Where do you start?
Studying the Bible is a big, complex question, and can be overwhelming or frustrating at times. Below is an overview of the structure of the Bible.
What is the Bible?
The Bible is not really a book, but it is a library of ancient literature, ranging from narrative to prophecy and poetry and biography.
For Protestant Christians, the Bible is 66 books, compiled of the Old Testament (academically referred to as the Hebrew Bible, and for Jews the Tanakh) and the New Testament. For Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians, the Bible also contains what are called either the Apocrypha or the deuterocanonical books.
The Hebrew Bible (the term I most often use) was written almost entirely in Hebrew, aside from a few chapters in Aramaic (Daniel 2:1 – 7:28).
Contents of the Old Testament:
The 27 books of the Protestant Old Testament contains each of the same books that the Jewish Tanakh has, but the books are arranged in a slightly different order. The counting of the books is also different, because the Tanakh, while it contains the same texts, considers 24 to be its total. This is because it counts 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah as one book each, as well as each of the 12 minor prophets as one book, namely “The Book of the Twelve.”
The Tanakh is a shorthand for the 3 subdivisions of the Hebrew scriptures: first Torah, then Naviim (Prophets, Former and Latter); then Ketuvim (Writings).
Below is a comparison of how Protestants and Jews divide the Bible. (A more detailed color-coded table showing the differences can be found on Wikipedia.
| Protestant Old Testament | Jewish Tanakh |
| 1. Pentateuch (meaning ‘5 scrolls,’) Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy | 1. Torah (meaning ‘law,’) Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy |
| 2. Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther | |
| 3. Wisdom Literature: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon | 2. Navi’im (meaning ‘prophets.’) Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel Latter Prophets or Book of the Twelve: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi |
| 4. Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel | |
| 5. Minor Prophets (corresponds to the Book of the Twelve) Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi | 3. Ketuvim (meaning ‘writings.’) Ruth, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel |
The Contents of the New Testament:
The New Testament was written in a colloquial form of Greek called Koine, meaning ‘Common’ Greek. There are 27 books within, consisting of:
| Four Gospels (biographies of Jesus) | Matthew, Mark, Luke, John |
| The Acts of the Apostles | Acts |
| 13 Pauline Epistles (letters) | Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon |
| The Epistle to the Hebrews | Hebrews |
| The General or Catholic Epistles (Catholic meaning general/universal) | James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude |
| The Book of Revelation (or John’s Apocalypse) | Revelation |
Leslie Flores 