (“Eikhah”) is one of the five megillot (scrolls), part of the section of the Hebrew Bible called Writings. It laments the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem during t...
Ecclesiastes (“Kohelet”) is one of the five megillot (scrolls), part of the section of the Hebrew Bible called Writings, and is often read publicly on the holiday of Sukkot. Attributed in the book’s o...
The book of Esther is one of the five megillot (scrolls), part of the section of the Hebrew Bible called Writings. It tells the story of Esther, a Jew who becomes queen of Persia and together with her...
Daniel is one of the books of the section in the Hebrew Bible called Writings. It is set in the periods spanning the end of the First Temple and the beginning of the Second Temple. The book’s first ha...
Ezra is one of the books of the section in the Hebrew Bible called Writings, and originally included the book of Nehemiah as well. The two books describe the Jewish return to Israel in the 6th and 5th...
Nehemiah is one of the books of the section in the Hebrew Bible called Writings, and was originally included as part of the book of Ezra. It is mostly a first-person account of Nehemiah, a Jewish cup-...
I Chronicles (“Divrei Hayamim Aleph”) is the first half of the last book of the Hebrew Bible. It retells biblical history, beginning with Adam. While parts of the book align with details that appear i...
II Chronicles (“Divrei Hayamim Bet”) is the second half of the last book of the Hebrew Bible. It retells biblical history, beginning with the reign of King Solomon until the destruction of the First T...