Books of the Bible
The Books of the Bible are listed differently in the canons of Judaism and the Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Slavonic Orthodox, Coptic, Georgian Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches, although there is substantial overlap. A table comparing the canons of some of these traditions appears below, comparing the Jewish Bible with the Christian Old Testament and New Testament. For a detailed discussion of the differences including a more comprehensive table (several essential tables are given below) of Biblical scripture for both Testaments and the intertestamental period with regard to canonical acceptance in Christendom's various major traditions, see Wikipedia's article on "Biblical canon".
The Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches may have minor differences in their lists of accepted books. The list given here for these churches is the most inclusive: if at least one Eastern church accepts the book it is included here.
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[edit] Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)
- Overview
The Old Testament is called by the Jews the Tanakh, an acronym formed by combining the initials of the three sections by which the Jews divide the text: the Torah, or Law (the Pentateuch), the Nevi'im, or Prophets, and the Ketuvim, or Writings or Hagiographa (with vowels added, as Hebrew is written with a consonantal script, TaNaKh). It is called the Hebrew Bible in some scholarly editions, even though it is not written entirely in Hebrew, but in Hebrew and Aramaic. This comes from the use of the word "Hebrew" to designate a people instead of a language: the Hebrew Bible is the Bible of the Hebrew people. The Protestant canon is the same as the Tanakh in content, as decided by the Council of Jamnia. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox receive several additional books in to their canons based their presence in manuscripts of the ancient translation of the Old Testament in to Greek, the Septuagint (although some of these books, such as Sirach and Tobit, are now known to be extant in Hebrew or Aramaic originals, being found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls). Jews, Protestants, and Catholics[1] all use the Masoretic text as the textual basis for their translations of the protocanonical books (those which are received by both Jews and all Christians), with various emendations derived from a multiplicity of other ancient witnesses (such as the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.), while generally using the Septuagint and Vulgate, now supplemented by the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, as the textual basis for the deuterocanonical books. The Eastern Orthodox receive the Septuagint as the textual basis for the entire Old Testament, in books both protocanonical and deuteroncanonical, to be used both in the Greek for liturgical purposes, and as the basis for translations in to the vernacular.[2][3] Most of the quotations (300 of 400) of the Old Testament in the New Testament, while differing more or less from the version presented by the Masoretic text, align with that of the Septuagint.[4]
- Table
The below table uses the spellings and names present in modern editions of the Bible, such as the NABRE, RSV and ESV. The spelling and names in both the 1609–1610 Douay Old Testament (and in the 1582 Rheims New Testament) and the 1749 revision by Bishop Challoner (the edition currently in print used by many Catholics, and the source of traditional Catholic spellings in English) and in the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament in to Greek, which is widely used by the Eastern Orthodox instead of the Masoretic text) differ from those spellings and names used in modern editions which are derived from the Hebrew Masoretic text.[5] For the Orthodox canon, Septuagint titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. For the Catholic canon, the Douaic titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. Likewise, the King James Version references some of these books by the traditional spelling when referring to them in the New Testament, such as "Esaias" (for Isaiah). In the spirit of ecumenism more recent Catholic translations (e.g. the New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, and ecumenical translations used by Catholics, such as the RSV-CE) use the same "standardized" (King James Version) spellings and names as Protestant Bibles (e.g. 1 Chronicles as opposed to the Douaic 1 Paralipomenon, 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings instead of 1-4 Kings) in those books which are universally considered canonical, the protocanonicals. The Talmud in Bava Batra 14b gives a different order for the books in Nevi'im and Ketuvim. This order is also quoted in Mishneh Torah Hilchot Sefer Torah 7:15. It is not clear why the present order of the books in the Tanakh does not match the order given in the Talmud (nor does it match that of the Christian Old Testament). The order of the books of the Torah or Pentateuch are universal through all denominations of Judaism and Christianity.
