How Many Books Are in the Bible?

66 books total: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. This is the canon used by most Protestant denominations and is the most common Bible in English-speaking Protestant churches.

73 books. The Catholic Old Testament adds seven deuterocanonical books not found in the Protestant Old Testament: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees. Catholic editions also include longer versions of Esther and Daniel. The New Testament has the same 27 books.

Most Eastern Orthodox traditions include the deuterocanonicals plus a few additional books such as 3 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, and Psalm 151. Total counts vary by tradition (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, et cetera).

The Old Testament canon developed over centuries. Protestants follow the Hebrew (Masoretic) Bible's book list. Catholics and Orthodox include books that were part of the Greek Septuagint translation used by the early church. The 27-book New Testament was settled in the 4th century and is shared by all major Christian traditions.

By chapters: Psalms is the longest book at 150 chapters, and Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude are the shortest at one chapter each. By word count, Psalms is again the longest, and 3 John is among the shortest.

The Old Testament has four traditional groupings: Pentateuch / Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), Historical Books (Joshua through Esther), Wisdom and Poetry (Job through Song of Solomon), and Prophets (Isaiah through Malachi). The New Testament has four: Gospels (Matthew through John), History (Acts), Pauline Epistles (Romans through Philemon), and General Epistles plus Revelation (Hebrews through Revelation).