when was the protestant bible canonized
[30] Likewise, Damasus' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, proved instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West. [15] They did not expand their canon by adding any Samaritan compositions. The Ascension of Isaiah has long been known to be a part of the Orthodox Tewahedo scriptural tradition. [28], He also included the Shepherd of Hermas which was later rejected. PROPHETS 44; Prophet Tree Prophet Timeline; Prophet Map; 1391 - 1271 BC Moses; 3 BC - 33 AD Jesus; 570 - 632 AD Muhammad; Aaron; Abel; This list was finally approved by Pope Damasus I in 382 AD, and was formally approved by the Church Council of Rome in that same year. This text is associated with the Samaritans (Hebrew: ; Arabic: ), a people of whom the Jewish Encyclopedia states: "Their history as a distinct community begins with the taking of Samaria by the Assyrians in 722 BC. 532 pages, Paperback. They started writing the Hussite Bible after they returned to Hungary and finalized it around 1416. Bible translated into High German by Luther, Luther's translation of the Bible into High German, in accordance with Luther's view of the canon, The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children, "Martin Luther, Bible Translation, and the German Language", "Why Are Protestant and Catholic Bibles Different? The spelling and names in both the 16091610 Douay Old Testament (and in the 1582 Rheims New Testament) and the 1749 revision by Bishop Challoner (the edition currently in print used by many Catholics, and the source of traditional Catholic spellings in English) and in the Septuagint differ from those spellings and names used in modern editions that derive from the Hebrew Masoretic text.[94]. In about 367 AD, St. Athanasius came up with a list of 73 books for the Bible that he believed to be divinely inspired. [65] The council confirmed the same list as produced at the Council of Florence in 1442,[66] Augustine's 397-419 Councils of Carthage,[45] and probably Damasus' 382 Council of Rome. Most of the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament are found in the Syriac, and the Wisdom of Sirach is held to have been translated from the Hebrew and not from the Septuagint. Earlier Spanish translations, such as the 13th-century Alfonsina Bible, translated from Jerome's Vulgate, had been copied by hand. There is a Samaritan Book of Joshua; however, this is a popular chronicle written in Arabic and is not considered to be scripture. Both Aphrahat and Ephraem of Syria held it in high regard and treated it as if it were canonical. Others, like Melito, omitted it from the canon altogether. [35], 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. In 1826,[27] the National Bible Society of Scotland petitioned the British and Foreign Bible Society not to print the Apocrypha,[28] resulting in a decision that no BFBS funds were to pay for printing any Apocryphal books anywhere. Dan Brown did not invent it but certainly exploited it and perpetuated it in this generation. However, there were some exceptions. The word canon means "ruler" or "standard" by which something is judged. These five writings attributed to the Apostolic Fathers are not currently considered canonical in any Biblical tradition, though they are more highly regarded by some more than others. The growth and development of the Armenian Biblical canon is complex. Trullo's Biblical Canon lists affirmed documents such as 1-3 Maccabees, but neither Slavonic 3 Esdra/Ezra (AKA Vulgate "4 Ezra/Esdras"), nor 4 Maccabees. [43], A 2014 study into the Bible in American Life found that of those survey respondents who read the Bible, there was an overwhelming favouring of Protestant translations. origine gravel carbone; cap ptisserie distance cned; thyrode et angoisse permanente Dimensions. [10] Although within the same printed bibles, it was usually to be found in a separate section under the heading of Apocrypha and sometimes carrying a statement to the effect that the such books were non-canonical but useful for reading.[18]. "[79] Luther made a parallel statement in calling them: "not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, butuseful and good to read. [26] Similarly, in 178283 when the first English Bible was printed in America, it did not contain the Apocrypha and, more generally, English Bibles came increasingly to omit the Apocrypha.[10]. [38], The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition. They were more conscious of the gradation of spiritual quality among the books that they accepted (for example, the classification of Eusebius, see also Antilegomena) and were less often disposed to assert that the books which they rejected possessed no spiritual quality at all. Here's what you need to know about the difference. Writings attributed to the apostles circulated among the earliest Christian communities. 