Jewish version
The Hebrew Bible is generally considered to consist of 24 books, but this number is somewhat arbitrary, as (for example) it regards 12 separate books of minor prophets as a single book. The traditional rabbinic count of 24 books appears in the Talmud and numerous works of midrash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible
But even here, it depends on whether you accept the corrupted and relatively less complete Masoretic text (written in Assyrian Hebrew) or the Septuagint (written in Greek). Keep in mind, the Masoretic isn't written in the same Hebrew that Moses used. The original Old Testament scriptures were written in Paleo-Hebrew, a text closely related to the ancient Phoenician writing system. The Masoretic Text, on the other hand, is written with an alphabet which was borrowed from Assyria (Persia) around the 6th-7th century B.C., and is almost 1000 years newer than the form of writing used by Moses, David, and most of the Old Testament authors.
Luther's version
Luther built his Old Testament on the corrupted, incomplete Masoretic text. Luther also considered the New Testament books of Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Revelation to be "disputed books", which he included in his translation but placed separately at the end in his New Testament published in 1522. His translation also places what Catholics view as the deuterocanonical books in an intertestamental section, between the Old Testament and New Testament; he called these books Apocrypha. The books of the Apocrypha, in the Lutheran tradition, both Old and New Testament, are non-canonical, but "worthy of reverence."
Following Luther's lead, in 1596 Jacob Lucius published a Bible at Hamburg which labeled as Apocrypha Luther's four Antilegomena: Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation; Lucius explained this category of "Apocrypha" as "That is, books that are not held equal to the other holy Scripture". David Wolder, the pastor of Hamburg's Church of St. Peter, published in the same year a triglot Bible which labeled those books as "non canonical". J. Vogt published a Bible at Goslar in 1614 similar to Lucius'. In Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus published in 1618 the Gustavus Adolphus Bible with those four books labeled as "Apocr(yphal) New Testament." The Luther Bible is widely used by Anabaptist Christians, such as the Amish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther%27s_canon
Other Protestant versions
The non-Lutheran Protestant versions settled on 66 books, keeping Luther's Old Testament, but rejecting his shortened version of the New Testament.
Catholic version
Catholic Bible has 73 books (if Lamentations is separate from Jeremiah). It is based on the Septuagint for the Old Testament.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Bible
Coptic version
The Coptic Bible has 74 books, it includes the Prayer of Manasseh.
https://copticchurch.online/en/bible-books/
Slavic Orthodox version
The Slavic Bible has in excess of 70 books, but is based on the corrupted Masoretic text.
Greek Orthodox version
The Greek Orthodox Bible—without an official number—is somewhat larger, with somewhere between 75 and 79 books.
https://earlychristiantexts.com/how-many-books-in-the-bible/
Ethiopian Christian version
The Ethiopian Bible, which is perhaps the oldest Christian Bible, includes somewhere between 81 to 84 books, depending on different factors.
https://earlychristiantexts.com/how-many-books-in-the-bible/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Tewahedo_biblical_canon
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"But even here, it depends on whether you accept the corrupted Masoretic text (written in Assyrian Hebrew) or the Septuagint (written in Greek). The Masoretic text is corrupted and less complete than the Septuagint. Also, the Masoretic isn't written in the same Hebrew that Moses used."
ReplyDeleteHuh. I forgot that languages change over time, so the fact that it's in Hebrew doesn't mean it's closer to the original text. Interesting!