Major Divisions of the 66 Books of the Bible

The basic division of our Bible designates 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. 

So here are two basic divisions (Jewish and Christian) of the collection of what Christians call the Old Testament and a division of the books of the New Testament. Wiki includes a helpful chart of these divisions, including Catholic and Eastern Orthodox divisions (which include extra books!).

The Jewish people use three major divisions for the Hebrew Bible (what we call the Old Testament):

Jesus often cited two major divisions: the Law (Hebrew: Torah) and the Prophets (see Matthew 7:12 or Romans 3:21). Later, Judaism sanctioned a third major division, the Writings.

1. 5 books of the Law (Torah)
2. 8 books of the Prophets (Nevi'im) including four Early and four Later Prophets (counted as 21 books in the Christian Old Testament)
3. 11 books of Writings (Ketuvim) counted as 13 books in the Christian Old Testament

1. The Law (Torah, in Hebrew) is the heart of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes also called the Pentateuch (a Greek word meaning "Five Books"). Traditionally ascribed to Moses, it includes the books of:

1. Genesis, 
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers, and 
5. Deuteronomy. 

Most of the Sunday School stories you know (if you went to Sunday School as a child), are from the first two of these books, which narrate the saga of the children of God from the creation of the world to the Exodus from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land in Canaan.

2. The next major division of the Hebrew Bible is the Prophets (Hebrew: Nevi'im). The Jewish tradition combines books that have two parts (because one scroll would not contain them) as well as the 12 "Minor" prophets to come up with eight "books", although in the Christian Old Testament, they are divided into 21 of the 39 total books. They include:

The Early Prophets (which relate the history of Israel from the time of Moses to the time of the Babylonian exile (approximately 1200 - 586 BCE)):

1. Joshua, 
2. Judges (two scrolls), 
3. Samuel (two scrolls) and 
4. Kings (two scrolls)

The Later Prophets:

1. Isaiah
2. Jeremiah
3. Ezekiel

these Later Prophets include the Twelve Minor Prophets (counted as one book: Trei Asar or "Twelve")

1. Hosea
2. Joel
3. Amos
4. Obadiah
5. Jonah
6. Micah
7. Nahum
8. Habbakuk
9. Zephaniah
10. Haggai
11. Zechariah
12. Malachi

3. Jewish people call the third division the Writings (Hebrew: Ketuvim). They include:

The "Books of Truth":

1. Psalms (the hymnbook of the Israelites), 
2. Proverbs (a scriptural "Poor Richard's Almanac"), and 
3. Job; 

 The "Five Scrolls":

1. Song of Songs (called Song of Solomon in the Christian Old Testament)
   
2. Ruth
3. Lamentations
4. Ecclesiastes
5. Esther

and the remaining Writings:

1. Daniel (an example of apocalyptic literature in the Hebrew Bible, this book was probably written only a couple of centuries before Jesus Christ, in Hebrew and in Aramaic)
   
2. Ezra-Nehemiah (divided into two books in the Christian Old Testament - these are the only historical accounts of the post-exile period)
3. Chronicles (two scrolls which cover the same historical period covered in the scrolls of the Kings, and which were written much later)).

Christians adopted the Hebrew scriptures as their own, calling the collection the Old (ancient) Testament. The order of the 39 books that follows mirrors the order in the Bibles we use in worship and for study:

1. 5 Books of the Law
2. 12 History Books (the 7 Early Prophets and 5 books from the Writings)
3. 5 Wisdom Books
4. 17 Books of Prophecy (5 Major and 12 Minor Prophets)

1. They retain the first division of the five Books of the Law:

1. Genesis, 
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers, and 
5. Deuteronomy

2. The Old Testament creates a separate category called the "Historical Books", which includes twelve books culled from the Jewish Prophets and Writings divisions:

From the Jewish Early Prophets

1. Joshua
2. Judges
3. Ruth
4. 1 Samuel
5. 2 Samuel
6. 1 Kings
7. 2 Kings

From the Jewish Writings

1. 1 Chronicles 
2. 2 Chronicles
   
3. Ezra
4. Nehemiah
5. Esther

3. The Old Testament retains a truncated version of the Wisdom Books, which includes:

1. Job
2. Psalms
3. Proverbs
4. Ecclesiastes
5. Song of Solomon

4. The Old Testament adds two Writings books to the Books of the Prophets, and divides them into two major divisions:

The Major Prophets

1. Isaiah
2. Jeremiah
3. Lamentations (from the Jewish Writings division)
   
4. Ezekiel
5. Daniel (from the Jewish Writings division)

and the 12 Minor Prophets:

1. Hosea
2. Joel
3. Amos
   
4. Obadiah
5. Jonah
6. Micah
7. Nahum
8. Habbakuk
9. Zephaniah
10. Haggai
11. Zechariah
12. Malachi

The 27 books of the New Testament divide into the following main collections:

1. 4 Gospels
2. 1 History
3. 21 Epistles or Letters
4. 1 Apocalypse

1. The four Gospels, or the Good News of Jesus Christ:

1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John

2. One book of Apostolic History

1. Acts of the Apostles (also written by Luke)

3. The 13 Pauline Epistles (or Letters) - in order of their length (note that this collection includes nearly half of the 27 books of the New Testament):

1. Romans
2. 1 Corinthians
3. 2 Corinthians
4. Galatians
5. Ephesians
6. Philippians
7. Colossians
8. 1Thessalonians
9. 2 Thessalonians
10. 1 Timothy
11. 2 Timothy
12. Titus
13. Philemon

The eight "General" Epistles:

1. Hebrews
2. James
3. 1 Peter
4. 2 Peter
5. 1 John
6. 2 John
7. 3 John
8. Jude

4. and one Apocalypse (Greek word that means "Revelation")

1. Revelation

Now you know all 66 books of the (Christian Protestant) Bible!