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{{Short description|Catholic Church canon of Bible books}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
[[File:Prologus Ioanni - Vulgata Clementina (Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 1922, p. 197).jpg|thumb|The prologue of the [[Gospel of John]], [[Sixto-Clementine Vulgate]], 1922 edition]]
{{Catholic Church sidebar}}
The term '''''Catholic Bible''''' can be understood in two ways. More generally, it can refer to a [[Christian Bible]] that includes the whole 73-book [[Biblical canon#Western Church|canon]] recognized by the [[Catholic Church]], including some of the [[deuterocanonical books]] (and parts of books) of the [[Old Testament]] which are in the Greek [[Septuagint]] collection, but which are not present in the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[Masoretic Text]] collection. More specifically, the term can refer to a version or translation of the Bible which is published with the Catholic Church's approval, in accordance with [[Catholic canon law]]. The current official version of the Catholic Church is the {{lang|la|[[Nova Vulgata]]}}.

According to the [[Decretum Gelasianum]] (a work written by an anonymous scholar between AD 519 and 553), Catholic Church officials cited a list of books of [[scripture]] presented as having been made canonical at the [[Council of Rome]] (382). Later, the Catholic Church formally affirmed its canon of scripture with the [[Synod of Hippo]] (393), followed by a [[Council of Carthage]] (397), another Council of Carthage (419), the [[Council of Florence]] (1431–1449), and the [[Council of Trent]] (1545–1563). The canon consists of 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the [[New Testament]], for a total of 73 books in the Catholic Bible.<ref>{{cite book |title=New Catholic Encyclopedia |date=2003 |publisher=Catholic University of America |pages=20, 26 |isbn=978-0-7876-4004-0 |edition=Vol. 3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-QpAQAAMAAJ&q=%E2%80%9CThe+Council+of+Trent+definitively+settled%22++the+matter+of+the++Canon.+That+this+had+not+been+done+previously+is+apparent++New+Catholic+Encyclopedia |access-date=25 July 2021}}</ref>

== Books included ==
{{See also|Old Testament#Content|New Testament#Content}}
The Catholic Bible is composed of 73 books: an [[Old Testament]] of 46 books (including 7 [[deuterocanonical books]] and additional deuterocanonical content in 2 books) and a [[New Testament]] of 27 books.

===Old Testament (46 books)===
The 7 deuterocanonical books are indicated by an asterisk (*) and the 2 books with additional deuterocanonical material by a plus sign (+)
* '''[[Torah|Pentateuch]] (5)''': [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], [[Leviticus]], [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]], [[Deuteronomy]]
* '''[[Historical books]] (16)''': [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]], [[Book of Judges|Judges]], [[Book of Ruth|Ruth]], [[Books of Samuel|1 Samuel]], [[Books of Samuel|2 Samuel]], [[Books of Kings|1 Kings]], [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]], [[Books of Chronicles|1 Chronicles]], [[Books of Chronicles|2 Chronicles]], [[Book of Ezra|Ezra]], [[Book of Nehemiah|Nehemiah]], [[Book of Tobit|Tobit]] (*), [[The Book of Judith|Judith]] (*), [[Book of Esther|Esther]] (+), [[1 Maccabees]] (*), [[2 Maccabees]] (*)
* '''[[Poetic Books]] (7)''': [[Book of Job|Job]], [[Psalms]], [[Book of Proverbs|Proverbs]], [[Ecclesiastes]], [[Song of Songs]], [[Book of Wisdom|Wisdom of Solomon]] (*), [[Sirach]] (*)
* '''[[Prophetic books]] (18)''': [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]], [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]], [[Book of Lamentations|Lamentations]], [[Book of Baruch|Baruch]] (*), [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]], [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] (+), [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]], [[Book of Joel|Joel]], [[Book of Amos|Amos]], [[Book of Obadiah|Obadiah]], [[Book of Jonah|Jonah]], [[Book of Micah|Micah]], [[Book of Nahum|Nahum]], [[Book of Habakkuk|Habakkuk]], [[Book of Zephaniah|Zephaniah]], [[Book of Haggai|Haggai]], [[Book of Zechariah|Zechariah]], [[Book of Malachi|Malachi]]

