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Introduction

The Bible is different from all other books. Other books, like science books, technical books, fictional and non-fictional books are written by people. The Bible was written by people with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible consists of two Testaments: The Old Testament and the New Testament. These are the main two divisions of the Bible. The Old Testament is the period before Christ was born, and the New Testament covers the period of Christ’s birth and after.

The Bible covers a period of 5000 years from creation to the resurrection of Jesus. We are now 2000 years beyond the resurrection, so we are now 7000 years after the creation.

The Old Testament consists of 39 books and the New Testament consists of 27 books. The Apocrypha includes 7 more books and 2 additions that are to be included in the Old Testament. The Apocrypha is not included in New King James versions of the Bible. Only the 39 books of the Old Testament appear in the New King James version. The books of the Apocrypha are Tobit, I and II Macabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, Baruch, and Judith. The additions are the additions to the book of Daniel (The Song of the three Young Men, Susanna), and the additions to the book of Esther.

The books of the Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. These books appear in this order in the Old Testament. Lamentations was written by Jeremiah.

The 12 Minor Prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. These are the last 12 books of the Old Testament, and appear in that order.