"This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be saved, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened in the judgment, and will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents."
– author unknown

First, what is the Bible? The Bible is a collection of writings. It is divided into two main sections: the Old Testament (sometimes called the First Testament or Hebrew Testament) and the New Testament. Each Testament is comprised of various books gathered together over time. The Old Testament has 39 books and recounts the history of the Israelite people, while the New Testament has 27 books and focuses on the life of Jesus Christ and His followers.

The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Books of Moses because Moses was the one who wrote them down. They include the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They are also known as the Books of the Law or the Torah, for they hold the foundation of Ancient Jewish Law. They are also called the Pentateuch, because they are the five books of law. After them come the Books of History, which are a continuing story of God's interaction with the Israelite people at a time when Israel was a theocracy ruled by judges and later by kings after Israel was divided into a Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom. Following the Books of History are the four Books of Wisdom. These books are examples of ancient Jewish poetry and include Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, also called the Song of Solomon. The majority of these five books were written by King David and his youngest son Solomon. Next come the Prophets, Major and Minor. They are categorized by length. The prophets constantly warned the people to turn back to God or destruction would befall them. Their prophecies came true when Northern Israel was taken captive by the Assyrian Empire and Southern Israel by the Babylonian Empire. The people and their possessions were carried off and their land repopulated by their captors.

Between the Old and New Testaments was the 400 Silent Years. This was a time in which God did not speak to His people the Israelites through prophets or priests. There is no Biblical account during this time. After the 400 Silent Years, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He was the forerunner of Jesus Christ and prepared the hearts of the people to accept Jesus. This was the beginning of the New Testament.

The first four books of the New Testament are called the Gospels. They are coinciding accounts of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Following them is the Book of Acts which is a history of the first century Christian Church. The next 20 books are the Epistles of the Apostles. An epistle is a letter. They are arranged by size from biggest to smallest. According to chapter 17 of Walter Elwell and Robert Yarborough's book Encountering the New Testament, the epistles can be categorized in four ways. First are the Pauline Epistles, that is, those which were written by Paul. Twelve of them fill this category: Romans through Philemon. Within Paul's letters, there are Prison Epistles and Pastoral Epistles. Prison Epistles were letters Paul wrote while in prison for his faith. Pastoral Epistles are letters Paul wrote to specific persons rather than entire churches. Paul generally wrote to correct some error in doctrine and to encourage the people to keep up the good fight of faith during harsh persecution by the Roman government. Following the Pauline Epistles are eight General Epistles, written by various authors and delivered to various people. The final book of the Bible is Revelation, which is a written account of the vision Apostle John had while in exile on the Island of Patmos.

Now that we have an idea of what the Bible is and how it is organized, let's take a look at where it came from. Who wrote the Bible and how was it preserved?

Originally, the Bible consisted of only the Hebrew Testament and was written mainly by the Jewish forefathers and prophets. On page 4 of his book, The Story of the Bible, Tim Dowley says, "The first stories in the Bible go back to pre-history, long before writing was invented. They were passed on in the same way as children's playground songs are passed on today – by being constantly repeated…. Because these were true stories about God, they were treated with great respect. Every word was important and had to be repeated correctly." The leaders in Ancient Jewish society were like religious policemen making sure the Scriptures were repeated correctly and accurately. Moses was the first to write down these stories passed on by oral traditions. He painstakingly chiseled the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. Later, as technology advanced, people began to copy the Scriptures on to clay tablets, waxed boards, papyrus, and leather. Some portions of scripture were written from the start. The psalms of David, for example, were poems written and then set to music. The most common form of written records before the invention of the book was the scroll. Tim Dowley says on page 11 of The Story of the Bible, "Scrolls were made from sheets of papyrus, parchment, or even thin copper, sewn and glued together to form a long strip, up to thirty feet long and twelve inches wide. Each end was wound round a wooden rod, and the reader unrolled the scroll with one hand and rolled it up with the other." The important thing to remember is that the Jewish people did not take the study of Scripture lightly.

