Bible Facts
The standard western protestant bible contains 66 books. When I talk about the Bible, that's the one I'm talking about.
Other branches of Judaism and Christianity include other books in their Bible - called the Apocrypha. English translations of the protestant bible also included these books until they were removed in the 1880s. They are a set of writings that can be historically informative, but not authoritative for doctrine, kind of like the notes in modern study Bibles.
The bible is separated into two parts:
- Old Testament, containing 39 books
- New Testament, containing 27 books
The bible can be grouped into different sections: (I put the number of chapters in parenthesis next to each book)
The Law
- Genesis (50)
- Exodus (40)
- Leviticus (27)
- Numbers (36)
- Deuteronomy (34)
OT Historical
- Joshua (24)
- Judges (21)
- Ruth (4)
- 1 Samuel (31)
- 2 Samuel (24)
- 1 Kings (22)
- 2 Kings (25)
- 1 Chronicles (29)
- 2 Chronicles (36)
- Ezra (10)
- Nehemiah (13)
- Esther (10)
Wisdom
- Job (42)
- Psalms (150)
- Proverbs (31)
- Ecclesiastes (12)
- Song of Solomon (8)
Prophets
- Isaiah (66)
- Jeremiah (52)
- Lamentations (5)
- Ezekiel (48)
- Daniel (12)
- Hosea (14)
- Joel (3)
- Amos (9)
- Obadiah (1)
- Jonah (4)
- Micah (7)
- Nahum (3)
- Habakkuk (3)
- Zephaniah (3)
- Haggai (2)
- Zechariah (14)
- Malachi (4)
Gospels
- Matthew (28)
- Mark (16)
- Luke (24)
- John (21)
NT Historical
- Acts (28)
Epistles
- Romans (16)
- 1 Corinthians (16)
- 2 Corinthians (13)
- Galatians (6)
- Ephesians (6)
- Philippians (4)
- Colossians (4)
- 1 Thessalonians (5)
- 2 Thessalonians (3)
- 1 Timothy (6)
- 2 Timothy (4)
- Titus (3)
- Philemon (1)
- Hebrews (13)
- James (5)
- 1 Peter (5)
- 2 Peter (3)
- 1 John (5)
- 2 John (1)
- 3 John (1)
- Jude (1)
Prophetic/Apocalyptic
- Revelation (22)
The Bible contains
Books
- 66 books
- 2 Testaments
- 39 books in the Old Testament
- 27 books in the New Testament
Words
- approximately 783,000 words (in English) (depending on the translation...)
- approximately 611,000 words in the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic[1]overviewbible.com — Word counts for every book of the Bible
Unique
- Unique Hebrew words: 8,674
- Unique Greek words: 5,624
- Unique English words: 12,143
Chapters and Verses
- The Bible has 1,189 Chapters
- The Bible has 31,102 verses
- The Old Testament has 929 chapters
- The Old Testament has 23,145 verses
- The New Testament has 260 chapters
- The New Testament has 7,957 verses
- Chapters were added to the Bible in 1238 by Cardinal Hugo de S. Caro.
- Verse divisions were added in the year 1551 by Robertus Stephanus.
Longest and Shortest
- Longest book (by word count): Jeremiah
- Longest book (by chapter count): Psalms (150 chapters)
- Longest chapter: Psalm 119 (176 verses)
- Longest verse: Esther 8:9 (78 words)
- Shortest book (by number of words): 3 John
- Shortest chapter (by number of words): Psalms 117
- Shortest verse: John 11:35 (2 words: “Jesus wept”)
The Bible was written:
- over a 1500 year span (from circa 1400 B.C to A.D. 100)
- over 40 generations
- over 40 authors from many walks of life
- in different places
- at different times
- on three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe)
- in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek)
The Old Testament contains:.
- 17 Historical Books:
- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
- 5 Poetical Books:
- Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
- 17 Prophetic Books:
- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
The New Testament contains:
- 4 Gospels:
- Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
- 21 Epistles:
- Romans, 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
- The Revelation:
- Revelation