The [[Sixto-Clementine Vulgate]] and the original [[Douay–Rheims Bible]] also included in an appendix three books whose [[Biblical canon|canonicity]] was questioned: [[1 Esdras]], [[2 Esdras]], and [[Prayer of Manasseh]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sanctushieronymus.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-vulgate-appendix.html?m=1|title=Our Beans: The Vulgate Appendix|date=23 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1610A.d.DouayOldTestament1582A.d.RheimsNewTestament_176/page/n1970/mode/2up|title = 1610 A.D. Douay Old Testament, 1582 A.D. Rheims New Testament}}</ref>

===New Testament (27 books)===
* '''[[The Gospels]] (4)''': [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], [[Gospel of John|John]]
* '''Historical book (1)''': [[Acts of the Apostles]]
* '''[[Pauline epistles]] (13)''': [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]], [[1 Corinthians]], [[2 Corinthians]], [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]], [[Epistle to Ephesians|Ephesians]], [[Philippians]], [[Colossians]], [[1 Thessalonians]], [[2 Thessalonians]], [[1 Timothy]], [[2 Timothy]], [[Epistle to Titus|Titus]], [[Epistle to Philemon|Philemon]]
* '''[[Epistle to the Hebrews|Hebrews]] (1)'''
* '''[[General epistles]] (7)''': [[Epistle of James|James]], [[1 Peter]], [[2 Peter]], [[1 John]], [[2 John]], [[3 John]], [[Epistle of Jude|Jude]]
* '''Prophetic book (1)''': [[Book of Revelation|Apocalypse of John]]

== Canon law ==
{{Main|Canon law of the Catholic Church}}
The term "Catholic Bible" also refers to a Bible published in accordance with the prescriptions of [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Catholic canon law]], which states:
{{Blockquote|Books of the sacred scriptures cannot be published unless the Apostolic See or the conference of bishops has approved them. For the publication of their translations into the vernacular, it is also required that they be approved by the same authority and provided with necessary and sufficient annotations.

With the permission of the Conference of Bishops, Catholic members of the Christian faithful in collaboration with separated brothers and sisters can prepare and publish translations of the sacred scriptures provided with appropriate annotations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib3-cann822-833_en.html|title=Code of Canon Law - Book III - The teaching function of the Church (Cann. 822-833)|website=www.vatican.va}}</ref>|source=[[Canon (canon law)|Canon]] 825 of the [[1983 Code of Canon Law|1983 ''Code of Canon Law'']]}}

== Principles of translation ==
{{Integralism}}

Without diminishing the authority of the texts of the books of Scripture in the original languages, the [[Council of Trent]] declared the [[Vulgate]] the official translation of the Bible for the [[Latin Church]], but did not forbid the making of translations directly from the original languages.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pope Pius XII|title=''Divino afflante Spiritu'', 20–22|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html|website=Holy See|access-date=13 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Akin|first1=James|title=Uncomfortable Facts About The Douay–Rheims|url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4300&CFID=5921976&CFTOKEN=10955759|website=CatholicCulture.org|access-date=13 January 2015}}</ref> [[Ronald Knox]], the author of what has been called the [[Knox Bible]], a [[Dynamic and formal equivalence|formal equivalence]] mode bible, wrote: "When I talk about translating the Bible, I mean translating the Vulgate."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Knox|first1=Ronald Arbuthnott|title=On Englishing the Bible|date=1949|publisher=Burns, Oates|page=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e4BLAAAAIAAJ&q=knox+vulgate+%22on+englishing+the+bible%22}}</ref> Today, the version of the Bible that is used in official documents in [[Latin]] is the [[Nova Vulgata]], a revision of the Vulgate.<ref name="scripturarum">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19790425_scripturarum-thesaurus_en.html|title=Scripturarum Thesarurus, Apostolic Constitution, 25 April 1979, John Paul II|publisher=Vatican: The Holy See|access-date=19 December 2013}}</ref>

