Christmas tree

In oil drilling and petroleum engineering, a christmas tree or Well head is used in rigs and platforms. The article on the supernatural in monotheistic religions thus concerns itself with the junction between monotheistic religions, such as Christianity and Judaism and the supernatural. In computer networking jargon, a Christmas tree packet is a packet with all the options turned on. Some feel these events never took place at all; that miracles are a story-teller's "wonders" and they have symbolic meanings, understood by the past generations that heard and recorded them. The christmas tree as a whole is used to count down to the start so that the drivers can accurately judge the start. Many modern skeptical readers of the Bible hold that its authors gradually reinterpreted historical and natural events as miraculous or supernatural. Each side (because drag racing is a contest between two vehicles) of the christmas tree has seven lights: two small yellow lights at the top and then in this order below them: three larger lights, green, and then finally a red light. The mixed archaeological record has led to a variety of opinions regarding the accuracy or historicity of Biblical accounts. Today there are two loosely defined schools of thought with regard to the historicity of the Bible (Biblical minimalism and Biblical maximalism) with many in between, in addition to the traditional religious reading of the Bible.

Drag racing also has what is called a Christmas tree, so named because of the large number of lights that it has (and the branches which the lights are on). Main article: The Bible and history. The name (an example of "verbing") comes from one popular pattern, which resembles a Christmas tree. It is not taken seriously by most experts. Reasons for Christmas treeing a test include boredom, rebellion, and desperation (for students who are not prepared for the test). The pesher method of interpretation, which views Biblical passages as coded representations of events current to the writing of the passage, was recently (1992) put forward by Barbara Thiering, Ph.D. For students, to Christmas tree a test (specifically a computer-graded multiple choice test) is to fill in the answer sheet randomly, or in such a way as to form a design. This often includes allegorical interpretations.

This tradition seems to be limited mostly to the United States. Since it was members of the Church who wrote the New Testament and a series of Church councils that decided the biblical canon, the Orthodox believe that the Church should also be the final authority in its interpretation. Flocking can be done with a professional sprayer at a tree lot (or the manufacturer if it is artificial), or at home from a spray can, and either can be rather messy. This means that the passages that are publicly read on certain days of the liturgical year are significant, especially on feast days, and are intended to guide people in their interpretation as they are praying together. While this is rather unrealistic, it still adds to the effect of a wintry fantasy. It also interprets Scripture liturgically. While real snow settles in clumps atop branches, flocking is often sprayed all over the tree from the sides. The Eastern Orthodox Church generally follows a patristic method of interpretation, attempting to interpret Scripture in the same way that the early Church Fathers did.

Although much less popular than in the 1980s, fluffy white flocking is sometimes sprayed on trees before decorating to simulate snow. Allegorical interpretation was adopted by Christians, and continued in popularity until a reaction against it during the Reformation, and it has not since found much favour in Western Christianity. A plain mat of fabric or plastic may also be placed under the stand and skirt to protect the floor from scratches or water. The earliest use of these was probably Philo, who attempted to make Jewish halakha palatable to the Greek mind by interpreting it as symbolising philosophical doctrines. Generally, the difference between a mat and skirt is simply that a mat is placed under the tree stand, while a skirt is placed over it, having a hole in the middle for the trunk, with a slot cut to the outside edge so that it can be placed around the tree (beneath the branches) easily. Throughout antiquity and the medieval periods, allegorical methods of interpretation were popular. A nativity scene, model train, or Christmas village may be placed on the mat or skirt, along with gifts (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "White Christmas"). A wealth of additional stories and legends amplifying the accounts in the Tanakh can be found in the Jewish genre of rabbinical exegesis known as Midrash.

