It is a time-span which encompasses the compositions of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Sophocles, Caesar, Cicero, and Catullus. There are texts which reflect a nomadic existence, texts from people with an established monarchy and Temple cult, texts from exile, texts born out of fierce oppression by foreign rulers, courtly texts, texts from wandering charismatic preachers, texts from those who give themselves the airs of sophisticated Hellenistic writers. He biblical texts were produced over a period in which the living conditions of the writers вЂ“ political, cultural, economic, and ecological вЂ“ varied enormously.

The Bible was written and compiled by many people, from a variety of disparate cultures, most of whom are unknown.

The books began as songs and stories orally transmitted from generation to generation before being written down in a process that began sometime around the start of the first millennium BCE and continued for over a thousand years. The Bible is not a single book but a collection of books, whose complex development is not completely understood. Believers also generally consider the Bible to be a product of divine inspiration. These texts include theologically-focused historical accounts, hymns, prayers, proverbs, parables, didactic letters, admonitions, essays, poetry, and prophecies. The Bible appears in the form of an anthology, a compilation of texts of a variety of forms. Latin biblia sacra 'holy books' translates Greek П„бЅ° ОІО№ОІО»ОЇО± П„бЅ° бј…ОіО№О± tГ biblГa tГ hГЎgia, 'the holy books'. bibliae) in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. It gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun ( biblia, gen. Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra 'holy book', while biblia in Greek and Late Latin is neuter plural (gen. Bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer (in his Homilies on Matthew, delivered between 386 and 388) to use the Greek phrase ta biblia ('the books') to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. Christian use of the term can be traced to c. 'little papyrus books') was 'an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books' (the Septuagint). It is the diminutive of ОІПЌОІО»ОїП‚ byblos, 'Egyptian papyrus', possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos (also known as Gebal) from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece.Д«y the 2nd century BCE, Jewish groups began calling the books of the Bible the ' scriptures', and they referred to them as ' holy', or in Hebrew, Ч›ЦґЦјЧЄЦ°Ч‘ЦµЧ™ Ч”Ц·Ч§Ц№ЦјЧ“Ц¶Ч©ЧЃ ( Kitvei hakkodesh), and Christians now commonly call the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible 'the Holy Bible' (in Greek, П„бЅ° ОІО№ОІО»ОЇО± П„бЅ° бј…ОіО№О±, tГ biblГa tГ ГЎgia) or 'the Holy Scriptures' ( О· О‘ОіОЇО± О“ПЃО±П†О®, e AgГa Graphбё—). The word ОІО№ОІО»ОЇОїОЅ itself had the literal meaning of 'scroll' and came to be used as the ordinary word for 'book'. The English word Bible is derived from KoinД“ Greek: П„бЅ° ОІО№ОІО»ОЇО±, romanized: ta biblia, meaning 'the books' (singular ОІО№ОІО»ОЇОїОЅ, biblion).

12 Archaeological and historical research.

6.3 Development of the Christian canons.

6.1.3 Role of the Old Testament in Christian theology.

6.1.2.2 Denominational views of pseudepigrapha.

6.1.1 Apocryphal or deuterocanonical books.

3.3.2 The five scrolls ( Hamesh Megillot).

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