Introduction to the Bible 

There are many books in the world. If you want to learn about a country, you have to read the history books of that country.

We would like to show you the history book of the JewishX people. It also has the history of Jesus Christ.

The BibleX is the special book for the people who follow Jesus Christ. People who follow Jesus Christ are called "Christians"X. The Bible is more than just a history book. We will now have a closer look at the Bible. You will need a copy of the Bible in front of you.

Please turn to the Contents page of the Bible. You will see that the Bible has two main parts:

• Old TestamentX4

• New Testament.

Inside each one are smaller books - 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament, making 66 books.

The Old Testament tells us the history of the Jewish people. The Jewish people live throughout the world, but many live in the country we know as Israel.

The New Testament tells us about Jesus Christ and his followers. Jesus Christ is the person who started the Christian faith.

Getting around the Bible

Please look at the Contents page. Look down the list to find the book called Joshua. Now turn to the page where the book of Joshua begins. You can see that there are large numbers against the text. These are chapterX numbers. If you look at chapter 1, you can see that there are smaller parts called verses. A verseX usually has one or two sentences. You can see that chapter 1 has 18 verses. Chapter 2 has 24 verses. Chapters and verses make it easy for us to find the words we want. There were no chapters and verses in the Bible when it was written. See if you can find a verse now: find Joshua chapter 3 verse 9. Read it out, or perhaps write it down. Now find another verse in another Bible book: Luke chapter 1, verse 32. Look at the Contents page to find the page number where the book of Luke is. Now turn there and find verse 32 in chapter 1. Some lessons that you do might have something like this: Luke 1:32. This means the book of Luke, chapter 1 and verse 32. How do we find it?

1. Look at the contents page to find the page number of the book called Luke.

2. Turn to that page and find chapter 1. The chapter numbers are large numbers next to the text.

3. Now look through the words and find the small numbers. These are the verses. Find verse 32.

When the Bible was written

The Bible was written hundreds of years ago. The Old Testament was written between 1400 B.C.4 and 400 B.C., and was written in the language used by the Jews: Hebrew. The New Testament was written between 45 A.D.4 and 96 A.D. in the Greek language. Nothing more has been added to the Bible since then.

Translating the Bible

The Bible you may have is in the English language. The Bible was translated into English in the 1600’s. This first translationX is called the King James Version, after the English king who ordered the translation to be done. In the 20th Century, there have been many translations and many new versions. We need new versions because the English language changes. Two common versions in use now are the "New International Version" or NIV, and the "New King James Version" or NKJV. There are translations of the Bible in most languages.

There are many translations of the Bible. However the message of the Bible has not changed. We can still understand the Bible’s message today, even though it was written a long time ago.

The Bible - the message of God

The Bible has the words of God. God is the God of the Jewish people, and He is the Father of Jesus Christ. God wanted to tell people everywhere about Himself and what He will do. God told His thoughts to people in many ways. Then those people wrote down the message for others to read and hear. Turn to the Contents and find the page where the book called "2 Peter" starts. Now find chapter 1 and verses 20 and 21.

Why is the Bible so special? Well, if it is the message of God who made everything, then we should know what He says. The Bible also tells us what will happen in the future. We can believe the Bible. It has told us what would happen, and those things have happened.

The Bible helps us each day.

• It tells us how God made us. It tells us how He wants us to live.

• The Bible tells us what is right and what is wrong. Some people think the Bible is too hard - but so many people have never read it.

• The message of the Bible has made things better in our world. Many of the laws in countries like Britain, U.S.A. and Australia are based on God’s laws in the Bible.

• The Bible gives us help - we can read it and know that God will help us, if we ask Him.

The Bible is a wonderful book. If we read it and learn its message, God will care for us always. We want to help you to learn English - but we hope you might find that the Bible is a book that is good to read in any language. As you learn to speak English, we hope you will learn to love the Bible as we do.

• The Bible has two parts: Old Testament and New Testament

• The Bible has 66 small books inside it.

• To find something in the Bible, we look for the book name, then the chapter, and then the verse. For example: Luke 1:32 means the book of Luke, chapter 1 and verse 32.

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Last Updated: Sunday, 08 June 2008