Bible is dervied from the Greekn word "Biblios" which means "Book". The Bible is divided into two parts, the Old
Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the Holy Scripture of the Jews and contains records of
all the prophets of the Jews that came before Jesus (PBUH). The New Testament contains records of the life of
Jesus (PBUH).
The complete Bible, i.e. the Old Testament and the New Testament put together, contains 73 books. However,
the Protestant Bible i.e. the King James Version, contains only 66 books as they consider 7 books of the Old
Testament to be apocrypha, i.e. of doubtful authority. Therefore the Old Testament of the Catholics, contains 46
books and that of the Protestants, 39 books. However the New Testament of both these sects contains 27 books.
The Jewish Bible
The Jewish Bible (Tanakh) consists of 24 books, and to a large extent overlaps with the contents of the Christian
Old Testament, but with the books differently ordered. The Tanakh consists of the five books of Moses (the
Torah or Pentateuch), a section called "Prophets"; (Nebiim), and a third section called "Writings" (also Ketubim or Hagiographa). The term "Tanakh"; is a Hebrew acronym formed from these three names. Although the Tanakh
was mainly written in Biblical Hebrew, it has some portions in Biblical Aramaic.
Biblical Canons
Canon means the authoritative list of books, accepted as Holy Scriptures. The Hebrew Bible and the Christian
versions of the Old Testament were canonized in different times and places, but the development of the Christian
canons must be understood in terms of the Jewish Scriptures.
The Hebrew Bible became Holy Scripture in three stages. The sequence corresponds to the three parts of the
Hebrew canon: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. On the basis of external evidence it seems clear that
the Torah, or Law, became Scripture between the end of the Babylonian exile (538 BC) and the separation of the
Samaritans from Judaism, probably by 300 BC. The Samaritans recognized only the Torah as their Bible.
The second stage was the canonization of the Nebiim (Prophets). As the superscriptions to the prophetic books
indicate, the recorded words of the prophets came to be considered the word of God. For all practical purposes
the second part of the Hebrew canon was closed by the end of the 3rd century, not long before 200 BC.
In the meantime other books were being compiled, written, and used in worship and study. By the time the Book
of Sirach was written (circa 180 BC), an idea of a tripartite Bible had developed. The contents of the third part,
the Ketubim (Writings), remained somewhat fluid in Judaism until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in
70 CE. By the end of the 1st century ad the rabbis in Palestine had established the final list. During these canons, the scriptures were adulterated, people added their own words in the scriptures by claiming them as the words of God.
The second canon, what is now the Roman Catholic version of the Old Testament, arose first as a translation of
the earlier Hebrew books into Greek. The process began in the 3rd century BC outside of Palestine, because
Jewish communities in Egypt and elsewhere needed the Scriptures in the language of their culture. The
additional books in this Bible, including supplements to older books, arose for the most part among such
non-Palestinian Jewish communities. By the end of the 1st century CE, when the earliest Christian writings were
being collected and disseminated, two versions of Scripture from Judaism were already in existence: the Hebrew
Bible and the Greek Old Testament (known as the Septuagint). The Hebrew Bible, however, was the official
standard of belief and practice; no evidence indicates that an official list of Greek Scriptures ever existed in
Judaism. The additional books of the Septuagint were only given official recognition in Christianity. The writings
of the early Fathers of the Church contain numerous different lists, but it is clear that the longer Greek Old
Testament prevailed.
The last major step in the history of the Christian canon took place during the Protestant Reformation. When
Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, he rediscovered what others, notably the so-called St. Jerome, the 4th-century biblical scholar, had known: that the Old Testament had originated in Hebrew. He removed from his Old Testament the books that were not in the Bible of Judaism and established them as the Apocrypha. This step was an effort to return to the presumed earliest, and therefore best text and canon, and to establish in opposition to the authority of the church the authority of that older version of the Bible.
