THE BIBLE - GOD'S WORD TO MAN

The Christian Bible is, without a doubt, the bestselling and most widely distributed book of all time. It is impossible to know exactly how many copies of the Bible have been sold, but a survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 1975, but more recent estimates put the figure at more than 5 billion. Guiness Book of World Records concurs with a similar figure of around 5 billion. 
In late April of 2015, Gideons distributed their historic two billionth Scripture. The distribution of the first one billion Bibles and New Testaments spanned 93 years (1908-2001). The second billion was attained in less than 14 years (2002-2015).
Gideons International began distributing free Bibles in 1908. Members of Gideons International currently distribute over 800 million Scriptures annually, and the numbers are growing, especially in places such as Brazil, India and Asia.
The Bible consists of sixty six books, divided into sections - the two most obvious being the Old Testament, containing thirty nine books, and the New Testament consisting of twenty seven books.
The Old Testament is divided into further sections:
1. The Pentateuch or the books of Moses, being the first five books,
2. The Historical Books, being Joshua to Esther,
3. The Poetical Books, being Job to Song of Solomon,
4. The Major Prophets, Isaiah to Ezekiel, and 
5. The Minor Prophets, being the twelve last books in the Old Testament,               consisting of Daniel to Malachi.
The New Testament consists of twenty seven books, beginning with:
1. The four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, then
2. The Book of Acts,
3. Paul's epistles to the churches - Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians,
    Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians,
4. Paul's Pastoral Epistles - 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus,
5. The letter of Paul to Philemon,
6. The letter to the Hebrews (believed by many to have been written by Paul),
7. James,
8. 1 & 2 Peter,
9. 1,2,& 3 John,
10. The epistle of Jude, and finally, 
11. The Book of Revelation
As with all books, by their very nature, the Bible is made up of thousands - hundreds of thousands of words. 
A piece of Bible trivia is: that there are 8,674 different Hebrew words in the Bible. There are 5,624 different Greek words and 12,143 different English words in the King James Bible.
Although there are many English versions of the Bible, with new ones appearing over time, some as scholarly works produced by a collaboration of many Bible academics, and some as modern paraphrases produced by one person - it could be said that, none of the translations from the Hebrew and Greek are wholly inspired by the Holy Spirit to the last word.
The original texts, however, were wholly inspired by God, word by word.
The apostle Paul, in writing to his son in the faith, Timothy, with instructions for ministry, says: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16,17
The Bible was penned by around 40 different authors, over approximately a 1200 to 1500 year period. The authorship of all the books in the New Testament is clear, apart from the book of Hebrews, which the King James Bible attributed to Paul. He is a strong contender as the author. However, there have been other suggestions, including Apollos, and even the suggestion that the author of Hebrews may have been in fact - wait for it - a woman, namely Priscilla, of Priscilla and Aquila fame mentioned in the Book of Acts in chapter 18, as a married couple, who travelled with the apostle Paul. He described them as his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus." Romans 16:3
Concerning the inspiration by the Holy Spirit of all the writers of the books of the Bible, the writer to the Hebrews says in chapter 1: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; Hebrews 1:1-3 
As to the authorship of the thirty nine books of the Old Testament, the first five books, referred to as the Pentateuch, were written by Moses. Some of the historical books, from Joshua to Esther have question marks over them as to their human authors, King David penned nearly half of the Psalms, his son, Solomon wrote all the Proverbs, save the last chapter, and most, if not all the major and minor prophets' books were written by the men whose book bears their name.
I find it interesting that there is real conjecture concerning the authorship of some of the Old Testament books and also the book of Hebrews. What it says to me, is that, in some ways, it does not really matter if we know for sure who physically wrote the books. The most important takeaway is that the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead, provided the inspiration for whoever the writers were, and it is to Him that all the glory goes for providing us with the outstanding revelation we have of our great God - our Saviour and Lord.
It is estimated that about forty writers were responsible for producing the sixty six books of the Bible, the apostle Paul in the New Testament, having written thirteen or fourteen (if he wrote the letter to the Hebrews) of the twenty seven books.
The people involved over a period of some 1500 years came from vastly differing backgrounds and occupations such as traders, shepherds, fishermen, soldiers, preachers, and kings. They served under different governments and lived within contrasting cultures and systems of philosophy - and yet, there is a common thread that binds all the books of the Bible together as a unified whole, with the message of God's great love for humanity, His hatred of sin and rebellion, the remedy for sin and the unspeakable rewards, both in this life and in that to come for those who repent of their sin, and avail themselves of the salvation provided by the substitutionary death on the Cross of Calvary, of the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself willingly in our place, that we might be reconciled to Father God, for time and eternity.
Although the Bible is not set out as a scientific textbook, a large number of now accepted scientific facts, some only formulated in the last two hundred years, are clearly attested to in the Bible.
Some examples, cited by Ray Comfort of livingwaters.com and wayofthemaster.com in his excellent "The Evidence Bible" can be viewed online by googling Bible facts The Evidence Bible. I will not reproduce them all here, but there is a fascinating list of clear evidences given for many now accepted scientific facts and principles in various scientific disciplines, including medicine and cosmology, provided by the all-knowing Creator God, and recorded by men of God, thousands of years ago for our understanding and benefit.
Such facts as the Earth being round, not flat,
the importance of washing hands and infected clothes after contact with sick or diseased persons,
the importance of blood to our bodies - up to 120 odd years ago, people were "bled" to seek to rid them of disease, resulting in many deaths,
clear scriptural support for a revolving earth etc.
As I stated above, it is as simple as Googling bible facts the evidence bible, and you will see Bible references for support of the above scientific facts, and more - provided by Ray Comfort.
In John 1:1, we read, concerning Jesus,"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Verse 14 reads: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus said of Himself in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
The Bible is not merely a history book, but a treasure chest of revelation of God to man, and a storehouse of life-giving instruction from the heart of the living God, that when received by the spiritually reborn child of God through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has the power to transform the vilest of sinners from darkness to light. THERE IS NO OTHER BOOK THAT COMES ANYWHERE CLOSE TO ITS IMPACT ON MEN AND WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHO HAVE A CAPACITY TO UNDERSTAND, AND A DESIRE TO KNOW THE LIVING GOD.
If you have read this and would like to know more about how you can become a new believer and follower of Christ -a Christian, two online resource sites I would recommend are: billygraham.org and vision.org.au. Click onthe Grow your faith tab, then Looking for God? GOD BLESS!