Written with the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit by shepherds, prophets, nobility, and more, the Bible has inspired laws, influenced culture, and uplifted billions in faith over three millennia.
The Bible is the most-read book of all time, surpassing favorites such as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and even classics like The Diary of Anne Frank and To Kill a Mockingbird. Business Insider records that the Bible has sold 3.9 billion copies over the last 50 years, while the Harry Potter series has sold 400 million copies.
What about the Bible has made it the book to “turn to” for the last half-century? It is a book with various translations and even different representations among the Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant faiths. The Book of Hebrews states it best when explaining why the Word of God is something everyone is drawn to:
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, (Hebrews 4:12).
Let’s journey through the origins of the Bible, learning how the Bible has affected countless people's lives and has become the foundational building blocks for the leading faiths in our world today.
How Many Books Are in the Bible?
The modern Protestant Bible consists of 66 books with two distinct sections: The Old Testament (39 books) and the New Testament (27 books). The two sections are arranged this way to highlight the birth of Jesus, with the Old Testament sharing the emerging prophecies of the Messiah and Jesus’ actual birth, death, and resurrection taking place at the start of the New Testament with the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).
The Old Testament canon of Scripture is that of the Septuagint, which was the Bible of the Apostles. Other Christian communions through the years have deviated somewhat from this apostolic canon which the Orthodox Church still uses. The canon of the New Testament was developed over the early centuries of the Church, and the first known listing in its final form is the Paschal Letter of Athanasius of Alexandria in A.D. 367.
Different Canons of the Bible
Protestant Canon: 66 Bible Books
Catholic Canon: 73 Bible Books
Orthodox Canon: 81 Bible Books (See the Septuagint Bible with Apocrypha)
About 50 versions of the English Bible are in circulation, with revised versions well into the hundreds. The most popular Bible translation is that of the King James Version, which is also public domain and doesn’t require obtaining permission to reprint Scripture verses in published books. Bible Study Tools even has a list of the best-known versions and translations of the Bible for readers to peruse, with a brief explanation of each version.
Old and New Testament Books of the Bible
Browse and read the Books of the Bible.
Old Testament Books
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Joshua
- Judges
- Ruth
- 1 Samuel
- 2 Samuel
- 1 Kings
- 2 Kings
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles
- Ezra
- Nehemiah
- Esther
- Job
- Psalms
- Proverbs
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of Solomon
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Lamentations
- Ezekiel
- Daniel
- Hosea
- Joel
- Amos
- Obadiah
- Jonah
- Micah
- Nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- Zechariah
- Malachi
New Testament Books - Matthew
- Mark
- Luke
- John
- Acts
- Romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
- 1 Timothy
- 2 Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
- Hebrews
- James
- 1 Peter
- 2 Peter
- 1 John
- 2 John
- 3 John
- Jude
- Revelation
Difference Between the Hebrew and Protestant Bible
How the Bible was established to include what it does of stories and parables is part of the canonization process, which is, initially, a Christian communion performed by the Roman Catholic Church (as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church) to appoint selected deceased members of the church into the determined canon, or list, to be considered a saint in the church.
The same process was applied to determine what books of the Bible would be included, whether the Spirit inspired them or not, to be the authorized Word of God. It comes from the Greek word “kanon,” which means reed or measurement.
The Hebrew Bible consists of 24 books, believed to be determined by the councils of Jamnia in AD 90 and 118 as the list of books to be part of the Bible. There is still debate over what all the council selected to be canonized as the Bible, as this council has only been mentioned in ancient Hebrew writings. No confirmation has been found that this council existed or what they canonized. It is believed the Hebrew Bible was written between 1200 and 100 BC and has been in its current form since the second century BC.
The believed criteria used to determine what books were canonized as the Word of God may have included prophetic authorship (text written by an apostle or prophet), inner witnesses of the Holy Spirit, eyewitness testimonies, and the final acceptance of the book by the people. Since Jesus’ disciples were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ actions and words, they were the ones to give authorization for the New Testament and whether something was divinely inspired.
The Hebrew Bible and the Protestant Bible have the same content in the Old Testament, but the organization is different. For example, the Hebrew Bible has one book of Samuel, while the Protestant Bible has two. Primarily for those of Jewish faith, especially Messianic Jews, the first five books of the Bible are the Torah (or Pentateuch) and the main asset of the Bible, detailing how God chose Abraham to be the father of many nations and established the Law (Ten Commandments) as the way to live for God.
Difference Between the Protestant and Catholic Bible
The Protestant Bible comprises much of the Hebrew Bible but organizes the stories into a larger collection than its Jewish predecessor. While the Hebrew Bible was formed entirely from ancient scrolls (24 for each book), the Protestant Bible combines the Hebrew Bible with the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible written in the third and second century BC.
The Eastern/Greek Orthodox Church may use the New King James Version or other translations that allow more of the Greek translation to be used, coupled with their belief that the Bible’s New Testament, with the story of Jesus, is precedent over the Old Testament. The Catholic Bible consists of 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament (which is the same NT as the Protestant Bible).
The additional Old Testament sections in the Catholic Bible are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), Baruch (includes Letters of Jeremiah), I and II Maccabees, and additional sections for the books of Daniel and Esther. Those of the Catholic faith believe what is in their Bible was canonized by the Synod of Rome council and the early church in AD 382.
It was decided several years later, during the Reformation, by Protestants to follow more of the Greek translations of the Bible instead of the entire Hebrew Bible, which had been canonized and accepted in the original King James Bible by the Catholic Church.
Thus, the Apocrypha is present in the Catholic Bible as a collection of books not found in the Protestant Bible. They can be found in the original 1611 King James Bible but were pulled from the Bible in 1885 and named “deuterocanonical books.”
Other Bible Translations for Other Faiths
Jehovah’s Witnesses use their own version of the Bible, the New World Translation of Holy Scriptures, which they believe is more accurate, clearer, and has God’s name listed as they believe it should in the text. Before this version, Jehovah’s Witnesses heavily consorted to the King James Bible.
For Mormons, there are four books they hold as the Word of God: The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (which has believed records of how God interacted with people of America from 2000 BC to 400 AD), the King James Bible, the Doctrine and Covenants (collection of declarations about the formation and regulation of the Church of Jesus Christ in the last days), and The Pearl of Great Price (writings from Mormon church founder Joseph Smith).
What Does This Mean?
The debate over using canonized Scripture or more Greek translation-infused Scripture will continue as more people gravitate to reading and studying the Bible and the truth of the Holy Trinity.
What is hoped is readers find a translation that allows their relationship with God to bloom and strengthen their awareness that Jesus lived and died for us so that we would be united with God for eternity.
Here are 15 Bible Verses Every Christian Should Know By Heart for you to download and share with loved ones!
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