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The Bible

Also Known As Bible Short form. The atlas files this entry under a longer name and readers reach for the shorter one.
Christian Scriptures

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There is no single list called the Bible. Judaism's Tanakh contains 24 books; Protestant Bibles hold 66, the same Hebrew material recounted as 39 plus 27 in the New Testament; Catholic Bibles hold 73, adding the deuterocanonical books confirmed at the Council of Trent in 1546; Eastern Orthodox Bibles add further texts including 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees and Psalm 151, with the exact contents varying between churches; and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo canon, the widest in Christendom, includes Enoch and Jubilees. The disagreements are old, they are about which books are scripture, and no council has ever settled them for everyone.

Facts
Origins
Era of Composition
1200 BCE to 100 CE 1
Language
Biblical Hebrew 1
Language
Aramaic 1
Language
Koine Greek 1
Attributed Author / Compiler
Numerous authors across a millennium; traditional attributions vary by book 1
Attributed Author / Compiler
The canon was formed by the church over the first four centuries (critical) 1
Structure
Structure
66 books (Protestant), 73 (Catholic), or more (Orthodox); Old and New Testaments 1
Status
Canonical Status
Canonical 1Tradition: Christianity
Text
Literary Form
Text collection / anthology 1
Learn More
Four Canons, and the Books That Separate Them

The Protestant canon has 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Its Old Testament contains exactly the Hebrew material of the Tanakh, differently divided and differently ordered, and nothing else. The Reformers held that books not preserved in Hebrew lacked authority, and Luther grouped them separately as Apocrypha, useful but not doctrinal. Later English editions dropped them altogether, which is why most Protestant Bibles today print 66 books without comment.

The Catholic canon has 73. It adds Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and 1 and 2 Maccabees, plus Greek additions to Esther and Daniel, and calls them deuterocanonical rather than apocryphal. These books were in the Greek and Latin Bibles of the early church and in general Western use for over a millennium; the Council of Trent, in its decree of April 1546, made their status binding doctrine in response to the Reformers' rejection of them.

Eastern Orthodox Bibles go further, following the Septuagint: they include the Catholic deuterocanonicals and add 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151 and the Prayer of Manasseh, with 4 Maccabees usually printed in an appendix. Contents vary between the Greek, Slavonic and Georgian traditions, and no single Orthodox number can honestly be given.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo canon is the widest. It is traditionally said to comprise 81 books and includes 1 Enoch and Jubilees, which no other church treats as scripture, together with Ethiopic works such as 1-3 Meqabyan, unrelated to the Maccabees of other canons. The figure of 81 is traditional and the lists that circulate do not consistently reach it, since sources differ on how books are counted and grouped.

How the Lists Were Fixed, and by Whom

No council fixed a Christian Bible for all Christians. The Old Testament question was live from the start because the church read the Greek scriptures, which circulated with more books than the Hebrew collection. Jerome, translating the Latin Vulgate from about 382, insisted on the Hebrew as the standard and marked the extra books as edifying but not canonical; Augustine disagreed and carried the Western church with him. Regional synods at Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397 listed the wider canon, and Western practice followed them without ever treating the matter as formally closed.

That ambiguity held for a thousand years and broke at the Reformation. Luther's German Bible of 1534 printed the disputed books in a separate section; Trent responded in 1546 by defining the canon with its own list and attaching an anathema to anyone rejecting it. The Church of England took a middle position, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 kept the Apocrypha for reading as examples of life but not for establishing doctrine. The 1611 King James Bible printed the Apocrypha between the Testaments; the British and Foreign Bible Society resolved in 1826 to stop funding editions containing it, which is the immediate reason most English Bibles now lack it.

The Orthodox churches never held an equivalent to Trent. The Synod of Jerusalem in 1672 endorsed several of the wider books, but Orthodox canon lists remain somewhat fluid and are treated as a matter of received liturgical use rather than of conciliar definition. The New Testament shows the same pattern from the other direction: its 27 books were agreed across almost the whole church by the late fourth century, and no Christian body has since disputed them, but that agreement was reached by usage rather than by decree.

From Vulgate to Vernacular, and the Scale of Translation

No original manuscript of any biblical book survives. The Hebrew text rests on the Masoretic codices of the tenth and eleventh centuries, checked against the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek Septuagint. The Greek New Testament rests on some 5,800 catalogued manuscripts, ranging from the credit-card-sized Papyrus 52 to the great fourth-century codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, which are the earliest surviving near-complete Bibles. Modern critical editions reconstruct the text from these witnesses; the printed Bibles of the Reformation era rested on far fewer and later ones.

Jerome's Latin Vulgate, produced between about 382 and 405, was the Bible of Western Europe for over a thousand years and the basis of Catholic translation until the twentieth century. Vernacular versions were made throughout the Middle Ages, but the ones that mattered came later and were contentious. The Wycliffite Bibles of the 1380s and 1390s, translated from the Latin by followers of John Wycliffe, were condemned and their circulation criminalised in England in 1409. William Tyndale translated from Hebrew and Greek instead, printed his New Testament abroad in 1526, and was strangled and burned in 1536 before finishing the Old Testament.

The King James Version of 1611 was produced by six companies of translators working from the original languages and leaning heavily on Tyndale, whose wording it preserves in large stretches. It shaped English prose for three centuries and remains in use.