1. asked Dec 13, 2016 at 5:27. 124) and Tgsas (Prov. Improve this question. All of these apocrypha are called anagignoskomena by the Eastern Orthodox Church per the Synod of Jerusalem. The Ethiopian Bible includes the Books of Enoch, Esdras, Buruch and all 3 Books of Meqabyan (Maccabees), and a host of others that were excommunicated from the KJV. He wrote down the consensus of a larger group of religious authorities. Origen's canon included all of the books in the current New Testament canon except for four books: James, 2nd Peter, and the 2nd and 3rd epistles of John. Orthodox Bible is always 81, this number is most commonly reached in two different ways (although other ways did and do exist).8 5 Wikipedia, Biblical canon (accessed November 26, 2011) 6 Wikipedia, Biblical canon (accessed November 26, 2011) 7 R. W. Cowley, The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today, in: Ostkirchliche Studien, ", https://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1997_apocryphal-deuterocanonical_books.pdf, http://www.itsmarc.com/crs/mergedProjects/lcri/lcri/c_8__lcri.htm, "On Translating the Old Testament: The Achievement of William Tyndale", "Preface to the English Standard Version". With the potential exception of the Septuagint, the apostles did not leave a defined set of scriptures; instead the canon of both the Old Testament and the New Testament developed over time. [1] Following the Protestant Reformation, Protestants Confessions have usually excluded the books which other Christian traditions consider to be deuterocanonical books from the biblical canon (the canon of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches differs among themselves as well),[14] most early Protestant Bibles published the Apocrypha along with the Old Testament and New Testament. [37], Most Bible translations into English conform to the Protestant canon and ordering while some offer multiple versions (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox) with different canon and ordering. [25] Likewise by 200, the Muratorian fragment shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them. a "closed book", a prohibition against future scribal editing) or to the instruction received by Moses on Mount Sinai. [35], The Eastern Churches had, in general, a weaker feeling than those in the West for the necessity of making sharp delineations with regard to the canon. [73], The Lutheran Epitome of the Formula of Concord of 1577 declared that the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures comprised the Old and New Testaments alone. [97], "Books of the Bible" redirects here. In many eastern Bibles, the Apocalypse of Ezra is not an exact match to the longer Latin Esdras2 Esdras in KJV or 4 Esdras in the Vulgatewhich includes a Latin prologue (5 Ezra) and epilogue (6 Ezra). Community Bot. From that year until 1657, a half-million copies were printed. Eastern Orthodoxy uses the Septuagint (translated in the 3rd century BCE) as the textual basis for the entire Old Testament in both protocanonical and deuteroncanonical booksto use both in the Greek for liturgical purposes, and as the basis for translations into the vernacular. Differences exist between the Hebrew Bible and Christian biblical canons, although the majority of manuscripts are shared in common. The 24 books of the Bible ( Tanach) were canonized by the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah (" Men of the Great Assembly "), which included some of the greatest Jewish scholars and leaders of the time, such as Ezra the Scribe, and even the last of the prophets, namely Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Canonical Books of the Holy Scripture, "The Epitome of the Formula of Concord - Book of Concord", "The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today", United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Are 1 and 2 Esdras non-canonical books? The Early Church used the Old Testament, namely the Septuagint (LXX)[20] among Greek speakers, with a canon perhaps as found in the Bryennios List or Melito's canon. Still today, the official, Other known writings of the Apostolic Fathers not listed in this table are as follows: the seven, Though they are not listed in this table, the. For the biblical scripture for both Testaments, canonically accepted in major traditions of Christendom, see biblical canon canons of various traditions. The first Council that accepted the present Catholic canon (the Canon of Trent of 1546) may have been the Synod of Hippo Regius, held in North Africa in 393. [54], Before the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Florence (14391443) took place. This manuscript included all 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament in the same language: Latin. The Catholic canon was set at the Council of Rome (382).