What began as ordinary cloth has now often become much more ornate, some having embroidery or being put together like a quilt. Robert Estienne (Robert Stephanus) was the first to number the verses within each chapter, his verse numbers entering printed editions in 1565 (New Testament) and 1571 (Hebrew Bible).[1] (http://www.fuller.edu/ministry/berean/chs_vss.htm)[2] (http://www.theexaminer.org/history/chap6.htm). Even when dripless candles, electric lights and artificial trees have been used, a mat is still usually used as a decorative feature. They were then inserted into Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in the 1400s. Since candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a mat (UK) or "skirt" (US) was often placed on the floor below the tree to protect it by catching the dripping candle wax, and also to collect any needles that fall. Stephen Langton is reputed to have been the first to put the chapter divisions into a Vulgate edition of the Bible, in 1205. Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such as garlands made from unsalted popcorn or cranberries, orange halves, and seed-covered suet cakes. Nevertheless, even the critics admit that the chapter divisions and verse numbers have become indispensable as technical references for Bible study.

Conversely, trees decorated by professional designers for department stores and other institutions will usually have a "theme"; a set of predominant colors, multiple instances of each type of ornament, and larger decorations that may be more complicated to set up correctly. Critics charge that the text is often divided into chapters in an incoherent way, or at inappropriate points within the narrative, and that it encourages citing passages out of context, in effect turning the Bible into a kind of textual quarry for clerical citations. Individuals' decorations vary wildly, typically being an eclectic mix of family traditions and personal tastes; even a small unattractive ornament, if passed down from a parent or grandparent, may come to carry considerable emotional value and be given pride of place on the tree. The division of the Bible into chapters and verses has often elicited severe criticism from traditionalists and modern scholars alike. Baubles are another extremely common decoration, and usually consist of a fairly small hollow glass or plastic sphere coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, and then with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide colouration. However, for the past generation most Jewish editions of the complete Hebrew Bible have made a systematic effort to relegate chapter and verse numbers to the margins of the text. Strands of tinsel may be hung in groups from longer branches to simulate icicles, though this trend has gradually fallen off since the late 1970s. Chapter divisions were first used by Jews in a 1330 manuscript, and for a printed edition in 1516.

Lighting with candles or electric lights (fairy lights) is commonly done, and a tree topper completes the ensemble. Such technical references became crucial to medieval rabbis in the historical context of forced debates with Christian clergy (who used the chapter and verse numbers), especially in late medieval Spain. Delicate mould-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of Czech glass factories from the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. They were later adopted by many Jews as well, as technical references within the Hebrew text. Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Rather, they are medieval Christian inventions. Real potted ones are often sold like this, and artificial ones often come with a "root ball" but only sometimes with decorations. The current division of the Bible into chapters and the verse numbers within the chapters have no basis in any ancient textual tradition.

A long-standing and simple gimmick is conifer seedlings sold with cheap decorations attached by soft pipe cleaners. It is not identical to the present chapters. Past gimmicks include small talking or singing trees, and trees which blow "snow" (actually small styrofoam beads) over themselves, collecting them in a decorative cardboard bin at the bottom and blowing them back up to the top through a tube hidden next to the trunk. The Byzantines also introduced a chapter division of sorts, called Kephalaia. Some are instead lit partly or completely by fibre optics, with the light in the base, and a rotating color wheel causing various colors to shimmer across the tree. This division is not thematic, but is almost entirely based upon the quantity of text. Since the late 1990s, many indoor trees now come "pre-lit", with several hundred miniature lights, often the newer type which will stay on even if a bulb is damaged or removed. Another related feature of the Masoretic text is the division of the sedarim.

Some skyscrapers will tell certain offices to leave their lights on (and others off) at night during December, creating a Christmas tree pattern. In this system, the one rule differentiating "open" and "closed" sections is that "open" sections must always begin at the beginning of a new line, while "closed" sections never start at the beginning of a new line. A few hotels and other buildings, both public and private, will string lights up from the roof to the top of a small tower on top of the building, so that at night it appears as a lit Christmas tree, often using green or other coloured lights. These latter conventions are no longer used in Torah scrolls and printed Hebrew Bibles. These lights are usually white, but often are green, red, red/green, blue/white, blue, or multicolor, and sometimes with a small controller to fade colors back and forth. In early manuscripts (most importantly in Tiberian Masoretic manuscripts, such as the Aleppo codex) an "open" section may also be represented by a blank line, and a "closed" section by a new line that is slightly indented (the preceding line may also not be full). lawns in the 2000s, along with 1990s spiral ones that hang from a central pole, both styles being lighted with standard miniature lights. The parashiyot are not numbered.

