{"id":105671,"date":"2026-08-19T00:58:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T12:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/?page_id=105671"},"modified":"2026-08-19T01:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:03:44","slug":"origins-of-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/be-equipped\/origins-of-the-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Did The Bible Come From"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Discover The Bible<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

Where Did The Bible Come From?<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

The Bible has an amazing history, surviving wars, disasters, language changes and culture shifts to reach us today. Here\u2019s the remarkable story of how it came to be.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Launch A Bible Mission<\/a><\/div>
Make A Donation<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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From Spoken Word To Page<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

Passed Down Through The Ages<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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In ancient times, the stories of God were passed down through generations by word of mouth. It\u2019s not known who first recorded these stories, but it could have been as early as 1,400 BC. The recording of all the books in the Old Testament took hundreds of years. Once they were all written down, the process of collecting them all together probably began around 400 BC.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Different Christian communities have, through history, come to different decisions about which books belong in the Old Testament. They have all accepted the 39 books that form the Hebrew Bible of the Jewish people. Catholic Christians also use an additional seven books, plus some extra material in the books of Daniel and Esther. Orthodox Christians accept ten or more additional books as well.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The printing press eventually made the Bible more accessible to all. This is a copy of the Guttenberg Bible, one of the first books ever printed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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A Journey Through Time<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

Key Moments In The Bible\u2019s History<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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c. 1,400 BC<\/div>

Old Testament REcording Start<\/h3>

The earliest recording of God\u2019s stories may have begun, the writing of the Old Testament would go on to span hundreds of years.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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c. 400 BC<\/div>

Collecting Old Testament Books<\/h3>

The process of collecting the Old Testament books together into one body of Scripture probably began.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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c. 50\u2013100 AD<\/div>

Paul Began Writing<\/h3>

Paul began writing possibly as early as 20 years after Jesus\u2019 death; the rest of the New Testament, Gospels and letters, was written in this period.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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369\u2013397 AD<\/div>

Listing of the New Testament<\/h3>

Bishop Athanasius was the first to list the 27 New Testament books we use today; the list was confirmed at the Church Council of Carthage in 397 AD.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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1380 & 1526<\/div>

First English Version<\/h3>

John Wycliffe made the first English translation of the whole Bible around 1380; in 1526 William Tyndale produced the first printed English New Testament.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n

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1837 & 1868<\/div>

Te Reo Translation<\/h3>

Missionaries arriving from 1814 translated the Bible into te reo M\u0101ori, the first M\u0101ori New Testament was printed at Paihia in 1837, and the first full M\u0101ori Bible in 1868.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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When it comes to the New Testament, the majority of Christians agree it contains 27 books. The first century AD saw the beginnings of a collection of Christian Scriptures, accounts of the life of Jesus, and letters. Early in the second century these became known as \u2018Gospel and Apostle\u2019, echoing the Old Testament\u2019s \u2018Law and Prophets\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

The invention of the printing press eventually made the Bible far more accessible to all, the Gutenberg Bible was one of the very first books ever printed, and since then the Bible has become the most translated and widely read book in history.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The Work Continues<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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542<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Languages with a full Bible, of 6,901 worldwide<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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1,897<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Languages with the New Testament<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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500M<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

People still without Scripture in their language<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Bible Societies around the world are working hard to change this, so that everyone, everywhere, can read God\u2019s Word in the language of their heart.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Support Bible Translation<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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resource library<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Explore Our New Resource Library, Made For You, Your Family, Your Ministry<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>

Log in anytime, anywhere and access all the resources we create for you, your family and your ministry. Get started by creating your free account.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

Join The Well Today<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104894,"parent":105403,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-105671","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105677,"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105671\/revisions\/105677"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newzealandmarketing.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}