The original Bible text is, according to Catholics, "written by the inspired author himself and has more authority and greater weight than any, even the very best, translation whether ancient or modern".<ref>''[https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu.html Divino Afflante Spiritu]'', 16</ref>

The principles expounded in [[Pope Pius XII]]'s [[encyclical]] ''[[Divino afflante Spiritu]]'' regarding exegesis or interpretation, as in commentaries on the Bible, apply also to the preparation of a translation. These include the need for familiarity with the original languages and other cognate languages, the study of ancient codices and even papyrus fragments of the text and the application to them of textual criticism, "to insure that the sacred text be restored as perfectly as possible, be purified from the corruptions due to the carelessness of the copyists and be freed, as far as may be done, from glosses and omissions, from the interchange and repetition of words and from all other kinds of mistakes, which are wont to make their way gradually into writings handed down through many centuries".<ref>''Divino Afflante Spiritu'', 17</ref>

A Catholic Bible, therefore, contains a translation of scripture that valid Church authorities have found to be in conformity with Catholic teaching and have also approved for use by Catholics for personal prayer and study or, in some cases, also in liturgy. This approval is typically indicated by the presence of an [[imprimatur]]. However, in the interest of collaborating with other Christian traditions in joint translation projects, the [[Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity]] states:
{{Blockquote|In some circumstances, it may be wise to consider a preface including a joint recommendation by ecclesiastical authorities instead of a formal nihil obstat and imprimatur.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/documenti/altri-testi/en.pdf|title=
Guidelines for Interconfessional Cooperation in Translating the Bible, section 2.8|website=www.christianunity.va}}</ref>|source=
Guidelines for Interconfessional Cooperation in Translating the Bible, section 2.8}}

== Catholic English versions ==

The following are English versions of the Bible that correspond to the description above and canon law:
<!-- This table taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_English_Bible_translations#Catholic_translations -->

