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The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is a big book. Well, OK, a big collection of books. In my previous post I discussed its basic contents, organization, and structure, both as found in English translations (which 99% of the Bible readers you know use!) and in the original Hebrew itself.
In this post I will provide two charts to clarify the matter. AFTER that I will give some additional lists that show how different Christian denominations actually have more extended canons of the Old Testament because they accept works that are called the “Apocrypha” by Protestants, but known as “The Deuterocanonical” books by Catholics and others.
(Again, all this taken from my book The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction, Oxford University Press)
CHARTS OF HEBREW AND ENGLISH BIBLES
| THE HEBREW BIBLE | ||
| The Torah (5 books) | Nevi’im (= The Prophets) (8 books) | Kethuvim (= The Writings) (11 books) |
| Genesis | Former Prophets (4 books) | Job |
| Exodus | Joshua | Psalms |
| Leviticus | Judges | Proverbs |
| Numbers | Samuel (count as one book) | Ruth |
| Deuteronomy | Kings (count as one book) | Song of Songs |
| Latter Prophets (4 books) | Ecclesiastes | |
| Isaiah | Lamentations | |
| Jeremiah | Esther | |
| Ezekiel | Daniel | |
| The Twelve (count as one book) | Ezra-Nehemiah (1 book) | |
| Hosea | Chronicles (1 book) | |
| Joel | ||
| Amos | ||
| Obadiah | ||
| Jonah | ||
| Micah | ||
| Nahum | ||
| Habakkuk | ||
| Zephaniah | ||
| Haggai | ||
| Zechariah | ||
| Malachi | ||
| THE ENGLISH BIBLE | ||
| The Historical Books (17 books) | Poetic Books (5 Books) | Prophets (17 books) |
| Pentateuch (5 books) | Job | Major Prophets (5 books) |
| Genesis | Psalms | Isaiah |
| Exodus | Proverbs | Jeremiah |
| Leviticus | Ecclesiastes | Lamentations |
| Numbers | Song of Songs | Ezekiel |
| Deuteronomy | Daniel | |
| Other Historical Books | Minor Prophets (12 books) | |
| (12 books) | Hosea | |
| Joshua | Joel | |
| Judges | Amos | |
| Ruth | Obadiah | |
| 1 and 2 Samuel | Jonah | |
| 1 and 2 Kings | Micah | |
| Ezra | Nahum | |
| Nehemiah | Habakkuk | |
| Esther | Zephaniah | |
| 1 and 2 Chronicles | Haggai
Zechariah Malachi |
|
NOW: as I mentioned, some Christian denominations have additional books in the Old Testament that are not included in the Hebrew Bible or in the Protestant Old Testament. Protestants consider these books to be the “Apocrypha”; the churches that include them consider them “Deuterocanonical.”
There are three categories of these other books, just to keep things confusing: Ten of them are included in all Bibles of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. But the Greek Orthodox Bible and the Slavonic Orthodox Bible have several additional books as well (not in the Roman Catholic canon). These various books are not included at the end in an appendix (as in Protestant Bibles that include the Apocrypha but as non-canonical writings) but are interspersed in appropriate places among the books found in the Hebrew Bible.
SO:
Additional Books in [both] Roman Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments
- Tobit
- Judith
- Additions to Esther
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Ecclesiasticus (also called the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach)
- Baruch
- Letter of Jeremiah
- Additions to Daniel (three additional stories: Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon)
- 1 Maccabees
- 2 Maccabees
Still Other Books in Greek Orthodox Old Testament
- Prayer of Manasseh Psalm 151
- 1 Esdras
- 3 Maccabees
- 4 Maccabees (in an appendix)
And Other Books in Slavonic Orthodox Old Testament
- Prayer of Manasseh Psalm 151
- 2 Esdras
- 3 Esdras
- 3 Maccabees
If you’re interested in basic information about these books, I deal with most of them in my textbook mentioned above.
And yes, all this will be on your final exam….
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Final exam? Yikes!
Brace yourself.
This is fascinating. Do evangelicals or fundamentalists disagree with how/when/why the canon was formed?
I have a renewed interest in reading the Bible as the events happened chronologically. My girlfriends and I are doing a Bible study together. We’re reading both the NIV and NRSV—my idea. I hope nobody ends up getting cranky about it.
Many conservative CHristians (of various kinds) are convinced the canon was more or less completelty formed by the end of the second century.
Matt Baker, of UsefulCharts.com, has some nice posters and YouTube videos on the development of the Christian bible. This one is similar to Bart’s chart above.
https://usefulcharts.com/products/timeline-of-the-bible
Oh boy. You’ve awakened old nightmares of Exams Tomorrow and I Haven’t Opened A Book!
Why did protestants reject the deuterocanonical for use in protestant bibles?
One major reason appears to be that some of the books were useful for establishing CAtholic doctrines such as purgatory not accepted by Protestants
I always thought the “Great Assembly” of 450 BCE, (Anshei Knesset HaGedolah) established the religious and social framework for post-exilic Judaism, with the Assembly’s work including canonization of the Tanakh, which finalized its contents, ensuring no new material would be added after the cessation of prophecy (1 Maccabees 4:45,46, 9:27, 14:41). If this is incorrect what is the evidence against the claim?
It’s clear that the canon was not formed in 450 BCE. For one thing, a number of the books of hte Hebrew Bible were written well after htat date (Daniel was some three centuries later). We know that there wsa not a uniform TNK for centuries from the discussoins and quotatoins of later Jewish authors.
You didn’t address the great assembly. You gave no evidence or reference. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Assembly.
Daniel:In his commentary on Daniel, Jerome refutes Porphery’s suggestion that Daniel was written post Maccabees(see Jerome’s introduction). J.D.Michaelis and J.G.Eichhorn resurrected Porphery’s theory in the 18th century. However, it was abandoned by most/many after the Qumran discoveries. Paleographers who examined Qumran documents told us that the Aramaic of Daniel is the Imperial Aramaic of earlier Persia age, notably different from the 2nd century Palestinian Aramaic of Maccabees(see QumranGenesisApocryphon). The Hebrew of Daniel has the same issues.
Josephus tells the story of Alexander the Great(Antiquities,BookXI,8:4,5) coming against Jerusalem to besiege it, and was met by Jaddua the High Priest. Jaddua read to Alexander from Daniel chapter 8 and told Alexander that he was the Goat(Grecian) who would destroy the empire of the Ram(Persians). AG spared Jerusalem from destruction(330BC). The non-theistic*scholars* make the unsubstantiated claim that the story is fiction, never satisfying the *Burdon of Proof.*Archaeology says different.
Also,Jesus quoted Daniel and said, “When you see….‘SPOKEN OF BY DANIEL THE PROPHET”(Matthew24:15). Daniel wrote prophetically; before Maccabees. He repeatedly says, “I Daniel saw….etc”). Wasn’t Daniel included in LXX,280bc? Also, there were no prophets from Ezra/Nehemiah until Jesus(1 Maccabees 4:45,46,9:27,14:41).
You may be interested in reading scholarly disussions od the formatoin of the biblical canon. Most of them are written by committed theists. (nearly all of them in fact!)