Britannica Sources used in this answer

How many books are in the Hebrew Bible?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Hebrew Bible Portion of the Aleppo Codex, a manuscript of the Hebrew Bible written in the Hebrew language in the 10th century ce; in the Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

The Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh, consists of 24 books. This number corresponds to the 24 scrolls on which these works were traditionally written in ancient times.12

The collection is organized into three primary sections:

Torah (Instruction or Law): Contains 5 books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).13
Nevi'im (Prophets): Comprises 8 books, subdivided into the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets.13
Ketuvim (Writings): Consists of 11 books, including poetry, theology, and wisdom literature.13

While the Hebrew canon is fixed at 24 books, Christian traditions often count more (such as 39 in most Protestant Bibles or 46 in Roman Catholic Bibles). This difference arises because Christian editors historically divided certain original Hebrew texts—such as Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah—into multiple parts, and some Christian canons include additional books not found in the Jewish canon.12