How are the Books in the Bible Organized?

If you are new to the Bible and trying to read it cover to cover (called the canonical order), you might find the story confusing and disjointed. That's because the 66 books of the Bible--which tell a single story as the revelation of God--are not arranged in chronological order. They aren't even arranged in the order they were written. Bryan Catherman uses Jenga pieces to help us visualize how the books of the Bible are ordered in a typical Christian Bible. Understanding how your Bible is structured will help you better understand what you are reading. It will also help you know where to start reading. You might not even want to begin in Genesis if you've never read the Bible. You have options because what was once individual scrolls in a cabinet or on a shelf are now bound together. It's like buying the complete box set of all the Marvel Universe movies today rather than collecting them as they came out.

In this video, Bryan also offers suggestions for different approaches to reading plans. He also suggests other ordered lists, but those suggestions are hotly debated and vary widely. The point is simply to demonstrate that there are more ways to order the Bible than by the canonical order. He didn't even mention the possibility of alphabetical order in the video, but that's an option, too.

Here’s the video:

Here's the traditional canonical order of the 66 books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation.