Bible

Bible is the English form of the Greek biblia, meaning books—a plural noun that came to be treated as a singular in the fifth century AD, when it began to be applied to the entire collection of sacred writings of the Old and New Testaments. The Greek word derives from byblos, the inner bark of the papyrus plant used for writing material, which gave its name to the Phoenician city of Byblos (Gebal), a major export center for papyrus writing materials in the ancient Mediterranean world. The Latin Vulgate's single-volume Bible made the plural biblia feel singular, and the usage fixed itself in European languages.

The Bible consists of the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon—thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New—though the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions include additional deuterocanonical books. The New Testament designates its own core as the scriptures and treats the Old Testament as sacred writings whose fulfillment it records. Jesus affirmed the indestructibility of Scripture, declaring that not one jot or tittle would pass from the law until all was fulfilled. The Bible's claim to be divinely inspired, profitable for teaching and training in righteousness, is foundational to its reception throughout the history of Christianity and Judaism.