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Abbreviation || Name || Date
|-
| DRB || [[Douay–Rheims Bible]] || 1582, 1609, 1610{{efn|The New Testament was published in 1582, the Old Testament in two volumes, one in 1609, the other in 1610. The Old Testament was followed by three Apocrypha books which are in the appendix of the [[Clementine Vulgate]]; [[Prayer of Manasseh]], [[3 Esdras]], and [[4 Esdras]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/1610A.d.DouayOldTestament1582A.d.RheimsNewTestament_176|title=1610 A.D. Douay Old Testament, 1582 A.D. Rheims New Testament|access-date=5 April 2023|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>}}
|-
| DRB || [[Douay–Rheims Bible#Challoner Revision|Douay–Rheims Bible Challoner Revision]] || 1749–1752
|-
| CB || [[Confraternity Bible]] || 1941{{efn|NT released in 1941. The OT contained material from the Challoner Revision until the entire OT was completed in 1969. This Old Testament became the basis for the 1970 NAB}}
|-
| Knox || [[Knox Bible]] || 1950
|-
| KLNT || [[James Kleist|Kleist]]–[[Joseph Lilly|Lilly]] New Testament || 1956{{efn|New Testament only; Gospels by James Kleist, rest by Joseph Lilly.}}
|-
| RSV || [[Revised Standard Version]] - [[Oxford Annotated Bible]] || 1965<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/archive/6629586/the-bible-one-for-all-at-last/|title=The Bible: One for All at Last|access-date=14 March 2025}}</ref>
|-
| RSV–CE || [[Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition]] || 1966
|-
| JB || [[Jerusalem Bible]] || 1966
|-
| NEB || [[New English Bible]] || 1970<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catholicbibles.blogspot.com/2017/02/guest-post-revised-english-bible-part-3.html?showComment=1488327011341#c4528846068513056002|title=Guest Post: The Revised English Bible (Part 3)|access-date=14 March 2025}}</ref>
|-
| NAB || [[New American Bible]] || 1970
|-
| TLB–CE || [[The Living Bible|The Living Bible Catholic Edition]] || 1971
|-
| NJB || [[New Jerusalem Bible]] || 1985
|-
| CCB || [[Christian Community Bible]] || 1988
|-
| REB || [[Revised English Bible]] || 1989<ref>{{Cite web |author=Marc |date=August 22, 2018 |url=https://catholicbibletalk.com/2018/08/a-few-days-with-the-revised-english-bible-part-1/ |title=A Few Days with the Revised English Bible: Part 1 |website=Catholic Bible Talk |type=Blog |access-date=14 March 2025}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=March 2025}}
|-
| NRSV–CE || [[New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition]] || 1993
|-
| GNT–CE || [[Good News Bible|Good News Translation Catholic Edition]]{{efn|Formerly known as the Today's English Version}}||1993
|-
| RSV–2CE || [[Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition#RSV Second Catholic Edition (RSV-2CE)|Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition]] || 2006
|-
| CTS–NCB || [[Jerusalem Bible#Updates|CTS New Catholic Bible]] || 2007{{efn|The Jerusalem Bible except for the Book of Psalms, which is replaced by the Grail Psalms, and with the word "Yahweh" altered to "the Lord", as directed by the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] for Bibles intended to be used in the liturgy.<ref name=Letter/>}}
|-
| NABRE || [[New American Bible Revised Edition]] || 2011/1986 (OT/NT)
|-
| NLT-CE || [[New Living Translation| New Living Translation Catholic Edition]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://c-b-f.org/en/News/Regions/Asia/South-Asia/launch-of-the-new-living-translation-catholic-edition|title=Launch of the new living translation catholic edition|website=c-b-f.org|access-date=15 March 2020}}</ref>|| 2015
|-
| ESV-CE || [[English Standard Version| English Standard Version Catholic Edition]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=495081|title=Bengaluru: Catholic edition of ESV Bible launched|website=www.daijiworld.com}}</ref>|| 2017
|-
|NCB
|St. Joseph New Catholic Bible{{efn|Approved by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines<ref>{{Cite web|title=First Look: New Catholic Bible (NCB) from Catholic Book Publishing Company – Catholic Bible Talk|date=8 November 2019 |url=http://catholicbibletalk.com/2019/11/first-look-new-catholic-bible-ncb-from-catholic-book-publishing-company/|access-date=2021-03-07|language=en-US}}</ref>}}
|2019<ref>{{Cite web|title=ISBN 9781947070417 - St. Joseph New Catholic Bible|url=https://isbnsearch.org/isbn/9781947070417|access-date=2021-03-07|website=isbnsearch.org}}</ref>
|-
| RNJB || [[Revised New Jerusalem Bible]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dltbooks.com/titles/2240-9780232533620-revised-new-jerusalem-bible-study-edition|title=The Revised New Jerusalem Bible: Study Edition|website=dltbooks.com|access-date=18 November 2019}}</ref>|| 2019
|-

|}

In 2013, ''[[The Message (Bible)|The Message]] - Catholic / Ecumenical Edition'' was also published, with the deuterocanonical books translated by a Catholic scholar, William Griffin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.themessagecatholic.com/|title=The Message - CatholicEcumenical Edition|website=The Message - CatholicEcumenical Edition|access-date=5 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-07-26|title=Catholics get 'The Message' in new edition of Bible|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/catholics-get-message-new-edition-bible|access-date=2020-01-17|website=National Catholic Reporter|language=en|quote=Griffin said he used the Catholic-approved New Latin Vulgate as the basis for his translations.}}</ref>

