Before we look at the books of the Bible, let's see where the word “Bible” comes from. It is originally from the Greek word “biblos” which was the name assigned to the outer coat of a papyrus reed in Egypt during the eleventh century B.C. The plural form of "biblos" is "biblia" which word the Christians by the second century A.D. were using to describe their writings. The Latin picked up the word, using the same spelling and it was then transliterated into French maintaining the Greek spelling. The English word came from the Old French, changing its ending making the word Bible.
The Bible is composed of 66 books written over a period of about 1800 years by 40 different people. The first part of the Bible is the Old Testament [or Old Covenant] which consists of 39 books. These Books are divided into 4 general catagories: Books of Law called the Pentateuch or Torah, the Historical Books, the Poetic Books, and the Prophetic Books. The New Testament [or New Covenant] has 27 books which is also divided in 4 categories: The Gospels, The Historical Book, The Letters, and The Book of Vision.
Although the Jewish "Old Testament" contains the same books as the Christian Old Testament, they are placed in a different order.
Books of the Law
[also called the Pentateuch or Torah]
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Historical Books
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I & II Samuel
I & II Kings
I & II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Poetic Books
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Prophetic Books
Major Prophets
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Minor Prophets
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obediah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
The Gospels
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
The Historical Book
Acts
The Letters
Romans
I & II Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Phillippians
Colossians
I & II Thessalonians
I & II Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
I & II Peter
I, II, & III John
Jude
The Book of Vision
Revelation
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