The Books of Scripture

The book known to Jews and Christians as "The Bible" or "Scripture" contains a number of individual books brought together by the unique characteristic of being written by men under the inspiration of the Spirit of G-d. Although various groups may disagree on which individual books make up the Bible, there are a number of commonalities. On the following pages we present some information about these books and how they comprise the treasure we know as G-d's Word.

This article shows the Christian order of Scripture, the Hebrew order of Scripture, and notes some additional, apocryphal books often associated with Scripture as well.

Let's start with the Protestant Christian order of Scripture...

Protestant Christians (as distinct from Greek Orthodox or Roman Catholics) recognize the following 66 books in their Bible.  Included below are the English names of each book, the Hebrew name for each book, the transliterated Hebrew name, and the meaning of the Hebrew name of each book.  "Transliterated" means the Hebrew is written in English letters in order to make the same sound.  For example, Bereshit (pronounced bear-uh-SHEET) is the Hebrew name of Genesis and Yochanan (YO-khuh-nahn) is the Hebrew name of John.

The Hebrew name for the Jewish Bible is the "Tanakh".

The word Tanakh comes from the acronym T-N-K which is derived from the names of the portions of the Hebrew Bible:
Torah (the Law), Neviim (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings).  The following 24 books contain all of the same books as the Christian "Old Testament" but ordered and organized in a slightly different fashion.

The books listed below are what known as the "apocrypha". What does apocrypha mean?

The American Heritage Dictionary ¹ defines the word "apocrypha" as such:

1. Abbr. Apoc. Bible. The 14 books of the Septuagint included in the Vulgate but considered uncanonical by Protestants because they are not part of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Roman Catholic canon accepts 11 of these books and includes them in the Douay Bible.

2. Abbr. Apoc. Various early Christian writings proposed as additions to the New Testament but rejected by the major canons.

3. apocrypha. Writings or statements of questionable authorship or authenticity.

Middle English apocripha, not authentic, from Late Latin Apocrypha, the Apocrypha, from Greek Apokrupha, neuter pl. of apokruphos, secret, hidden, from apokruptein, to hide away : apo-, apo- + kruptein, kruph-, to hide

The King James Version of the Bible includes the following apocryphal books:

• 1 Esdras (Vulgate 3 Esdras)
• 2 Esdras (Vulgate 4 Esdras)
• Tobit
• Judith
• Rest of Esther (Vulgate Esther 10:4-16:24)
• Wisdom
• Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach)
• Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy (all part of Vulgate Baruch)
• Song of the Three Children (Vulgate Daniel 3:24-90)
• Story of Susanna (Vulgate Daniel 13)
• The Idol Bel and the Dragon (Vulgate Daniel 14)
• Prayer of Manasses
• 1 Maccabees
• 2 Maccabees

The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the following books:

• Tobit
• Judith
• 1 Maccabees
• 2 Maccabees
• Wisdom of Solomon
• Ecclesiasticus
• Baruch
• Greek Additions to Esther
• Greek Additions to Daniel

In addition to those, the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches recognize the following:

• 3 Maccabees
• 1 Esdras i.e. Greek Ezra paraphrase
• Prayer of Manasseh
• Psalm 151 as part of the Psalter

Some other Eastern Orthodox Churches include a few others, typically:

• 2 Esdras i.e. Latin Esdras in the Russian and Georgian Bibles
• Odes

The Syriac Orthodox Church also includes:

• The Apocalypse of Baruch (2 Baruch)
• The Letter of Baruch

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church also has some others such as:

• Jubilees
• Enoch