The most important factor in preserving the Old Testament of the Bible were the Jewish scribes. In ancient times, scribes were very important because they were often the only people who could read and write. By far their most important work – both in the eyes of history and in their own eyes – was the copying of the Scripture. When new copies of Old Testament scrolls were needed, every word had to be written out by hand. To make sure that each copy was accurate and free of mistakes, there were very strict rules to follow. Each scribe could copy nothing from memory. For example, if he were to copy down, "Welcome to Speech Class." He could not write "Welcome" then check back "to", "Speech", "Class." Instead he would have to check every letter, "W" uh…"W." Okay, "E," "E." Alrighty, "L"… "L." And so on. Furthermore, after he finished a section or passage, he had to count the lines, the words, and the letters in the copy and made sure the totals all matched up with the original. He also found and checked the middle word of each section to see if they were the same. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered near Qumran, a copy of the book of Isaiah was found that was 1,000 years older than any other complete copy we had of the book, yet the two are nearly identical. This shows how well the scribes and other copyists did their job. They took their job very seriously.

After looking at what the Bible is and where it came from, it's important to understand just exactly how the Bible came to be in its present form as we have it today. How were the different books included in the Bible and how did we get an English version of the Bible?

The Bible was written over a period of 1500 years by about 30 different authors. How were all these different writings collected, bound in one volume, and labeled as the Word of God? How did these 66 different books of the Bible come to be recognized as scripture? This is an area of study called canonicity.

The word canon comes from a Greek word meaning measuring rod. Throughout history, the Christian church did not create the canon, but instead recognized the books that were inspired by God and added them to the canon. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (NIV). God-breathed means inspired by God. The first requirement that must be satisfied for a book to be added to the canon is that it must be inspired by God, not written out of human wisdom. This can be determined by whether or not the ideas and principles written in the book match up with what is known of God from other portions of the Scripture. The Bible cannot contradict itself, so if any portion of a book does not agree with the entire Bible, it cannot have been inspired by God and therefore cannot be included in the canon.

The Old Testament canon was recognized by the Jews before the birth of Jesus. In fact, it was endorsed by Jesus Himself during His life on earth. The New Testament writings had to pass two tests to be admitted to the canon. First, they had to have continuous and widespread acceptance among Christians. The books of the New Testament as well as other non-canonical documents circulated during the lifetimes of people who were eyewitnesses to the events recorded. These people quickly rejected those which were illegitimate and accepted those which were accurate. Secondly, they had to demonstrate that it was either written by or expressly approved by one of the apostles, that is, a member of Jesus' inner circle of disciples. Most were recognized from the beginning as being Holy Scripture.

Don Closson writes about a man named Jerome on the Probe Ministries International website (www.probe.org). Jerome, who lived during the fourth century A.D., became concerned about mistakes in translations of the Scriptures to the language of the people. He traveled and studied many languages. He was commissioned by Pope Damasus to make an accurate translation of the Old and New Testament books from their original texts (the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek) into Latin, the common language of most Christians in the West. His translation became known as the Vulgate, from the Latin meaning "Common Version" since it was written in the common man's language. The Vulgate was the only Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church for more than 800 years. His Bible was confirmed by the Synods of Carthage in 397 and 418 as being the complete canon and included our current 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament.

During the Middle Ages, copies of the Bible were very precious and rare. Books took years to copy and were bound with leather into huge, heavy volumes. Because of this, they were very valuable, so when a finished copy of the Bible was put on display in a monastery chapel or cathedral, it was often chained to the podium to prevent anyone from stealing it. These Bibles were almost exclusively written in Latin. By this time, Latin was no longer the language of the common people. A handful of dedicated people were determined to make the Bible accessible to the ordinary person. One such man was John Wycliffe. It made him angry that only priests could read the Bible because they abused their power over the people, telling them only what they wanted them to hear. He was the first one to translate the Bible from Latin into the English language. Because of his influence, the modern association that translates Bibles worldwide is called Wycliffe Bible Translators. Political and religious leaders thought it was dangerous for the common man to read the Bible for themselves and decide what to believe. So it was illegal to translate or print any part of the Bible. But Englishman William Tyndale defied the political and religious leaders and translated the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into English while in hiding in Germany. His Bibles were smuggled into England hidden in sacks of grain and crates of fish. The modern versions of the Bible we have today are also translations taken directly from the original Greek and Hebrew texts and translated into modern English.