# The Order of Books in the Bible



## FenderPriest (Jan 14, 2009)

I was wondering if anybody knows about any Bible printing efforts that change, or reorganize the placing if books in the Bible? This thought came to mind after a conversation with a pastor about Biblical theology and why certain books should be put after others in light of God's redemptive story told within them. For example, the organization of books by genre is really artificial, and not really how the OT books were intended to be ordered (which I know there's no "Appendix A - How God Wants the books ordered" to the Bible). Or, for example in the NT, the constant annoyance that Luke and Acts are separated. Anyhow, I was wondering if anybody knew of, or had thoughts about, printing efforts of the Bible that put them in a redemptive history order rather than a genre order?


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## Zeno333 (Jan 14, 2009)

ASK Publications has been working on one for the last few years. I am not sure if it has come out yet or not...it is called "The Original Bible Restored". The "proper" order of the books is one of the guiding principles of that publication.

(As a side note, there is a detailed book all about when Jesus was really born also put out by ASK..it is mentioned in David Chilton's commentary on the Book of Revelation "The Days of Vengeance". The 1st edition of that book about when Jesus was born has a chapter in it that was left out of the 2nd edition. I called the late author, and he told me that it was left out to make the book shorter, but that it was going to be put back in the upcoming 3rd edition....but alas, he died and the 3rd edition never came out.)


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## Glenn Ferrell (Jan 14, 2009)

Zeno333 said:


> As a side note, there is a detailed book all about when Jesus was really born also put out by ASK..it is mentioned in David Chilton's commentary on the Book of Revelation \"The Days of Vengeance\". The 1st edition of that book about when Jesus was born has a chapter in it that was left out of the 2nd edition. I called the late author, and he told me that it was left out to make the book shorter, but that it was going to be put back in the upcoming 3rd edition....but alas, he died and the 3rd edition never came out.)



You’re talking about _The Star That Astonished the World_ by Ernest L. Martin. If I remember correctly, he calculates Jesus was born in the evening of September 11th, 3 BC. Of course, this requires recalculating the death of Herod the Great. The argument against the 4 BC death of Herod is very interesting.

Amazon.com: The Star That Astonished the World: Ernest L. Martin: Books

-----Added 1/14/2009 at 10:50:47 EST-----

Consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:35-

*That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.*​
Did this indicate an order of canonical Hebrew Scriptures starting with Genesis and ending with 2 Chronicles, as the Jewish canon is arranged today? This would mean Jesus was not speaking chronologically but of the first and last man to be murdered in the first and last books of the Hebrew Scriptures- Able in Genesis 4 and Zachariah in 2 Chronicles 24. Which would also show the Old Testament canon firmly set at the time of Jesus, and his approval of it.

The arrangement of Old Testament we have comes from their order in the Septuagint with the deutero-canonical books left out. In the Jewish arrangement, Ruth, Ester, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles are grouped in the _Kethuvim_ (the writings) rather than with the historical books or prophets.


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## Puritan Sailor (Jan 14, 2009)

I have not heard of any attempts to reorganize the Canon yet in a Bible. But I do know of some OT professors who are following the Hebrew Canon arrangement rather than the Western Canon arrangement because it is more theologically cohesive and fits the themes of redemptive history. But I've heard of no arguments to rearrange the NT. In fact, I had one professor who argued that the NT Canon follows the same pattern as the Hebrew OT Canon. It's an interesting argument, but I think he needs some more peer review and study before I buy in to it.


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## JBaldwin (Jan 14, 2009)

This may be slightly off topic, but I really loved the approach my prof took going through the OT. We studied the books in historical order (even breaking up the Psalms and studying the Davidic Psalms when going through the life of David, etc.). It really opened up the Scriptures for me. 

I've long ago lost my notes from those classes and would have a list of the OT books and in what order they fell historically.


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## glorifyinggodinwv (Jan 14, 2009)

This may be of interest regarding the op. They rearrange the order and take out chapter and verse divisions:

pdf of the order of the books:
http://www.thebooksofthebible.info/pdf/OrderofTheBooks.pdf

main webpage:
The Books of The Bible | Home Page

Note: This is not an endorsement or recommendation of this particular translation or their rearrangement of the books of Scripture.


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## PointyHaired Calvinist (Jan 14, 2009)

I've seen (at least) one Bible which put John at the head of the NT, since his book begins "in the beginning" and his Christology is so lofty. It also put Luke and Acts back to back, which makes sense In my humble opinion.


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## Zeno333 (Jan 14, 2009)

Glenn Ferrell said:


> You’re talking about _The Star That Astonished the World_ by Ernest L. Martin. If I remember correctly, he calculates Jesus was born in the evening of September 11th, 3 BC. Of course, this requires recalculating the death of Herod the Great. The argument against the 4 BC death of Herod is very interesting.
> 
> Yep, that's the book.
> I find it interesting if not amazing that there has not been one peep from the media that Jesus may have been born on September 11th.


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## TsonMariytho (Jan 30, 2009)

The early church bears witness of arranging the New Testament books differently than we do today:

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
Hebrews
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Revelation


Note the inclusion of Hebrews in with Paul's writings, clearly based on an assumption of his authorship. (I don't agree with that assumption, just noting it.)

(Source: Robinson-Pierpont Majority GNT, 2005, which also follows the above order.)


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