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 "the" "scriptures" (Matt. 21:42), "scripture" (2 Pet. 1:20), "the holy" "scriptures" (Rom. 1:2), "the law" (John 12:34), "the law of" "Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 24:44), "the law and" "the prophets" (Matt. 5:17), "the old covenant" (2 Cor. 3:14," R.V.). There is a break of 400 years between the Old Testament and the New. (See [68]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 (1) the former, namely, Joshua," "Judges, the Books of Samuel, and the Books of Kings; (2) 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:, (1) The Psalms, Proverbs, and Job," "distinguished by the Hebrew name, a word formed of the initial" "letters of these books, emeth, meaning truth. (2) Canticles," "Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the five" "rolls, as being written for the synagogue use on five separate" "rolls. (3) 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; and" "(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 [69]VERSION.)