== Languages with a Catholic translation of the Bible ==
Precise details of how many languages a full Catholic version of the Bible has been translated into that correspond to the description above and canon law are hard to establish but by 2025 the Global Bible Catalogue contained over 1200 entries in 191 languages for Bibles that included deuterocanonical books.<ref>{{Cite web |access-date=April 21, 2025 |title=Global Bible Catalogue |url=https://globalbiblecatalogue.org/#/bibles |url-status=live}}</ref>

Recent translations include a translation in both official written languages of Norway, Bokmål and Nynorsk,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wimmer |first=AC |date=March 18, 2024 |title=Norwegian Bishop Celebrates Nordic Country’s First Catholic Bible |url=https://www.ncregister.com/cna/norwegian-bishop-celebrates-nordic-country-s-first-catholic-bible |url-status=live |access-date=21 March 2025 |work=National Catholic Register}}</ref> and Kibeembe in the Republic of Congo,<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 10, 2024 |title=Beembe Bible Produced in the Republic of Congo |url=https://unitedbiblesocieties.org/beembe-bible-produced-in-the-republic-of-congo/ |url-status=live |access-date=21 March 2025 |website=United Bible Societies}}</ref> both published in 2024.

== Differences from Catholic lectionaries ==

[[Lectionary|Lectionaries]] for use in the [[liturgy]] differ somewhat in text from the Bible versions on which they are based. Many liturgies, including the [[Roman Rite|Roman]], omit some verses in the biblical readings that they use.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Booneau|first1=Normand|title=The Sunday Lectionary|date=1998|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-2457-9|pages=50–±51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UoL-rdQ9I3oC&q=omission+of+verses+from+readings&pg=PA51|access-date=13 January 2015}}</ref>

Another difference concerns the usage of the [[Tetragrammaton]]. ''[[Yahweh]]'' appears in some Bible translations such as the [[Jerusalem Bible]] (1966) throughout the Old Testament. Long-standing Jewish and Christian tradition holds that the name is not to be spoken in worship or printed in liturgical texts out of reverence.<ref name="Letter">{{cite web|last1=Arinze|first1=Francis|last2=Ranjith|first2=Malcolm|title=Letter to the Bishops Conferences on The Name of God|url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/dominus.html|website=Bible Research: Internet Resources for Students of Scripture|access-date=13 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="Gilligan">{{cite web|last1=Gilligan|first1=Michael|title=Use of Yahweh in Church Songs|url=http://www.americancatholicpress.org/Father_Gilligan_Yahweh.html|website=American Catholic Press|access-date=13 January 2015}}</ref> A 2008 letter from the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] explicitly forbids the use of the name in worship texts, stating: "For the translation of the biblical text in modern languages, intended for the liturgical usage of the Church, what is already prescribed by n. 41 of the Instruction ''[[Liturgiam authenticam]]'' is to be followed; that is, the divine tetragrammaton is to be rendered by the equivalent of [[Names of God in Judaism#Adonai|Adonai]]/[[Kyrios]]; Lord, Signore, Seigneur, Herr, Señor, etc."<ref name="Letter" />

Currently,{{when|date=May 2024}} there is only one lectionary reported to be in use corresponding exactly to an in-print Catholic Bible translation: the [[Ignatius Press]] lectionary based on the [[Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition#Second Edition|Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic (or Ignatius) Edition (RSV-2CE)]] approved for liturgical use in the [[Antilles]]<ref name="McNamara">{{cite web|last1=McNamara|first1=Edward|title=Which English Translation to Use Abroad|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur369.htm|website=Eternal Word Television Network|access-date=13 January 2015}}</ref> and by former [[Anglican]]s in the [[personal ordinariate]]s.<ref name="Paper">{{cite web|last1=Burnham|first1=Andrew|title=The Liturgy of the Ordinariates: Ordinary, Extraordinary, or Tertium Quid? [PDF]|url=http://www.ordinariate.org.uk/cmsAdmin/uploads/2012-11-24-ciel_121124.pdf|website=Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham|access-date=16 January 2015}}</ref>

