猶太教和基督教的圣書，包括“托拉”（即“律法書”）、“先知書”和“圣錄”三部分，共同組成基督教所稱的《舊約》。“律法書”和約書亞是敘述有關以色列如何形成民族而占有“上帝應許之地”。“先知書”描述王國的建立和發展，并傳達眾先知向百姓發出的訊息。“圣錄”中有詩，是關于善與惡以及歷史的思索。天主教和東正教的《圣經》則包括稱為外典的猶太人著作。《新約》包含了早期基督教文學。“福音書”記敘耶穌生平、為人和學說。“使徒行傳”敘述基督教最早的歷史。“使徒書（書信）”是早期基督教會一些首腦（主要是圣保羅）的書信，說明早期集會的需要。早期基督教曾出現許多啟示著作，“啟示錄”是這類作品唯一的正典代表。

　　Sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. the Jewish scriptures consist of the Torah （or Pentateuch）， the Neviim （“Prophets”）， and the Ketuvim （“Writings”）， which together constitute what Christians call the Old Testament. The Pentateuch and Joshua relate how Israel became a nation and came to possess the Promised Land. The Prophets describe the establishment and development of the monarchy and relate the prophets' messages. The Writings include poetry， speculation on good and evil， and history. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bible includes additional Jewish writings called the Apocrypha. The New Testament consists of early Christian literature. The Gospels tell of the life， person， and teachings of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles relates the earliest history of Christianity. The Epistles （Letters） are correspondence of early church leaders （chiefly St. Paul） and address the needs of early conGREgations. Revelation is the only canonical representative of a large genre of early Christian apocalyptic literature.