Christian Pure

Catholic vs Protestant Bible: Why Catholics Have 73 Books and Protestants 66

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • A Catholic Bible has 73 books (46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New); a Protestant Bible has 66 (39 and 27). The New Testaments are the same.
  • The seven extra books are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch; Catholic Bibles also have longer versions of Esther and Daniel.
  • Catholics call these books deuterocanonical; Protestants call them the Apocrypha. Orthodox Bibles include them and a few more, such as 3 and 4 Maccabees.
  • Luther put the books in a separate section of his 1534 Bible, and the King James Version of 1611 printed them; the Council of Trent declared them canonical on 8 April 1546.
  • Modern Catholic Bibles translate the Old Testament from the Hebrew, not the Septuagint; differences in the shared books come from manuscripts and translation choices, not from the church that publishes them.

A Catholic Bible has 73 books and a Protestant Bible has 66. Both have the same 27 books in the New Testament. The difference is seven Old Testament books, Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch, plus longer versions of Esther and Daniel. Catholics call these books deuterocanonical; Protestants call them the Apocrypha. How many books are in the Catholic Bible and the Protestant Bible? The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives the Catholic count: 46 books…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 23:1; Jeremiah 36:4; Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:2), https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10; and from the Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (Psalm 22:1; Wisdom 9:7; Sirach 50:29; Baruch 1:1 and 6; Daniel 3, 13, 14; Tobit 1; Judith 13; 1 Maccabees 1; 2 Maccabees 12:43–46), https://www.drbo.org/
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraph 120: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PR.HTM; paragraph 1032: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2N.HTM
  • Council of Trent, Fourth Session (8 April 1546), “Decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures” and “Decree concerning the Edition, and the Use, of the Sacred Books.” Translated by J. Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848), 17–21. Hanover Historical Texts Project. https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct04.html
  • Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapter 1, sections 2–3. https://thewestminsterstandard.org/the-westminster-confession/
  • Church of England. Articles of Religion, Article VI, “Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.” https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/articles-religion
  • Athanasius of Alexandria. Festal Letter 39 (for 367). In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 4. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2806039.htm
  • Jerome. Prefaces to the Books of Samuel and Kings and to the Books of Solomon. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 6. https://www.tertullian.org/fathers2/NPNF2-06/Npnf2-06-21.htm
  • Augustine of Hippo. On Christian Doctrine, Book 2, chapter 8. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/12022.htm
  • Metzger, Bruce M. “Right and Wrong Uses of the Apocrypha.” Christianity Today, September 1957. https://www.christianitytoday.com/1957/09/right-and-wrong-uses-of-apocrypha/
  • Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. “Die Apokryphen des Alten Testaments.” die-bibel.de. https://www.die-bibel.de/ressourcen/bibelkunde/bibelkunde-at/apokryphen
  • “Apocrypha.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/apocrypha
  • “Bible.” Britannica Kids (Students). https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Bible/273205
  • Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. “The Septuagint.” https://www.goarch.org/documents/32058/12709588/The+Septuagint.pdf/4b84d81d-04fb-40c3-fba8-f79f0865e2f6
  • Pius XII. Divino Afflante Spiritu, 30 September 1943, paragraphs 21–22. https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html
  • United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Preface to the Revised New American Bible Old Testament.” https://bible.usccb.org/bible/preface/0; New American Bible, Revised Edition, Matthew 6 and Luke 11: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/6, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11
  • English Standard Version, Matthew 6:13 (with footnote) and Luke 11:2. BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+11%3A2%3BMatthew+6%3A13&version=ESV
  • Code of Canon Law (1983), canon 825. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib3-cann822-833_en.html
  • Sociedad Bíblica. “Conoce la historia de la Biblia del Oso.” https://www.sociedadbiblica.org/actualidad/conoce-la-historia-de-la-biblia-del-oso/
  • Deutsche Bischofskonferenz. “Neue Einheitsübersetzung und liturgische Bücher.” https://www.dbk.de/presse/aktuelles/meldung/neue-einheitsuebersetzung-und-liturgische-buecher
  • Alliance biblique française. “Traduction.” https://www.alliancebiblique.fr/traduction

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