For ease of reference the books of the Bible can be grouped as follows

Old Testament

• The Law
  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
  • These first five books are sometimes called ‘The Pentateuch’, a word which means the ‘five’ books which are also called ‘The Books of Moses’. In the Hebrew Scripture these books are called the Torah.
    
• Historical Books
  Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther
  • These books describe the history of Israel from the death of Moses to the establishment of the kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon; then the division of the Kingdom into the northern Israel and the southern Judah . Both kingdoms were eventually conquered and the people taken into exile. Only Judah was allowed to return from captivity. The return is described in the books called by the names of Ezra and Nehemiah.
    
• Poetic Books
  Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon
  • The Psalms are, in fact, divided into five ‘mini books’.
    
• The Prophets
  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi
  • The opening verses of these books will usually say at which period of history the prophets preached.

New Testament

• The Gospels
  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
  • The Gospel writers tell us about the birth of Jesus, his ministry and teaching, his crucifixion and resurrection
    
• History
  Acts
  • The full name is ‘The Acts of the Apostles’ and the book describes the spread of Christianity and the missionary journeys of Paul.
    
• Letters
  (a) Romans, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians
  (b) I and II Timothy, Titus and Philemon
  (c) Hebrews
  (d) James, I and II Peter, I, II and III John and Jude
  • (a) These were written by Paul to the new churches
  • (b) These were written by Paul to individuals
  • (c) Written to Jewish Christians in particular
  • (d) Other letters written by the writers by whose name they are called
    
• Prophecy
  Revelation
  • Visions seen by John exiled on the Island of Patmos

The Old Testament books were completed about 400 years before the birth of Jesus and this collection of books, the Jewish Scriptures, was regarded as sacred. The order of books is different from that in the Bible and they are grouped differently, too. The Jews called the sections of the Scriptures,

• the Law (the first five books)
• the Writings, and
• the Prophets.