In the estimation of many millions of human beings the Bible is very properly regarded as the “Book of Books.” And a Book of Books it truly is; not only The Book above all others, but comprising a number of distinct works from the pens of various Inspired Writers according to the Old Law and the New. For this reason precisely the earliest Saxon version of the Sacred Volume was called the Bible in accordance with the Greek and Latin word biblia, the plural of biblion, a book, derived from biblos, the inner bark of the papyrus, which was the first kind of writing material known. “Bible,” therefore, is a collective term for the Scriptures, which designation comes from the Latin scriptura, a writing, based upon the verb scribere, to write. Here, again, note the correct use of the plural.

The original translation of the Hebrew Testament into Greek, about the year 260 B.C., bore the title of the Septuagint because it employed the labours of seventy, or rather of seventy-two, translators. More than six hundred years afterwards, viz., in the Year of Our Lord 405, when St. Jerome (born 346, died 420) rendered the whole of the Scriptures—to be sure the New Testament had not an existence at the time of the Greek translation—into the Latin tongue, his performance was styled the Vulgatus, or Vulgate, from vulgare, to make known to the vulgus, the multitude. This Latin Vulgate constitutes the Bible of the Roman Catholics as authorized by the Council of Trent in the year 1546. It was first printed for the use of the Christian world generally in 1462. The English translation of the Old Testament portion of the Vulgate bears the title of the Douay Bible because it was first printed and published at the English College at Douay, in France, in 1609. The New Testament portion, known as the Rheims Bible, was issued at Rheims twenty-seven years earlier, viz., in 1582.

The Authorized Version of the Bible appointed to be read in the Church of England is called King James’s Bible, after James I., who ordered it to be prepared, and in whose reign (in the year 1611) it was first given to the people. The Bishops’ Bible, published in parts between 1568 and 1572, derived its name from the seven bishops that assisted Archbishop Parker with his revision of Cranmer’s Bible, otherwise The Great Bible, so called because Archbishop Cranmer’s version of the text, published in 1539, was of large size, specially printed for the purpose of being displayed and read by the people in the churches. To the 1540 edition of this version Cranmer prefixed a lengthy Introduction. One of the earliest Latin Bibles, printed by Gutenberg between the years 1450 and 1455, and, indeed, one of the earliest perfect printed books from separate types, is known as the Mazarin Bible, from a copy being discovered in Cardinal Mazarin’s library. The Pearl Bible was so called because it was printed in pearl type by Field in 1653. The Geneva Bible, printed at Geneva in 1560, also bears the singular title of the Breeches Bible, owing to the substitution of the word “breeches” for “aprons” in Genesis iii. 7. Similarly, the Vinegar Bible is indebted for its title to the misprinting of the word “vineyard” in the running headline to Luke xx. at the Clarendon Press in 1717; the Beer Bible, to the substitution of the words “the beer” for “strong drink” in the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, ninth verse; the Treacle Bible, to the rendering of the passage, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” into “There is no more triacle at Gilaad” (Jeremiah viii. 22); the Whig Bible, to the misprinting of the word “peacemakers,” so that the sentence reads, “Blessed are the placemakers”; the Wicked Bible, from the omission of a word in Exodus xx. 14, which caused the verse to read, “Thou shalt commit adultery”; and the Bug Bible, printed by John Daye in 1551, from the peculiar rendering of the fifth verse in Psalm xci., which reads, “So thou shalt not need to be afraid for any bugs by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day.” The first edition of the Authorized Version is called the “He” Bible, because it contains a misprint in Ruth iii. 15, the passage reading, “And he went into the city.” A subsequent issue published in the same year, in which the mistake is rectified, is known as the “She” Bible. The Virginia Bible is a rare version of the Scriptures translated into the native language of the North American Indians of Virginia. The first edition of this Bible was printed in 1661-3, copies of which are said to be worth £200.

The first five books of the Old Testament written by Moses bear the collective title of the Pentateuch on account of the two Greek words penta, five, and teuchos, an implement, a tool, alluding to the Books being the direct instrument of communication between God and His people. The titles of these five Books themselves are as follows:—Genesis, which expresses the Greek for origin or production, describes the history of the world from its beginning; Exodus, derived from ex, out, and odus, a way, narrates the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt; Leviticus sets forth the regulations affecting the priests and Levites; Numbers contains the census of the Israelites; and Deuteronomy, from the Greek deuteros, second, and nomos, law, comprises the second giving of the Law by Moses.

The designation Apocrypha, signifying hidden or spurious, is applied to those Books whose authenticity as Inspired Writings is not admitted; in other words, to those portions of the Scriptures which, inasmuch as they do not establish any doctrine, are not held to be canonical, yet are such as, in the words of the Prayer Book, “the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners.” On the other hand, the Apocalypse, signifying disclosure, is synonymous with the “Book of Revelation,” and specifically applies to the concluding Book of the Bible.