Bible Facts
How Many Books Are in the Bible? 66 Books, 39 Old Testament and 27 New
The Protestant Bible has 66 books. The Old Testament contains 39 books and the New Testament contains 27. Catholic Bibles contain 73 books, and Eastern Orthodox Bibles contain more than that, because those traditions include additional Old Testament writings that Protestants do not treat as Scripture.
This article explains how the 66 books are counted and grouped, why other traditions reach different totals, and how the Hebrew Bible arrives at 24 books with the same content as the Protestant Old Testament.
How Many Books Are in the Bible? The Quick Answer
| Bible | Old Testament | New Testament | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protestant | 39 | 27 | 66 |
| Roman Catholic | 46 | 27 | 73 |
| Eastern Orthodox | Varies by church (more than 46) | 27 | Varies |
| Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) | 24 (same content as the Protestant 39) | Not included | 24 |
All of these traditions agree on the 27 books of the New Testament. The differences are entirely in the Old Testament.
The 39 Books of the Old Testament
The Old Testament covers the period from creation (Genesis 1) to the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon and the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 1; Nehemiah 2). English Bibles arrange its 39 books in five groups.
| Group | Books | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Law (Pentateuch) | Genesis through Deuteronomy | 5 |
| History | Joshua through Esther | 12 |
| Poetry and Wisdom | Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs | 5 |
| Major Prophets | Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel | 5 |
| Minor Prophets | Hosea through Malachi | 12 |
"Major" and "minor" refer to the length of the books, not their importance. Isaiah has 66 chapters, while Obadiah, one of the minor prophets, has a single chapter.
The 27 Books of the New Testament
The New Testament begins with the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1; Luke 2) and covers His ministry, death and resurrection, the spread of the early church, and letters written to churches and individuals. It closes with the book of Revelation.
| Group | Books | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Gospels | Matthew, Mark, Luke, John | 4 |
| History | Acts | 1 |
| Pauline Epistles | Romans through Philemon | 13 |
| General Epistles | Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, Jude | 8 |
| Prophecy | Revelation | 1 |
Paul's 13 letters each open with his name (for example, Romans 1:1 and Philemon 1:1). Hebrews does not name its author, which is why most Bibles place it at the head of the General Epistles rather than with Paul's letters. For the full list in sequence, see our guide to the books of the Bible in order.
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Why Catholic Bibles Have 73 Books
The Catholic Old Testament includes seven books that are not in the Protestant canon: Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom (also called the Wisdom of Solomon), Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch. Catholic Bibles also include longer versions of Esther and Daniel with additional sections.
Catholics call these books deuterocanonical. Protestants usually call them the Apocrypha. They were written in the centuries between the Old and New Testaments and were included in many Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament.
Protestant churches follow the Hebrew Scriptures used by the Jewish community, which do not include these books. Some older Protestant Bibles, including the original 1611 King James Version, printed the Apocrypha in a separate section between the Testaments, but did not treat it as equal to Scripture.
Eastern Orthodox Bibles
Eastern Orthodox churches accept the Catholic deuterocanonical books and add others, such as 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees, the Prayer of Manasseh, and Psalm 151. The exact list is not identical across every Orthodox church, so there is no single Orthodox total.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has the broadest canon and includes 1 Enoch and Jubilees. These books are not part of the Protestant or Catholic Bible, and most other Orthodox churches do not include them either.
How the Hebrew Bible Counts 24 Books
The Jewish Scriptures contain the same writings as the Protestant Old Testament, but they are counted differently. Several books that English Bibles split in two are counted as one, and the twelve minor prophets are counted as a single book called "The Twelve."
| Protestant Old Testament | Hebrew Bible | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 1 and 2 Samuel (2 books) | Samuel (1 book) | -1 |
| 1 and 2 Kings (2 books) | Kings (1 book) | -1 |
| 1 and 2 Chronicles (2 books) | Chronicles (1 book) | -1 |
| Ezra and Nehemiah (2 books) | Ezra-Nehemiah (1 book) | -1 |
| Hosea through Malachi (12 books) | The Twelve (1 book) | -11 |
Subtracting those 15 from 39 gives 24. The Hebrew Bible is also arranged in three sections: the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi'im), and the Writings (Ketuvim). The order differs from English Bibles. Chronicles, for example, comes last.
Jesus referred to this threefold division after His resurrection, when He told His disciples that everything written about Him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). Psalms is the first book of the Writings in the usual Hebrew order and the largest.
How the 66 Books Were Recognized
The church did not create the books of the Bible by vote. It recognized writings that were already being read as Scripture. Paul describes Scripture as coming from God (2 Timothy 3:16), and Peter places Paul's letters in the same category as the rest of Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16).
The Old Testament canon was received from the Jewish community. For the New Testament, early Christians looked for writings connected to the apostles, consistent with the teaching already received, and in wide use among the churches. In AD 367, Athanasius of Alexandria listed the 27 New Testament books in a letter to the churches. Church councils at Hippo (AD 393) and Carthage (AD 397) affirmed the same list.
During the Reformation in the 1500s, Protestant churches followed the Hebrew canon for the Old Testament. The Catholic Church formally affirmed its longer Old Testament at the Council of Trent in 1546.
Books, Chapters and Verses
The 66 books of the Protestant Bible contain 1,189 chapters: 929 in the Old Testament and 260 in the New. Verse totals are usually given as about 31,100, but the exact number varies slightly by translation, because some translations move certain verses to footnotes. Our article on how many chapters are in the Bible gives the count for each book.
Chapter and verse numbers were added long after the books were written. The chapter divisions used today are generally credited to Stephen Langton in the early 1200s, and the New Testament verse numbers to the printer Robert Estienne in 1551.
The book with the most chapters is Psalms, with 150. For how the books compare by length, see what is the longest book in the Bible.
Who Wrote the Books of the Bible?
Traditional authorship names roughly 40 human writers, including Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. They wrote over a span of about 1,500 years, in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Some books do not name their author, such as Judges, Ruth, Esther, and Hebrews. For these, authorship rests on Jewish and church tradition or remains unknown. Christians hold that behind every human author is one divine Author, since Peter writes that the prophets spoke from God as the Holy Spirit carried them along (2 Peter 1:21).
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many books are in the Bible?
The Protestant Bible has 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. Catholic Bibles have 73 books, and Eastern Orthodox Bibles have more, with the total varying by church.
Why does the Catholic Bible have more books?
The Catholic Old Testament includes seven additional books: Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch, plus longer versions of Esther and Daniel. Protestants call these books the Apocrypha and do not include them in the canon.
How many books are in the New Testament?
The New Testament has 27 books in Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. They are the four Gospels, Acts, 21 letters, and Revelation.
Is the Book of Enoch in the Bible?
No. The Book of Enoch is not part of the Protestant or Catholic Bible, and most Orthodox churches do not include it. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the main exception.
Why does the Hebrew Bible have 24 books instead of 39?
The Hebrew Bible has the same content as the Protestant Old Testament but counts it differently. Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah are each counted as one book, and the twelve minor prophets are counted as one book.