Name the Books of the Bible: Game Answers Across Religious Traditions

The Jewish canon — the Tanakh — contains 24 books organized into three sections: Torah (the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). If you're playing a Bible-books trivia game rooted in the Jewish tradition, these are the books you need to know.

Torah (5 books)

• Genesis (Bereishit)
• Exodus (Shemot)
• Leviticus (Vayikra)
• Numbers (Bamidbar)
• Deuteronomy (Devarim)

Nevi'im / Prophets (8 books)

• Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve (Minor Prophets counted as one)

Ketuvim / Writings (11 books)

• Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles

Chronicles, for instance, opens with a sweeping genealogy — "Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth" 1 Chronicles 1:4 — illustrating how the Ketuvim preserves Israel's historical memory. The naming of people and places throughout these texts is itself a theological act; Adam naming the animals in Genesis Genesis 2:20 and God naming the stars in Psalms Psalms 147:4 both reflect the sacred weight names carry across the canon.

Scholars like Sid Leiman (in his 1976 work The Canonization of Hebrew Scripture) argue the Jewish canon was effectively closed by the late first century CE, though debates about books like Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs continued among the rabbis of the Talmudic period.

Christian Bible-book games almost always draw from one of three canons, and knowing which one matters enormously for your answers:

• Protestant: 66 books (39 Old Testament + 27 New Testament)
• Roman Catholic: 73 books (adds 7 deuterocanonical/apocryphal books)
• Eastern Orthodox: up to 76–81 books depending on jurisdiction

Old Testament Books (Protestant, 39)

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

New Testament Books (27)

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1–2 Thessalonians, 1–2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1–2 Peter, 1–2–3 John, Jude, Revelation.

Chronicles, shared with the Jewish Tanakh, lists names like "Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed" 1 Chronicles 3:20 — the kind of detail that trips up even seasoned Bible-game players. Similarly, Joshua's geographic lists ("Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez" Joshua 19:21) remind us these books are dense with proper nouns that game designers love to exploit.

Theologian F.F. Bruce (in The Canon of Scripture, 1988) notes that the 27-book New Testament wasn't formally ratified until the Councils of Hippo (393 CE) and Carthage (397 CE), meaning the canon itself has a history worth knowing for any serious Bible trivia enthusiast.

The stones of the high priest's breastplate bore "the names of the children of Israel, twelve" Exodus 28:21 — a detail from Exodus that appears in both Jewish and Christian Old Testaments and is a classic trivia question about the tribes.

This question is fundamentally specific to Jewish and Christian scripture. Islam doesn't organize its revelation into a multi-book Bible canon, so a "name the books of the Bible" game doesn't directly apply to Islamic practice.

That said, Islam does acknowledge earlier revealed scriptures. The Quran references "the Books of Abraham and Moses" Quran 87:19 and describes itself as "the clear Book" Quran 28:2, affirming a continuity of revelation while holding that earlier scriptures were altered over time. The Quran (87:19) specifically names the Suhuf (scrolls) of Abraham and Moses Quran 87:19 as genuine earlier revelations, but these aren't equivalent to the Bible's canonical books as Christians or Jews understand them.

For Islamic scripture specifically, the relevant memorization tradition is hifz — memorizing the 114 surahs of the Quran — not naming Bible books.

For a “Name the Books” style game focused on the Hebrew Bible, lean on the textual emphasis on names and ordered lists as mnemonic scaffolds. 1 Chronicles gives compact genealogical lists that train quick recall of sequences, a skill directly transferable to reciting book names under time pressure 1 Chronicles 1:4. Joshua’s catalogues of place-names likewise model structured enumeration, which you can mirror by grouping books in your memory (e.g., Torah, Prophets, Writings) even if I’m not listing them here due to citation limits Joshua 19:21. Short name-clusters in Chronicles offer rapid-fire drills: speak them aloud in rhythm to simulate timed gameplay 1 Chronicles 3:20.

When playing a “Name the Books of the Bible” game, use biblical naming themes as memory hooks. Adam’s act of naming all living creatures underlines ordered recall—practice listing in sequences to mimic that patterned naming Genesis 2:20. Psalm 147 highlights God calling the stars by name; use that image to visualize each book as a "star" on your mental map, aiding sequential retrieval Psalms 147:4. Exodus ties twelve engraved names to Israel’s tribes; let “twelve” cue groupings (e.g., history, wisdom, prophets) so you retrieve clusters under time pressure rather than one-by-one Exodus 28:21.

Not applicable. Concerns Biblical canon memorization for a game; no direct counterpart in Islamic scripture/practice.