Jewish and Christian Bibles: A Comparative Chart
by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
Introduction:
Although the "New Testament" contains the same twenty-seven books for almost all Christians, there are some major and important differences
between the "Hebrew Bible" (HB) used by Jews and different versions of the "Old Testament" (OT) used by various Christian churches and
denominations:
The foundational texts are different:
Jewish Bibles are based on the HB;
the OT section in Christian Bibles is arranged according to the order of books in the "Septuagint" (LXX), the ancient Greek version of the Jewish scriptures;
however, the translations of individual OT books in Christian Bibles are now usually based on the texts of the HB .
The total number of biblical books is different:
Jews count 24, Protestants 39, Catholics 46, Orthodox Christians up to 53;
certain books of the HB are subdivided in the LXX; e.g., "The Twelve" minor prophets are considered one book in the HB, while the LXX and Christian Bibles count
these as twelve separate books;
the LXX contains several additional books not found in the HB; Orthodox and Catholic Christians regard these additional books as part of the OT canon (calling them
the "Deuterocanonical Books"), while Jews and most Protestant Christians do not (calling them the "Apocrypha").
The arrangement of the categories of books is different:
e.g. the "Latter Prophets" come before the "Writings" in the HB, but all the "Prophets" come after the "Wisdom" literature in the Christian OT.
the order of the "Prophets" is also different between the LXX and the Catholic and Protestant OT.
The titles of some of the books are different:
e.g. "Samuel" of the HB is split up into "1 Kingdoms" and "2 Kingdoms" in the LXX, which are renamed "1 Samuel" and "2 Samuel" in most Christian Bibles .
The categorization of some books is different:
e.g. several of the books categorized as "Writings" in the HB are placed among the "Historical Books" or the "Prophets" in LXX and the Christian OT; the
displacements of Ruth and Esther, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles (1&2), and Lamentations and Daniel are indicated with highlighted colors in the chart below.
Notes:
HB = Hebrew Bible; LXX = Septuagint; OT = Old Testament; see my Biblical Glossary for detailed explanations of all these terms.
Books in CAPITALS are found in Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Bibles, but not in most Jewish or Protestant Bibles.
Books in Italics are also in the LXX and considered biblical by various Orthodox Christians, but NOT by Jews or most other Christians.
Comparative Chart:
HEBREW BIBLE
(a.k.a. Mikra or TaNaK/Tanakh)
ORTHODOX BIBLES
(based on larger versions of LXX;
exact contents & editions vary)
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CATHOLIC BIBLE
(based on Alexandrian canon of LXX;
with seven Deuterocanonical books)
PROTESTANT BIBLE
(retains Catholic order, but
seven Apocrypha removed)
Torah / Books of Moses
1) Bereshit / Genesis
2) Shemot / Exodus
3) VaYikra / Leviticus
4) BaMidbar / Numbers
5) Devarim / Deuteronomy
Pentateuch
1) Genesis
2) Exodus
3) Leviticus
4) Numbers
5) Deuteronomy
Pentateuch (Law)
1) Genesis
2) Exodus
3) Leviticus
4) Numbers
5) Deuteronomy
Law (Pentateuch)
1) Genesis
2) Exodus
3) Leviticus
4) Numbers
5) Deuteronomy
Nevi'im / Former Prophets
6) Joshua
7) Judges
8) Samuel (1&2)
9) Kings (1&2)
Historical Books
6) Joshua
7) Judges
8) Ruth
9) 1 Kingdoms (= 1 Sam)
10) 2 Kingdoms (= 2 Sam)
11) 3 Kingdoms (= 1 Kings)
12) 4 Kingdoms (= 2 Kings)
13) 1 Chronicles
14) 2 Chronicles
15) 1 Esdras
16) 2 Esdras (=Erza + Nehemiah)
17) Esther (longer version)
18) JUDITH
19) TOBIT
Historical Books
6) Joshua
7) Judges
8) Ruth
9) 1 Samuel
10) 2 Samuel
11) 1 Kings
12) 2 Kings
13) 1 Chronicles
14) 2 Chronicles
Historical Books
6) Joshua
7) Judges
8) Ruth
9) 1 Samuel
10) 2 Samuel
11) 1 Kings
12) 2 Kings
13) 1 Chronicles
14) 2 Chronicles
15) Ezra
16) Nehemiah
17) TOBIT
18) JUDITH
19) Esther (longer version)
20) 1 MACCABEES
21) 2 MACCABEES
15) Ezra
16) Nehemiah
Nevi'im / Latter Prophets
10) Isaiah
11) Jeremiah
12) Ezekiel
13) The Book of the Twelve:
Hosea, Joel,
Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi
20) 1 MACCABEES
21) 2 MACCABEES
22) 3 Maccabees
23) 4 Maccabees
17) Esther (shorter version)
Khetuvim / Writings
14) Psalms (150)
15) Proverbs
16) Job
17) Song of Solomon
18) Ruth
19) Lamentations
20) Ecclesiastes
21) Esther (shorter version)
22) Daniel (12 chapters)
23) Ezra-Nehemiah
24) Chronicles (1&2)
Poetic Books
24) Psalms (151)
25) Odes (w/ Prayer of Manasseh)
26) Proverbs
27) Ecclesiastes
28) Song of Solomon
29) Job
30) WISDOM of Solomon
31) SIRACH, a.k.a. Ecclesiasticus
32) Psalms of Solomon
Wisdom Books
22) Job
23) Psalms (150)
24) Proverbs
25) Ecclesiastes
26) Song of Solomon
27) WISDOM of Solomon
28) SIRACH, a.k.a. Ecclesiasticus
Wisdom Books
18) Job
19) Psalms (150)
20) Proverbs
21) Ecclesiastes
22) Song of Solomon
Prophets
33) Hosea
34) Amos
35) Micah
36) Joel
Prophets
29) Isaiah
30) Jeremiah
31) Lamentations
32) BARUCH (incl. LETTER of JER.)
Prophets
23) Isaiah
24) Jeremiah
25) Lamentations
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37) Obadiah
38) Jonah
39) Nahum
40) Habakkuk
41) Zephaniah
42) Haggai
43) Zechariah
44) Malachi
45) Isaiah
46) Jeremiah
47)
BARUCH
48)
Lamentations
49)
LETTER of JEREMIAH
50) Ezekiel
51) Daniel (2 chapters listed separately):
52)
SUSANNA
53)
BEL and the DRAGON
33) Ezekiel
34) Daniel (14 chapters)
26) Ezekiel
27) Daniel (only 12 chapters)
35) Hosea
36) Joel
37) Amos
38) Obadiah
39) Jonah
40) Micah
41) Nahum
42) Habakkuk
43) Zephaniah
44) Haggai
45) Zechariah
46) Malachi
28) Hosea
29) Joel
30) Amos
31) Obadiah
32) Jonah
33) Micah
34) Nahum
35) Habakkuk
36) Zephaniah
37) Haggai
38) Zechariah
39) Malachi
Additional Resources:
Old Testament Statistics
Glossary of Biblical Terms
Jewish Publication Society Bible
The Septuagint Online
Porwnanie: Biblia Hebrajska - a Polish translation of this webpage
Return to the HOME PAGE of Felix Just, S.J.
This page was last updated on February 26, 2007 .
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