There are seventy-three books in the Canon of the Catholic Bible; forty-six in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. The canon of Scripture refers to the final collection of inspired books included in the Bible. The Catholic Bible contains seven books that do not appear in the Protestant Old Testament. These seven writings are called the deuterocanonicals or the Second Law. Protestants usually call these writings the Apocrypha (meaning
hidden), books they consider outside the canon. These seven writings include 1 and 2 Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, Sirach, Wisdom, and Baruch, along with additional passages in Daniel and Esther. Before the time of Christ, these writings were included in the Jewish Greek Septuagint (LXX)-the Greek translation of Jewish Scripture-but they were not included in the Hebrew Masoretic text.
Until the Protestant Reformation the Catholic Bible was the only edition since, obviously, there was no other major denomination till then.
The Old Testament portion of the Protestant Bible is based on the Jewish
Council of Jamnia (90 AD),{R.C. note: The "Council of Jamnia" was postulated by a man in the nineteenth century as "what must have happened" but no proof has ever existed that such a council ever took place} whereas the Old Testament portion of the Catholic Bible is based on the
Septuagint (250 BC). The Seven books that were dropped in the
Council of Jamnia (90 AD) were:
Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Esther 10:4-16-16:24 and Daniel 3:24-90 and 13:1-14:42. Until the Protestant Reformation, these books were in the recognised canons as approved by the Catholic Church. After the Reformation, the
Council of Trent (1545-1563 AD) reaffirmed the Canon as approved by Pope Damasus and the
Synod of Rome (382), the local
Councils of Hippo (393) and
Carthage (397), and the Canon contained in the
Latin Vulgate translation (420) as the Holy Bible.
Roman Catholic Answerfrom Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980
Books of the Bible
The Catholic Church has more than once taught what books are to be regarded as inspired and therefore belong to the Bible. At the Council of Trent, in 1546, the biblical canon was solemnly defined and the Vulgate declared to be authentic:
"The council follows the example of the orthodox Fathers and with the same sense of devotion and reverence with which it accepts and venerates all the books both of the Old and the New Testament, since one God is the author of both, it also accepts and venerates traditions concerned with faith and morals as having been received orally from Christ or inspired by the Holy Spirit and continuously preserved in the Catholic Church. It judged, however, that a list of the Sacred Books should be written into this decree so that no one may doubt which books the council accepts. The list is here given.
"The Old Testament: five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Josua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two of Paralipomenon; the first book of Esdras and the second, which is called Nehemias; Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, Dave's Psalter of one hundred and fifty psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias with Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel; the twelve minor prophets, that is Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, Malachias; two books of Machabees, the first and the second.
"The New Testament: the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles, written by The Evangelist Luke; fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul: to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews; two epistles of the Apostle Peter, three of the Apostle John, one of the Apostles James, one of the Apostle Jude; and the Apocalypse of the Apostle John. Moreover, if anyone does not accept these books as sacred and canonical in their entirety, with all their parts, according to the text usually read in the Catholic Church and as they are in the ancient Latin Vulgate, but knowingly and willfully contemns the traditions previously mentioned: let him be anathema.
"Moreover, since the same sacred council has thought that it would be very useful for the Church of God if it were know which one of all the Latin editions that are in circulation is the authentic edition, it determines and decrees that the ancient Vulgate, which has been approved in the church by the use of many centuries, should be considered the authentic edition in public readings, disputations, preaching, and explanations; and that no one should presume or date to reject it under any pretext whatever" (Denzinger 1501-6).
A standard listing of the books of the bible, according to the directives of Pope Pius XII, shows a number of variants in the titles of the books, their division and sequence, as follows:
Old Testament
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Tobit
Judith
Esther
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom
Ecclesiasticus
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
New Testament
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
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