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{{quote | text={{web_verseBible verse|2 Timothy|3|16|lang=WEB}} [[2 Timothy 3:16]]}} 

subtopics = [[Books of the Bible Index]], - [[Old Testament]], [[New Testament]]* [[Ancient Languages Index]] - [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], [[Koine Greek|Greek]]* [[Ancient Texts Index]] - [[Apocrypha]]* [[Translating the Bible]]* [[Interpreting the Bible]] - [[Hermeneutics]]

* [[Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], [[Koine Greek]]* [[Formation and translation of the Bible]], [[Distribution of the Bible]]* [[Timeline of Biblical History]], - [[Historical accuracy of the Bible]], [[Biblical criticism]]* [[Biblical inerrancy]], [[Sola Scriptura]]* [[Characters of the Bible]]* , [[Bible scientific foreknowledge]]* [[The Bible in 50 wordsBiblical Places Index]] |

 {{dictionaryEbd box}}The Bible is the collection of documents acknowledged by Christians to be inspired by God. The Protestant Bible contains 66 books (Catholic and Orthodox contain 73) and is divided into the [[Old Testament]] and the [[New Testament]]. It tells of the story of the [[creation]] of the universe and [[man]] by [[God]], the rebellion of man against God and his rescue plan for humanity through his Son, [[Jesus Christ]]. ==Main article==

===The '''Bible''' is the collection of documents acknowledged by Christians to be inspired by God. The Bible contains 66 books (Catholic and Orthodox contain 73) and is divided into the [[Old Testament]]===and the [[New Testament]]. It tells of the story of the [[creation]] of the universe and [[man]] by [[God]], the rebellion of man against God and his rescue plan for humanity through his Son, [[Jesus Christ]].

Three sections make up the Old Testament - The Books of the Law, History and Poetry, and the Books of the Prophets. The Old Testament is a Christian term for the original Hebrew word Bible which is known as comes from the Tanak (which is an acronym Greek word for what the OT contains Lawbook, Prophets, and Writings). The Old Testament sets the stage for what happens in the New Testament it provides the rules, the nature of God, the promise of GOD which are fulfilled further in the New Testament[[biblion]].

====[[Books of the LawBible]]====

The first 5 books of Bible is divided up into two main sections - the Bible [[GenesisOld Testament]], [[Exodus]], [[Leviticus]], [[Numbers]], [[Deuteronomy]]. These five books tell us of [[Creation]], [[the Fall]], and the emergence of the children of [[IsraelNew Testament]] and the legal codes that God gave them.

Three law codes that are relevant to Christians are the ====[[Ten CommandmentsOld Testament]], Shema (Love the LORD your God with all your heart), and Love thy neighbour.====

====The Old Testament tells the story of ancient Israel and God's intervention in their history. There are three main sections that make up the Old Testament - The Books of the Law, History and Poetry, and the Books of the Prophets====. The books of the Law tell the very early story of the history of Israel and lay out the covenant or agreement between God and his people with their laws for living. The books of history and poetry continue the story of the people of Israel starting with their invasion into Canaan and ending with their kingdom splitting into two and being conquered and exiled. The books of the prophets describe some of the visions and words of the prophets who continually called the people to account for their abandonment of God.

The Prophets take up a large body of space. They range from the ====[[Book of IsaiahNew Testament]] and the [[Book of Jeremiah]] who are classified as the major prophets to [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]], [[Book of Joel|Joel]], and [[Book of Jonah|Jonah]] who are minor prophets. Prophets were divinely appointed spokesman for God. The [[Hebrew]] word for prophet 'nabi' means spokesman. They preached about the corruption of Israel, God's judgement and His future restoration. One vital cornerstone that has bearing for us would be the coming of the [[Messiah]]. This is mentioned in [[Isaiah 53]] in the major prophets and last chapters of Zechariah in the minor.====

====History The New Testament tells the story of Jesus and poetry====the early church. The New Testament contains different categories as well including the [[Gospels]] which describe the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the book of Acts which tells the story of the formation of the early church. The New Testament also contains a number of letters or [[epistles]] to various early Christian communities. It finishes with the Book of Revelation which is apocalyptic prophecy that paints a picture of the final victory of Christ, calling on his followers to pesevere despite persecution.

Writings range from the historical such as ====Extra-Biblical texts - [[Book of Joshua|JoshuaApocrypha]], the Samuels, Chronicles, or Kings to poetry such as [[Song of Solomon]], or [[Psalms]] and wisdom such as [[Book of Job|Job]], [[Ecclesiastes]], and [[Proverbs]]. They describe the nature of God such as [[Psalm 23]], the wisdom of God and man's reaction such as in [[Job]], or the History of Israel and God's involvement such as establishing [[King David]] and his legacy which led to [[Jesus Christ]] his most famous descendant of all. ====

===A number of books are not considered to be part of the Bible by Protestant Christians, but are by other denominations - these books are referred to as [[New TestamentApocrypha|apocryphal literature]]===.

