BIBLE years afterward was ceded to Wiirt- temberg. BIBLE, the book, in comparison with which other literary productions are not worthy to be dignified with the name of books; or, if they be called books, it then becomes the Book of books. The idea just expressed is founded on the etymology derived originally from the Christian Greeks, but now rooted in the languages of all the nations of Christen- dom. The first to use the term biblia in this sense is said to have been Chry- sostom, who flourished in the 5th cen- tury. The word scripture or scriptures, from the Latin scnptura = writing, scripturx = writings, conveys the an- alogous idea that the Scriptures are alone worthy of being called writings. This use of the word came originally from the Latin fathers, but it has been adopted not merely by the English, but by the other Christian nations of Europe. The Church of Rome does not differ from the several Protestant denomina- tions respecting the Divine authority of the books which the latter accept as canonical; it combines, however, with them the Apocrypha and Church tradi- tions, regarding faith and morals, which Protesta its reject. Articles of faith and symbolical books do not always express the real belief of all who nominally assent to them; and scattered through the several churches are a very large number of persons who hold that the Bible contains a revela- tion from God, instead of being of itself the Word of God; while a small num- ber deny the Scriptures all special in- spiration, and deal with them as freely as they would with the Mohammedan Koran, the Hindu Vedas, etc. The Bible consists of 66 books, con- stituting an organic whole. In the Authorized English Version the Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments, the former containing 39, and the latter 27 books. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, except Jer. x: 11; Ezra iv: 8 to vi: 18; vii: 12 to 26; and Dan. ii: from middle of verse 4 to vii: 28, which are East Aramaean (Chaldee). The New Testament was originally writ- ten in Greek, with the exception, per- haps, of St. Matthew's Gospel, which the Christian fathers, Papias, Irenaeus, Pantasnus, Origen, Jerome, etc., state to have been published originally in Aramaean. The order of the books in the Hebrew Bible is different from that which ob- tains in the English Scriptures, which, 17 BIBLE in this respect, follow the Greek Septua- gint and the Latin Vulgate. The Jews divided the Old Testament primarily into three portions, called the Law, the Prophets, and the Kethubim, or, in Greek, the Hagiographa. The following list exhibits the order and classification of the books in the Hebrew Bible: I. Torah, the Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. II. Nebiim, the Prophets: (1) The former- prophets: Joshua, Judges, Sam- uel, Kings. (2) The later prophets: (a) The great prophets: Isaiah, Jere- miah, Ezekiel. (b) The small or viinor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zeph- aniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. III. Kethuhinn = books; in Greek HagiograpJxAj, z= holy writings: (1) Truth: Psalms, Proverbs. (2) The five rolls: Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles. A convenient classification for mod- ern use divides the Old Testament books into three classes: (1) TJie Historical Books: Genesis — Ezra. (1) The Poet- ical Books: Job — Song of Solomon. (3) The Prophetical Books: Isaiah — Malachi. A similar division for the New Testa- ment is into: (1) Historical Books: Matthew — The Acts of the Apostles. (2) Epistles: Romans — Jude. (3) The Prophetical Book: Revelation. The Old Testament is said to have been collected and arranged by Ezra be- tween 458 and 450 B. c. The Apocrypha are considered inspired writings by the Roman Catholics, but not by the Jews and Protestants. Old Testament B. C. Genesis contains the history of the world from 4004 — 1635 Exodus 1635 — 1490 Leviticus 1490 Numbers 1490 — 1451 Deuteronomy 1451 ,Iob about 1520 Joshua from 1451 — 1420 Judges 1425 — 1120 Ruth 1322 — 1312 I and ir Samuel 1171 — 1017 I and II Kings 1015 — 562 I and II Chronicles 1004 — 536 Book of Psalms (chiefly by David) 1063 — 1015 Proverbs, written about 1000 — 700 Song of Solomon about 1014 Ecclesiastes about 977 Jonah about 862 Joel about 800 Hosea about 785 — 725 Amos about 787 Isaiah about 760 — 698 Micah about 750 — 710 Nahum about 713 Zephaniah about 630 Jeremiah about 629 — 538 Lamentations about 538 Habakkuk about 623 Daniel from 607 — 534 Ezekiel from 595 — 574
