The Holy Bible is the collection of scriptures received as authoritative in Christianity. It is not a single book written at one time, but a library of texts composed and edited across many centuries. Christian Bibles contain an Old Testament and a New Testament.
What is in the Old Testament?
The Old Testament contains writings rooted in ancient Israel and Judaism. Its books include narratives, law, poetry, wisdom literature, prophecy, and other forms. Much of the Hebrew Bible was written in Hebrew, with some material in Aramaic.
Christians do not all use exactly the same Old Testament canon. Most Protestant Bibles contain 39 Old Testament books. Catholic Bibles contain additional books and portions commonly called the deuterocanonical books, for a total of 46 Old Testament books. Eastern Orthodox canons include further texts and are not identical in every church.
What is in the New Testament?
The New Testament has 27 books accepted across the major Christian traditions. It contains:
- the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John;
- the Acts of the Apostles;
- letters associated with Paul and other early Christian leaders;
- the Book of Revelation.
The New Testament was written in Greek, although its authors drew on Jewish scripture, traditions about Jesus, oral teaching, and the life of early Christian communities.
A Catholic Bible contains the same 27-book New Testament but a 46-book Old Testament, including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees, together with additions to Esther and Daniel. Eastern Orthodox Old Testament canons contain further differences. For that reason, “the books of the Bible” is not one identical list in every Christian tradition.
New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts; Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1–2 Thessalonians, 1–2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews; James, 1–2 Peter, 1–3 John, Jude; Revelation.
Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther; Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel; Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
For readers who want the actual table of contents, a common Protestant Bible contains 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.
Books of the Bible at a glance
Why do Bible canons differ?
The boundaries of Christian scripture developed over time. The New Testament canon reached broad agreement in the early centuries, while the Old Testament reflects different histories of Jewish and Christian textual collections. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions therefore agree on a large common body of scripture while differing over several Old Testament books.
How is the Bible used?
Christians read the Bible in public worship, preaching, study, prayer, theology, and personal devotion. Interpretation varies among traditions. Catholic and Orthodox churches read scripture within the wider life and tradition of the Church, while Protestant communities often place special emphasis on the authority and sufficiency of scripture. Within each family there is further diversity.
Translations and manuscripts
Modern Bible translations are based on the study of ancient manuscripts in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Because no original handwritten manuscript of a biblical book is known to survive, textual critics compare manuscript evidence to reconstruct the earliest recoverable forms of the text.
The Bible is therefore both a sacred text for Christian communities and a collection studied historically, linguistically, and literarily. Understanding its structure and differing canons helps readers avoid treating every Christian Bible as identical.
How the Bible developed
Biblical books circulated first as separate works or collections. Jewish communities preserved and interpreted the scriptures that became the Hebrew Bible, while early Christians read those scriptures alongside writings about Jesus and letters used in the churches. Over time, communities recognized a defined collection of New Testament books.
The process was historical rather than the publication of a complete Bible at one moment. Lists, liturgical use, theological debate, manuscript circulation, and decisions by church authorities all contributed to the formation and reception of biblical canons.
Chapters and verses
The earliest biblical manuscripts did not use the modern chapter and verse system. Chapter divisions developed in the medieval period, and verse numbering became standard later. These references are useful for navigation but are not part of the original wording of the texts.
Different kinds of biblical writing
The Bible includes law, narrative, poetry, proverbs, prophecy, letters, genealogy, parable, apocalyptic literature, and other genres. A poem, legal instruction, historical narrative, and parable should not automatically be interpreted in exactly the same way.
This is one reason Christian traditions use commentaries, liturgy, theology, historical study, and linguistic analysis when interpreting difficult passages. Even communities that strongly emphasize scripture do not read it without assumptions about language, context, and genre.