In 2007 the [[Catholic Truth Society]] published the "CTS New Catholic Bible", consisting of the original 1966 Jerusalem Bible text revised to match its use in lectionaries throughout most English-speaking countries, in conformity with the directives of the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]]<ref name=Letter/><ref name=Gilligan/> and the [[Pontifical Biblical Commission]].<ref name="denver">{{cite web |url=http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/761/No- |title=No 'Yahweh' in liturgies is no problem for the archdiocese, officials say |date=15 October 2008 |author=Roxanne King |work=Denver Catholic Register |publisher=Archdiocese of Denver  |archive-date=4 November 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131104095125/http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/761/No- |access-date=28 September 2017 }}</ref>

In 2012, the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]] "announced a plan to revise the New Testament of the New American Bible Revised Edition so a single version can be used for individual prayer, catechesis and liturgy" in the United States.<ref name="Bauman">{{cite web|last1=Bauman|first1=Michelle|title=New American Bible to be revised into single translation|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/25138/new-american-bible-to-be-revised-into-single-translation|website=Catholic News Agency|access-date=14 January 2015}}</ref> After developing a plan and budget for the revision project, work began in 2013 with the creation of an editorial board made up of five people from the [[Catholic Biblical Association]] (CBA). The revision is now underway and, after the necessary approvals from the bishops and the Vatican, is expected to be done around the year 2025.<ref name="CBA">{{cite web|title=NAB New Testament Revision Project|url=http://catholicbiblical.org/news-archives/nabnt-revision|website=Catholic Biblical Association of America|access-date=21 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150124061654/http://catholicbiblical.org/news-archives/nabnt-revision|archive-date=24 January 2015}}</ref>

== Differences from other Christian Bibles ==
[[File:KJV 1769 Oxford Edition, vol. 1.djvu|page=21|thumb|The contents page for a complete 80{{Non breaking hyphen}}book [[Bible]] in the [[King James Version]], listing "The Books of the Old Testament", "The Books called Apocrypha", and "The Books of the New Testament"]]

Bibles used by Catholics differ in the number and order of books from those typically found in [[Protestant Bible|bibles used by Protestant]]s, as Catholic bibles retain in their canon seven books that are regarded as non-canonical in Protestantism (though regarding them as non-canonical, many [[Protestant Bible]]s traditionally include these books and others as an intertestamental section known as the [[Biblical apocrypha|Apocrypha]], totaling to an [[List of books of the King James Version|80 book Bible]], e.g. the ''King James Version with Apocrypha'').<ref name="Hendrickson2009">{{cite book |title=King James Version Apocrypha, Reader's Edition |date=2009 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |isbn=978-1-59856-464-8 |page=viii |language=en |quote=The version of 1611, following its mandate to revise and standardize the English Bible tradition, included the fourteen (or fifteen) books of the Apocrypha in a section between the Old and New Testaments (see the chart on page vi). Because of the Thirty-Nine Articles, there was no reason for King James' translators to include any comments as to the status of these books, as had the earlier English translators and editors.}}</ref> As such, its canon of Old Testament texts is somewhat larger than that in translations used by Protestants, which are typically based exclusively on the shorter [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]] [[Masoretic Text]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Meade |first1=John |title=Why Are Protestant and Catholic Bibles Different? |url=https://textandcanon.org/why-the-catholic-bible-has-more-books-than-the-protestant-bible/ |website=Text & Canon Institute|date=7 November 2021 }}</ref>

