# Poll: Five Most Important Books Of The Bible **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735 "2009-03-17T11:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/1 "2009-03-17T11:42:33Z")
What are the five most important books of the Bible, in order of importance. Please remember that this is a poll, _not_ a debate. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/2 "2009-03-17T12:04:02Z")
Oh boy- Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Luke, Romans because they give us The Beginning, The Ten Commanments & initial Covenant of the Law, The Songs, The Most Detailed Gospel, The Message of Salvation by Grace. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/3 "2009-03-17T12:35:50Z")
1. Genesis 2. Exodus 3. Mark 4. John 5. Psalms ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/4 "2009-03-17T14:01:48Z")
John James Psalms Genesis Matthew ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/5 "2009-03-17T14:25:46Z")
1. Luke 2. Matthew 3. Mark 4. Genesis 5. Revelations ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/6 "2009-03-17T14:30:56Z")
Top five in the Jewish version of the Bible. 1. Genesis (_Bereshit_) 2. Exodus (_Shemot_) 3. Leviticus (_Vayikra_) 4. Numbers (_Bamidbar_) 5. Deuteronomy (_Devarim_) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/7 "2009-03-17T14:49:24Z")
[ol][li]Luke[_]Genesis[_]Exodus[_]John[_]RomansRevelation[/ol]Regards,[/li]Shodan ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/8 "2009-03-17T15:21:24Z")
1. Genesis (The Beginning, why the world is like it is) 2. Exodus (The model for Salvation, the giving of the Law) 3. Isaiah (The Suffering Servant) 4. Luke (The Gospel) 5. Romans (Grace and Salvation, freedom from the Law) Si ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/9 "2009-03-17T17:01:41Z")
Top five? All of them. What? ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/10 "2009-03-17T19:01:54Z")
Genesis Luke Acts Psalms John (Although I reserve the right to answer differently should you ask this question of me later). ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/11 "2009-03-17T20:53:11Z")
John Genesis Psalms Romans Job - I put this in mainly to be different, but it does ask some important questions. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/12 "2009-03-17T23:21:00Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > [ol][li]Luke[_]Genesis[_]Exodus[_]John[_]Romans[\*]Revelation[/ol]Regards,[/li]Shodan Maybe you should have considered Numbers. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/13 "2009-03-17T23:50:14Z")
1. Matthew - Jesusā€™ best sermons are in this book. 2. Romans - The best layout of basic Christian beliefs 3. Genesis - The beginning 4. John - The best written Gospel and a runner up to Matthew. 5. Psalms - Cool poetry and profound contemplation ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/14 "2009-03-17T23:51:31Z")
Genesis Exodus Samuel (II if I canā€™t use both) Psalms Matthew ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/15 "2009-03-18T00:18:30Z")
John Romans Acts Genesis Exodus Psalms Yeah, Iā€™m cheating and picking six. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/16 "2009-03-18T00:39:22Z")
Genesis for the creation myth. Exodus for the foundations of Judaism. Matthew for the overview of Christianity (I think thatā€™s where the Sermon on the Mount is covered). Job for God being a dick. Revelations so you can pick up on the references in pop culture. ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/17 "2009-03-18T01:54:11Z")
John Genesis Matthew Romans Psalms ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/18 "2009-03-18T04:40:42Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Oh boy- > > Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Luke, Romans > > because they give us > > The Beginning, The Ten Commanments & initial Covenant of the Law, The Songs, The Most Detailed Gospel, The Message of Salvation by Grace. I agree with your list, except that I would replace Psalms with the Gospel of John. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/19 "2009-03-18T15:05:02Z")
Importance to us, or importance to history? If the latter, I think Revelation has to be in there somewhere. If the former, then I doubt anyone will pick it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735/20 "2009-03-18T20:18:16Z")
How are you defining ā€œimportantā€? Iā€™ll define it as ā€œinfluential to the overall Christian worlld-view,ā€ which gives me a different answer than if I had typed ā€œJudeo-Christian.ā€ 1. Genesis 2. Luke 3. Luke/John (tie) 4. Romans. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-five-most-important-books-of-the-bible/489735.md?page=2)