[19]. Marcionism rejects the Old Testament entirely; Marcion considered the Old Testament and New Testament gods to be different entities. Nonetheless, their early authorship and inclusion in ancient Biblical codices, as well as their acceptance to varying degrees by various early authorities, requires them to be treated as foundational literature for Christianity as a whole. The Roman Catholic canon differs, however, from the Bible accepted by most Protestant churches: it includes the Old Testament Apocrypha, a series of intertestamental books omitted in Protestant Bibles. 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. This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 01:10. Other non-canonical Samaritan religious texts include the Memar Markah ("Teaching of Markah") and the Defter (Prayerbook)both from the 4th century or later. 2 Ezra, 3 Ezra, and 3 Maccabees are included in Bibles and have an elevated status within the Armenian scriptural tradition, but are considered "extra-canonical". [3] With the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament, the total number of books in the Protestant Bible becomes 80. Determining the canon was a process conducted first by Jewish rabbis and scholars and later by early Christians. [82] It accepts the 39 protocanonical books along with the following books, called the "narrow canon". A 1575 quarto edition of the Bishop's Bible also does not contain them. The Protestant Bible and Catholic Bible are not the same book. [31], In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople. "[24], By the early 3rd century, Christian theologians like Origen of Alexandria may have been usingor at least were familiar withthe same 27 books found in modern New Testament editions, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of some of the writings (see also Antilegomena). Scripture was Scripture when the pen touched the parchment. So, Protestant Bibles then included all the . The order of the session is up to you and what works best for your group. Various forms of Jewish Christianity persisted until around the fifth century, and canonicalized very different sets of books, including JewishChristian gospels which have been lost to history. However, those books are included in certain Bibles of the modern Syriac traditions. . Protestant Bibles have only 39 books in the Old Testament, however, while Catholic Bibles have 46. [2] Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD, and a popular position is that the Torah was canonized c. 400 BC, the Prophets c. 200 BC, and the Writings c. 100 AD[3] perhaps at a hypothetical Council of Jamniahowever, this position is increasingly criticised by modern scholars. Some traditions use an alternative set of liturgical or metrical Psalms. [42] These councils were convened under the influence of Augustine of Hippo, who regarded the canon as already closed. Volume 3, p. 98 James L. Schaaf, trans. That oral tradition would later be gathered together in written form as the Mishnah. IVP Academic, 2010, Location 147886 (Kindle Edition). For the number of books of the Hebrew Bible see: Crown, Alan D. (October 1991). [25] The Anglican King James VI and I, the sponsor of the Authorized King James Version (1611), "threatened anyone who dared to print the Bible without the Apocrypha with heavy fines and a year in jail. There are Bible aids, maps, articles added throughout. This decision of the transmarine church however, was subject to ratification; and the concurrence of the Roman see it received when Innocent I and Gelasius I (A.D. 414) repeated the same index of biblical books. In fact, the ecumenical council of Florence in the mid-1400s reaffirmed their inclusion in the Old Testament canon. The Jewish canon was written in both Hebrew and Aramaic, while the Christian . The first proto-Protestant Bible translation was Wycliffe's Bible, that appeared in the late 14th century in the vernacular Middle English. The books of the Apocrypha were not listed in the table of contents of Luther's 1532 Old Testament and, in accordance with Luther's view of the canon, they were given the well-known title: "Apocrypha: These Books Are Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read" in the 1534 edition of his Bible translation into German. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs, and history. At the Calvinistic Synod of Dort in 1618/19, it was therefore deemed necessary to have a new translation accurately based on the original languages. [33], Although bibles with an Apocrypha section remain rare in protestant churches,[34] more generally English Bibles with the Apocrypha are becoming more popular than they were and they may be printed as intertestamental books. The order of the books of the Torah are universal through all denominations of Judaism and Christianity. "Canon" comes from "reed or . The word canon is used to identify the collection of sacred books that comprise the Bible. However, the way in which those books are arranged may vary from tradition to tradition. Protestant Bibles In the 1500s, Protestant leaders decided to organize the Old Testament material according to the official canon of Judaism rather than the Septuagint. For example, the version of the ESV with Apocrypha has been approved as a Catholic bible.