There are many ways to subdivide the Bible into sections. We have selected four of the more important ways for our consideration.
These are the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These five were written by Moses and therefore are known generally as the Pentateuch of Moses.
After the Pentateuch are the books of history. There are twelve books from Joshua to Esther: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
There are six books, all in the style of poems. Five books- Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs-are related. Lamentations is also added because it is in the style of poetry rather than prose. In some translated versions, one cannot identify these six books as poems, but in the original, these are clearly in poetic forms, with couplets and matching phrases. They are not at all in the style of prose.
This is the last part of the Old Testament. It can be divided into three categories chronologically.
There are a total of eleven books. If arranged in chronological order according to the time they were written, the earliest one is probably Obadiah, second is Joel, third is Jonah, fourth is Amos, fifth is Hosea, sixth is Isaiah, seventh is Micah, eighth is Nahum, ninth is Zephaniah, tenth is Jeremiah, and the eleventh is Habakkuk. Jeremiah was a little earlier than Habakkuk, but Jeremiah was extended into the captivity period. Jeremiah began as a prophet before the captivity and ended as one in the captivity. This is why some Bible expositors consider him as a prophet before the captivity while others consider him as one during the captivity. We suggest considering him as one before the captivity because he spent most of his time as a prophet before the captivity.
There are a total of two books, which are Daniel and Ezekiel. Daniel and Ezekiel were both prophets during the captivity.
There are a total of three books. The first is Haggai, then Zechariah, and the last one is Malachi.
By dividing the prophets according to the time of captivity, there are these three categories of books of the prophets. The earliest prophet, Obadiah, lived at about 800 B.C., close to 900 B.C. The last prophet, Malachi, lived at about 390 B.C., close to 400 B.C. Isaiah lived at about 760 B.C. If we also consider Lamentations a book of the prophets, there are seventeen books of the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi. If we take out Lamentations, we have sixteen books.
Some have grouped the longer books of the prophets as major prophets, and the shorter books of the prophets as the minor prophets. In that case, there are four books among the major prophets, which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The remaining twelve books are all the minor prophets.
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