===[[Gospel]] is the Old English word god-spiel (good speak) the original [[Greek]] word was [[Evangel]]. Gospel means Good News. The Good News was that [[Jesus]] had arrived and was the Messiah that would fulfill the Old Testament, as Jesus himself declared of his death and resurrection, "As written in the Law, Prophets, and Psalms." There are Four Gospels - [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], and [[Gospel of John|John]]. Mark is the oldest Gospel and the most barebones of all the Gospels, he wrote in AD 60 and served as a secretary for Peter. After Peter's death he wrote the first account of Jesus' life and times. Matthew was written towards a Jewish audience, he constantly emphasised how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies laid out in the Old Testament and was therefore the Messiah. Luke is the only non-Jewish author in Translating the Bible. He wrote for a [[Gentile]] audience. Luke tended to use historical context of his day such as the Census and who was in charge in [[Rome]] and [[Palestine]] during Jesus' day to back up his claims that Jesus was the Saviour. Because Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain similar stories and sayings they are known as the [[Synoptic Gospels]] (Gk for to-be-seen-together). John is slightly different. It contains Jesus' I AM statements in which [[Jesus]] testifies that He is the Saviour. These four books tell the story of Jesus and show why He came to Earth. To die on the Cross and to rise again so that our sins were taken away and we would be made right with GOD.===

====The original languages of the various books of the Bible were [[EpistlesBiblical Hebrew|Hebrew]]====(for Old Testament books) and [[Koine Greek]] (for New Testament books). A small amount of the [[book of Daniel]] was originally written in [[Aramaic]].

Epistles are letters to Christian communities. The major letter writers in In the first few centuries after Christ the Early Church were Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude. Peter and Paul were Bible was translated into a few other ancient languages (for example [[Latin]]) but it wasn't until the major missionaries in their day and they wrote letters to Protestant [[Reformation]] that widespread translation of the communities they preached to. Paul wrote towards Gentile communities Bible into many languages (such as Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome. He would talk about Jesus Christ, how Christians should act, German and advise them on certain issues such as eating meat, dealing with others, and how English) really began to behave in worship. Peter and James also wrote likewiseoccur.

This is seen in the ===[[Book of ActsInterpreting the Bible]]. Acts was written by Luke and it tells of the persecutions, the work of Peter and Paul, and provides us with a great historical context of Mediterannean culture in the 1st century. It too shows God's hand in the founding of the Early Church with the Holy Spirit coming down upon the 12 disciples and gives us our mission that all peoples must hear the Gospel.===

Prophecy is a thread constant in the Gospels and the Epistles, but it also has itBiblical '''s own separate book in the form of [[Book of Revelation|RevelationHermeneutics]]. Revelation gives us a symbolic understanding of ''' is the technical term for the Last Days with vivid descriptions study of interpreting and understanding the End TimesBible and applying it to today's context. It is advised that one read this book carefully and with closely related to '''[[prayerexegesis]]. The main message in Revelation ''' which is that [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] is coming back for us the study of understanding what the Biblical author's meant and that is what we must look forward totheir audience would have understood.

===Some Christians hold a literalistic or inerrant view of the Bible. [[ApocryphaBiblical inerrancy]]===is the view that the Bible, as the inspired Word of God, is without error and is accurate in all aspects, including in aspects of history and science. [[Biblical infallibility]] on the other hand is the view that the Bible is free from errors on issues of faith and practice, but minor contradictions in history or science can be overlooked as insignificant to its spiritual purpose.

A number of books are not considered to be part of the Bible by Protestant Christians, but are by other denominations - these books are referred generally hold to as [[Apocrphya|apocryphal literatureSola Scriptura]]which is the teaching that the Bible is the final authority on matters of faith and that it alone gives sufficient information for all matters of faith. Below is a list This stands in contrast to Orthodox and Catholic Christianity which accept tradition as playing an equally important role in matters of the apocryphal booksfaith.

===Formation of the * [[Matthew Henry's Concise Bible===Commentary]]

===Translation of the Bible=Dictionaries==

: ''Thomas Huxley'': The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and oppressed. The human race is not in a position to dispense with It.

: {{web_verseBible verse|2 Timothy|3|16|lang=WEB}}

* [http://bible.crosswalkbiblestudytools.com/ CrosswalkBibleStudyTools.com]