Overview

There are two basic parts to the Bible, the “Old Testament,” which covers the beginning of time until about 400 BC, and the “New Testament,” which starts with the birth of Jesus and ends about 95 AD.

Different “Books” make up each of these two main parts—the Books written by a wide variety of people, from kings to fishermen—and even some who are anonymous. The stories portray people interacting with God as well as people interacting with other people, with a lot of life lessons in between.

Some medieval monks decided on a citation system so that everyone can easily find specific language in each of the Books. For example, Gen. 3:1 is shorthand for the Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 1. (The verses are designated by small superscripts; crack open a Bible and you will see them, scattered in the page.)

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written mostly in Greek, so there are various translations into English—each slightly different.

Since even the newest writings are thousands of years old, you may wonder how anyone knows whether the Bible of today is true to source, so to speak; how can we know that the thousands of scribes who made handwritten copies over thousands of years weren’t influenced by current events, or a political ideology?  Interestingly enough—we do know. In the 1940s, a large number of ancient scrolls were discovered near the Dead Sea—fragile, ancient scrolls from around 300 BC which had been preserved by the dry climate. The remnants showed translations—notably from the Book of Isaiah—that were remarkably identical to their corresponding portions in the modern Bible.