Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Bible"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Bible
Bible, the English form of the Greek name _Biblia_, meaning
"books," the name which in the fifth century began to be given
to the entire collection of sacred books, the "Library of Divine
Revelation." The name Bible was adopted by Wickliffe, and came
gradually into use in our English language. The Bible consists
of sixty-six different books, composed by many different
writers, in three different languages, under different
circumstances; writers of almost every social rank, statesmen
and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests,
tax-gatherers, tentmakers; educated and uneducated, Jews and
Gentiles; most of them unknown to each other, and writing at
various periods during the space of about 1600 years: and yet,
after all, it is only one book dealing with only one subject in
its numberless aspects and relations, the subject of man's
redemption.
It is divided into the Old Testament, containing thirty-nine
books, and the New Testament, containing twenty-seven books. The
names given to the Old in the writings of the New are "the
scriptures" (Matt. 21:42), "scripture" (2 Pet. 1:20), "the holy
scriptures" (Rom. 1:2), "the law" (John 12:34), "the law of
Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 24:44), "the law and
the prophets" (Matt. 5:17), "the old covenant" (2 Cor. 3:14,
R.V.). There is a break of 400 years between the Old Testament
and the New. (See {APOCRYPHA}.)
The Old Testament is divided into three parts:, 1. The Law
(Torah), consisting of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses.
2. The Prophets, consisting of (1) the former, namely, Joshua,
Judges, the Books of Samuel, and the Books of Kings; (2) the
latter, namely, the greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets. 3. The Hagiographa, or
holy writings, including the rest of the books. These were
ranked in three divisions:, (1) The Psalms, Proverbs, and Job,
distinguished by the Hebrew name, a word formed of the initial
letters of these books, _emeth_, meaning truth. (2) Canticles,
Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the five
rolls, as being written for the synagogue use on five separate
rolls. (3) Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
Between the Old and the New Testament no addition was made to
the revelation God had already given. The period of New
Testament revelation, extending over a century, began with the
appearance of John the Baptist.
The New Testament consists of (1) the historical books, viz.,
the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles; (2) the Epistles; and
(3) the book of prophecy, the Revelation.
The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is
altogether of human invention, designed to facilitate reference
to it. The ancient Jews divided the Old Testament into certain
sections for use in the synagogue service, and then at a later
period, in the ninth century A.D., into verses. Our modern
system of chapters for all the books of the Bible was introduced
by Cardinal Hugo about the middle of the thirteenth century (he
died 1263). The system of verses for the New Testament was
introduced by Stephens in 1551, and generally adopted, although
neither Tyndale's nor Coverdale's English translation of the
Bible has verses. The division is not always wisely made, yet it
is very useful. (See {VERSION}.)
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Bible \Bi"ble\ (b[imac]"b'l), n. [F. bible, L. biblia, pl., fr.
Gr. bibli`a, pl. of bibli`on, dim. of bi`blos, by`blos, book,
prop. Egyptian papyrus.]
1. A book. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
2. {The Book} by way of eminence, -- that is, the book which
is made up of the writings accepted by Christians as of
divine origin and authority, whether such writings be in
the original language, or translated; the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments; -- sometimes in a restricted
sense, the Old Testament; as, King James's Bible; Douay
Bible; Luther's Bible. Also, the book which is made up of
writings similarly accepted by the Jews; as, a rabbinical
Bible.
3. A book containing the sacred writings belonging to any
religion; as, the Koran is often called the Mohammedan
Bible.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
Bible
n 1: the sacred writings of the Christian religion; "he went to
carry the Word to the heathen" [syn: {Bible}, {Good Book},
{Holy Scripture}, {Holy Writ}, {Scripture}, {Word of
God}, {Word}]
2: a book regarded as authoritative in its field
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