The disputed books, included in one canon but not in others, are often called the Biblical apocrypha, a term that is sometimes used specifically (and possibly pejoratively in English) to describe the books in the Catholic and Orthodox canons that are absent from the Jewish Masoretic Text (also called the Tanakh or Miqra) and most modern Protestant Bibles. Catholic Christians, following the Canon of Trent, describe these books as deuterocanonical, meaning of "the second canon," while Greek Orthodox Christians, following the Synod of Jerusalem (1672), use the traditional name of anagignoskomena, meaning "that which is to be read." They are present in a few historic Protestant versions: the German Luther Bible included such books, as did the English 1611 King James Version.[6]
Empty table cells indicate that a book is absent from that canon.
[edit] Intertestamental Books
These, the intertestamental books, are called the Biblical apocrypha ("hidden things") by Protestants, the deuterocanon ("second canon") by Catholics, and the deuterocanon or anagignoskomena ("worthy of reading") by Orthodox. These are works recognized by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Churches as being part of scripture (and thus deuterocanonical rather than apocryphal), but Protestants do not recognize them as divinely inspired. Many other Christians recognize them as good, but not on the level of the other books of the Bible. Anglicanism, as stated in the Thirty-nine Articles, considers the apocrypha to be "read for example of life" but not used "to establish any doctrine".[6] Luther made a parallel statement in calling them: "not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read."[20]
The difference in canons derives from the difference in the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. Books found in both the Hebrew and the Greek are accepted by all denominations, and by Jews: these are the protocanonical books. Catholics and Orthodox also accept those books present in manuscripts of the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament with great currency amongst the Jews of the ancient world, with the coda that Catholics consider 3 Esdras and 3 Maccabees apocryphal. Most quotations of the Old Testament in the New, differing by varying degrees from the Masoretic text, are taken from the Septuagint. When the Jews closed the Old Testament canon, two criteria were used: that the book be written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and that it be no younger than the time of Ezra: this process led to the 24/39 books of the Tanakh and Old Testament (even though Daniel was written several hundred years after the time of Ezra, and since that time several books of the Septuagint have been found in the original Hebrew, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Geniza, and at Masada, including a Hebrew text of Sirach (Qumran, Masada) and an Aramaic text of Tobit (Qumran); the additions to Esther and Daniel are also in their respective Semitic languages. As well, the unanimous consensus of modern (and ancient) scholars consider several other books, including 1 Maccabees and Judith, to have been composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. Opinion is divided on the book of Baruch, while it is acknowledged that the Epistle of Jeremiah, the Wisdom of Solomon, and 2 Maccabees are originally Greek compositions.
Further books received by the Eastern Orthodox:
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Further books received by the Syrian Orthodox (due to inclusion in the Peshitta):
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The Ethiopian Tewahedo church does not receive most of the deuterocanonical books of Catholicism nor the anagignoskomena of Eastern Orthodoxy.[23] It receives the 24/39 books of the Masoretic text along with the following books, called the "narrow canon", which are received only by the Ethiopic Tewahedo tradition.[24] The enumeration of books in the Ethiopic Bible varies greatly between different authorities and printings:[25]
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[edit] Pseudepigrapha vs. Apocrypha
Most of those works that Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches call apocryphal — books such as the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 1 Enoch, the Assumption of Moses, the Life of Adam and Eve, and so on — are called by Protestants pseudepigraphal. They are received in none of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, nor Protestant canons. The books of 3-4 Maccabees, 3-4 Esdras, Psalm 151, and the Prayer of Manasseh are those received by at least one Orthodox communion but not by Catholics nor Protestants and are named apocryphal by both.
[edit] New Testament
In general, among Christian denominations, the New Testament canon is an agreed-upon list of 27 books, although book order can vary. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant tradition.[N 1] The Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders to this.
[edit] Chart notes
- ^ a b c d e f Four New Testament works were questioned or "spoken against" by Martin Luther, and he changed the order of his New Testament to reflect this, but he did not leave them out, nor has any Lutheran body since. Traditional German "Luther Bibles" are still printed with the New Testament in this changed "Luther Bible" order.
- ^ a b c d e f The Peshitta, the traditional Syriac Bible, excludes 2 Peter, 2–3 John, Jude, and Revelation, but Bibles of the modern Syriac Orthodox Church include later translations of those books. Still today the lectionary followed by the Syrian Orthodox Church, present lessons from only the twenty-two books of Peshitta.
