The Books of the Bible they speak will be evident." This new order is introduced because "the order in which today's readers are used to encountering the books of the Bible is yet another factor that hinders their understanding." The book order in "The Books of the Bible," and the rationale for it, is as follows: The Covenant History "The first quarter of the Bible unfolds as one continuous narrative." Genesis<br> Exodus<br> Leviticus<br> Numbers<br> Deuteronomy<br> Joshua<br> Judges<br> Ruth<br> Samuel–Kings The Prophets The prophets are presented in "what… is plausibly their historical order." Jonah Amos<br> Hosea<br> Micah<br> Isaiah Zephaniah<br> Nahum<br> Habakkuk Jeremiah<br> Obadiah<br> Ezekiel Haggai<br> Zechariah<br>
The Living Bible even though the Bible is a paraphrase. "The Living Bible" was a best-seller in the early 1970s, largely due to the accessibility of its modern language, which made passages understandable to those with weak reading skills, or no previous background in Bible study. It uses lingual contractions such as "don't" for "do not". In 1972 and 1973, "The Living Bible" was the best-selling book in America. By 1997, 40 million copies of "The Living Bible" had been sold. During this period, work started on foreign translations in, eventually, around 100 languages by Living Bibles International (which merged with IBS in