All 66 books of the Bible, explained

Thirty-nine books in the Old Testament, twenty-seven in the New. Some are stories, some are poems, some are letters to churches with problems. Each page says what you're holding before you open it.

Old Testament 39 books

1. 1GenesisLaw · 50 chaptersThe origin story of everything, told through one very messy family.
2. 2ExodusLaw · 40 chaptersGod rescues a nation of slaves, then moves in with them.
3. 3LeviticusLaw · 27 chaptersA handbook for living near a holy God, written for priests and farmers.
4. 4NumbersLaw · 36 chaptersA trip that should have taken weeks and took forty years.
5. 5DeuteronomyLaw · 34 chaptersAn old man's final words to a nation about to leave him behind.
6. 6JoshuaHistory · 24 chaptersThe promised land, finally, and the hard questions that come with it.
7. 7JudgesHistory · 21 chaptersWhat happens when everyone does what seems right to them.
8. 8RuthHistory · 4 chaptersGrief, loyalty and a foreigner who becomes family.
9. 91 SamuelHistory · 31 chaptersTwo kings, one prophet, and a very long argument about who is really in charge.
10. 102 SamuelHistory · 24 chaptersThe king the Bible loves most, and the worst things he ever did.
11. 111 KingsHistory · 22 chaptersThe golden age, and how fast it went wrong.
12. 122 KingsHistory · 25 chaptersHow it all fell apart, and the small light at the very end.
13. 131 ChroniclesHistory · 29 chaptersIsrael's history retold for people who had nearly lost it.
14. 142 ChroniclesHistory · 36 chaptersSolomon's temple, twenty kings, and one question asked of each.
15. 15EzraHistory · 10 chaptersGoing home after exile, and finding it harder than expected.
16. 16NehemiahHistory · 13 chaptersA memoir about a wall, and the messier work that came after.
17. 17EstherHistory · 10 chaptersA queen, a plot, and a God who never gets a line.
18. 18JobWisdom · 42 chaptersThe Bible's longest argument about suffering, with no easy answer at the end.
19. 19PsalmsPoetry · 150 chaptersThe Bible's songbook, and its permission slip to say anything to God.
20. 20ProverbsWisdom · 31 chaptersShort sayings about how life usually goes, from people who watched closely.
21. 21EcclesiastesWisdom · 12 chaptersSomeone had everything, found it empty, and wrote down what was left.
22. 22Song of SolomonPoetry · 8 chaptersLove poetry, unapologetically physical, right in the middle of the Bible.
23. 23IsaiahProphecy · 66 chaptersJudgment, comfort, and a servant who suffers, across two centuries of Judah's history.
24. 24JeremiahProphecy · 52 chaptersForty years of telling people what they didn't want to hear, and hating it.
25. 25LamentationsPoetry · 5 chaptersFive funeral poems for a city, with hope buried in the middle.
26. 26EzekielProphecy · 48 chaptersA priest in Babylon, some very strange visions, and a promise of new hearts.
27. 27DanielApocalyptic · 12 chaptersLions, a furnace, dreams of empires, and a young exile who wouldn't bend.
28. 28HoseaProphecy · 14 chaptersA broken marriage as a picture of God and Israel, with the husband refusing to give up.
29. 29JoelProphecy · 3 chaptersLocusts, the day of the LORD, and a Spirit for everyone.
30. 30AmosProphecy · 9 chaptersA farmer with no credentials, sent to tell the rich their religion is noise.
31. 31ObadiahProphecy · 1 chapterOne chapter against a neighbor who watched your house burn and helped.
32. 32JonahProphecy · 4 chaptersThe prophet who ran, the fish, and the ending nobody expects.
33. 33MicahProphecy · 7 chaptersA village prophet against the capital, with one verse that says it all.
34. 34NahumProphecy · 3 chaptersThe other Nineveh book: this time, the city doesn't repent.
35. 35HabakkukProphecy · 3 chaptersA prophet who argues with God, listens, and ends up singing in a famine.
36. 36ZephaniahProphecy · 3 chaptersJudgment on everything, then a God who sings.
37. 37HaggaiProphecy · 2 chaptersFour speeches in four months to get a stalled rebuild moving.
38. 38ZechariahProphecy · 14 chaptersNight visions for a rebuilding city, and a king who arrives on a donkey.
39. 39MalachiProphecy · 4 chaptersThe Old Testament's closing argument, with a God who opens by saying 'I have loved you'.

New Testament 27 books

1. 40MatthewGospel · 28 chaptersThe story of Jesus, told to show he is the king Israel was waiting for.
2. 41MarkGospel · 16 chaptersThe shortest Gospel, and the one in the biggest hurry.
3. 42LukeGospel · 24 chaptersThe story of Jesus, told with an eye for whoever the room ignores.
4. 43JohnGospel · 21 chaptersThe Gospel that tells you who Jesus is, not just what he did.
5. 44ActsHistory · 28 chaptersWhat happened next: the church's first thirty years, from Jerusalem to Rome.
6. 45RomansLetter · 16 chaptersPaul's longest letter, and the closest thing the New Testament has to a full explanation of the gospel.
7. 461 CorinthiansLetter · 16 chaptersPaul to a gifted, chaotic church in a port city, on how to actually live together.
8. 472 CorinthiansLetter · 13 chaptersPaul's most personal letter, written after a church broke his heart.
9. 48GalatiansLetter · 6 chaptersPaul's angriest letter, about why you cannot earn what was given to you.
10. 49EphesiansLetter · 6 chaptersA letter on what the church is, and who you are inside it.
11. 50PhilippiansLetter · 4 chaptersA thank-you note from prison that turns into a short course on joy.
12. 51ColossiansLetter · 4 chaptersA letter to a church being told Jesus wasn't enough, saying he is.
13. 521 ThessaloniansLetter · 5 chaptersThe earliest Christian letter we have, to a church a few months old.
14. 532 ThessaloniansLetter · 3 chaptersA follow-up letter for a church that got spooked about the end.
15. 541 TimothyLetter · 6 chaptersAdvice from Paul to his protégé on leading a church that was going sideways.
16. 552 TimothyLetter · 4 chaptersPaul's last words, written from prison to the person he trusted most.
17. 56TitusLetter · 3 chaptersA field guide for building churches on an island with a bad reputation.
18. 57PhilemonLetter · 1 chapterOne page. A runaway slave, his owner, and an apostle who won't just give orders.
19. 58HebrewsLetter · 13 chaptersA long sermon to people tempted to quit, on why Jesus is worth staying for.
20. 59JamesLetter · 5 chaptersThe Proverbs of the New Testament, written by Jesus's brother.
21. 601 PeterLetter · 5 chaptersA letter for people who feel like foreigners where they live.
22. 612 PeterLetter · 3 chaptersA last letter about not being fooled, and not giving up waiting.
23. 621 JohnLetter · 5 chaptersA short letter so you can know, not guess, where you stand with God.
24. 632 JohnLetter · 1 chapterA postcard from 'the elder': love one another, and watch who you let in.
25. 643 JohnLetter · 1 chapterA thank-you to a generous host, and a word about a man who had to be in charge.
26. 65JudeLetter · 1 chapterTwenty-five verses of alarm, ending in one of the best blessings ever written.
27. 66RevelationApocalyptic · 22 chaptersA vision for persecuted churches, in pictures, ending with everything made new.