Outdoor branched trees made out of heavy white-enameled steel wires have become more popular on U.S. The division of the text reflected in the parashiyot is usually thematic. Other artificial trees which look nothing like a conifer except for the triangular or conical shape, are also used as tabletop decorations, such as a stack of ornaments. The Masoretic textual tradition also contains section endings called parashiyot, which are indicated by a space within a line (a "closed" section") or a new line beginning (an "open" section). More recent tinsel trees can be used fairly safely with lights. According to the Talmudic tradition, the verse endings are of ancient origin. They were instead lit by a spotlight or floodlight, often with a motorized rotating color wheel in front of it. The Hebrew Masoretic text contains verse endings as an important feature.

They were aluminium-coated paper, meaning that they also posed a great fire hazard if lights were put directly on them (warnings to this effect are still issued with most christmas tree lights). Main article: Chapters and verses of the Bible. The first trees which were not green were the metallic trees of the 1950s and 1960s. For a more detailed account of the New Testament's development, see the relevant section of Biblical canon. Around 2003, some trees with molded-plastic branches started selling in the U.S., intended to look more realistic, but at this stage still falling short in most cases. It is on the basis of these that nearly all modern translations or revisions of older translations have, for more than a century, been made, though some people, partly out of loyalty to the translations of the time of the Protestant Reformation, still prefer the Textus Receptus or the similar "Byzantine Majority Text". Better trees also have more branch tips, the number usually listed on the box. Later critical texts are based on further scholarly research and the finding of papyrus fragments dating in some cases from within a few decades of the composition of the New Testament writings.

Most of the better trees have branches hinged to the pole, though the less-expensive ones generally still come separately. Karl Lachmann’s critical edition of 1831, based on manuscripts dating from the fourth century and earlier, was intended primarily to demonstrate that the Textus Receptus must finally be rejected. Many trees now come in "slim" versions, to fit in smaller spaces. The discovery of older manuscripts, such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus, led scholars to revise their opinion of this text. These trees have become a little more realistic every year, with a few deluxe trees containing multiple branch styles. On it the Churches of the Protestant Reformation based their translations into vernacular languages, such as the King James Version. Many also have very short brown "needles" wound in with the longer green ones, to imitate the branch itself or the bases that each group of pine (but not other conifer) needles grows from. The type of text printed in this edition and in those of Erasmus became known as the Textus Receptus (Latin for "received text"), a name given to it in the Elzevier edition of 1633, which termed it the text "nunc ab omnibus receptum" ("now received by all").

Those first trees looked like long-needled pine trees, but later trees use flat PVC sheets to make the needles. The first edition with critical apparatus (variant readings in manuscripts) was produced by the printer Robert Estienne of Paris in 1550. Each row of branches is a different size, color coded at the base with paint or stickers for ease of assembly. He produced four later editions of the text. The bases of the branches were then twisted together to form a large branch, which was then inserted by the user into a wooden pole (now metal with plastic rings) for a trunk. It was compiled by Desiderius Erasmus on the basis of the few recent Greek manuscripts, all of Byzantine tradition, at his disposal, which he completed by translating from the Vulgate parts for which he did not have a Greek text. They were made the same way, using animal hair (mainly pig bristles) and later plastic bristles, dyed pine-green colour, inserted between twisted wires that form the branches. The earliest printed edition of the New Testament in Greek appeared in 1516 from the Froben press.

The first modern artificial Christmas trees were produced by companies which made brushes. See Aramaic primacy. in 1913, in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. Of these, a small number accept the Syriac Peshitta as the original, while most take a more critical approach to reconstructing the original text. The first feather trees came to the U.S. A few scholars believe that parts of the Greek New Testament are actually a translation of an Aramaic original. Originating in Germany in the 19th century to prevent further deforestation, these "minimalist" trees show off small ornaments very well. There are also several ancient versions in other languages, most important of which are the Syriac (including the Peshitta and the Diatessaron gospel harmony) and the Latin (both the Vetus Latina and the Vulgate).

