Bible: Bible, the English form of the Greek name Biblia, meaning "books,"
the name which in the fifth century began to be given to the entire
collection of sacred books, the "Library of Divine Revelation." The
name Bible was adopted by Wickliffe, and came gradually into use in
our English language. The Bible consists of sixty-six different
books, composed by many different writers, in three different
languages, under different circumstances; writers of almost every
social rank, statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen,
priests, tax-gatherers, tentmakers; educated and uneducated, Jews and
Gentiles; most of them unknown to each other, and writing at various
periods during the space of about 1600 years: and yet, after all, it
is only one book dealing with only one subject in its numberless
aspects and relations, the subject of man's redemption. It is divided
into the Old Testament, containing thirty-nine books, and the New
Testament, containing twenty-seven books. The names given to the Old
in the writings of the New are:1. "the scriptures"
(Matthew 21:42)
2. "scripture"
(2 Peter 1:20)
3. "the holy scriptures"
(Romans 1:2)
4. "the law"
(John 12:34)
5. "the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms"
(Luke 24:44)
6. "the law and the prophets"
(Matthew 5:17)
7. "the old covenant"
(2 Corinthians 3:14) R.V.
There is a break of 400 years between the Old Testament and the New.
(See APOCRYPHA)
The Old Testament is divided into three parts:
1. The Law (Torah), consisting of the Pentateuch, or five books of
Moses.
2. The Prophets, consisting of:
a. the former, namely, Joshua, Judges, the Books of Samuel,
and the Books of Kings;
b. the latter, namely, the greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
and Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets.
3. The Hagiographa, or holy writings, including the rest of the
books. These were ranked in three divisions:
a. The Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, distinguished by the Hebrew
name, a word formed of the initial letters of these books,
emeth, meaning truth.
b. Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther,
called the five rolls, as being written for the synagogue
use on five separate rolls.
c. Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
Between the Old and the New Testament no addition was made to the
revelation God had already given. The period of New Testament
revelation, extending over a century, began with the appearance of
John the Baptist.
The New Testament consists of
1. The historical books, viz., the Gospels, and the Acts of the
Apostles.
2. The Epistles.
3. The book of prophecy, the Revelation.
The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is altogether of
human invention, designed to facilitate reference to it. The ancient
Jews divided the Old Testament into certain sections for use in the
synagogue service, and then at a later period, in the ninth century
A.D., into verses. Our modern system of chapters for all the books
of the Bible was introduced by Cardinal Hugo about the middle of the
thirteenth century (he died 1263) The system of verses for the New
Testament was introduced by Stephens in 1551 and generally adopted,
although neither Tyndale's nor Coverdale's English translation of
the Bible has verses. The division is not always wisely made, yet it
is very useful.
(See VERSION)
