Reference
The Bible, in plain answers.
How many books, when it was written, who wrote it, in what languages. Short answers up top, charts where they help.
How many books are in the Bible?
Protestant Bibles contain 66 books — 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. Catholic Bibles contain 73 (adding 7 Deuterocanonical books), and Eastern Orthodox Bibles contain 76–81 depending on tradition.
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When was the Bible written?
The Bible was written across roughly 1,500 years. The earliest Old Testament material dates from around 1400 BC and the latest New Testament book (Revelation) is dated around AD 95. Most scholars place the bulk of Old Testament writing between 1000–400 BC and the New Testament between AD 50–100.
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Who wrote the Bible?
The Bible was written by roughly 40 different human authors over about 1,500 years — kings, prophets, fishermen, a tax collector, a doctor and a tentmaker — writing in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Christian and Jewish traditions hold that these human authors wrote under divine inspiration.
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What language was the Bible written in?
The Old Testament was written primarily in Biblical Hebrew, with a few passages in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek — the everyday Greek of the first-century Mediterranean.
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How many chapters and verses are in the Bible?
A Protestant Bible contains 1,189 chapters and roughly 31,100 verses. The Old Testament has 929 chapters and ~23,145 verses; the New Testament has 260 chapters and ~7,957 verses. Chapter and verse numbers were added centuries after the books were written.
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What are the Deuterocanonical (Apocryphal) books?
The Deuterocanonical books are 7 Old Testament books (and additions to Daniel and Esther) accepted as Scripture by Catholic and Orthodox churches but classed as 'Apocrypha' by most Protestants. They include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees.
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