photo source: istock
You are reading: Books of the bible in order
As a religious canon or collection of scriptures for the Christian faithful, the books of the Bible are important. Whether for study or interest, find a complete list of the books of the bible in order, which means having the books of the bible in chronological order and a brief description of their history.
what are the books of the bible, or ta biblia?
The bible is long and complicated, so it can be a bit difficult to keep everything in order. the scriptures contain hundreds of stories spanning generations. Christian Bibles, which borrow heavily from the Hebrew Tanakh, are divided into different books; we have presented the full list of books for your reference.
As we discuss below, different traditions count different books and order them differently. We have chosen to present them here in the order they are used in most major Protestant Bibles, as they are the most common variety in the United States where we are located.
see also king james bible, old testament names and kings of judah & Israel
Do you want to broaden your reading on religion? Check out our list of the best books on Buddhism.
in what order are the 46 books of the old testament?
the Hebrew scriptures
- genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- numbers
- deuteronomy
- joshua</li
- judges
- ruth
- 1 samuel
- 2 samuel
- 1 kings
- 2 kings
- 1 chronicles
- 2 chronicles
- ezra
- nehemiah
- esther
- work
- psalms
- proverbs
- ecclesiastes
- song of solomon (or song of songs)
- isaiah
- jeremiah</ li
- lamentations
- ezekiel
- daniel
- hosea
- joel
- amos
- obadiah
- jonah
- micah
- nahum
- habakkuk
- zephaniah
- haggai
- zechariah
- malachi
in what order are the books of the new testament?
- matthew
- mark
- luke
- john
- acts of the apostles
- roman
- 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
the apocryphal and deuterocanonical books
See Also: The Walking Dead Comics — The Story
the apocrypha/deuterocanonical
- tobit
- judith
- additions to the book of esther
- wisdom of solomon
- ecclesiastic
- baruch
- the letter of jeremiah
- the prayer ofazariah and the song of the three jews
- susanna
- bel and the dragon
- 1 macabees
- 2 macabees
- 1 esdras
- manasseh prayer
- psalm 151
- 3 Maccabees
- 2 Ezra
- 4 Maccabees
the Hebrew scriptures & the old testament
The first books of the Christian Bible are the sacred books of the Jewish faith, collected in the Tanakh. “tanakh” is an acronym for the three main divisions of the Hebrew holy book: the torah (“teachings”, also known to Christians by the Greek name “pentateuch” or “five books”), nevi’im (“prophets”) , and ketuvim (“writings”). in Christian traditions these books are called “the old testament”. the Jewish faith also adheres to the teachings of the talmud, rabbinic commentaries on the tanakh; unlike the tanakh, the christian scriptures do not recognize the talmud.
Different Christian traditions recognize different books of the Bible as canonical. The Tanakh includes only 24 books, while major Protestant Bibles include 39*, Catholics include 46, and Eastern Orthodox groups include 49. Books included in some Bibles and not in others are called Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical; this means they are non-canon or less canon than primary canon.
*protestant bibles do not include more material than the hebrew bibles, but they divide the book of the 12 minor prophets into 12 different books, just as they divide the book of ezra-nehemiah into the books of ezra and nehemiah, and the book of chronicles in 1 chronicles and 2 chronicles. all Christian bibles, however, are ordered differently from the tanakh.
the five books of moses/the pentateuch
The only set of books included in every list of Old Testament books, all forms of the Tanakh, and the Old Testament, in the same order, is the Torah or the Pentateuch. these five books, the five books of moses, are the first and possibly the most important of the scriptures.
an overview of the old testament & the books of the new testament
the old testament begins with the book of genesis, which tells the story of how the world was created, and how god anointed his chosen people and taught them how to live. This includes famous stories like Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah’s Ark.
After Genesis, the different books of the Old Testament recount the trials of the Israelites as they endured centuries of slavery or captivity under different empires. There is a general pattern where God sends a prophet to teach the Israelites how to live and get them out of difficulties, but over time they lose faith and find themselves experiencing new difficulties. The most famous example is Moses leading his people out of slavery in Egypt: the people are wicked and must wander in the desert for forty years before his descendants can enter the promised land.
Some of the other important episodes in the Old Testament include the accession of King David, the building of the temple in Jerusalem, and the captivity in Babylon. the old testament also includes various sayings and songs about morality, god, and other esoteric topics.
the new testament deals with the life and teachings of jesus christ, which are the foundation of christianity. his life story is told in all four gospels (which comes from Old English for “good news”). Nearly all the other books are letters written by St. Paul or other Christian teachers, discussing his beliefs or giving advice.
See Also: 10 Erotica Books Shaping Women&039s Fantasies In 2020 : Pretty Progressive
the last book of the new testament is the book of revelation, written by the apostle john, which recounts an apocalyptic vision of the end of days. The most important event discussed in revelation is the second coming of Christ, although most events in revelation are controversial in their meaning.
what is the biblical language: notes on biblical terms
there are some cases of terms that appear a lot in the books of the bible, but that are confused in everyday language. we only want to focus on two; the different terms for “god’s chosen people” in the bible, and how god is identified and named.
The terms “Hebrew”, “Jewish”, and “Israeli” are often used interchangeably, but they mean slightly different things, as discussed in this informative chabad post.
the first person identified as a hebrew is abraham, so in a sense the hebrews are descendants of abraham. more specifically, the etymology of the hebrew implies an individual who crosses or has crossed something, so it is often used to describe abraham’s people when not in israel/canaan, and when resisting cultural pressures and temptations from outside groups. joseph is called hebrew when he is in egypt. Finally, Hebrew is often used to refer to the Hebrew-speaking Jews of Roman Judea.
israelite refers more specifically to the descendants of jacob or israel, the ancestor of the twelve tribes of israel that would later be divided between the kingdoms of israel and judah. It is important to note that israelite is different from the current national name israeli, which indicates a person from the country of israel.
Jewish, lastly, refers to the people of Judah, and then, after the Babylonian exile, to the Israelites more broadly because of Judah’s cultural and religious importance. In general, Jew or Jewish person is used to refer to a person who practices Judaism or is part of the Jewish community. Due to its invective use by anti-Semites, the word “Jew” itself can sometimes sound harsh or rude, but there are many cases where it is perfectly neutral and appropriate.
the name of god
In the tanakh, god is identified by seven different names. by tradition, these are to be treated with extreme reverence; he must not erase or damage them when he writes them. in fact, despite our academic use of them here, you’re not supposed to write them too often either.
The most significant name for god in the tanakh is the tetragrammaton, or the four letters. the four letters are transliterated as yhwh. In Latin, since the letter j was originally pronounced like ay or i, and the letter v sounded like a w, this was written jhvh (from which we get “jehovah”, as in the witnesses). Since you’re not supposed to write the name too often, it’s common to swap a letter (in English, this is often written as g-d) or to space the letters out, like y-h-w-h.
Especially in Judaism, but also in many Christian traditions, you are not supposed to pronounce the tetragrammaton. when referring to the name itself, one would normally say hashem itself (“the name” in Hebrew). when reading the four letters, it is pronounced adonai (or “the lord”). if the word “lord” is already next to the four letters, you would say elohim. this is how we arrived at the common English phrase “the lord god”.
See Also: 17 Best James Patterson Books [to Read in 2022] – UpJourney