- ^ See Rabbinical translations of Matthew. Most modern scholars consider the Gospel of Matthew to have been composed in Koine Greek, see Language of the New Testament. According to tradition as expressed by Papias of Hierapolis, writing in the late first or early second centuries, the Gospel was originally composed in the "Hebrew dialect" (which at the time was largely the related Aramaic) and then translated into Greek (Eusebius, "Ecclesiastical History", 3.39.15-16; Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion 30:3). According to Jerome, Hebrew manuscripts of Matthew were extant while he was translating the Vulgate: "Matthew ... composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered (St Jerome, "On Illustrious Men", Chapter 3).
[edit] See also
Book: Abrahamic religions | |
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- Antilegomena
- Apocrypha
- Authorship of the Bible
- Bible
- Bible citation
- Biblical canon
- Christianity
- Deuterocanonical books
- Major prophet
- Twelve Minor Prophets
- Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Liturgiam Authenticam" (in Latin and English.). Vatican City. 7 May. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20010507_liturgiam-authenticam_en.html. Retrieved 18 January 2012. "Canon 24. 'Furthermore, it is not permissible that the translations be produced from other translations already made into other languages; rather, the new translations must be made directly from the original texts, namely ... the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, as the case may be, as regards the texts of Sacred Scripture.'"
- ^ Ware, Timothy (1993). The Orthodox Church: New Edition. Penguin Books. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-14-014656-1.
- ^ "Introduction". Orthodox Study Bible (Annotated ed.). Nashville, TN, USA: Thomas Nelson. 2008. p. 1824. ISBN 978-0-7180-0359-3.
- ^ McLay, R. Timothy (2004). The Use of the Septuagint in New Testament Research. Wm. B. Eerdman's. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-8028-6091-0.
- ^ Generally due to derivation from transliterations of names used in the Latin Vulgate in the case of Catholicism, and from transliterations of the Greek Septuagint in the case of the Orthodox (as opposed to derivation of translations, instead of transliterations, of Hebrew titles) such Ecclesiasticus (DRC) instead of Sirach (LXX) or Ben Sira (Hebrew), Paralipomenon (Greek, meaning "things omitted") instead of Chronicles, Sophonias instead of Zephaniah, Noe instead of Noah, Henoch instead of Enoch, Messias instead of Messiah, Sion instead of Zion, etc.
- ^ a b The foundational Thirty-Nine Articles of Anglicanism, in Article VI, asserts that these disputed books are not (to be) used "to establish any doctrine," but "read for example of life." Though the "Biblical apocrypha" are still used in Anglican Liturgy, ("Two of the hymns used in the American Prayer Book office of Morning Prayer, the Benedictus es and Benedicite, are taken from the Apocrypha. One of the offertory sentences in Holy Communion comes from an apocryphal book (Tob. 4: 8-9). Lessons from the Apocrypha are regularly appointed to be read in the daily, Sunday, and special services of Morning and Evening Prayer. There are altogether 111 such lessons in the latest revised American Prayer Book Lectionary [The books used are: II Esdras, Tobit, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Three Holy Children, and I Maccabees.]" —The Apocrypha, Bridge of the Testaments), the modern trend has been to not even print the Old Testament apocrypha in editions of Anglican-used Bibles.
- ^ The 24 books of the Hebrew Bible are the same as the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament, only divided and ordered differently: the books of the Minor Prophets are in Christian Bibles twelve different books, and in Hebrew Bibles, one book called "The Twelve". Likewise, Christian Bibles divide the Books of Kingdoms in to four books, either 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings or 1-4 Kings: Jewish Bibles divide these in to two books. The Jews likewise keep 1-2 Chronicles/Paralipomenon as one book. Ezra and Nehemiah are likewise combined in the Jewish Bible, as they are in many Orthodox Bibles, instead of divided in to two books, as per the Catholic and Protestant tradition.
- ^ a b c d The books of Samuel and Kings are often called First through Fourth Kings in the Catholic tradition, much like the Orthodox.
