The Bible, as we have it today, contains 66 books. The Old Testament has 39 books while the New Testament has 27 books. Let’s just go through the Bible quickly and see if we can determine how many authors the Lord used to write His Word.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – These five books of the Bible are referred to as the Pentateuch, which means ‘five books’. They are also called the Torah. These books were written by Moses. Deuteronomy 34:5 describes Moses’ death. It is supposed by most that Joshua completed the book of Deuteronomy.

The book of Joshua was written by Joshua.

Judges, Ruth and 1 and 2 Samuel were probably written by Samuel.

1 and 2 Kings were probably written by Nehemiah.

1 and 2 Chronicles were probably written by Ezra.

Ezra and Nehemiah were written by their namesakes.

The book of Esther was probably written by Mordecai.

The book of Job was written by Job.

The book of the Psalms was written by David, Asaph, the children of Korah, Heman, Ethan, and Moses.

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon were written by Solomon.

Isaiah was written by Isaiah.

Jeremiah wrote Jeremiah and Lamentations.

Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are all considered to be written by their namesakes.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written by their namesakes.

The book of Acts was written by Luke.

Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon were all written by the Apostle Paul. Most consider Paul as the author of Hebrews, too, although he did not declare himself as the author.

The book of James was written by James, the half-brother of the Lord.

1 and 2 Peter were written by the Apostle Peter.

1, 2, and 3 John were all written by the Apostle John.

The book of Jude was written by Jude, the half-brother of the Lord.

The book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John.

This is a simple list containing all the books of the Bibles and their authors. The authorships are not without dispute, but we present it simply to give an idea of how many men were involved in writing God’s Word. If my math is correct, that means that 30 people were used in writing the Old Testament and 8 were used in writing the New Testament. The Apostle Paul wrote the most by writing 14 books of the Bible.

It is an amazing proof of the inspiration of the entire Bible when we see how many men were used in writing the Bible, the time-span between the writing of the books, the great diversity in the men that were used, and all were in agreement with what was written by the others.

May we realize the truth of God’s inspiration of His Word and stand in awe of the One who led so many men to write His Word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (282.10)