The Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament contain essentially the same books — but they are not the same book in practice. The order of the books, the way they are grouped, the numbering of chapters and verses, and the translations used all differ, sometimes in ways that change how passages are read. This page explains the differences precisely.
Same books, different order
The Tanakh (from Torah, Nevi'im, Khetuvim) arranges its 24 books in three divisions, ending with the Prophets — so the Jewish Bible ends with the hope of return and restoration, on the words of Malachi: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet".
The Christian Old Testament follows the order of the ancient Greek Septuagint translation, ending with the prophet Malachi too but grouping the books as historical, poetic and prophetic — and placing the prophets, including Daniel, in a different position. The same text in a different order reads differently: the Tanakh builds toward the prophets; the Old Testament prepares the ground for the New Testament that follows it.
The divisions compared
| Division | Tanakh (24 books) | Old Testament (39 books) |
|---|---|---|
| Law / Torah | Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy | Same five books |
| Prophets / Nevi'im | Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel + the Twelve Minor Prophets (as one book) | Same books, but Samuel, Kings and Chronicles split into two books each; the Twelve split into twelve |
| Writings / Ketuvim | Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles | Same books, but Ezra and Nehemiah separate, Chronicles split in two |
So: 24 Tanakh books versus 39 Old Testament books — but no content is added or removed in either direction (unlike the Catholic Deuterocanon, a genuinely separate set of books).
Numbering differences that matter
Chapter and verse numbering differs between traditions:
- The famous "Be still, and know that I am God" is Psalm 46:10 in Christian Bibles but Psalm 46:11 in the Tanakh.
- Psalm titles are numbered differently: "Why do the heathen rage" is Psalm 2:1 in both, but many psalm headings shift verses by one.
- Hebrew and Greek verse counts differ in Exodus, Jeremiah and elsewhere — a verse cited from one tradition may not exist under that number in the other.
Different translations, different reading traditions
Jewish tradition reads the Hebrew text with translations like the JPS 1917 or newer JPS versions; Christian tradition has used the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate and hundreds of vernacular translations. Even where the underlying Hebrew is identical, translation choices — "young woman" versus "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14 being the most famous case — carry centuries of theological weight.
Read the same text both ways
FourFaiths carries both: the Tanakh in the classic JPS 1917 translation, and the Old Testament as part of the King James Version — so you can compare the same passage in both traditions side by side.