- ^ a b c d e f Names in parentheses are the Septuagint names and are often used by the Orthodox Christians.
- ^ a b Some Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Septuagint and the Hebrew bibles by considering the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as one book.
- ^ a b The Catholic and Orthodox Book of Esther includes 103 verses not in the Protestant Book of Esther.
- ^ a b The Latin Vulgate, Douay-Rheims, and Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition place First and Second Maccabees after Malachi; other Catholic translations place them after Esther.
- ^ Eastern Orthodox churches include Psalm 151 and the Prayer of Manasseh, not present in all canons.
- ^ a b In Catholic Bibles, Baruch includes a sixth chapter called the Letter of Jeremiah. Baruch is not in the Protestant Bible or the Tanakh.
- ^ Britannica 1911
- ^ Eastern Orthodox Bibles have the books of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah separate.
- ^ Hebrew (minority view); see Letter of Jeremiah for details.
- ^ a b In Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, Daniel includes three sections not included in Protestant Bibles. The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children are included between Daniel 3:23-24. Susanna is included as Daniel 13. Bel and the Dragon is included as Daniel 14. These are not in the Protestant Old Testament.
- ^ These books are found among the historical and wisdom books of the Christian canons.
- ^ The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopædia and Scriptural Dictionary, Fully Defining and Explaining All Religious Terms, Including Biographical, Geographical, Historical, Archæological and Doctrinal Themes, p.521, edited by Samuel Fallows et al., The Howard-Severance company, 1901,1910. - Google Books
- ^ Including what is known as 5 Ezra (ch. 1-2) and 6 Ezra (ch. 15-16); only chapters 3-14 are denoted 4 Ezra proper in critical editions; the full book of 16 chapters is often printed as one work, "2 Esdras" or "4 Esdras", in popular editions. See Wikipedia's article on the naming conventions of all of the Books of Ezra (and Nehemiah). The naming conventions of the various deuterocanonical and apocryphal Books of Ezra/Esdras are different in every tradition (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Byzantine Catholic, Protestant). Critical editions generally have settled on the Vulgate naming conventions, where Ezra and Nehemiah were 1 and 2 Esdras, Esdras A is 3 Esdras, and the Latin Apocalypse of Ezra is 4 Esdras (Charlesworth's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha).
- ^ a b c Prayer of Azariah, Bel, and Susanna are often enumerated as one book, "Additions to Daniel"
- ^ According to some enumerations, including Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Tobit, 1 Esdras, 4 Ezra (not including chs. 1-2 or 15-16), Wisdom, the rest of Daniel, Baruch, and 1-2 Maccabees
- ^ These books are accounted pseudepigrapha by all other Christian groups, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox (Charlesworth's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Introduction)
- ^ http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Bible/Text/Canon/ethiopican.html
- ^ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapter 39.15-16
- ^ Hieronymous (St Jerome), Eusebius Sophronius (1999). On Illustrious Men (Fathers of the Church). Catholic University of America Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-8132-0100-9.
- ^ Philip Schaff (editors), Church Fathers; Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson (1994). The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Series II, Volume VI: Jerome, Letters and Select Works. Hendrickson. p. 8000. ISBN 978-1-56563-116-8.
- ^ Contemporary scholars believe the Hebrews to have been written in Greek, though a minority believe it was originally written in Hebrew, then translated into Greek by Luke. See Wikipedia's New Testament article.
[edit] External links
- Old Testament Reading Room & New Testament Reading Room: Extensive online resources for biblical studies (Tyndale Seminary)
- The Canon of Scripture – a Catholic perspective
- Table of Tanakh Books – includes Latin, English, Hebrew and abbreviated names (from Tel Aviv University).
- Judaica Press Translation – Online Jewish translation of the books of the Bible. The Tanakh and Rashi's entire commentary.
- (Old Church Slavonic) Slavonic Bible
- Books of the Apocrypha (from the UMC)
- Western Armenian Bible (an essay, with full official canon at the end)
- H. Schumacher, The Canon of the New Testament (London 1923), pp. 84–94.
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