The Old Testament Is Longer than the New Testament

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RachelBibleStudent

Guest
#1
in my little king james version the old testament is 699 pages...
in the same bible the new testament is only 215 pages...

that makes the old testament more than three times as long as the new testament...

so...why is that? who has thoughts on this?



(this is not intended to be a leading question to bait anyone into any kind of agenda driven debate...i just want to hear people's reflections on this)
 

Demi777

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2014
6,877
1,949
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Germany
#2
Well you have the 5 books of Moses full with laws and history.. hundrets of proverbs and psalms....more history....

in my little king james version the old testament is 699 pages...
in the same bible the new testament is only 215 pages...

that makes the old testament more than three times as long as the new testament...

so...why is that? who has thoughts on this?



(this is not intended to be a leading question to bait anyone into any kind of agenda driven debate...i just want to hear people's reflections on this)
 
Sep 4, 2012
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#3
OT = thousands of years of history
NT = less than 100 years
 

trofimus

Senior Member
Aug 17, 2015
10,684
794
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#4
in my little king james version the old testament is 699 pages...
in the same bible the new testament is only 215 pages...

that makes the old testament more than three times as long as the new testament...

so...why is that? who has thoughts on this?



(this is not intended to be a leading question to bait anyone into any kind of agenda driven debate...i just want to hear people's reflections on this)
More pages, but not more doctrines. There are quite long history books, prophecies, songs etc. We could say OT was a Jewish national library.
NT is shorter, but its teachings are more compressed. Synoptic gospels are exception.
 
Dec 9, 2011
13,703
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#5
All the prophets and the law are summed up In one word,love.
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#6
in my little king james version the old testament is 699 pages...
in the same bible the new testament is only 215 pages...

that makes the old testament more than three times as long as the new testament...

so...why is that? who has thoughts on this?



(this is not intended to be a leading question to bait anyone into any kind of agenda driven debate...i just want to hear people's reflections on this)
The OT is a contract between God and Man. Man failed. It also dealt with every possible way Man could come up with on how to keep our end of the bargain:
1. One rule -- don't eat from one tree. Failed.
2. Common sense -- "Am I my brother's keeper?"
3. Wipe out the ones who aren't following God and start over -- the flood followed immediately by a son sinning by laughing at his father's drunken nakedness.
4. God gave the only one that could have worked -- "Live in my presence." Man balked, and decided he'd rather have all of God's rules, promising to keep them instead of facing God. Failed before the Law was finished thanks to a golden calf.
5. Maintain a theocracy, or be at the whim of the king. They took Saul.
6. God kicked them out to heal the land. When they returned, they didn't change.

There really is no way it could have worked, and God took the time to let people try everything. We can't say, "If only he tried..."

And then the NT is a contract by God (Father) with God (Son), and it worked. So there is no need to say, "If only he tried..." A lot less length required.
 

vic1980

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2013
1,653
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#7
Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Shalom :)
 

fredoheaven

Senior Member
Nov 17, 2015
3,992
927
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#8
This maybe something to do with the Longer lifespan of human being in the OT as compared with the NT

Justification:

Longer age in the OT people means they have many experiences to tell than in NT.
 
Jan 24, 2009
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#9
I'm going to chalk this one up to there being more words(~622,771) in the O.T. than in the N.T.(~184,590).

I'm assuming same font style & font, too.

smartypants31.jpg
 
S

Sylven

Guest
#10
Well could it also be that much of the NT is a direct quote from the old? In example of the 404 verses in Rev. 276 verses are direct quotes from other parts of the Bible. Also, the NT is the story of Jesus, and his ministry and that of his Apostles. So 3.5 years of Christ's life, and then the lives of the Apostles, is only about 40-50 years in the NT vs, the 4-5 thousand years of history in the Old.
 
T

thepsalmist

Guest
#11
Maybe it's found in this ...

Jesus summed up the law and prophets in two commandments.

Love God,
&
Love your neighbor.
 
Dec 19, 2009
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#12
in my little king james version the old testament is 699 pages...
in the same bible the new testament is only 215 pages...

that makes the old testament more than three times as long as the new testament...

so...why is that? who has thoughts on this?



(this is not intended to be a leading question to bait anyone into any kind of agenda driven debate...i just want to hear people's reflections on this)
Perhaps the fact that the Old Testament covers a a much greater period of time than the New Testament has something to do with it.
 
