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Some religious groups today only believe in the Old Testament; others only in the New Testament. Why are both of these beliefs seriously wrong? Why is there perfect agreement between both the Old and the New Testaments? |
God inspired more than forty different persons to write His Word over a time span of nearly two thousand years. The first writer was Moses; and the last, the Apostle John.
The Bible includes two testaments-the Old and the New Testaments. The word "testament" means "will," "covenant," or "agreement. " The Old Testament was God's promise, and the New Testament His fulfillment of the Covenant of Grace; His testimony and will concerning salvation through Jesus Christ. These two testaments form one complete book, the Book of books - the Bible.
The Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language with a few verses or portions in Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezra in Aramaic (a dialect which developed during the Jewish captivity and gradually took the place of Hebrew as the common language of the Jews). The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language.
The Old Testament contains thirty-nine books, and the New Testament, twenty-seven books. In total, the Bible includes sixty-six divinely-inspired books. These sixty-six books are placed in the order described in the following charts:
Old Testament Books
| Groupings | Books |
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Books of the Law (Pentateuch) |
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy |
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Books of History |
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, 11 Samuel, I Kings. 11 Kings. I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ester |
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Books of Poetry |
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Solomon |
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Books of Prophecy |
Major Prophets |
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel |
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Minor Prophets |
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi |
