BIBLE, pcpXia, libelli (the small books), a name to denote the collective volume of the sacred writ ings, the use of which cannot be traced above the 4th century. The word occurs in the Prologue to Ecclesiasticus, ' the Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the books' (13/pX/a), and 2 Tim. iv. 13, ' and the books' ([318Xict). Before the adoption of this name the more usual terms in the Christian Church by which the sacred books were denomi nated were, the Scripture or writing (^ypa0)), the Scriptures (ypcupai), the sacred writings (-ypacbal aycal), and the sacred letters (iepa, ypcitcyara). These names are thus frequently applied to the sacred books of the Old Testament by Josephus and Philo, as well as by the writers of the New Testament (2 Pet. i. 20; Matt. xxii. 29 ; Rom. i. 2; 2 Tim. iii. 15). Jerome substitutes for these expressions the term Bibliotheca Sancta (see Hiero nymi Opera, ed. Martianay, vol. i. Proleg. sec. 1), a phrase which this learned father probably bor rowed from 2 Maccabees, ii. 13, where Nehemiah is said, in `founding a library' (13/13Xtogi)ncn), to have ' gathered together the acts of the kings, and the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.' But although it was usual to denominate the separate books in Greek by the term BOXiov or BigXos, which is fre quently so applied by Josephus, we first find it simply applied to the entire collection by St. Chry sostom in his Second Homily, 'The Jews have the books ([3/13Xia), but we have the treasure of the books; they have the letters (yphqsaTa), but we have both spirit and letter.' And again Hom. ix. in Epist. ad Colors., ' Provide yourselves with books (p/pia), the medicine of the soul, but if you desire no other, at least procure the new (Kawh), the Apostolos, the Acts, the Gospels.' He also adds to the word /3/13Xia the epithet divine in his Tenth Homily on Genesis: 'Taking before and after meals the divine books' (ra. Orba poXia), or, as we should now express it, the Holy Bible. This
name, in the course of time, superseded all others both in the Eastern and Western Church, and is now everywhere the popular appellation. The sacred books were denominated by the Jews the writing (chetib or mikra), a name of the same character as that applied by the Mahometans (korawn) to denote their sacred volume.
The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments, h raXa/ci, eat icacvi2 Sta07jrn. The name Old Testament is applied to the books of Moses by St. Paul (2 Con iii. 14), inasmuch as the former covenant comprised the whole scheme of the Mosaic revelation, and the history of this is contained in them. This phrase, `book of the covenant,' taken probably from Exod. xxiv. 7 ; Maccab. i. 57 (/31.,(3Xtor ScaO)ols), was transferred in the course of time by a metonymy to signify the writings themselves. The word beaB7*77, which we now translate testament, signifies either a testament or a covenant, but the translators of the old Latin version have by a Grecism always rendered it, even when it was used as a translation of the Hebrew Berith (covenant), by the word Testamentum. The names given to the Old Testament were, the Scrip tures (Matt. xxi. 42), Scripture (2 Pet. i. 20), the Holy Scriptures (Rom. i. 2), the sacred letters (2 Tim. iii. 15), the holy books (Sanhed. xci. 2), the law (John xii. 34), the law, the prophets, and the psalms (Luke xxiv. 44), the law and the pro phets (Matt. v. 17), the law, the prophets, and the other books (Prol. Ecclus.), the books of the old covenant (Neh. viii. 8), the book of the covenant (I Maccab. i. 57 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 2).
The other books (not in the canon) were called apocryphal, ecclesiastical, and deuterocanonical. The term New Testament lies been in common use since the third century, and is employed by Euse bius in the same sense in which it is now commonly applied (Hist. Eccles. iii. 23). Tertullian employs the same phrase, and also that of `the Divine In strument' in the same signification. [CANON;