The Division of the Scriptures.

In language and contents, the Bible is divided into two main divisions.

1. The Old Testament, 39 Books. 2. The New Testament, 27 Books. Total. 66 Books.

The Jews were accustomed to divide the Old Testament into three main parts, as follows:

1. The Law-the first five books, Genesis to Deuteronomy, otherwise called the Pentateuch and books of Moses.

2. The Prophets. These are divided into the "former prophets" or historical books and the "later prophets," or books, which we commonly call the prophetic books.

3. The Writings, which was made to include; (1) Poetical books-Psalms, Proverbs and Job; (2) Five Rolls-Song of Solomon, Ruth, Esther, Lamentations and Ecclesiastes; (3) Other Books: Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and I and II Chronicles.

The Bible itself divides the Old Testament into the three following divisions:

1. The Law, which includes the first five books of the Bible, also called the books of Moses.

2. The Prophets, which includes the next twelve books, commonly called historical books and the seventeen books we know as the prophetic books.

3. The Psalms, including the five poetical books.

The Books of the Bible

The books of the Old and New Testaments may each be divided into three or five groups as follows:

First Into three groups.

1. History.

(1) Old Testament-Genesis-Esther (17 books).

(2) New Testament-Matthew-Acts (5 books).

2. Doctrine.

(1) Old Testament-Job-Song of Solomon (5 books).

(2) New Testament-Romans-Jude (21 books).

3. Prophecy.

(1) Old Testament-Isaiah-Malachi (17 books).

(2) New Testament-Revelation (1 book).

Second, into five groups.

1. Old Testament.

(1) Pentateuch-Genesis-Deuteronomy (5 books).

(2) Historical Books-Joshua-Esther (12 books).

(3) Poetical Books-Job-Song of Solomon (5 books).

(4) Major Prophets-Isaiah-Daniel (5 books).

(5) Minor Prophets-Hosea-Malachi (12 books).

2. New Testament.

(1) Gospels-Matthew-John (4 books).

(2) Acts-Acts (1 book).

(3) Pauline Epistles-Romans-Hebrews (14 books).

(4) General Epistles-James-Jude (7 books).

(5) Revelation-Revelation (1 book).

Direction For Study. (1) Drill on the Scripture divisions, Jewish divisions and the three and five groups of each Testament. (2) Drill on the number of chapters in each book and on the abbreviation of each. (3) Drill on books having the same number of chapters, as all those having one chapter, two chapters, etc.