Old Testament
The Torah
Pentateuch · חֻמָּשׁ · the five books of Moses
The Torah opens the Hebrew Bible and sets the frame for everything that follows: creation, covenant, exodus, law, and the shape of Israel as a people set apart before God.
It is read through in a yearly synagogue cycle, from Bereshit (Genesis 1) on Simchat Torah to the death of Moses on the same feast a year later.
Period
Narrated events span from creation to c. 1200 BCE; composition placed by tradition in the late second millennium BCE, by critical scholarship over the ninth to fifth centuries BCE.
Themes
- Creation and blessing
- Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
- Exodus, Passover, and liberation
- Sinai, law, and holiness
- Wilderness, wandering, and preparation for the land
Traditional Authorship
Jewish and Christian tradition attributes the Torah to Moses, writing during Israel's forty years in the wilderness. The Talmud (Bava Batra 14b–15a) says Moses wrote his book and the account of Balaam, with the final eight verses of Deuteronomy (describing Moses' death) written by Joshua — or, in another opinion, dictated by God and written by Moses in tears. Later rabbinical tradition credits Ezra the Scribe (5th c. BCE) with re-establishing and stabilising the text after the exile; the Talmud says that had Moses not preceded him, Ezra would have been worthy to receive the Torah.
Modern Scholarly Proposals
Modern historical-critical scholarship, following the Documentary Hypothesis of Wellhausen and its later refinements, sees the Torah as an edited weave of earlier sources — Yahwist (J), Elohist (E), Deuteronomist (D), and Priestly (P) — brought together during and after the Babylonian exile, with a final redaction traditionally associated with the circle around Ezra in Persian-era Judah.
The Books
5 booksClick any title to open it in the reader at chapter 1.
- Genesis50 ch
Set from creation to Joseph (c. 1800 BCE). Traditional setting Sinai/Canaan; composed / edited between the monarchy and the Persian period.
Bereshit, the first book of the Torah and almost entirely narrative: creation, Adam and Eve, the flood, then the patriarchs and matriarchs — Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Leah and Rachel — and Joseph. Figures meet God, wander and go into exile, and wrestle with family conflict. The founding covenants are given; the family goes down to Egypt.
- Exodus40 ch
Events set in Egypt and at Sinai (traditionally 13th c. BCE); composed / edited across the monarchy and exile.
Shemot: enslavement in Egypt, redemption through the plagues and the splitting of the sea, then travel under Moses. At Sinai the people receive the Ten Commandments and more than a hundred mitzvot, and they build the mishkan (tabernacle). Israel turns from a family into a people.
- Leviticus27 ch
Sinai material of the exodus generation; priestly shaping in the exilic and post-exilic period.
Vayikra details sacrificial worship in the mishkan, then impurity and purification, Yom Kippur, the festivals, forbidden relationships, dietary law, and ethical and agricultural commands. Diverse topics, one theme: holiness in people, time, and space.
- Numbers36 ch
Forty years in the wilderness; edited into present form in the exilic era.
Bamidbar opens with a census and preparations to enter the land, then records complaint, sin, punishment, and rebellion (including the spies). Commandments run through the narrative; it closes by listing the stages of the journey and Israel’s boundaries.
- Deuteronomy34 ch
Set on the plains of Moab; core often linked to Josiah’s reform (c. 622 BCE), final form in the exile.
Devarim is Moses’ last speeches before his death: the spies, Sinai, the golden calf, a review of old law and new law for life in the land, and a call to faithfulness. “Love the LORD your God with all your heart” becomes Israel’s Shema.