Where Did the Bible Come From?

The Bible is a book that is a collection of 66 smaller books, with 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. It was written down over the course of about 2,000 years by about 40 different men. These men came from all kinds of backgrounds. For example, David was a king, Luke was a doctor, and Peter was a fisherman. But the writers of the Bible didn’t make the decisions about what to write down—God told them exactly what to say.

Every book of the Bible is inspired (“God-breathed,” which means God-spoken) and is part of what we call the “canon” of Scripture, the complete list of the Bible’s God-inspired books.

Because the Bible is God’s Word, you can trust everything that it says about God, the world, salvation, and you! We can be thankful that God gave us his Word to tell us how to know him and how to live.

Think It Over

Canon—The word canon originally referred to a reed (a grass plant) that was used as a measuring rod in Bible times, like we use rulers for measuring today.

What is a Bible verse that has special meaning to you?