Basic Bible Breakdown

God’s word is full of information. The Bible is many books put together to create one big text. Each book addresses a different issue, perspective, idea, and content. Having a basic idea of how the Bible is put together will be helpful in learning how or what to study.

There are 66 books in the Bible. When you do an assessment of God’s word it can be broken down into sections. To start, there is an Old Testament and a New Testament. The Old Testament was written some time around 1600 to 1200 B.C. until about 400 B.C.to 200 B.C. The New Testament was written in the first century. Each of the Old and New Testaments can be broken down further.

The first five books the Old Testament are considered the Law. The next twelve books tell the history. The following four are the books of poetry. The final seventeen are known as the prophets. The first five are considered the major prophets and the rest are the minor prophets.

The New Testament can be broken down into six sections. The first four are the Gospels. Acts follows and tells the history of the early church. The next thirteen are letters written by apostle Paul. Eight of those are written to the church and the next four are written to individuals. After Paul’s letters there are eight more letters written by different men. The final book of the Bible is prophecy.

This is a simple overview of the bible. It in no way gives a full understanding of the depth and knowledge of what is taught in each book. It is just an outline to help you understand how the Bible is put together. It will be helpful if you are looking for topics, history, laws, church discipline and structure. Understanding how the Bible is laid out makes it easier to find content you are searching for.

Each of these sections can be broken down further and each of the books can be broken down deeper to give a more specific understanding of its content. Hopefully, this simple basic breakdown will get you started. As you spend time in God’s word you will become more familiar with where things are located and how to find them. The most important thing is that you pick up the Bible and take time to learn what God has to say.

My encouragement for you is to take some sticky notes and label the old and new testaments into the sections I’ve listed above. When you have completed that, place the sticky notes after each group according to the label. Over time this will help you develop an understanding of where everything is and where to go when you pick up your Bible to study.

I would also encourage you to pick up a journal and make an outline that you can use when you sit down to study. Keep it handy. Make sure you can find it quickly because it will be a helpful tool.

May God bless you and increase your understanding as you pick up His word.