HOLY BIBLE: A TRADITION OF DIVERSE TEXTS

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Introduction

The primary sacred book for Christians? Yes the Bible, which you read in your home, your preaching, or even in mass through First/Second Reading and Gospel Reading. So, what's your curiousity about the bible?

Behind the Sacred Text

The Bible is a collection of religious texts that form the foundation of Christianity and Judaism. It is widely considered by believers to be the divinely inspired Word of God, though the specific understanding of its authorship varies across different traditions and academic perspectives. 

Before "Bible" usage

Prior the use of the term, "Bible", there's the term, "Scripture", which is also common, derived from the Latin scriptura, meaning "writing" or "that which is written". Tanakh, an acronym used in Judaism representing the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (Law), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). The hebrew word, "Mikra", means "that which is read" or "recitation".

Bibliotheca Divina was (Divine Library) was St. Jerome's name for the collection of the Holy Scriptures, but he is most famous for creating the Vulgate, his monumental Latin translation of the Bible, commissioned by Pope Damasus and completed in the early 5th century (Translations of the Bible, n.d.).

Etymology

The word "Bible" is derived from several linguistic stages:

Byblos (City), the Greek name for the Phoenician seaport Gebal (located in modern-day Lebanon) was Byblos (Bible, n.d.). This city was a major center for the export of Egyptian papyrus to Greece. Because the city was synonymous with the trade, the Greeks used the word byblos or bublos to refer to the inner bark of the papyrus plant used for making writing paper (Rees, 2024). The term biblion is a diminutive of byblos, literally meaning a "small book," "scroll," or "paper".

In plural, the Greek phrase ta biblia means "the books". Hellenistic Jews used this expression to describe their sacred scriptures (the Septuagint) as early as the 2nd century BCE (Etymonline, 2025). In Medieval Latin, the plural neuter biblia ("the books") was eventually misinterpreted as a feminine singular noun, Biblia ("The Book"). The word entered English via Old French (bible) in the early 14th century. (mariequeen27, 2018).

Number of Books

The Bible had common but different number of books. The Catholic Bible consist of 73 books, Protestant Bible consist of 66 books, Orthodox Books have commonly 76, and the largest is the Ethopian Bible, that reached 81.

Reference

Bible. (n.d.). World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/bible/

‌Rees, N. (2024, July 2). What is the origin of the word “Bible”? Christiantoday.com. https://www.christiantoday.com/news/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-bible

etymonline. (2025). Etymonline. https://www.etymonline.com/word/Bible

mariequeen27 (2018). HOLY BIBLE (PART 1): ETYMOLOGY AND DEFINITION. Steemit.com. https://steemit.com/religion/@mariequeen27/the-written-word-of-god-the-holy-bible-part-1

‌Translations of the Bible. (n.d.). Www.lancaster.ac.uk. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/users/yorkdoom/palweb/week05/douai.htm