The protestant bible has 66 books in total and catholic bible has 73 books. Beginning with moses, who wrote the first five books of the bible, these books were written over the centuries by prophets and leaders. Old testament books table of the 39 books of the old. Many people are blinded by their hate of the catholic church, however if you research you will find that many things we hold dear. Catholic old testaments include 1st and 2nd maccabees, baruch, tobit, judith, the wisdom of solomon, sirach ecclesiasticus, additions to esther, and. They remained in the appendix of protestant bibles until about 1826, and then they were removed altogether. As you may know, the catholic and protestant bibles differ in the number of books that each considers to be divinely inspired.
We protestants accept thirtynine books of the old testament, all written in hebrew with a few parts in aramaic, while. In christianity, the old testament is the name of the first part of the bible, the one written before jesus christ. The hebrew bible recognizes the books referred to as the old testament in the protestant bible, but not the apocryphaldeuterocanonical books or the new testament. Canonical order of bible books although the bible makes more sense when read chronologically, it was originally organized by content. The hebrew bible recognizes the books referred to as the old testament in the protestant bible, but not the apocryphaldeuterocanonical books or. A protestant bible is a christian bible whose translation or revision was produced by protestants. There are supposed to be 39 books in the old testament. The expression old testament was first used by christians in the middle of the second century to describe the books which they shared with judaism when they were putting together their own collection of writings which later became known as the new testament. Protestantisms old testament problem catholic answers. Such bibles comprise 39 books of the old testament according to the jewish hebrew bible canon, known especially to nonprotestants as the protocanonical books and 27 books of the new testament for a total of 66 books. Tobit, judith, baruch, wisdom, sirach, 1 and 2 maccabees, and parts of esther and daniel. From second esdras and josephus, however, we learn that the present hebrew and protestant canon of the old testament had already for some time been practically adopted by common consent.
Judaica press translation online jewish translation of the books of the bible. Old testament historical books 12 books bible blog. Why are there 39 books and 46 books in the old testament. Each book has its own separate chapter index, because waiting for all the chapter links of the old testament books to appear on one page can take a while.
Torah law nevaiim prophets kethuvim writings the table shows the relation between the jewish tanakh and the christian old testament. How is the hebrew bible different from the christian old. There are no extra books in the bible, however protestants have taken out seven books that were in it for 1500 years. Just click any books name, and get a highlevel idea of what its about. The roman catholic church added seven books to the old testament at the council of trent in the sixteenth century. Thus the first six old testament books were given their final form. Why did the vatican remove 14 books from the bible in 1684. This article provides a list of books of the bible and includes both the old testament and the new testament books in the holy bible and their descriptions. The catholic old testament includes 7 additional books e. Im looking for the preferred order for a firsttime reader. Music video to help students learnremember the books of the old testament catholic canon.
Contents of the last group of writings the last collection, which includes. The old testament or jewish tanakh is the first book of the bible. List of books of the bible, including both the old and new. Protestant bibles by greg witherow catholic bibles contain old testament books not found in protestant bibles and as such catholics are sometimes asked to explain this discrepancy. Theyre listed in the order they show up in protestant bibles. The hebrew bible includes the same books as the protestant old testament but combines a number of books e. The last book in the old testament is malachi, according to the christian reordering of the books. The first five historical books of the old testament are discussed in the blog books of moses the next 12 books detail the history of gods people, of ancient israels formation, rise to prominence, collapse into moral and physical defeat, and restoration.
In what order should the books of the protestant bible. Why does the roman catholic church accept the books of the. Yet, the books of the old testament apocrypha are rejected because they are not quoted. By comparison, the books of the catholic bible include all 66 in the previous list plus seven extra books. With this background, we can now address why the protestant versions of the bible have less books than the catholic versions. What is the difference between protestant and catholic bibles. Their omission in protestant bibles leaves a chronological gap in salvation history.
The first step in assembling the bible involves the 39 books of the old testament, also referred to as the hebrew bible. Among contemporary christians, the roman catholic church recognizes as deuterocanonical several books that are consigned to the old testament apocrypha by most protestant bodies, whose canon conforms to that of the contemporary hebrew bible. Why did martin luther remove 7 books from the bible. The catholic bible includes seven additional books within the old testament note. These were the last books of the old testament written, composed in the last two centuries b. Which books have the protestant bible left out that the. The quran calls the first five books of the old testament the tawrat. The most noticeable differences occur in the number of books included and the order in which they have been arranged. For reference, the books of the bible are listed on wikipedia. I wouldnt say relationships with imaginary people is a waste of time. The old testament is comprised of 39 books in the protestant bible.
