Bible Books in Three Languages: Chinese, Japanese (Shinkaiyaku 2017), and English

2026-07-30

This post organizes the 66 books of the Bible into a trilingual reference — Chinese, Japanese (Shinkaiyaku 2017), and English — matching book names across the three languages. A handy companion for anyone studying Japanese (or Chinese) alongside Scripture. The Japanese names follow the Shinkaiyaku 2017 translation, the Chinese names follow the Chinese Union Version, and the English names follow standard usage.

Old Testament · The Pentateuch

The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Old Testament · Historical Books

The Old Testament's 12 historical books are: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Old Testament · Wisdom Books

The 5 wisdom books are: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

Old Testament · Major Prophets

The 5 major prophets are: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

Old Testament · Minor Prophets

The 12 minor prophets are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

New Testament · Gospels

The 4 Gospels are: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

New Testament · Historical Book

The New Testament's sole historical book is Acts.

New Testament · Pauline Epistles

Paul's 13 epistles are: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

New Testament · General Epistles

The 8 general epistles are: Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude.

New Testament · Prophetic Book

The final, prophetic book of the whole Bible is Revelation.

Statistics

The Old Testament contains 39 books, the New Testament contains 27 books, for a total of 66 books.

Common Abbreviations

Common abbreviations include, in the Old Testament: Gen (Genesis), Exod (Exodus), Ps (Psalms), Prov (Proverbs), and Isa (Isaiah); and in the New Testament: Matt (Matthew), John (John), Acts (Acts), Rom (Romans), and Rev (Revelation).