Translation has since become an industrial enterprise. As of 2025, the full Bible exists in around 776 languages, the New Testament in a further 1,798, and some portion of scripture in around 1,433 more, covering over 4,000 of the world's roughly 7,400 living languages. No other book approaches that reach.

Passages from This Text
1 Kings 19:11-12The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionrevelation

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; but Jehovah was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Amos 5:24The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionethics, justice

But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Daniel 7:13-14The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionapocalyptic

I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Deuteronomy 6:4-5The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionthe oneness of God

Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Ecclesiastes 3:1-2The Holy Bible, American Standard Versiontime and fate

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Exodus 20:2-3The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionlaw and commandment

I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Exodus 20:8-10The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionsabbath and time

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Exodus 3:13-14The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionthe divine name

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Genesis 1:1-3The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncreation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

The first three verses of the work.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Genesis 1:26-27The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncreation, humanity

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Opens the first of the Bible's two creation accounts.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Genesis 12:1-3The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncovenant

Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Genesis 2:7The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncreation, humanity

And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The second creation account, from which the Eden narrative follows.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Genesis 22:1-2The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionsacrifice and testing

And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Genesis 9:12-13The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncovenant

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Closes the flood narrative with the first of the biblical covenants.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Isaiah 45:5-7The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionthe oneness of God

I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Isaiah 6:1-3The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionvision and holiness

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Isaiah 7:14The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionprophecy, contested

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Jeremiah 31:33The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncovenant

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Job 38:4-7The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncreation, cosmos

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the line upon it? Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner-stone thereof, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Leviticus 19:18The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionethics, the golden rule

Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am Jehovah.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Micah 6:8The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionethics, justice

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Numbers 6:24-26The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionblessing

Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee: Jehovah make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Proverbs 8:22-23The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionwisdom

Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, Before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Before the earth was.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Psalm 137:1The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionexile and memory

By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Psalm 19:1The Holy Bible, American Standard Versioncreation, cosmos

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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Psalm 23:1-4The Holy Bible, American Standard Versionconsolation

Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul: He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

The Holy Bible, American Standard Version. translated by American Revision Committee.

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1 Enoch 6:1-2The Book of Enochthe fall of the angels

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.'

Expands Genesis 6:1-4.

The Book of Enoch. translated by R. H. Charles.

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Enuma Elish, Tablet I, lines 1-9 (King)The Seven Tablets of Creationcreation, cosmos

When in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, And the primeval Apsu, who begat them, And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of them both,, Their waters were mingled together, And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen; When of the gods none had been called into being, And none bore a name, and no destinies [were ordained]; Then were created the gods in the midst of [heaven],

The naming cosmogony that Genesis 1 answers.

The Seven Tablets of Creation. translated by Leonard William King.

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Enuma Elish, Tablet IV, lines 137-140 (King)The Seven Tablets of Creationcreation, combat

He split her up like a flat fish into two halves; One half of her he stablished as a covering for heaven. He fixed a bolt, he stationed a watchman, And bade them not to let her waters come forth.

Compare the division of the waters at Genesis 1:6-7.

The Seven Tablets of Creation. translated by Leonard William King.

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Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

He translated the Bible into Yoruba and compiled the first Yoruba grammar and dictionary, which is how the written form of the language was fixed.

Source Vocabulary of the Yoruba LanguageSamuel Ajayi Crowther

Ringatu worship is built from passages of the Old Testament that he learned during the imprisonment on the Chathams.

Source Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New ZealandManatu Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Attests

A free paraphrase of Psalm 46.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Michigan Relics, Artifacts & Relics
Source Mormonism's Encounter with the Michigan RelicsMark Ashurst-McGee, David W. Grua, Robin Scott Jensen

Belongs to Tradition

The sixty-six-book Protestant canon, both Testaments, is confessionally defined scripture for this tradition per the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter I, Of the Holy Scripture, 1646.

Source The Westminster Confession of FaithWestminster Assemblythe holders' own account
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

The whole Bible, Old and New Testaments, is affirmed as containing all things necessary to salvation in the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church, and functions as the primary and sufficient source of doctrine in Wesleyan theological method.

Source The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist ChurchUnited Methodist Churchthe holders' own account

Disciplines That Use This

Opened at random for guidance, a practice with a long and frequently condemned history.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Passages

The first three verses of the work.

Opens the first of the Bible's two creation accounts.

Genesis 2:7, Passages

The second creation account, from which the Eden narrative follows.

Closes the flood narrative with the first of the biblical covenants.

Passages on This

1 Enoch 6:1-2, Passages

Expands Genesis 6:1-4.

The naming cosmogony that Genesis 1 answers.

Compare the division of the waters at Genesis 1:6-7.

Related To

Sources
1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005New TestamentView the Source
The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church, The United Methodist Publishing HouseArticles of Religion of the Methodist Church, on the sufficiency of scripture for salvationthe holders' own accountView the Source
The Westminster Confession of Faith
Westminster Assembly, 1646Chapter I, Of the Holy Scripturethe holders' own accountView the Source
The Holy Bible
Anonymous (multiple authors), Robert Barker, 1611the varying Jewish and Christian canonsView the Source
When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible
Timothy Michael Law, Oxford University Press, 2013the Septuagint and the deuterocanonical booksView the Source
Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source

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