What is the Basic Structure and Divisions of the Bible?
The Bible is divided into the 46 books of the Old Testament
and the 27 books of the New Testament
Main division
The Bible is mainly divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament contains the books relating to the old covenant between
Yahweh and Israel. The New Testament contains books and letters relating
to the new covenant between God and the New Israel, the Church.
The Old Testament
The Old Testament is basically divided into three: the Torah, the Prophets,
and the Writings. The Torah is the Law given by Yahweh to the people
of Israel. The books of the prophets are books which contain the stories
of how the prophets of Israel always reminded the people to turn back from
sin and return to Yahweh, their God. The Writings are books which contain
all the writings of Israel's men of wisdom.
Torah
Genesis [Gn]
Exodus [Ex]
Leviticus [Lv]
Numbers [Nm]
Deuteronomy [Dt]
Prophets
Joshua [Jos]
Judges [Jgs]
Ruth [Ru]
First Book of Samuel [1Sm]
Second Book of Samuel [2Sm]
First Book of Kings [1Kgs]
Second Book of Kings [2Kgs]
Some bible scholars make a further division of
the Bible to signify the historical books. These historical
books contain: 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings,
1 Chronicles [1Chr], 2 Chronicles [2Chr], Ezra [Ez],
Nehemiah [Neh], Tobit [Tb], Judith [Jdt], Esther [Est],
1 Maccabees [1Mc], and 2 Maccabees [2Mc]
Isaiah [Is]
Jeremiah [Jer]
Lamentations [Lam]
Baruch [Bar]
Ezekiel [Ez]
Daniel [Dn]
The 12 Minor Prophets
Hosea [Hos], c. 750-732 B.C.
Joel [Jl], c. 500 B.C.
Amos [Am], c. 750 B.C.
Obadiah [Ob], c. 475-450 B.C.
Jonah [Jon], c. 400-200 B.C.
Micah [Mi], c. 740-700 B.C.
Nahum [Na], c. 612 B.C.
Habakkuk [Hb], c. 605-597 B.C.
Zephaniah [Zep], 640-609 B.C.
Haggai [Hg], c. 520 B.C.
Zechariah [Zec], c. 520-518 B.C.
Malachi [Mal], c. 440 B.C.
The Writings
Proverbs [Prv]
The Psalms [Ps]
Ecclesiastes [Eccl]
Job [Jb]
Song of Songs [Sng]
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) [Sir]
The Book of Wisdom [Wis]
All in all, from Genesis to the book of the prophet Malachi, the Old Testament
comprises 46 books.
The New Testament
The New Testament is basically divided into the gospels, the epistles, and
the Book of Revelation. The gospels give an account of the life and teachings
of Jesus - with each gospel giving a particular focus depending on the
community in which the gospel tradition has been used. The epistles or
letters, are attributed to the apostle Paul and the other apostles. These
letters were written for the benefit of the communities they were addressing.
The book of Revelation, traditionally known to be written by John, is an
apocalyptic writing that uses a lot of symbolism.
The Gospels
The gospel of Matthew [Mt], c. 85 A.D.
The gospel of Mark [Mk], c. 70 A.D.
The gospel of Luke [Lk], c. 75 A.D.
The gospel of John [Jn], c. 90-100 A.D.
The book of the Acts of the Apostles [Acts] follows the book of John. It
gives an account of the early Christian church and how it began to grow and
spread throughout the many regions surrounding Jerusalem. Modern bible
scholars refer to the book of the Acts of Apostles as belonging to the book
Luke-Acts, which refers to integration of the gospel of Luke and the book
of Acts. It is believed that the one who wrote the gospel of Luke also
wrote the book of Acts.
The Epistles or the New Testament Letters
Letter to the Romans [Rom], c. 57 A.D.
1st Letter to the Corinthians [1Cor], c. 57 A.D.
2nd Letter to the Corinthians [2Cor], c. 57 A.D.
Letter to the Galatians [Gal], c. 50 A.D.
Letter to the Ephesians [Eph], c. 61-63 A.D.
Letter to the Philippians [Phil], c. 62-63 A.D.
Letter to the Colossians [Col], c. 61-63 A.D.
1st Letter to the Thessalonians [1Thes], c. 51-52 A.D.
2nd Letter to the Thessalonians [2Thes], c. 52 A.D.
1st Letter to Timothy [1Tm], c. 63 A.D.
2nd Letter to Timothy [2Tm], c. 63 A.D.
Letter to Titus [Ti], c. 62 A.D.
Letter to Philemon [Phlm], c. 62 A.D.
Letter to the Hebrews [Heb]
Letter of James [Jas]
1st Letter of Peter [1Pt]
2nd Letter of Peter [2Pt]
1st Letter of John [1Jn]
2nd Letter of John [2Jn]
3rd Letter of John [3Jn]
Letter of Jude
The book of Revelation [Rv] - the book of Revelation uses apocaplytic
language. Since it uses apocalyptic language, it uses a lot of symbols
in its contents. Bible scholars believe that the book was written for
a persecuted Christian church under the Roman Empire. Thus the symbols
referring to, for example, dragons with seven heads, is a kind of 'code'
among the persecuted Christians when referring to the Roman Empire.
All in all, from the gospel of Matthew to the book of Revelation, the book
of the New Testament comprises 27 books.
Further divisions into the Bible
So that the Bible can be referred to with ease, the books are further divided
into chapters, passages, and verses. A good translation to have of the Bible
is the New American Bible. This is a good translation because the English
is better than the Revised Standard Version and this translation is the one
used in our Eucharistic liturgies. In the New American Bible, the chapters
are further divided into passages or sections with a short caption describing
the contents of the passage or the section. Then the passage or section is
further divided into verses which are also numbered like the chapters. Thus,
when you see the reference Mt 28:16-20, this means that it refers to the
gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 16-20. Sometimes the verses have an
a, b, or c letter accompanying the number, this just means a further division
of the verse itself. To be familiar with the abbreviations of the books of
the Old Testament and the New Testament, you can refer to the list above.
Different ways of presenting the divisions of the Bible
The above divisions of the bible is only one of many standard ways
of dividing the bible so as to further comprehend the bible as a whole.
In some versions of dividing the bible, some books that are placed in
the historical are considered among the prophetic books. What is
good is to research and know the many ways the bible is categorized
into different books and traditions so as to get a fuller understanding
and comprehension of its meaning and contexts.
Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
February 13, 2005
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