The first artificial trees were tabletop feather trees, made from green-dyed goose feathers wound onto sticks drilled into a larger one, like the branches on a tree. Together they comprise the majority of New Testament manuscripts. They may also be necessary for people who have an allergy to conifers. The three main textual traditions are sometimes called the Western text-type, the Alexandrian text-type, and Byzantine text-type. Artificial trees are sometimes even a necessity in some rented homes (especially apartment flats), due to the potential fire danger from a dried-out real tree, leading to their prohibition by some landlords. Most scholars believe that all of the New Testament was originally composed in Greek. In most of Europe, artificial trees are still considered very bad taste, although even there electrical lights have replaced the candles in most households. This includes the deuterocanonical books, also revised by Jerome, and became the official translation of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the U.S., about 70% of trees are now artificial. Though he also translated Psalms from Hebrew, the earlier Septuagint-based version, slightly revised by him, is the text that was actually used in Church and is included in editions of the Vulgate. Some people simply store the whole decorated tree covered in a large bag, ready for the next year. This translation became the basis of the Vulgate Latin translation. Artificial trees are very popular, particularly in the U.S., where despite their lack of realism (both in looks and scent), they are considered more convenient and (if used for several years) eventually less expensive than real trees. Jerome later took it on himself to make a completely new translation directly from the Hebrew of the Tanakh. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. The ever-increasing number of variants in Latin manuscripts induced Pope Damasus, in 382, to commission his secretary, Saint Jerome, to produce a reliable and consistent text.

These trees must be kept inside only for a few days, as the warmth will bring them out of dormancy, leaving them little protection when put back outside into the midwinter cold in most areas. It was based on the Septuagint, and thus included books not in the Hebrew Bible. Some trees are sold live with roots and soil, often from a nursery, to be planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. However, the combination of root loss on digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health, and the survival rate of these trees is low. The earliest Latin translation was the Old Latin text, or Vetus Latina, which, from internal evidence, seems to have been made by several authors over a period of time. The long-needled Eastern White Pine is also used there. The Latin translations were historically the most important for the Church in the West, while the Greek-speaking East continued to use the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament and had no need to translate the New Testament. Virginia Pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States, however it has poor winter color and sharp needles. Translations were made into Syriac, Coptic and Latin, among other languages.

Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as Giant Sequoia, Leyland Cypress and Eastern Juniper. Early Christians produced translations of the Hebrew Bible into several languages; their primary Biblical text was the Septuagint. Several other species are used to a lesser extent. They frequently expanded on the text with additional details taken from Rabbinic oral tradition. and in North America:. The Jews also produced non-literal translations or paraphrases known as targums, primarily in Aramaic. Commonly used species in Northern Europe (including the UK) are:. While there are no complete surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew texts on which the Septuagint was based, many scholars believe that they represent a different textual tradition from the one that eventually became the basis for the Masoretic texts.

The best species for use are species of fir (Abies), which have the major benefit of not shedding the needles when they dry out, as well as good foliage colour and scent; but species in other genera are also used. Recent discoveries have shown that more of the Septuagint additions have a Hebrew origin than was once thought. In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. In some cases these additions were originally composed in Greek, while in other cases they are translations of Hebrew books or variants not present in the Masoretic text. The shearing also damages the highly attractive symmetry of natural trees. Versions of the Septuagint contain several passages and whole books additional to what was included in the Masoretic texts of the Tanakh. European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally-grown, unsheared trees (as in the photo, above right), while in North America (outside much of the Rockies) there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations. The most important of the translations into Greek was the Septuagint version of the Torah and of other books linked with it, but other Greek translations were made as well.

In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London where the City of Oslo presents a tree to the people of London as token appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the 20 m tall main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, Norway in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation. By the year 1, most Jews no longer spoke Hebrew as a vernacular, but instead spoke Greek or Aramaic; so they made translations or paraphrases into these languages. Many cities, towns, and department stores put up public Christmas trees outdoors for everyone to enjoy, such as the Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and many others. In antiquity other variant readings existed, some of which have survived in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea scrolls, and other ancient fragments, as well as being attested in ancient versions in other languages. In Europe, private Christmas trees are not usually put up until at least the middle of December and are always taken down by the 6th of January. This sometimes required the selection of an interpretation, since words can differ only in their vowels, and thus the meaning can vary in accordance with the choice of vowels to insert. In more northern climates and into Canada, the tree (if not too dry) and other decorations are left up well into January. The Masoretes also added vowel points (called niqqud) to the text, since the original text only contained consonants.

