While we often think of the Bible as simply being a single book, it is actually a collection of many different books compiled into one. Each book in the Bible has a different story to tell.
And although the books themselves are in a certain order in the Bible, it isn’t in chronological order of how things actually happened in real-time.
Sometimes we can read single verses from different books in the Bible but not truly understand the context of the verse. Having a better understanding of how the books are classified can help make better sense of it all!
Below is a breakdown of all the books of the Bible and includes a really great Books of the Bible printable to help you keep track of it all during your study time.
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There are a total of 66 books of the Bible. These are broken down into two segments called the Old Testament and the New Testament.
How many books are in the Old Testament?
There are a total of 39 books in the Old Testament. They begin with the creation of Earth and everything on it and cover the early history of the Jewish people (Israelites). It is about everything before the birth of Jesus but includes a lot of prophecy of the coming Messiah.
How many books are in the New Testament?
There are a total of 27 books in the New Testament. These begin with the Gospels which cover the birth of Jesus along with his death and resurrection. The New Testament books are focused on the new covenant that is created with Jesus dies for our sins on the cross.
One really interesting thing to understand when studying the Bible is to understand the background of each book. Each book from the Old Testament and from the New Testament can be “organized” by content/purpose.
The Old Testament books can be organized into 5 sections which include: Law, History, Poetry, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets.
These are the first 5 books in the Bible and were written by Moses. They are also called the books of Law or Pentateuch.
There are 12 books in the Old Testament that cover the history of the Israelites.
There are five poetry books in the Bible. While the previous books covered Israelite history, these are considered a transition into books about the major and minor prophets.
There are a total of 5 books of the Major Prophets in the Old Testament.
There are 12 books of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament.
The New Testament books of the Bible are organized into 4 main sections: The Gospels, History, The Epistles, and the Prophecy.
The 4 Gospels are the stories of the life of Jesus while he was on Earth.
The Book of Acts covers the important period in Christian history between the resurrection of Jesus and the death of the apostle Paul, the time when Christian ideas and beliefs were being formulated, and when the organization of the church into a worldwide movement was being developed.
The Epistles refers to the books of the Bible that are mostly letters written by Paul and other apostles to churches or individuals.
The Book of Revelation is the final book of Bible. It lays out the visions given to John about the end of times and what it will look like when Jesus returns to Earth.
To make it easier to learn and remember the breakdown of all the Books of the Bible, I’ve created this handy Books of the Bible pdf. It includes:
There you have it! A breakdown of all 66 books of the Bible!
Now, as you read through each book or verse, you’ll have a little better understanding of the context for what you are reading!
