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OLD TESTAMENT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The collection of books comprising the sacred scripture of the Hebrews and recording their history as the chosen people; the first half of the Christian Bible
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("Old Testament" is a kind of...):
testament; will (a legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die)
Meronyms (parts of "Old Testament"):
Book of Genesis; Genesis (the first book of the Old Testament: tells of Creation; Adam and Eve; the Fall of Man; Cain and Abel; Noah and the flood; God's covenant with Abraham; Abraham and Isaac; Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his brothers)
Book of Exodus; Exodus (the second book of the Old Testament: tells of the departure of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt led by Moses; God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of Mosaic law on Mount Sinai during the Exodus)
Book of Leviticus; Leviticus (the third book of the Old Testament; contains Levitical law and ritual precedents)
Book of Numbers; Numbers (the fourth book of the Old Testament; contains a record of the number of Israelites who followed Moses out of Egypt)
Book of Joshua; Joshua; Josue (a book in the Old Testament describing how Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan (the Promised Land) after the death of Moses)
Book of Judges; Judges (a book of the Old Testament that tells the history of Israel under the leaders known as judges)
Book of Ruth; Ruth (a book of the Old Testament that tells the story of Ruth who was not an Israelite but who married an Israelite and who stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi after her husband died)
1 Samuel; I Samuel (the first of two books in the Old Testament that tell of Saul and David)
2 Samuel; II Samuel (the second of two books of the Old Testament that tell of Saul and David)
1 Kings; I Kings (the first of two Old Testament books telling the histories of the kings of Judah and Israel)
2 Kings; II Kings (the second of two Old Testament books telling the histories of the kings of Judah and Israel)
1 Chronicles; I Chronicles (the first of two Old Testament books telling the history of Judah and Israel until the return from the Babylonian Captivity in 536 BC)
2 Chronicles; II Chronicles (the second of two Old Testament books telling the history of Judah and Israel until the return from the Babylonian Captivity in 536 BC)
Book of Ezra; Ezra (an Old Testament book telling of a rabbi's efforts in the 5th century BC to reconstitute Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity)
Book of Nehemiah; Nehemiah (an Old Testament book telling how a Jewish official at the court of Artaxerxes I in 444 BC became a leader in rebuilding Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity)
Book of Esther; Esther (an Old Testament book telling of a beautiful Jewess who became queen of Persia and saved her people from massacre)
Book of Job; Job (a book in the Old Testament containing Job's pleas to God about his afflictions and God's reply)
Book of Psalms; Psalms (an Old Testament book consisting of a collection of 150 Psalms)
Book of Proverbs; Proverbs (an Old Testament book consisting of proverbs from various Israeli sages (including Solomon))
Book of Ecclesiastes; Ecclesiastes (an Old Testament book consisting of reflections on the vanity of human life; is traditionally attributed to Solomon but probably was written about 250 BC)
Canticle of Canticles; Canticles; Song of Solomon; Song of Songs (an Old Testament book consisting of a collection of love poems traditionally attributed to Solomon but actually written much later)
Book of Isaiah; Isaiah (an Old Testament book consisting of Isaiah's prophecies)
Book of Jeremiah; Jeremiah (a book in the Old Testament containing the oracles of the prophet Jeremiah)
Book of Lamentations; Lamentations (an Old Testament book lamenting the desolation of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC; traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah)
Book of Ezekiel; Ezechiel; Ezekiel (an Old Testament book containing Ezekiel's prophecies of the downfall of Jerusalem and Judah and their subsequent restoration)
Book of Daniel; Book of the Prophet Daniel; Daniel (an Old Testament book that tells of the apocalyptic visions and the experiences of Daniel in the court of Nebuchadnezzar)
Book of Hosea; Hosea (an Old Testament book telling Hosea's prophecies)
Book of Joel; Joel (an Old Testament book telling Joel's prophecies)
Amos; Book of Amos (an Old Testament book telling Amos's prophecies)
Abdias; Book of Obadiah; Obadiah (an Old Testament book telling Obadiah's prophecies; the shortest book in the Christian Bible)
Book of Jonah; Jonah (a book in the Old Testament that tells the story of Jonah and the whale)
Book of Micah; Micah; Micheas (an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Micah foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem)