homes is to put the tree up right after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November) and to take it down right after the New Year. From the 800s to the 1400s, rabbinic Jewish scholars known as the Masoretes compared the text of all known Biblical manuscripts in an effort to create a unified standardized text; a series of highly similar texts eventually emerged, and any of these texts are known as Masoretic Texts (MT). The most common tradition in U.S. The original texts of the Tanakh were in Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Aramaic. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve (24 December), and then removed the day after twelfth night (i.e., 6 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck. Modern crass commercialisation of Christmas has however resulted in trees being put up much earlier; in shops often as early as late October (which every year attracts adverse comment from much of the shopping public). In addition to the Torah, the Jewish scriptures include the Nevi'im ("prophets") and the Ketuvim ("writings"), the combined tripartite collection being designated by the Hebrew acronym "Tanakh". Such patriotic prints of the British royal family at Christmas celebrations helped popularise the Christmas tree in Britain and among the anglophile American upper class. Today, many believe, in line with what is called the documentary hypothesis, that the present form of the Torah is due to a redactor bringing together several earlier distinct sources.

In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced by King George III's German Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but did not spread much beyond the royal family until the royal family Christmas centered round Prince Albert at Osborne House was illustrated in English magazines, and copied in the United States at Christmas 1850 (illustration, left). They are written in Hebrew and are also called the "Books of Moses", being traditionally attributed to the lawgiver Moses himself. Princess Henrietta von Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchess of Orleans. The oldest books of the Bible are those of the Pentateuch, also known as the Torah. In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Main article: Tanakh. It was regarded as a Protestant custom by the Catholic majority along the lower Rhine, and was spread there only by Prussian officials who were moved there in the wake of the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Information about Bible versions is given below, while Bible translations can be found on a separate page.

The Christmas tree remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long time. In scholarly writing, ancient translations are frequently referred to as 'versions', with the term 'translation' being reserved for medieval or modern translations. Wax candles are attested from the late 18th century. Canonicity is distinct from questions of human authorship and the formation of the books of the Bible, questions discussed in the entries on higher criticism and textual criticism. By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. For a history of the canon, see Biblical Canon. One Strassburg priest, Johann Konrad Dannerhauer, complains about the custom as distracting from the word of God. For details, see Books of the Bible.

During the 17th century, the custom entered family homes. The Protestant Old Testament has a 39-book canon– the number varies from that of the books in the Tanakh because of a different way of dividing them – while the Roman Catholic Church recognizes 46 books as part of the Old Testament. Another early reference is from Basel, where the taylor apprentices carried around town a tree decorated with apples and cheese in 1597. As indicated above, Christianity also mostly considers certain deuterocanonical books to be part of the Old Testament, though Protestantism in general accepts as part of the Old Testament only the books in the canon of Judaism and uses the term Apocrypha for the deuterocanonical books. Its origins can be traced to 16th century Germany: Ingeborg Weber-Keller (Marburg professor of European ethnology) identified as the earliest reference a Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small fir was decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers, and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas day. To the books accepted by Judaism as Scripture, Christianity subsequently added those of the New Testament, the 27-book canon of which was finally fixed in the 4th century. The modern custom, however, cannot be shown to be descended from pagan tradition directly. For Judaism, it is commonly thought that the canonical status of some books was discussed between 200 BCE and around 100 CE, though it is unclear at what point during this period the Jewish canon was decided.

According to one legend, Saint Boniface attempted to introduce the idea of trinity to the pagan tribes using the cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance. The New Testament is a collection of 27 books, written in Koine Greek in the early Christian period, that almost all Christians recognize as Scripture: the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Letters of Saint Paul and others, and the Book of Revelation. According to Adam of Bremen, in Scandinavia the pagan kings sacrificed nine males of each species at the sacred groves every ninth year. Protestants in general do not recognize these books as truly part of the Bible, though they may print them along with the books they do recognize. Among early Germanic tribes the Yule tradition was celebrated by sacrificing male animals, and slaves, by suspending them on the branches of trees. Various Orthodox Churches include a few others, typically 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, 1 Esdras, Odes, Psalms of Solomon, and occasionally even 4 Maccabees. A branch of flowering Glastonbury thorn is still sent annually for the Queen's Christmas table in the United Kingdom. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes seven such books (Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch), as well as some passages in Esther and Daniel, that are not included in the Jewish Scriptures.