[38]. A shorter variant of the prayer by King Solomon in 1 Kings 8:2252 appeared in some medieval Latin manuscripts and is found in some Latin Bibles at the end of or immediately following Ecclesiasticus. This included 10 epistles from Paul, as well as an edited version of the Gospel of Luke, which today is known as the Gospel of Marcion. Books of the Ethiopian Bible features 20 of these books that are not included in the Protestant Bible. "[80], In the Oriental Orthodox Tewahedo biblical canon, the books of Lamentations, Jeremiah, and Baruch, as well as the Letter of Jeremiah and 4 Baruch, are all considered canonical by the Orthodox Tewahedo Churches. This edition was revised in 1641, 1712, 1744, 1819 and 1821. Follow edited Apr 13, 2017 at 12:56. Extra-canonical Old Testament books appear in historical canon lists and recensions that are either exclusive to this tradition, or where they do exist elsewhere, never achieved the same status. The reason for this is that the Protestant canon of the Old Testament has been influenced by the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX) made about 250-160 B.C. [ 1] This was done before the Jews had created their official canon [list of books included in their scriptures]. Among the developments in Judaism that are attributed to them are the fixing of the Jewish biblical canon, including the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther, and the Twelve Minor Prophets; the introduction of the triple classification of the Oral Torah, dividing its study into the three branches of midrash, halakot, and aggadot; the introduction of the Feast of Purim; and the institution of the prayer known as the Shemoneh 'Esreh as well as the synagogal prayers, rituals, and benedictions. When the Church fathers created the Christian Canon, they used the most popular version of the Hebrew Bible, which was the Septuagint, which was a translation into Greek. Those codices contain almost a full version of the Septuagint; Vaticanus lacks only 13 Maccabees and Sinaiticus lacks 23 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Baruch and Letter of Jeremiah. [53], As the canon crystallised, non-canonical texts fell into relative disfavour and neglect. The Synod of Jerusalem (1672) established additional canons that are widely accepted throughout the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East both adhere to the Peshitta liturgical tradition, which historically excludes five books of the New Testament Antilegomena: 2 John, 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. We deny that any of these claims are accurate. Answer (1 of 3): The Old Testament went through a gradual process, as did the New Testament. Now it may be true that Protestants share the same OT canon as Jews today; however, the situation was a little different during the. 2. Answer The word "canon" comes from the rule of law that was used to determine if a book measured up to a standard. While this likely refers to the account of Isaiah's death within the Lives of the Prophets, it may be a reference to the account of his death found within the first five chapters of the Ascension of Isaiah, which is widely known by this name. Not at all. To ask why the Book of Enoch hasn't found its way into the Protestant canon, even though it is quoted in the New Testament by Jude, is in the same vein of criticism as had by Martin Lutherwho didn't want the Epistle of Jude in Scripture because he could not . These include the Prayer of, Though widely regarded as non-canonical, the Gospel of James obtained early liturgical acceptance among some Eastern churches and remains a major source for many of Christendom's traditions related to. Among the various Christian denominations, the New Testament canon is a generally agreed-upon list of 27 books. All the Council of Trent did was reaffirm, in the face of the new Protestant attack on Scripture, what had been the historic Bible of the Churchthe standard edition of which was Jerome's own Vulgate, including the seven deuterocanonicals! From Wycliffe to King James (The Period of Challenge) | Bible.org", The ReinaValera Bible: From Dream to Reality, http://www.tbsbibles.org/pdf_information/307-1.pdf, "Why are Protestant and Catholic Bibles different? corrected). By doing this, he established a particular way of looking at religious texts that persists in Christian thought