The Bible is an anthology of texts that were authored, copied, and edited over a period of hundreds of years. Much later these texts were brought together as an authoritative collection—a process called ‘canonization.’ In fact, there is no “the Bible.” The Jewish Bible, which is known by most as the Tanakh, is a collection of 24 texts in three sections: Torah (Instruction or Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). In content it is basically equivalent to the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament. However, the order of the books are different, which is quite purposeful when it comes to the Protestant Bible.
The Protestant Bible is comprised of 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books. The Catholic Bible and the various Orthodox Bibles have the same 27 New Testament books, and the same 39 Old Testament books, plus the addition of various texts known either as the Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical books.
Many Jews and Christians consider the books of their Bible to be the word of God as they hold to some view of inspiration. However, for many, “inspiration” does not mean that these texts are inerrant (that is, without error). So, the basic answer to “What is the Bible?” depends entirely upon whom you ask. For a chart that clearly shows the variety of Bibles that exist, see: https://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Heb-Xn-Bibles.htm
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