when talking about the bible, a "book" is used to speak about a number of texts. all the texts that make a "book" are believed to belong together. most of the time, people believe they were written or collected by the same person. the bible contains different kinds of such books. some are history, telling the stories of the jews, jesus, or jesus' followers. some are collections of wise sayings. some are god's commands to his people, which he expects them to obey. some are songs of praise to god. some are books of "prophecy", messages from god that he gave through chosen people called prophets.