today. Farnsley, Arthur E. Thuesen, Peter J. https://www.americanbible.org/uploads/content/State_of_the_Bible_2015_report.pdf, The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts, Jewish Publication Society of America Version, New Jewish Publication Society of America Tanakh, New English Translation of the Septuagint, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Protestant_Bible&oldid=1141593443, Development of the Christian biblical canon, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from January 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 1526 (NT), 1530 (Pentateuch), 1531 (Jonah). Subsequently, some copies of the 1599 and 1640 editions of the Geneva Bible were also printed without them. NT: United Bible Societies' The Greek New Testament (3rd ed. c. 1325 Both Richard Rolle and . Extra-canonical New Testament books appear in historical canon lists and recensions that are either distinct to this tradition, or where they do exist elsewhere, never achieved the same status. Likewise, the Third Epistle to the Corinthians[note 4] was once considered to be part of the Armenian Orthodox Bible,[95] but is no longer printed in modern editions. [51] Thus from the 4th century there existed unanimity in the West concerning the New Testament canon as it is today,[52] with the exception of the Book of Revelation. Some books dropped out of Protestant Bibles in the early 19th century when Bible societies which were founded and supported initially by Protestants began printing Bibles for the masses. This canon remained undisturbed till the sixteenth century, and was sanctioned by the council of Trent at its fourth session. The table uses the spellings and names present in modern editions of the Bible, such as the New American Bible Revised Edition, Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version. [21], Marcion of Sinope was the first Christian leader in recorded history (though later considered heretical) to propose and delineate a uniquely Christian canon[22] (c. AD 140). . Goff, Philip. Clontz (2008), "The Comprehensive New Testament", ranks the NRSV in eighth place in a comparison of twenty-one translations, at 81% correspondence to the Nestle-Aland 27th ed. The Canon Defined. They are as follows: The Acts of Paul and Thecla and the Third Epistle to the Corinthians are portions of the greater. [13] However, the translation was suppressed by the Catholic Inquisition. (A more complete explanation of the various divisions of books associated with the scribe Ezra may be found in the Wikipedia article entitled ". On the night before His death, Jesus said to His disciples: The Jewish historian Josephus mentions a Canon in the first century, and another Canon was finalized in the second. In 367 CE, Athanasius, the powerful Bishop of Alexandria, put forth a letter in which he named the 27 texts constituting the New Testament. The Septuagint divided the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah each into two, which makes eight instead of four. Parts of these four books are not found in the most reliable ancient sources; in some cases, are thought to be later additions; and have therefore not historically existed in every Biblical tradition. Nathaniel is protesting Nathaniel is protesting. 1 Clement and Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas were regarded as some of the most important documents by the earliest Christians and no doubt, they did influence the early church somewhat. 2531). The Old Testament books were written well before Jesus' Incarnation, and all of the New Testament books were written by roughly the end of the first century A.D. In each Animate: Bible session, the group will watch a video featuring a leading voice from the Christian faith, spend time on personal reflection and journaling, and share ideas with the group. 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, a degree of uncertainty continues to exist here, and it is certainly possible that the full textincluding the prologue and epilogueappears in Bibles and Biblical manuscripts used by some of these eastern traditions. Their decrees also declared by fiat that Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul, for a time ending all debate on the subject. The standard United Bible Societies 1905 edition of the New Testament of the Peshitta was based on editions prepared by Syriacists Philip E. Pusey (d.1880), George Gwilliam (d.1914) and John Gwyn. For instance, the Epistle to the Laodiceans[note 3] was included in numerous Latin Vulgate manuscripts, in the eighteen German Bibles prior to Luther's translation, and also a number of early English Bibles, such as Gundulf's Bible and John Wycliffe's English translationeven as recently as 1728, William Whiston considered this epistle to be genuinely Pauline. [9] Today, "English Bibles with the Apocrypha are