What parts of the Bible are meant to be understood literally versus figuratively?

The Bible is not one book but a library of sixty-six books, written across roughly fifteen hundred years, in multiple languages, by dozens of human authors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Within that library sit history, law, poetry, wisdom literature, prophecy, parable, letters, and apocalyptic vision. Asking whether the whole Bible should be read literally or figuratively is a bit like asking whether a newspaper should be read literally or figuratively, it depends entirely on which section you have open, the front page news or the editorial cartoon.

Discerning genre is not guesswork. Ancient readers recognized these literary forms as clearly as modern readers recognize the difference between a biography and a poem, and the biblical text usually signals its genre through style, structure, and the author's own stated purpose (Luke 1:1-4; Psalm 1:1).

Genesis, Exodus, the historical books, the Gospels, and Acts present themselves as accounts of real events involving real people, places, and dates. Luke explicitly states he investigated everything carefully to write an orderly, accurate account (Luke 1:1-4). These books should be read as describing things that actually happened, the exodus from Egypt, David's kingship, the crucifixion and bodily resurrection of Jesus.

This does not mean narrative contains no figures of speech at all, dialogue and description sometimes include idiom, but the events themselves are presented and meant to be received as genuine history, the bedrock on which Christian faith stands or falls (1 Corinthians 15:14-17). Acts, similarly, reads like careful ancient historiography, complete with named officials, specific geography, and travel details that archaeology has repeatedly confirmed, evidence that its author intended, and expected readers to receive, a truthful record of real events.

Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and large portions of Job are Hebrew poetry, built on parallelism, vivid imagery, and metaphor rather than prose statement. When Psalm 23 says the Lord is my shepherd, it is painting a rich relational picture, not claiming God herds literal sheep. When Proverbs promises that the wicked will not dwell in the land, it speaks in the typical, generalized language of wisdom literature rather than an ironclad legal guarantee for every individual case.

Reading poetry literally in a flat, prose sense actually misses the author's intended meaning; the figurative language is precisely how the truth is meant to land on the heart, not a decoration to strip away.

Old Testament law is meant to be understood as genuine instruction for Israel, though Christians recognize that its moral core still applies while its civil and ceremonial dimensions find their fulfillment in Christ (Matthew 5:17). Prophetic books mix straightforward historical narrative with poetic oracles and, at times, apocalyptic vision, so each passage must be read according to its immediate form.

Parables are earthly stories carrying a single, focused spiritual point, not literal reports of events, while apocalyptic passages like much of Daniel and Revelation use symbolic imagery, beasts, numbers, and cosmic signs, to reveal spiritual realities that plain narrative could not capture as powerfully (Revelation 1:1).

The New Testament epistles, Romans through Jude, are direct, didactic communication written to real churches and individuals facing real situations. Paul, Peter, James, and John are not telling stories or composing poetry; they are teaching doctrine and giving instruction in plain, though sometimes richly illustrated, prose. These letters are meant to be read literally as the author's intended meaning, even when they employ an occasional metaphor, such as believers being living stones (1 Peter 2:5).

Because the epistles interpret and apply the rest of Scripture so directly, they are often the best place to check your reading of a more figurative Old Testament passage.

Paul's charge to Timothy was to rightly handle the word of truth, and that is exactly the skill this question calls for (2 Timothy 2:15). Rightly handling Scripture means asking, before applying any interpretive method, what kind of literature is in front of me, and what did the author intend his readers to understand.

Approached this way, the seeming tension between literal and figurative dissolves. Every part of the Bible is meant to be understood exactly as its inspired author intended, some parts literally as history and instruction, others figuratively as poetry, parable, and vision, and all of it together as God's trustworthy, unified word.