The Gospel (Injil)
Jesus (PBUH) was crucified (according to Christians) in 30 CE, but the Gospels were written by his disciples from 80 CE to 100 CE, which details are given below:
Mark: He wrote his Gospel in 70 CE.
Matthew: He wrote his Gospel in 80 CE.
Luke: He wrote his Gospel in 90 CE.
Paul: He wrote his Gospel in 100 CE.
Bible Translation History of different Versions
500 BC: Completion of All Original Hebrew Manuscripts which make up The 39 Books of the Old Testament.
200 BC: Completion of the Septuagint Greek Manuscripts which contain The 39 Old Testament Books AND 14
Apocrypha Books.
1st Century CE: Completion of All Original Greek Manuscripts which make up The 27 Books of the New
Testament.
315 CE: Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identifies the 27 books of the New Testament which are today
recognized as the canon of scripture.
382 CE: Jerome's Latin Vulgate Manuscripts Produced which contain All 80 Books (39 Old Test. + 14 Apocrypha
+ 27 New Test).
600 CE: LATIN was the Only Language Allowed for Scripture.
995 CE: Anglo-Saxon (Early Roots of English Language) Translations of The New Testament Produced.
1384 CE: Wycliffe is the First Person to Produce a (Hand-Written) manuscript Copy of the Complete Bible; All 80
Books.
1455 CE: Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press; Books May Now be mass-Produced Instead of Individually
Hand-Written. The First Book Ever Printed is Gutenberg's Bible in Latin.
1522 CE: Martin Luther's German New Testament.
1526 CE: William Tyndale's New Testament; The First New Testament printed in the English Language.
1535 CE: Myles Coverdale's Bible; The First Complete Bible printed in the English Language (80 Books: O.T. &
N.T. & Apocrypha).
1537 CE: Tyndale-Matthews Bible; The Second Complete Bible printed in English. Done by John "Thomas
Matthew" Rogers (80 Books).
1539 CE: The "Great Bible&" Printed; The First English Language Bible Authorized for Public Use (80 Books).
1560 CE: The Geneva Bible Printed; The First English Language Bible to add Numbered Verses to Each
Chapter (80 Books).
1568 CE: The Bishops Bible Printed; The Bible of which the King James was a Revision (80 Books).
1609 CE: The Douay Old Testament is added to the Rheims New Testament (of 1582) Making the First Complete
English Catholic Bible; Translated from the Latin Vulgate (80 Books).
1611 CE: The King James Bible Printed; Originally with All 80 Books. The Apocrypha was Officially Removed in
1885 Leaving Only 66 Books.
1782 CE: Robert Aitken's Bible; The First English Language Bible (KJV) Printed in America.
1791 CE: Isaac Collins and Isaiah Thomas Respectively Produce the First Family Bible and First Illustrated Bible
Printed in America. Both were King James Versions, with All 80 Books.
1808 CE: Jane Aitken's Bible (Daughter of Robert Aitken); The First Bible to be Printed by a Woman.
1833 CE: Noah Webster's Bible; After Producing his Famous Dictionary, Webster Printed his Own Revision of the
King James Bible.
1841 CE: English Hexapla New Testament; an Early Textual Comparison showing the Greek and 6 Famous
English Translations in Parallel Columns.
1846 CE: The Illuminated Bible; The Most Lavishly Illustrated Bible printed in America. A King James Version, with
All 80 Books.
1885 CE: The "English Revised Version" Bible; The First Major English Revision of the KJV.
1901 CE: The "American Standard Version" The First Major American Revision of the KJV.
1971 CE: The "New American Standard Bible" (NASB) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate Word for Word
English Translation" of the Bible.
1973 CE: The "New International Version"; (NIV) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate Phrase for Phrase
English Translation"; of the Bible.
1982 CE: The "New King James Version" (NKJV) is Published as a "Modern English Version Maintaining the
Original Style of the King James."
2002 CE: The English Standard Version (ESV) is Published as a translation to bridge the gap between the
accuracy of the NASB and the readability of the NIV.