becoming more popular again" and they may be printed as intertestamental books. Other New Testament works that are generally considered apocryphal nonetheless appear in some Bibles and manuscripts. Some Protestant Bibles include 3 Maccabees as part of the Apocrypha. [36], These Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament books of the Bible, with their commonly accepted names among the Protestant Churches, are given below. No. This process was not without debate. Protestant translations into Spanish began with the work of Casiodoro de Reina, a former Catholic monk, who became a Lutheran theologian. [76][77] Thus Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches generally do not view these New Testament apocrypha as part of the Bible.[77]. In some Latin versions, chapter 5 of Lamentations appears separately as the "Prayer of Jeremiah". Martin Luther added 14 books in Apocrypha sections and has removed many of the books from the Old Testament. [86][87] Most of the quotations (300 of 400) of the Old Testament in the New Testament, while differing more or less from the version presented by the Masoretic text, align with that of the Septuagint.[88]. In the Book of First Maccabees it says. Library of Congress Rule Interpretations, C.8. Around 100 CE canonization of the Hebrew Bible was complete, with the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings all clearly accepted as scripture by all forms of early Judaism. Allegedly the Catholic Church added to the OT that Jesus used. Paraphrase of American Standard Version, 1901, with comparisons of other translations, including the King James Version, and some Greek texts. For instance, in the Slavonic, Orthodox Tewahedo, Syriac, and Armenian traditions, the New Testament is ordered differently from what is considered to be the standard arrangement. Two manuscripts exista longer Greek manuscript with Christian interpolations and a shorter Slavonic version. The two main Canons were the Septuagint and the Masoretic. That is, Protestants and Catholics claim the Bible is their canon or authority for faith and morals. [55][56], Martin Luther (14831546) moved seven Old Testament books (Tobit, Judith, 12 Maccabees, Book of Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch) into a section he called the "Apocrypha, that are books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read".[57]. Some Protestants use Bibles which also include 14 additional books in a . The Didache,[note 5] The Shepherd of Hermas,[note 6] and other writings attributed to the Apostolic Fathers, were once considered scriptural by various early Church fathers. Some scrolls among the Dead Sea scrolls have been identified as proto-Samaritan Pentateuch text-type. The list of Rejected books, not considered part of the New Testament Canon. Protestant Bibles in Russia and Ethiopia usually follow the local Orthodox order for the New Testament. ), No - (inc. in Appendix in Clementine Vulgate as 4 Esdras. In the Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims, chapter 51 of Ecclesiasticus appears separately as the "Prayer of Joshua, son of Sirach". (Tobit 14:11). The Jewish Tanakh (sometimes called the Hebrew Bible) contains 24 books divided into three parts: the five books of the Torah ("teaching"); the eight books of the Nevi'im ("prophets"); and the eleven books of Ketuvim ("writings"). It can still be found, however, today in all Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles, along with a handful of Bibles that are considered to be more or less Protestant (e.g. Wall, Robert W.; Lemcio, Eugene E. (1992). The growth and development of the Armenian Biblical canon is complex. 55% reported using the King James Version, followed by 19% for the New International Version, 7% for the New Revised Standard Version (printed in both Protestant and Catholic editions), 6% for the New American Bible (a Catholic Bible translation) and 5% for the Living Bible. The result was the Statenvertaling or States Translation which was completed in 1635 and authorized by the States-General in 1637. Both groups claim the Bible functions as their authority for doctrine, though admittedly in different ways. This assertion is only re-enforced by the claim of the Samaritan community in Nablus (an area traditionally associated with the ancient city of Shechem) to possess the oldest existing copy of the Torahone that they believe to have been penned by Abisha, a grandson of Aaron.[17]. The Septuagint (in Koine Greek), which closely resembles the Hebrew Bible but includes additional texts, is used as the Christian Greek Old Testament, at least in some liturgical contexts. Especially of note is, The Peshitta excludes 2 John, 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation, but certain Bibles of the modern Syriac traditions include later translations of those books.