On the other hand, its canon, which does not accept all the books that are included in the Septuagint,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pietersma|first1=Albert |author-link1=Albert Pietersma |last2=Wright|first2=Benjamin G.|title=A New English Translation of the Septuagint|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-974397-1|pages=v–vi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17CBLsFpnsgC&q=Pietersma+Septuagint+Contents&pg=PR5|access-date=22 January 2015}}</ref> is shorter than that of some churches of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern]] and [[Oriental Orthodoxy]], which recognize other books as sacred scripture. According to the Greek Orthodox Church, "The translation of the Seventy [the Septuagint] was for the Church the Apostolic Bible, to which both the Lord and His disciples refer. [...] It enjoys divine authority and prestige as the Bible of the indivisible Church of the first eight centuries. It constitutes the Old Testament, the official text of our Orthodox Church and remains the authentic text by which the official translations of the Old Testament of the other sister Orthodox Churches were made; it was the divine instrument of pre-Christ evangelism and was the basis of Orthodox Theology."<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Septuagint and the Masoretic Text in the Orthodox Church(es)|last=Mihăilă|first=Alexandru|date=2018|journal=Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu|volume=10|page=35|doi=10.2478/ress-2018-0003|s2cid=171863532|doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[Greek Orthodox Church]] generally considers [[Psalm 151]] to be part of the [[Book of Psalms]], the [[Prayer of Manasseh]] as the final chapter of [[2 Chronicles]], and accepts the "books of the Maccabees" as four in number, but generally places [[4 Maccabees]] in an appendix.<ref>McDonald and Sanders' ''The Canon Debate'', Appendix C: Lists and Catalogs of Old Testament Collections, Table C-4: Current Canons of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, page 589=590.</ref>{{Efn|There are differences from Western usage in the naming of some books (see, for instance, [[Esdras#Naming conventions]]).|name=|group=}}

The [[Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon|Bible of the Tewahedo Churches]] differs from the Western and Greek Orthodox Bibles in the order, naming, and chapter/verse division of some of the books. The Ethiopian "narrow" biblical canon includes 81 books altogether: The 27 books of the New Testament; the Old Testament books found in the Septuagint and that are accepted by the Eastern Orthodox (more numerous than the Catholic deuterocanonical books);{{Efn|See [[Deuterocanonical books#In Eastern Orthodoxy]]|name=|group=}} and in addition [[Book of Enoch|Enoch]], [[Jubilees]], [[1 Esdras]], [[2 Esdras]], [[Rest of the Words of Baruch]] and 3 books of [[Meqabyan]]. A "broader" Ethiopian New Testament canon includes 4 books of "Sinodos" (church practices), 2 "Books of Covenant", "Ethiopic Clement", and "Ethiopic Didascalia" ([[Apostolic Church-Ordinances]]). This "broader" canon is sometimes said to include with the Old Testament an 8-part history of the Jews based on the writings of [[Titus Flavius Josephus]], and known as "Pseudo-Josephus" or "Joseph ben Gurion" (''Yosēf walda Koryon'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.islamic-awareness.org/bible/text/canon/ethiopican|title=The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today|last=Cowley|first=R. W.|website=www.islamic-awareness.org|access-date=25 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/harden_ethiopic_literature.htm#CHAPTER%20IV |title=Fathers |publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) |access-date=10 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917033708/http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/harden_ethiopic_literature.htm#CHAPTER%20IV |archive-date=17 September 2009 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Biblical canon]]
* [[Chapters and verses of the Bible]]
* [[Christian biblical canons]]
* [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]]
* [[Council of Trent]]
* ''[[Dei verbum]]''
* ''[[Divino afflante Spiritu]]''
* ''[[Dynamic and formal equivalence]]''
* ''[[Encyclopaedia Biblica]]''
* [[International Commission on English in the Liturgy]]
* ''[[Liturgiam authenticam]]''
* [[Pontifical Biblical Commission]]
* [[Protestant Bible]]
* [[Second Vatican Council]]

== Notes  ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Catholic Church and Bible}}
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{{Biblical canon}}
{{Books of the Bible}}
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