Did Jesus Own a Bible?

NO, Jesus did not own a Bible. Why? Because the complete Bible as we have it today did not exist in Jesus’ time. However, synagogues maintained collections of scrolls containing writings that have since become part of the Bible as we know it. Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah at the synagogue in Nazareth. (Luke 4:16, 17) The apostle Paul heard “the public reading of the Law and of the Prophets” in Antioch in Pisidia. (Acts 13:14, 15) And the disciple James said that Moses was “read aloud in the synagogues on every sabbath.”​—Acts 15:21.

Did individuals in the first century own scrolls of the Holy Scriptures? The Ethiopian eunuch of the court of Queen Candace evidently did, for he was “sitting in his chariot and reading aloud the prophet Isaiah” when the disciple Philip met him on the road to Gaza. (Acts 8:26-30) The apostle Paul asked Timothy to bring “the scrolls, especially the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13) Though Paul did not say what scrolls they were, it is quite possible that these were portions of the Hebrew Scriptures.

According to Alan Millard, professor of Semitic languages, among the Jews, personal ownership of Scripture scrolls was probably only “for privileged men in Palestine, for all who claimed to be educated, for some of the Pharisees and for teachers like Nicodemus.” The reason, in part, was the cost. Millard estimates “a price of six to ten denarii for a copy of Isaiah” and says that a complete Hebrew Bible “would occupy 15 to 20 rolls,” or could cost about half a year’s wages.

The Bible does not say if Jesus or his disciples owned personal copies of Bible scrolls. However, there is no question that Jesus was well-versed in the Scriptures, able to allude to or recite the Scriptures by heart. (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; 19:4, 5) Should this not motivate us today to become well-acquainted with the Bible, since it is generally so affordable and so readily available?