19th-century developments
In 1826, the National Bible Society of Scotland petitioned the British and Foreign Bible Society not to print the Apocrypha,[30] resulting in a decision that no BFBS funds were to pay for printing any Apocryphal books anywhere. They reasoned that by not printing the secondary material of Apocrypha within the Bible, the scriptures would prove to be less costly to produce. The precise form of the resolution was:
That the funds of the Society be applied to the printing and circulation of the Canonical Books of Scripture, to the exclusion of those Books and parts of Books usually termed Apocryphal
Similarly, in 1827, the American Bible Society determined that no bibles issued from their depository should contain the Apocrypha.
Current situation
Since the 19th century changes, many modern editions of the Bible and re-printings of the King James Version of the Bible that are used especially by non-Anglican Protestants omit the Apocrypha section. Additionally, modern non-Catholic re-printings of the Clementine Vulgate commonly omit the Apocrypha section.
Many re-printings of older versions of the Bible now omit the apocrypha and many newer translations and revisions have never included them at all. Sometimes the term “Protestant Bible” is used as a shorthand for a bible which only contains the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments.
Although bibles with an Apocrypha section remain rare in protestant churches,[36] more generally English Bibles with the Apocrypha are becoming more popular than they were and they may be printed as intertestamental books.[11] Evangelicals vary among themselves in their attitude to and interest in the Apocrypha. Some view it as a useful historical and theological background to the events of the New Testament while others either have little interest in the Apocrypha or view it with hostility. However, all agree in the view that it is non-canonical.
Books of the Bible
Protestant Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Jewish Hebrew Bible canon, known especially to non-Protestants as the protocanonical books) and the 27 books of the New Testament for a total of 66 books. Some Protestant Bibles, such as the original King James Version, include 14 additional books known as the Apocrypha, though these are not considered canonical. With the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament, the total number of books in the Protestant Bible becomes 80. Many modern Protestant Bibles print only the Old Testament and New Testament; there is a 400-year intertestamental period in the chronology of the Christian scriptures between the Old and New Testaments. This period is also known as the “400 Silent Years” because it is believed to have been a span where God made no additional canonical revelations to his people.
These Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament books of the Bible, with their commonly accepted names among the Protestant Churches, are given below. Note that a leading numeral is normally pronounced in the United States as the ordinal number, thus “First Samuel” for “1 Samuel”.
Old Testament
Book of Genesis
Book of Exodus
Book of Leviticus
Book of Numbers
Book of Deuteronomy
Book of Joshua
Book of Judges
Book of Ruth
Books of Samuel
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
Books of Kings
1 Kings
2 Kings
Books of Chronicles
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Book of Ezra
Book of Nehemiah
Book of Esther
Book of Job
Psalms
Book of Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Book of Isaiah
Book of Jeremiah
Book of Lamentations
Book of Ezekiel
Book of Daniel
Book of Hosea
Book of Joel
Book of Amos
Book of Obadiah
Book of Jonah
Book of Micah
Book of Nahum
Book of Habakkuk
Book of Zephaniah
Book of Haggai
Book of Zechariah
Book of Malachi
Apocrypha
1 Esdras (3 Esdras in the Vulgate)
2 Esdras (4 Esdras in the Vulgate)
Tobit
Judith (Judeth in the Geneva Bible)
Additions to Esther
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach)
Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah (simply Jeremiah in the Geneva Bible)
Additions to Daniel:
The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children
Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
Prayer of Manasses
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees
Psalm 151
New Testament
Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Luke
Gospel of John
Acts of the Apostles
Epistle to the Romans
First Epistle to the Corinthians
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Epistle to the Galatians
Epistle to the Ephesians
Epistle to the Philippians
Epistle to the Colossians
First Epistle to the Thessalonians
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
First Epistle to Timothy
Second Epistle to Timothy
Epistle to Titus
Epistle to Philemon
Epistle to the Hebrews
Epistle of James
First Epistle of Peter
Second Epistle of Peter
First Epistle of John
Second Epistle of John
Third Epistle of John
Epistle of Jude
Book of Revelation
See the Bible with non-canonical books here: The World English Bible with Deuterocanon/Apocrypha (British Edition)
Audiobook: The World English Bible with Deuterocanon/Apocrypha (British Edition)
Notable English translations
Most Bible translations into English conform to the Protestant canon and ordering while some offer multiple versions (Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox) with different canon and ordering. For example, the version of the English Standard Version (ESV) with Apocrypha has been approved as a Catholic bible.
Most Reformation-era translations of the New Testament are based on the Textus Receptus while many translations of the New Testament produced since 1900 rely upon the eclectic and critical Alexandrian text-type.
