The Old Testament is the first part of the Christian Bibles, based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible, a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites. The Catholic canon comprises 46 books, while Orthodox churches have 51 books; the Protestant canon has only 39 books. There are some differences in order and text from the Tanakh, with the additional number of books deriving from the splitting of the books of the minor prophets. The first five books are the Torah; the next section is the history books telling the history of the Israelites from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile; the third consists of books regarding questions of good and evil in the world; and the fourth section consists of books about the prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God.
Names and Order of the Books[]
The names and order of the books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament; apocrypha are in italics.
- Book of Genesis
- Book of Exodus
- Book of Leviticus
- Book of Numbers
- Book of Deuteronomy
- Book of Joshua
- Book of Judges
- Book of Ruth
- 1 Samuel
- 2 Samuel
- 1 Kings
- 2 Kings
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles
- Book of Ezra
- Book of Nehemiah
- Book of Tobit
- Book of Judith
- Book of Esther
- Book of Job
- Book of Psalms
- Book of Proverbs
- Book of Ecclesiastes
- Song of Solomon
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Book of Sirach
- Book of Isaiah
- Book of Jeremiah
- Book of Lamentations
- Book of Baruch
- Book of Ezekiel
- Book of Daniel
- Book of Hosea
- Book of Joel
- Book of Amos
- Book of Obadiah
- Book of Jonah
- Book of Micah
- Book of Nahum
- Book of Habakkuk
- Book of Zephaniah
- Book of Haggai
- Book of Zechariah
- Book of Malachi
- 1 Maccabees
- 2 Maccabees