According to the Declaration of Faith, how many books are in the Old Testament? (alternate framing)

• A. Forty
• B. Thirty-nine
• C. Thirty-eight
• D. Thirty-seven

Answer: (B)

The number being used here is thirty-nine, reflecting the Protestant Old Testament canon embraced in the Declaration of Faith. In this tradition the same material found in the Hebrew Bible is counted as thirty-nine separate books in English Bibles by dividing some longer books into two titles (for example, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles) and by treating Ezra and Nehemiah as distinct books. Catholic and Orthodox canons include seven additional Deuterocanonical books, which is why their totals are higher. So thirty-nine is the standard count for this declaration.