Is the Torah the same as the Old Testament?

Answer 1

Yes and no.

Yes, because a quick look at the names of the sacred Jewish books implies that they constitute the O.T. and are the same thing. The books of the Jewish Bible are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Twelve Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, etc.), Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra & Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

However, there are some important differences.

One difference is that the Jewish Bible (the Tanakh) is only in the original Hebrew. Any translation, whether done by Jews or Gentiles, is, at best, no more than an indication of what the Tanakh is saying. The translations leave out all or most of the Hebrew Bible's accompanying oral tradition, its traditional musical chant (cantillation, which provides punctuation and emotion), and the fact that many verses teach us a number of things.

Another difference is that the Christian Old Testament may contain a few books that are not in the Tanakh (such as the books of Judith and Sirach [and others] which are in the Catholic O.T.).

Answer 2

No. The Orthodox Christian Old Testament is vastly expanded from the Tanakh or Jewish Bible and ordered differently. To see a description of the Tanakh, see the Related Question below on Jewish Holy Books. In addition to books present in the Old Testament that are not in the Tanakh such as Tobit, Judith, Maccabees I-IV, Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach, some books are expanded such as Esther and Daniel. The reason for this difference is that the Old Testament is based on the Septuagint Text whereas the Tanakh is based on the Masoretic Text.

Answer 3

The Jewish Bible is called the Tanach which is made up of the Torah (Teachings), Nevi'im (Prophets), and K'tuvim (Writings). The Christian Old Testament is based on the Tanach but was thoroughly altered to support the teachings of Christianity.

Answer 4

in short the answer is yes. The history of the difference is this: The term Hebrew scriptures refers to to The Bible which just means "book" but is actually referring to the books of Genesis through Malachi so its a more specific term meaning Hebrew writings. The term "old testament" came about because the first Christians were Jews who followed the Bible, they wanted to teach new ideas of what people should do, based on Judaism but different. So, they wrote a new bible, they called it the "New Testament"

Answer 5

A quick look at the names of the sacred Jewish books implies that they constitute the O.T. and are the same thing.
However, there are some important differences. One difference is that the Jewish Bible (the Tanakh) is only in the original Hebrew. Any translation, whether done by Jews or Gentiles, is, at best, no more than an indication of what the Tanakh is saying. Many verses teach us a number of things.
Another difference is that the Christian Old Testament may contain a few books that are not in the Tanakh (such as the books of Judith and Sirach).

• Link: More about the Jewish Bible
  

Answer 6

The first five books of the "old testament" ... Genesis through Deuteronomy ...
are a translation from the Torah. Not "the same", but a translation.

Answer 7

Scripture generally refers to the Bible as a whole.