THE HOLY BIBLE

The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblos, meaning a book. The Bible is also called. ..

."The Holy Scriptures" (Romans 1:2, 2 Timothy 3 15)
."The Scriptures" ( I Corinthians 15:3-4; Matthew 21:42; 22:29; Luke 24:32; John 5:39; Acts 8;32; 18:24; Galatians 3:22)
."The Word of God" (Hebrews 4:12)

The Bible -the Word of God" -did not originate in the mind of man, but in the mind of God. However, God used men as instruments and authors to communicate His message to the world. Over a period of some 1,500 years, God chose people from all kinds of backgrounds -kings, soldiers, peasants, farmers, scholars, priests, statesmen~ approximately 40 authors from different nations, professions and classes of society, to write the Bible. The original manuscripts were written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and  Greek.

CONTENTS

The Bible is not a book, not in the technical sense. Rather, it is a collection of books, a great library of 66 books. However, the Bible naturally falls into two divisions that are separated by the birth of Jesus Christ. The two parts are...

-The Old Testament, which was written before Jesus Christ came to earth.
-The New Testament, which was written after Jesus Christ came to earth.

The word testament means a covenant or an agreement. Therefore, the Bible is God's covenant with man. The Old Testament is His covenant with man before Christ came, and the New Testament is His covenant with man after Christ came.

1. The Old Testament has 39 books which were known by the Jews in Jesus' day as "The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms" (Luke 24:44). Today, the 39 books are usually divided as follows:

A. Five Law Books:

* Genesis      * Numbers
* Exodus       * Deuteronomy
* Leviticus

These are known as the Pentateuch.

B. Twelve History Books:

* Joshua                * 1 & 2 Chronicles
* Judges                * Ezra
* Ruth                   * Nehemiah
* 1 & 2 Samuel      * Esther     
* 1 & 2 Kings

C.  Five Poetic Books:

* Job                     * Ecclesiastes
* Psalms               * The Song of Solomon
* Proverbs

D.  Seventeen Prophetic Books:

* Isaiah                * Joel                * Habakkuk
* Jeremiah           * Amos              * Zephaniah
* Lamentations    * Obadiah          * Haggai
* Ezekiel              * Jonah              * Zechariah
* Daniel               * Micah              * Malachi
* Hosea                * Nahum

2.The New Testament has 27 books which are divided as follows:

A. Four Gospels:

      * Matthew
     * Mark
     * Luke
     * John

B. One History Book:

      * Acts

C.  Fourteen Pauline Epistles: Letters written by Paul thc Apostle

     * Romans                   * Philippians                      * Titus
     * 1 & 2 Corinthians    * Colossians                      * Philemon
    * Galatians                 * 1 & 2 Thessalonians       * Hebrews
     * Ephesians                 * 1 & 2 Timothy (probably)

D. Seven General Epistles: Letters written by several authors.

     * James         * 2 John                       
    * I Peter        * 3 John      
    * 2 Peter        * Jude
    * I John

E. One Prophetic Book:         * Revelation