R

RachelBibleStudent

Guest
#13
i was thinking about the greater time period that the old testament covers...

but then if we were to normalize based on the length of time covered...then the old testament should actually be about -forty- times longer than the new testament...or twenty times if you don't count genesis which very broadly covers around 2,000 years in twelve chapters...

in that case then we might ask why the new testament is so disproportionately -long-

and a whole new question begins! :)
 
Feb 9, 2010
2,486
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#14
in my little king james version the old testament is 699 pages...
in the same bible the new testament is only 215 pages...

that makes the old testament more than three times as long as the new testament...

so...why is that? who has thoughts on this?

(this is not intended to be a leading question to bait anyone into any kind of agenda driven debate...i just want to hear people's reflections on this)
The Old Testament is longer for it explains things that need not to be explained in the New Testament,for the Old already covers it.

1.The Old Testament covers more prophesy concerning the history back then through that period,as well as through the New Testament times.

2.The Old Testament explains God in greater detail,and His laws,and statues,and all other things He covered.

3.The Old Testament covers the history of the Hebrews.

4.The Old Testament covers a lot of prophets that prophesy concerning Israel,and to turn from their evil ways,to the truth of the LORD,on many occasions that they stumbled,got right,stumbled again,got right,etc.

I could go on,but the Bible covers way more about God,and things,with songs,and psalms,and proverbs,wisdom,and instruction,lessons to be learned,God creating all things,how we came about,the fall of man,the flood,genealogies,the call of Abraham,and the history of the Jews,the book of kings,and chronicles,telling of the kings of Israel,and prophesy concerning nations,and so much more.

But these things do not need to be in the New Testament,for they already are in the Old Testament,but the Old Testament is a witness of the New Testament,so the New Testament will have enough information covered in the Old Testament,to prove the New Testament is true,but does not need to have as much information as what is covered in the Old Testament.

The New Testament only needs to have the main theme,in a short version,and the prophesy covering the New Testament,from the Old Testament,to prove the New Testament is true,and does not need to cover everything as the Old Testament does,for the New Testament proves the Old is true,and the Old proves the New is true,and if the New proves the Old is true it does need to have that much information,for we can go to the Old for we know it is true,for the New testifies of it.

And also the New Testament is in the Old Testament,or in other words,the New Testament only takes from the Old Testament what is important to the New Testament.

The New Testament is a filtered version of the Old Testament,and gives us the essentials to be right with God,for the moral law,and laws of love,the coming Messiah,prophesy concerning New Testament times,warning the world to escape the wrath to come,the basics of the New Testament,were already in the Old Testament.

I might not be explaining it the best I can,because I never wondered why the Old Testament is longer than the New,I figured that it had to be that way,for the New does not need to explain a lot of things that the Old already explained,and there is a whole lot more prophesy,and history,explained in the Old,which in the New the only thing you have to do is point out spiritual deception.
 

FlSnookman7

Senior Member
Jun 27, 2015
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#15
Wouldn't the Nt cover much more time? I mean including Revelation? Guess we will have to wait and see.
 
Dec 19, 2009
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#16
i was thinking about the greater time period that the old testament covers...

but then if we were to normalize based on the length of time covered...then the old testament should actually be about -forty- times longer than the new testament...or twenty times if you don't count genesis which very broadly covers around 2,000 years in twelve chapters...

in that case then we might ask why the new testament is so disproportionately -long-

and a whole new question begins! :)
One can only speculate about these things. I would point out that Jesus Christ is the most important human in the Bible. Therefore he requires some extra pages.
 

valiant

Senior Member
Mar 22, 2015
8,025
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#17
One can only speculate about these things. I would point out that Jesus Christ is the most important human in the Bible. Therefore he requires some extra pages.
The Old Testament was the long period during which all men's methods of obtaining righteousness were proved a failure.

The New Testament finally came up with the answer by God providing a righteousness by faith, through Jesus Christ our Lord
 
1

1LonelyKnight

Guest
#18
Depends on how one counts ... 24 books in Tanakh ... 27 in New Testament
 
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1LonelyKnight

Guest
#19
Longer time period in O.T.
Unless one counts ...

Since before the world began

More words in O.T.
Unless one counts ...

Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books ...