This is a list of books of the protestant old testament in the english language. The formation of the old testament canon bible hub. Martin luther was not afraid to challenge the canon of scripture. The result is that these versions of the bible have more old testament books than most protestant versions. Both jews and christians believe these texts to be holy. While this is true of your bible, this has not always been the case, and it certainly wasnt in jesus time. It helps a lot of people through tough times and i am not talking about just religion. This 22 book canon identical to the protestant old testament was the old testament canon used by many of the early church fathers. In 1534, martin luther translated the bible into german.
So instead of the original 22 books which became 24 books in current hebrew bible versions by separating several books into two and combining others, now christians had 39 separate books that we call the old testament and we also had a new design for the books. The last book in the old testament is definitely malachi, but ill explain more. Though this alteration of the new testament wasnt adopted by the protestant movements, his alteration of the old testament was, and by the end of the reformation protestantism had removed seven books the deuterocanonicals. He relegated four new testament books to an appendix, denying that they were divinely inspired. For example, the hebrew bible has one book of samuel, while the protestant bible has i and ii. Table of tanakh books includes latin, english, hebrew and abbreviated names from tel aviv university.
Its always good to start a disagreement with agreement. The modern jewish bible goes by the name tanakh tnk, which is an acronym formed from its three primary divisions. The name stands for the original promise with god to the descendants of abraham in particular prior to the coming of jesus christ in the new testament or the new promise. The protestant old testament includes exactly the same information, but organized into 39 books. In the hebrew bible, which has the same content as the protestant old testament, there are twentyfour books. In the year 1611 the bible was translated from latin into english. However, timewise, the last book actually written was. Back then the bible contained a total of 80 books and the last 14 books, which today have been excluded, made up the end of the old testament and were as follows. The old testament contains 39 protestant, 46 catholic, or more orthodox and other books, divided, very broadly, into the pentateuch torah, the historical books, the wisdom books and the prophets the table below uses the spellings and names present in modern editions of the christian bible, such as the catholic new american bible revised edition and the protestant revised standard. What is the last book in the protestant old testament.
I have written an article on the difference between the catholic and protestant bibles. He grouped the seven deuterocanonical books of the old testament under the title apocrypha, declaring. These books are called deuterocanonical by catholics and orthodox and apocryphal by jews and protestants. Books of the bible list order complete new and old testament. The canon of the old testament, its manuscripts, editions and ancient versions are treated in the articles bible. What is the last book of the old testament answers. The old testament books in chronological order list. It contains the origin and creation of the universe, the exodus from egypt, the formation of israel the prophets and the wisdom books.
The old testament is largely an account of gods dealings with israel. Accordingly christ at the last supper speaks of the blood of the new testament. Why did martin luther remove seven 7 books from the. Thus, certain old testament books not quoted by jesus, or anywhere else in the new testament, are still considered scripture by protestants.
The roman catholic church, eastern orthodox church, russian orthodox and ethiopic church, add a number of books to the old testament that are not accepted by protestants or by the jews. The books of the old testament are listed below, each of them linked to their chapter index. The roman catholic canon also includes the deuterocanonical books as part of the old testament these are considered apocryphal by most protestants. In this short essay we will briefly cover the differences between the catholic and protestant bibles and the reasons behind those differences. Malachi was the last book of the protestant and jewish old testament written. Why are the books of the bible placed in a particular. The catholic bible has 73 books, the protestant only 66. In judaism, the collection of inspired books is known as tanakh. Thats about as much common ground as you may have to build on.
The following table contains a list of the 39 old testament books as listed in a typical protestant bible. Saint jerome, the church scholar who translated the first complete christian canon of the bible into latin in 405, arranged the sixtysix books into categories of content. Both the jewish bible and the hebrew canon in a protestant bible aka old testament contain 39 books, whereas a catholic bible contains 46 books in the old testament. So before you explain the catholic canon of the old testament to protestant, agree that no one has the right to add or subtract books from the bible. List of bible books books of the old testament and new. The protestant bible consists of 66 books which are considered to be divinely inspired. Here you can find quick, 3minute guides to every book of the old testament. Martin luther, without any authority whatsoever, removed those seven books and placed them in an appendix during the reformation. The old testament also known as the jewish tanakh is the first 39 books in most christian bibles.