Medieval legends, nevertheless, tended to concentrate more on the miraculous "flowering" of trees at Christmastime. The collection of books that the great majority of Christians (including members of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Churches) call the Old Testament include not only the 24 books of the Jewish Tanakh, but also certain deuterocanonical books preserved in the Greek of the Septuagint. In Roman mosaics from what is today Tunisia, showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the Greek god of wine and male fertility, Dionysus (dubbed by some modern scholars as a life-death-rebirth deity), the god carries a tapering coniferous tree. (For more information, see the entry on Bible translations). The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life. They also sometimes adopt variants that appear in texts discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas, the Christmas tree is normally an evergreen conifer tree that is brought in the house or used in the open, and is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during the days around Christmas. Some modern Western translations make use of the Septuagint to clarify passages in the Masoretic Text that seem to have suffered corruption in transcription.

Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees). In Eastern Christianity, translations based on the Septuagint still prevail. Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris. It differs somewhat from the Hebrew text as standardized later (Masoretic Text), and was generally abandoned, in favour of the latter, as the basis for translations into Western languages from Saint Jerome 's Vulgate to the present day. Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii. This translation became known as the Septuagint and was widely used by Greek-speaking Jews and, later, by Christians. Red Fir Abies magnifica. Some time in the 3rd century BCE, the Torah was translated into Koine Greek, and over the next century other books were translated as well.

Noble Fir Abies procera. Although the Tanakh was mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, it has some portions in Biblical Aramaic. Fraser Fir Abies fraseri. The term Tanakh is a Hebrew acronym formed from these three names. Balsam Fir Abies balsamea. The Tanakh consists of the five books of Moses (known as the Torah or Pentateuch), a section called "Prophets" (Nevi'im), and a third section called "Writings" (Ketuvim or Hagiographa). Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris. The Hebrew Bible (also know as the Jewish Bible, or Tanakh in Hebrew) consists of 24 books, and to a large extent overlaps with the contents of the Old Testament of Christianity, but with the books differently ordered.

Serbian Spruce Picea omorika. As the original meaning of the word indicates, the Jewish and Christian Bibles are actually collections of several books, considered to be inspired by God or to record God's relationship with humanity or a particular nation. Norway Spruce Picea abies (generally the cheapest).
. Noble Fir Abies procera. The word "bible" (in lower case) is also used to refer to any tome which incorporates comprehensive coverage of its subject. Nordmann Fir Abies nordmanniana (as in the photo). In the early years after the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, it was sometimes known as the "Golden Bible".

Silver Fir Abies alba (the original species). Although most often used of Jewish and Christian scriptures, "Bible" is sometimes used to describe scriptures of other faiths. Thus the Guru Granth Sahib is often referred to as the "Sikh Bible". The Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution in Europe and America brought skepticism regarding the historical events in the Bible, particularly those attributed to divine intervention; however, the ontological and normative teachings of the Bible remain at the center of Western culture. The Bible's wide distribution and use by Jews and Christians as a "handbook" for living has extended its influence beyond religion, to language and law and, until the modern era, also informed the natural philosophy of mainstream Western Civilization. Approximately 60 million copies, or portions thereof, are distributed annually.

It is available, in whole or in part, in the language of 90% of the world's population. The complete Bible, or portions of it, have been translated into more than 2,100 languages. It has also been translated more times, and into more languages, than any other book. The Bible has been the most widely distributed of books.

It is thus applied to sacred scriptures. The Bible (from Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, "(the) books", plural of βιβλιον, biblion, "book", originally a diminutive of βιβλος, biblos, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos, meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material), is the classical name for the Hebrew Bible of Judaism or the combination of the Old Testament and New Testament of Christianity.