Introduction

The term 'bible' is often used today for any comprehensive book on a special subject.

The 'HOLY BIBLE' is the appropriate title for 'The Book of books', for it claims to be God's revelation to man on the all-important theme: why God created man in the first place and how men and women may share in the great purpose God has with this earth.  This remarkable claim of the Bible is still well grounded and valid, in spite of many attacks on it from assailants both within and outside the churches.

Although the word 'bible' comes from the Greek word for book, the Holy Bible is in fact a substantial collection of books and documents of many kinds - historical, prophetic and biographical.  It also contains poetry and philosophy, public addresses and private letters.  Some of these last-named occupy less than a page.  On the other hand, three of the longest works have been split into halves because they were too extensive to be accommodated on to a single scroll.  This was in the days before books in the form we know them had been devised, and explains why we have two books each of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles.

We can see at the outset that the Bible consists of two uneven sections.  The Old Testament occupies over three quarters of the whole volume, and is followed by the New Testament.  The term 'testament' is better translated 'covenant', and refers to the agreements or pacts God has made with men of His choice.

Thus the Old Testament is mainly concerned with the history of the people of Israel, who became responsible to God on the basis of a covenant He made with them through Moses at Sinai after their deliverance from Egypt.  The New Testament is concerned with the new situation introduced by the sacrifice of Jesus, by which Christian believers, both Jews and Gentiles, have become God's people, His 'New Israel'.

The Old Testament is a translation of the Jewish Hebrew Scriptures, which also includes a very small section in Aramaic, a language closely related to Hebrew.  The Jewish order of the books differs substantially from that of our English versions after the writings of Moses, i.e. Genesis - Deuteronomy.  In the Hebrew Bible these are followed by 'the Prophets' and finally by 'the Writings'.  The middle section is subdivided into the Former Prophets, the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and the Latter Prophets, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and 'the Book of the Twelve', i.e. Hosea-Malachi.

Finally come 'the Writings', the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, 'the Five Scrolls' (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther), Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel and Chronicles.  Jesus makes reference to these three major divisions, the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, in Luke 24.44.

The order of the books in English Bibles follows changes introduced by the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament made in Alexandria in the third-to-second centuries BC.  This was undertaken to supply the needs of the large colony of Jews in Egypt who no longer understood the Hebrew tongue.  The changes were logical.  For example the book of Ruth was placed immediately after Judges, to which it belongs chronologically, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah follow his book of prophecies.  Also Daniel is transferred to the group of major prophets, which accords with Jesus' recognition of Daniel's true status (Matthew 24.15).

There are in fact four chronological sequences in the English Old Testament - Genesis to Esther, Job to Song of Songs, Isaiah to Daniel and Hosea to Malachi, 39 books in all.

Another difference between Hebrew Bibles and our English versions is in the naming of individual books.  The Hebrew names are taken from the first significant word of the Book (e.g. Berashith = 'in the beginning', for Genesis) whereas the familiar English titles are sometimes taken from the Greek version (e.g. Genesis, Exodus, etc.) or else they are simply subject or author headings.

The first five books, subtitled the first, second, etc. books of Moses, are collectively known by the Jews as 'Torah', which means 'Instruction'.  By the Gentile world they are known as the Pentateuch, which comes from Greek, the 'five-scroll' (book).  Jews consider this section of their Scriptures as the most important part.  In early times it took three years to work through the whole Book of the Law (as the Torah is often described in the later Old Testament books) in synagogue worship.  Nowadays the whole Torah is read in the synagogue in the course of a year.  Each of its 54 portions is followed by a related extract from the Prophets, the middle section of the Hebrew scriptures, a custom referred to in Acts 13.15.

In spite of many theories of late and composite authorship, still very popular in standard texts introducing the Old Testament, the unity and authenticity of the Pentateuch has many doughty defenders and perfectly valid arguments(see note 2).  None are greater than the authority of Jesus himself, who endorsed the traditional view of Mosaic authorship by Divine inspiration (Matthew 5.17,18).

The term 'prophets', given to the middle section of the Hebrew Bible, is in fact valid for all Scripture.  In Biblical terms a prophet is not restricted to one who predicts the future, but signifies a spokesman or mouthpiece of God.  This is so whether the 'prophet' refers to past, present or future matters.  Thus 'Moses and all the prophets' (Luke 24.27) covers the whole Old Testament.  The apostolic writings, gospels, letters, etc., are equally inspired, being the records of the Spirit-gifted servants of Jesus, 'the prophet like Moses' (Acts 3.19).

In sum, 'All Scripture is God-breathed...that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work' (II Timothy 3.16,17 NIV).

This third and last part of the Hebrew Bible has an alternative name, 'the Psalms', because this is the first and largest book in this section.  There does not seem to be any special order of the books, beyond the separate groupings of poetical and wisdom writings (Psalms-Lamentations) and the later history (Esther - Chronicles).

The five scrolls (Song of Songs - Esther) are read at the five Jewish festivals (see notes covering each book), but otherwise 'the Writings' are deemed of secondary importance in synagogue worship, not being included in the appointed Sabbath readings.  On the other hand, following New Testament precedent, Christians recognise these books as being equally inspired and important as the Law and the Prophets.

The order of the 27 New Testament books in the English Bible will be familiar to many readers.  First come the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles.  Next we have Paul's letters to Christian communities in Rome, Corinth, etc., followed by his 'pastoral epistles' to certain of his faithful supporters - Timothy, Titus and Philemon.  Then come other apostolic letters: Hebrews (generally attributed to Paul), James, Peter, John and Jude, and finally Revelation, which is Jesus' last message to the early churches, sent through the apostle John.

If one compares our English New Testament with continental versions, some difference in the order of books will be seen, and indeed there is nothing fixed or absolute about any one arrangement.  An obvious improvement would be to make Acts follow immediately after the gospel of Luke, for it is his sequel to the life of Jesus.  John's writings too, which have much in common, would be better grouped together.  R.G.Moulton has produced just such an arrangement in his Modern Reader's Bible.  This is an edition of the Revised Version originally published by Macmillan and now only available on the second-hand market, and it is recommended for study purposes.

Notes:
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2: See the fuller note on the page on the Pentateuch