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Summary
- A Protestant Bible has 66 books (39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New), a Catholic Bible 73, the Hebrew Bible 24, the Greek Orthodox Bible 77 by our count and the Ethiopian Bible 81.
- The Hebrew Bible’s 24 books hold the same text as the Protestant 39: Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra–Nehemiah and the twelve minor prophets are each counted as one book.
- Catholic Bibles add Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and 1 and 2 Maccabees, with longer Esther and Daniel; the King James Version of 1611 printed 14 such books as an Apocrypha section, for 80 in all.
- Orthodox Bibles add more, such as 1 Esdras and 3 Maccabees, and the Ethiopian church keeps Enoch and Jubilees. All Christian Bibles share the same 27 New Testament books, except the Ethiopian, which reckons 35.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b. https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.14b
- Josephus, Against Apion 1.8, translated by William Whiston. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2849/2849-h/2849-h.htm
- 2 Esdras (4 Ezra) 14:44–46, World English Bible. https://ebible.org/eng-web/2ES14.htm
- The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text (Jewish Publication Society, 1917), contents. https://archive.org/details/holyscripturesac0000vari_o8n2
- Jerome, Preface to Samuel and Kings (about 391), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 6. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.vii.iii.iv.html
- Jerome, Preface to the books of Solomon, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 6. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.vii.iii.x.html
- Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 2.8.13 (about 397), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1st series, vol. 2. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.v.v.viii.html
- Council of Florence, Bull of union with the Copts (4 February 1442). https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum17.htm
- Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), Decree concerning the canonical Scriptures, translated by J. Waterworth (1848). https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct04.html
- The Clementine Vulgate (1592), note to its appendix, quoted by Edmon Gallagher. https://sanctushieronymus.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-vulgate-appendix.html
- Sixtus of Siena, New Catholic Encyclopedia. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sixtus-siena-0
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 120. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PR.HTM
- The New American Bible on vatican.va: contents and notes. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/_INDEX.HTM
- Martin Rösel on the Apocrypha in Luther’s Bible of 1534. https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/160629/Roesel_094.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
- The Holy Bible (King James Version, 1611), contents page, scan on archive.org. https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_the-holy-bible-conteyni_bible-english_1611
- Articles of Religion, Article VI, in the Book of Common Prayer (1928, United States). http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Articles.htm
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), chapter 1, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds3.iv.xvii.ii.html
- Confession of Dositheus, Synod of Jerusalem (1672), Question 3. http://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html
- Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, online Old Testament. https://apostoliki-diakonia.gr/team-categories/old-testament/
- Psalm 151, Apostoliki Diakonia online Bible. https://apostoliki-diakonia.gr/bible/psalmoi/?file=24.150
- Orthodox Church in America, “Canon of Scripture”. https://www.oca.org/questions/scripture/canon-of-scripture
- Orthodox Church in America, “The Old Testament: Wisdom”. https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/doctrine-scripture/old-testament/wisdom
- Orthodox Church in America, “The Bible: Word of God”. https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/doctrine-scripture/the-bible/word-of-god
- Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (excerpt). https://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/history_timothy_ware_2.htm
- Russian Synodal Bible, azbyka.ru. https://azbyka.ru/biblia/
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, “The Canonical Books”. https://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/canonical/books.html
- R. W. Cowley, “The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today”, Ostkirchliche Studien 23 (1974), 318–23 (online transcription). https://www.islamic-awareness.org/bible/text/canon/ethiopican.html
- Bruk A. Asale, “The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Canon of the Scriptures: Neither Open nor Closed”, The Bible Translator 67 (2016). https://translation.bible/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/asale-2016-the-ethiopian-orthodox-tewahedo-church-canon-of-the-scriptures-neither-open-nor-closed.pdf
- Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, diocese of North America, “Canonized books”. https://english.eritreantewahdo.org/?sermons=canonized-books
- Jude 14–15, World English Bible. https://ebible.org/eng-web/JUD01.htm
- World English Bible, with the deuterocanonical books, ebible.org. https://ebible.org/eng-web/
- R. H. Charles, The Book of Enoch (1912). https://archive.org/details/cu31924067146773
- R. H. Charles, The Book of Jubilees (1902). https://archive.org/details/cu31924060029984
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