Books of the Bible facts for kids
The Books of the Bible are the many different parts that make up the Bible. Each part is called a "book" and has its own name. Sometimes, a book is named after the person who might have written it. But this is not always true.
Different religions and different kinds of Christianity have their own lists of books in the Bible. These groups might accept different books. They might also use different names for the same books. Even with these differences, the main stories in the "Books of the Bible" are very similar for all groups.
This article compares the Books of the Bible used in Judaism and by different Christian groups. These include the Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Slavonic Orthodox, Georgian, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Churches. We will look at both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches might have small differences in their book lists. If at least one Eastern church accepts a book, it is listed here. All the books accepted by the Roman Catholic Church are also accepted by the Eastern churches.
Contents
Old Testament Books
The Old Testament is the first part of the Christian Bible. It is also the main part of the Jewish Bible, called the Tanakh.
In the table below, if you see an asterisk (*), it means the book is used, but in a different order. Empty spaces mean the book is not used by that group. Books not found in the Protestant Bible are often called apocrypha. This word can sometimes be used in a negative way. Orthodox and Catholic Christians call these books deuterocanonical. This means they are part of a "second canon" or list of accepted books.
New Testament Books
Most Christian groups agree on the books in the New Testament. However, some groups place the books in a different order.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes a few other books in its official list. These are Jubilees, Book of Enoch, and The Rest of the Words of Baruch (also known as 4 Baruch).
The Peshitta is an old version of the Bible used by some Syriac churches. It did not originally have 2-3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. However, modern Bibles of the Syriac Orthodox Church now include later translations of these books. They also have the Letter of Baruch. Today, the Syrian Orthodox Church mainly uses readings from the twenty-two books of the Peshitta in its church services.
The Third Epistle to the Corinthians was once part of the Armenian Orthodox Bible. But it is not found in printed versions today.
Anglican Apocrypha
The Anglican Church uses the same order of books as the Catholic Bible from the 16th century. However, the 39 Articles, which are important beliefs for Anglicans, list certain books as Apocrypha. This means they are not considered part of the main Bible.
These books are:
- I. Esdras
- II. Esdras
- Tobit
- Judith
- The Rest of Esther
- The Wisdom of Solomon
- Ecclesiasticus
- Baruch, with the Letter of Jeremiah
- The Song of the Three Jews, with the Prayer of Azariah
- The Story of Susanna
- Bel and the Dragon
- The Prayer of Manasseh
- I. Maccabees
- II. Maccabees
- III. Maccabees
Related Pages
Return links: Tanakh or Old Testament – New Testament
More Websites
Images for kids
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A scroll of the Book of Esther; one of the five megillot of the Tanakh.
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The Abisha Scroll, the oldest scroll among the Samaritans in Nablus.
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A manuscript page from P46, an early 3rd-century collection of Pauline epistles.
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See also
In Spanish: Canon bíblico para niños
