Potluck at the Park

Finding things in the Bible can be a daunting task. The Bible is one big book made up of 66 smaller books. Those 66 books are divided into two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament contains 39 books that were all written before Jesus was born. Those 39 books are divided into several categories:

Torah, also called the Law or the Pentateuch, is the first 5 books of the Bible and introduce the relationship between God and his people as well as the laws that act terms of the covenant between God and Israel. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

History books are the narrative books that tell the story of Israel trying to live out God’s call to be a kingdom of priests and peace. The stories point out the good, the bad, and the ugly to demonstrate that God never stops loving or redeeming his people and he dwells where they dwell. (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)

Wisdom and Poetry books are writings that inform the emotional and relational journey of faith with practical guidance and poetic expression of praise and mourning and everything in between. (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)

Prophecy books are messages of God delivered to his people through prophets who used vivid imagery to speak to the people in the prophet’s time, calling the Israelites to return with all their heart, soul, mind, and body to their covenant. (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)

The New Testament contains 27 books that were written after Jesus lived on earth. Those 27 books are divided into several categories:

Gospels tell the story of Jesus’s life and teaching and ministry on earth, and each gospel writer uses a specific writing style to reach a unique audience. (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)

History in the New Testament describes just one book that is the narrative of the first believers establishing the early church. (Acts)

Letters, also called epistles, are letters written by Paul and other early church leaders to provide encouragement, corrections, instructions, and teaching. (Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1 2 & 3 John, Jude)

Prophecy in the New Testament describes just the final book of prophecy written to encourage a persecuted church that Jesus’s kingdom is eternal and a completion of the peace and provision of the Garden of Eden. (Revelation)

Each book is divided into chapters, and the chapters are divided into verses to make it easier to locate and reference specific content. A verse reference is notated by writing the name of the book followed by two numbers separated by a colon (or sometimes a period, and that’s okay, too). The first number tells you the chapter, and the second number is the verse. Think of it like an address: the book name is the state, the chapter number is the street, and the verse number is the house number. For example, Genesis 2:1 tells you to look in the book of Genesis in the 2nd chapter for the 1st verse.

So how do you find a verse or a passage if you don’t know its address? There are several methods and tools you can use. There’s the old school flip until you find it, which can be slow and tedious, especially if you’re not sure what book or chapter to search through but can be handy if you know generally where the text should be, like Torah or prophecy or gospel, and you want to see the context of the verses and chapters around what you’re looking for. A lot of print Bibles have a concordance and/or a topical index in the back where you can look for a keyword and see all the references that include that word or topic. I prefer to use an app if I’m going to search for a specific word or phrase because they’ll automatically provide a list with each reference and usually enough of the text to see if the reference is actually related to what you’re searching. Internet searches can be helpful, but it’s significantly harder to vet those sources, where well known apps and trusted web sites have material written by pastors and teachers with editors who help review the information. AI summaries also make it hard to see where the information they’re providing is coming from and if it’s a reliable source. And, last but not least, there’s always the phone a friend option; ask a friend who might know, a teacher, or a pastor. It might open the door to a great conversation and the opportunity to learn from someone else or share something you’ve learned.