Book of Nahum; Nahum (an Old Testament book telling Nahum's prophecy of the fall of Nineveh)
Book of Habakkuk; Habacuc; Habakkuk (an Old Testament book telling Habakkuk's prophecies)
Book of Zephaniah; Sophonias; Zephaniah (an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Zephaniah which are concerned mainly with the approaching judgment by God upon the sinners of Judah)
Aggeus; Book of Haggai; Haggai (an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Haggai which are concerned mainly with rebuilding the temples after the Babylonian Captivity)
Book of Zachariah; Zacharias; Zechariah (an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Zechariah which are concerned mainly with the renewal of Israel after the Babylonian Captivity)
Laws; Pentateuch; Torah (the first of three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures comprising the first five books of the Hebrew Bible considered as a unit)
Apocrypha (14 books of the Old Testament included in the Vulgate (except for II Esdras) but omitted in Jewish and Protestant versions of the Bible; eastern Christian churches (except the Coptic Church) accept all these books as canonical; the Russian Orthodox Church accepts these texts as divinely inspired but does not grant them the same status)
Psalm (one of the 150 lyrical poems and prayers that comprise the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament; said to have been written by David)
Domain member category:
golden calf ((Old Testament) an idol made by Aaron for the Israelites to worship; destroyed by Moses; it is now used to refer to anything worshipped undeservedly)
laver ((Old Testament) large basin used by a priest in an ancient Jewish temple to perform ritual ablutions)
Dead Sea scrolls ((Old Testament) a collection of written scrolls (containing nearly all of the Old Testament) found in a cave near the Dead Sea in the late 1940s)
Paralipomenon ((Old Testament) an obsolete name for the Old Testament books of I Chronicles and II Chronicles which were regarded as supplementary to Kings)
Fall of Man ((Judeo-Christian mythology) when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, God punished them by driving them out of the Garden of Eden and into the world where they would be subject to sickness and pain and eventual death)
manna; manna from heaven; miraculous food ((Old Testament) food that God gave the Israelites during the Exodus)
Hebrews; Israelites (the ethnic group claiming descent from Abraham and Isaac (especially from Isaac's son Jacob); the nation whom God chose to receive his revelation and with whom God chose to make a covenant (Exodus 19))
Sodom ((Old Testament) an ancient city near the Dead Sea that (along with Gomorrah) was destroyed by God for the wickedness of its inhabitants)
Gomorrah; Gomorrha ((Old Testament) an ancient city near the Dead Sea that (along with Sodom) was destroyed by God for the vice and depravity of its inhabitants)
Michael ((Old Testament) the guardian archangel of the Jews)
Adam ((Old Testament) in Judeo-Christian mythology; the first man and the husband of Eve and the progenitor of the human race)
Eve ((Old Testament) Adam's wife in Judeo-Christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; God created Eve from Adam's rib and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden)
Cain ((Old Testament) Cain and Abel were the first children of Adam and Eve born after the Fall of Man; Cain killed Abel out of jealousy and was exiled by God)
Abel ((Old Testament) Cain and Abel were the first children of Adam and Eve born after the Fall of Man; Abel was killed by Cain)
Seth ((Old Testament) third son of Adam and Eve; given by God in place of the murdered Abel)
Ham ((Old Testament) son of Noah)
Haman ((Old Testament) the minister of the Persian emperor who hated the Jews and was hanged for plotting to massacre them)
Jacob ((Old Testament) son of Isaac; brother of Esau; father of the twelve patriarchs of Israel; Jacob wrestled with God and forced God to bless him, so God gave Jacob the new name of Israel (meaning 'one who has been strong against God'))
Japheth ((Old Testament) son of Noah)
Lot ((Old Testament) nephew of Abraham; God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah but chose to spare Lot and his family who were told to flee without looking back at the destruction)
Lot's wife ((Old Testament) when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his family were told to flee without looking back; Lot's wife was disobedient and was immediately changed into a pillar of salt)
Shem ((Old Testament) eldest son of Noah)
Simeon ((Old Testament) the 2nd son of Jacob and one of the 12 patriarchs of Israel)
Aaron ((Old Testament) elder brother of Moses and first high priest of the Israelites; created the golden calf)
Bathsheba ((Old Testament) the wife of Uriah and later the wife of king David; Solomon was her son by David (circa 10th century BC))
Belshazzar ((Old Testament) Babylonian general and son of Nebuchadnezzar II; according to the Old Testament he was warned of his doom by divine handwriting on the wall that was interpreted by Daniel (6th century BC))
Benjamin ((Old Testament) the youngest and best-loved son of Jacob and Rachel and one of the twelve forebears of the tribes of Israel)
Daniel ((Old Testament) a youth who was taken into the court of Nebuchadnezzar and given divine protection when thrown into a den of lions (6th century BC))
David ((Old Testament) the 2nd king of the Israelites; as a young shepherd he fought Goliath (a giant Philistine warrior) and killed him by hitting him in the head with a stone flung from a sling; he united Israel with Jerusalem as its capital; many of the Psalms are attributed to David (circa 1000-962 BC))
Delilah ((Old Testament) the Philistine mistress of Samson who betrayed him by cutting off his hair and so deprived him of his strength)
Esau ((Old Testament) the eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother Jacob for a mess of pottage)
Esther ((Old Testament) a beautiful Jewess chosen by the king of Persia to be his queen; she stopped a plot to massacre all the Jews in Persia (an event celebrated by Jews as the feast of Purim))
Goliath ((Old Testament) a giant Philistine warrior who was slain by David with a slingshot)
Ezekias; Hezekiah ((Old Testament) king of Judah who abolished idolatry (715-687 BC))
Isaac ((Old Testament) the second patriarch; son of Abraham and Sarah who was offered by Abraham as a sacrifice to God; father of Jacob and Esau)
Isaiah ((Old Testament) the first of the major Hebrew prophets (8th century BC))
Ishmael ((Old Testament) the son of Abraham who was cast out after the birth of Isaac; considered the forebear of 12 Arabian tribes)
Issachar ((Old Testament) a son of Jacob and a forebear of one of the tribes of Israel)
Jeroboam; Jeroboam I ((Old Testament) first king of the northern kingdom of Israel who led Israel into sin (10th century BC))
Jeremiah ((Old Testament) an Israelite prophet who is remembered for his angry lamentations (jeremiads) about the wickedness of his people (circa 626-587 BC))
Jonah ((Old Testament) Jonah did not wish to become a prophet so God caused a great storm to throw him overboard from a ship; he was saved by being swallowed by a whale that vomited him out onto dry land)
Joseph ((Old Testament) the 11th son of Jacob and one of the 12 patriarchs of Israel; Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors, which made his brothers jealous and they sold him into slavery in Egypt)
Joshua ((Old Testament) Moses' successor who led the Israelites into the Promised Land; best remembered for his destruction of Jericho)
Judah ((Old Testament) the fourth son of Jacob who was forebear of one of the tribes of Israel; one of his descendants was to be the Messiah)
Methuselah ((Old Testament) a patriarch (grandfather of Noah) who is said to have lived 969 years)
Moses ((Old Testament) the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites from Egypt across the Red sea on a journey known as the Exodus; Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai)
Nebuchadnezzar; Nebuchadnezzar II; Nebuchadrezzar; Nebuchadrezzar II ((Old Testament) king of Chaldea who captured and destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Israelites to Babylonia (630?-562 BC))
Nimrod ((Old Testament) a famous hunter)
Rachel ((Old Testament) the second wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin)
Rebecca; Rebekah ((Old Testament) wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau)
Reuben ((Old Testment) a son of Jacob and forefather of one of the tribes of Israel)
Samson ((Old Testament) a judge of Israel who performed herculean feats of strength against the Philistines until he was betrayed to them by his mistress Delilah)
Samuel ((Old Testament) Hebrew prophet and judge who anointed Saul as king)
Sarah ((Old Testament) the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac)
Saul ((Old Testament) the first king of the Israelites who defended Israel against many enemies (especially the Philistines))
Solomon ((Old Testament) son of David and king of Israel noted for his wisdom (10th century BC))
Uriah ((Old Testament) the husband of Bathsheba and a soldier who was sent to die in battle so that king David could marry his wife (circa 10th century BC))
burning bush ((Old Testament) the bush that burned without being consumed and from which God spoke to Moses)
fire and brimstone ((Old Testament) God's means of destroying sinners)
stacte ((Old Testament) one of several sweet-smelling spices used in incense)
Instance hyponyms:
Septuagint (the oldest Greek version of the Old Testament; said to have been translated from the Hebrew by Jewish scholars at the request of Ptolemy II)
Holonyms ("Old Testament" is a part of...):
Bible; Book; Christian Bible; Good Book; Holy Scripture; Holy Writ; Scripture; Word; Word of God (the sacred writings of the Christian religions)
