What is the Bible?
 

The word bible comes from the Greek "biblia" meaning Books
 

It is a collection of ancient writings about God (Yahweh)


... these are stories about an old agreement between God (Yahweh) and man (the Hebrews) when the Hebrews came out of Egypt ... and how it worked out. ...these are stories and teachings about a new agreement between God and man based on the teachings and life of Jesus--who opened up a relationship with God to all men who believed in Him and accepted God's forgiveness of their sins.

*Protestant Bibles include 68 writtings.
  Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican contain 73 writings.
 
 

It was written by many different authors, 
mostly Hebrews, some unknown.
The writings were not chosen but acknowledged to be inspired. The Council of Hippo (393 A. D.) and subsequent councils drew up a list or canon of inspired books.

At different times
-- over about 1,000 years--from 
    about 900 B.C. to 100 A.D. 

At different places

-- Palestine, Babylon, Egypt, Rome, Corinth.

For different purposes

--to teach religion and
   patriotism, to describe the Messiah.
  For many different purposes --
  --to help you understand God and His works
  -- to help you know how to live and act
  --to share stories of human experience in many literary forms
   -- songs and poetry
   -- laws and history
   -- prophecies, wise sayings
   -- short stories, letters
   -- to know about the most
  famous book in history-- a Book of 30 Centuries, the all-time best-seller!
The Old
Testament

(Jewish Scriptures)

A collection of religious books in Hebrew written over a period of
900years, including:
1. Histories
2. Codes of Laws
3. Speeches and Sermons
4. Poetry
           39 books in the                    46 books in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox
                       Protestant Bibles                           and Anglican Bibles
 
5 Cover 
"The Law"
21 Cover
"The Prophets"
13 Cover
"The Writings"
7 Cover
"The Second Canon"
GENESES
EXODUS
LEVITICUS 
NUMBERS 
DEUTERONOMY
 
 

 

 Joshua              Amos
Judges              Obadiah
I Samuel            Jonah
II Samuel          Micah
I Kings             Nahum
II Kings            Habakkuk
Isaiah               Zechariah
Jeremiah          Haggai
Ezekial             Zechariah
Hosea              Malachi
Joel

 

 Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Daniel
Ezra
Nehemiah
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Song of  Solomon
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther		 TOBIT
JUDITH
WISDOM of SOLOMON
SIRACH
BARUCH
I MACCABEES 
II MACCABEES
plus additions to
ESTHER
DANIEL

 
The first 5 cover "The Law"
 (Torah)
--  how the world began 
--  beliefs about origins of the
     human race 
 -- origin of Hebrews and their 
     place as the
      "Chosen People"
50 Chapters
1st 11- Story of origins of Man
next 39- Story of the fathers of  the Jewish race
--how Israelites fled Egypt 
 --the laws they swore 
   to observe when they made
   their covenant withYahweh 
   at Mt. Sinai
40 Chapters
1st 18 - historical
next 22 - laws,  including the 
10 Commandments
-- more laws 
-- regulations for sacrifices
-- how to observe Holy Days
27 Chapters
1st 7- Law of Sacrifice
next 3 - Consecration of the 
             priesthood
next 6- Law of the clean and 
            unclean
next 10 - The holiness code
-- census of people 
--story of Israelites wandering in the wilderness
36 Chapters
1st 4 and 26-- Census
Other chapters-- Historical
--story of Moses' last 
   discourses
--repeats laws
34 Chapters
1st 11-- Moses address
Chapters 12-26,29- Revised 
                                 law
Deuteronomy is Greek for "second law"
21 Books make up
"The Prophets"
mostly history and sermons
Including 6 historical books (Former Prophets)
1. Joshua
---story of Joshua.  He was the leader of the Israelites after Moses
---Conquest of Canaan		 2. Judges
--Troubles in Promised Land
--Fortunes of Israel depending on obedience to God's law
--Rule of tribunal Chiefs		 3. I Samuel
--continues until the death of Saul, Israel's first king

 
4. II Samuel
-- continues story to the last year of King David		 5. I Kings
--Death of David and the reign of his son, Solomon		 6. II Kings
--Division into two kingdoms
--events leading to the downfall of both
Plus 3 "major" prophets
7. Isaiah
--ch1-39 speeches by Isaiah
--ch 40-66 told of the coming Messiah		 8. Jeremiah
-- prophecies to a nation during their crisis of 40 years
--a New Covenant		 9. Ezekial
--promises of salvation in a new covenant
-- conditions of a new covenant
...and 12 "minor" prophets
Called minor because their books are smaller
 
10. Hosea
--Preaches that our God is a 
   God of love and would 
   forgive us		 11. Joel
--repentance through fasting and prayer		 12. Amos
--preached that God would 
   destroy Israel for its sins
13. Obediah
--Preached abut Edom joining
   Judah's enemies		 14. Jonah
--parable on love, mercy and
   obedience to God		 15. Micah
-- predictions of the birth of 
    Christ
16. Nahum
-- sermons against Nineveh

 

 17. Habakkuk
--  God's use of Babylon as a
     means of chastisement for
     Judah		 18. Zephaniah
-- sermons against idolatry

 
19. Haggai
-- sermons to rebuild temple

 

 20. Zechariah
-- rebuild temple
--told of the coming Messiah		 21. Malachi
-- Means "my messenger"
--against abuses and in
   differences
13 books make up
"The Writings"
History, philosophy, poetry
1. Psalms
---150 songs of prayer and
     praise		 2. Proverbs
--a collection of sayings both
   religious and worldly		 3. Job
-- a story of troubles to a good
     man
4. Daniel
--a story of a captive that
   overcame and rose to be
   governor		 5. Ezra
--The story of the return of the
   Jews from Babylon		 6. Nehemiah
-- the story of a great leader
    that helped the exiles rebuild
7. I Chronicles
-- history from Adam through 
    Jacob		 8. II Chronicles
-- history from David through
    the Babylonian exile		 9. Song of Solomon 
             or 
    Song of Songs
-- love lyrics
10. Ruth
--how a Moabite became an
   ancestor of Jesus Christ		 11. Lamentations
-- the fall of Jerusalem		 12. Ecclesiastes
-- divine wisdom
13. Esther
-- Story of a Jewish girl who became queen of Persia and saved the Jews from destruction
-- no mention of God in the Hebrew text of the entire work
... and 7 books make up the
"Second Canon"
Included in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles and called
"Deuterocanonical Books".
Anglican Bible include these plus a few more books but they aren't considered to be part of either canon.  Protestants omit these and call it the "Apocrypha."
1. Tobit
--a story of faith in times of 
   seeming abandonment		 2. Judith
-- a story of Israel's role of 
    salvation		 3. Wisdom of Solomon
-- condemns idolatry
--praise of divine Wisdom
4. Sirach
--Divine moral law, moral
   responsibility, Divine
   consequences		 5. Baruch
--a retelling of exile of the Jews

 

 6. I Maccabees
--the Jews struggle to defend
   worship of Israel and fidelity
   to the law.
7. II Maccabees
--same revolt, through Jewish
   victory and later
   independence.

...plus additions to
Daniel
-- Song of three Children (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednnego), their prayers to God
-- Susanna and the Elders
-- Bel and the Dragon		 Esther
--Greek portions of Esther to demonstrate her religiousness in  the otherwise nonreligious tone in the Hebrew form 

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