The Bible facts

  The Old Testament is sacred to Jews as well as to Christians. It tells the story of the Hebrew people. In it, too, are the teachings of the Hebrew prophets.
  The first book in the Old Testament is Genesis. "Genesis" means "the beginning." The names of many other Old Testament books are the names of prophets.
  One of the most loved chapters in the Old Testament is the Twenty-third Psalm. It begins, "The Lord is my shepherd."
  The New Testament tells the story of Jesus and his disciples. It tells, too, about the beginnings of the Christian church.
  Most of the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew. A little of it was in Aramaic. The New Testa­ment was first written in Greek. About 1,500 years ago the whole Bible was trans­lated into Latín. It has now been translated into hundreds of languages.
  Different people who are trying to change a Hebrew or Greek or Latin sentence into English may use different words. It is easy to see, then, why there are different versions of the Bible. Different people have translated it into English.
  The whole Bible was first translated into English in 1382. There have been many later translations. Millions and millions of English Bibles have been sold.
  Even if the Bible were not sacred, many people would read it. Nowhere are there any better stories, or more beautiful poems, or letters, or prayers. Nowhere are there any wiser proverbs. The Bible is not only sacred. It is also great literature.