The Bible is the religious text of Christians and is considered to be divinely inspired. It typically includes two sections known as the Old Testament and New Testament that divide ancient Jewish texts from the 1st century Christian texts. The Old Testament is written in Ancient Hebrew and the New Testament in Ancient Greek.
Some bibles may also include a third section called the Apocrypha which is a selection of texts between the end of the Old Testament and the start of the New Testament. These texts are not part of the canonical text and are classified as intertestemental literature.
Several other texts were rejected as part of the Bible for various factual and doctrinal errors, as well as questionable origins. This occured during the council of Nicea around 325 A.D.
When was the Bible written?
The Bible is a collection of books that are written over thousands of years. The Old Testament is considered to have been written between 1200BC for the oldest books and 165BC for the most recent.
The New Testament literature is all written in the 1st century with estimates between 50AD and 100AD as the earliest and latest dates. The modern text is made from thousands of copies that are subject to a process called textual criticism. This process works to identify with confidence what was written in the original texts when errors in copying are taken into account.
How many books are in the Bible?
The bible is comprised of 66 books in total. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and there are 27 books in the New Testament. These books are listed below:
Old Testament | New Testament |
Genesis | Matthew |
Exodus | Mark |
Leviticus | Luke |
Numbers | John |
Deuteronomy | Acts |
Joshua | Romans |
Judges | 1 Corinthians |
Ruth | 2 Corinthians |
1 Samuel | Galatians |
2 Samuel | Ephesians |
1 Kings | Philippians |
2 Kings | Colossians |
1 Chronicles | 1 Thessalonians |
2 Chronicles | 2 Thessalonians |
Ezra | 1 Timothy |
Nehemiah | 2 Timothy |
Esther | Titus |
Job | Philemon |
Psalms | Hebrews |
Proverbs | James |
Ecclesiastes | 1 Peter |
Song of Solomon | 2 Peter |
Isaiah | 1 John |
Jeremiah | 2 John |
Lamentations | 3 John |
Ezekiel | Jude |
Daniel | Revelation |
Hosea | |
Joel | |
Amos | |
Obadiah | |
Jonah | |
Micah | |
Nahum | |
Habakkuk | |
Zephaniah | |
Haggai | |
Zechariah | |
Malachi | |
How to read and study the Bible?
The bible may take anywhere from a few months to a few years to read in its entirety due its huge size. Unlike an ordinary book it is not designed to be read from front-to-back. Each book tells a story that is part of a wider story that spans thousands of years of human history.
If you're studying the Bible for academic purposes then how you read the Bible will depend on your subject area. For those interested in ancient Jewish traditions or the Hebrew language, then you should study the Old Testament first. For those interested in the ancient Christian traditions or the Greek language then the New Testament will be your focus.
For those that are looking to study the bible because they're interested in what Christians believe, then you should start with the New Testament and specifically the four gospel accounts of Christ:
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
The remaining letters and epistles are full of great Christian doctrine, church history and encouragements on how to live a Christian life. However, the four gospel accounts document the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ministry.
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