What Bible do Catholics use?

Catholics use the canon in the Catechism: 46 Old Testament books, or 45 if Jeremiah and Lamentations are one book, and 27 New Testament books. That Old Testament includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. The Catechism does not name one English publisher as the Catholic Bible.

Key points

• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 120 (1) says the Church discerned the list “by the apostolic Tradition,” and then counts “46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.”
• The Catechism’s Old Testament list on that page names Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch.
• The Council of Trent, Session IV (2), in the Waterworth translation hosted by Hanover College, receives those books and says that anyone who does not receive “the said books entire with all their parts” and knowingly contemns the traditions “let him be anathema.”
• Dei Verbum 22 (3) says the Church gave a place of honor to the Greek Septuagint and to “the Latin translation known as the vulgate,” and that Scripture should be accessible.
• The Westminster Confession, 1.3 (4) says, “The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture.”
• The Belgic Confession, Article 6 (5) says the church may read those books “as far as they agree with the canonical books,” and that they cannot confirm a point of faith.
• The Anglican Article VI (6) says the other books, “as Hierome saith,” are read “for example of life and instruction of manners,” and “it doth not apply them to establish any doctrine.”

How many books, and which extra books?

Catechism 120 (1):

It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books.

The same page continues: “This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.” Forty-six plus twenty-seven is seventy-three. The parenthetical 45 is the Catechism’s own alternate count, not a second canon.

The Old Testament list on that page:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.

The Catechism spells the name Zachariah. The seven books that are not in the Westminster list below are Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and Baruch. Catholic writers call these the deuterocanon. Westminster calls the same books, as a class, the Apocrypha. What is the Apocrypha? separates that class from other ancient books, such as Enoch, that neither list receives.

Trent’s decree, in the Waterworth English at Hanover College, uses the older Latin titles: Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and “two books of the Machabees, the first and the second,” along with the rest of the Old and New Testaments. Then:

But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin vulgate edition; and knowingly and deliberately contemn the traditions aforesaid; let him be anathema.

This site’s King James text does not include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, or the books of Maccabees, so those books have no /bible/ page here. The Catechism’s quotation of Maccabees is printed in Is purgatory biblical?.

Why Protestant Bibles omit them

Westminster 1.2 (4) lists the Old Testament books it says are “now contained” under the name of Holy Scripture. The list runs from Genesis through Malachi and does not name Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, or Maccabees. Westminster 1.3 (4):

The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority in the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings.

The Belgic Confession, Article 5 (5) says, “We receive all these books and these only as holy and canonical.” Article 6 names the apocryphal books, including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Sirach, Baruch, and the two books of Maccabees, and says:

The church may certainly read these books and learn from them as far as they agree with the canonical books. But they do not have such power and virtue that one could confirm from their testimony any point of faith or of the Christian religion.

Article VI (6) puts “The First Book of Esdras” and “The Second Book of Esdras” in the canonical list, and “The Third Book of Esdras” and “The Fourth Book of Esdras” among the other books. In that article the other books also include Tobias, Judith, the rest of Esther, Wisdom, Jesus the Son of Sirach, Baruch, and the two books of Maccabees. The article’s sentence about them is:

And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.

Hierome is Jerome. This page did not fetch Jerome’s own prologue. The article is what was fetched.

The Baptist Faith and Message, Article I (7) does not print a book list. It says the Holy Bible “is God’s revelation of Himself to man” and “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.”

2 Timothy 3:16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:King James Version (8): “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Both sides claim that sentence for the books they count as Scripture. Revelation 22:18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:King James Version (9) warns against adding to “the words of the prophecy of this book.” The verse names the prophecy of that book. It does not list the Old Testament.

A sentence of Luther’s own Bible preface was not fetched. The Lutheran confessions’ book list is not a substitute for it. The Reformed and Anglican texts above are the Protestant canon sentences this page quotes.

Which translation?

Dei Verbum 22 (3):

Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. That is why the Church from the very beginning accepted as her own that very ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament which is called the septuagint; and she has always given a place of honor to other Eastern translations and Latin ones especially the Latin translation known as the vulgate. But since the word of God should be accessible at all times, the Church by her authority and with maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sacred books.

The paragraph names the Septuagint and the Vulgate. It does not name an English edition. This page did not fetch a decree that names the New American Bible, the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, or the New International Version. It does not say which English Bible most Catholics buy.

The King James Version is the English text of the Bible pages on this site. Its Old Testament matches the shorter list in Westminster, not the Catechism’s list. A Catholic who opens a King James Bible does not have Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, or Maccabees in that volume. Westminster 1.8 (4) says the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament are the authentic texts, and that they “are to be translated into the vulgar language of every nation.” That is a Protestant rule for translation, not a Catholic ban on the King James Version. No Catholic ban was fetched.

Frequently asked questions

Do Catholics have a different Bible than Protestants?

They have a different Old Testament list. The New Testament list in the Catechism is the same twenty-seven books Westminster lists: the four Gospels, Acts, the Pauline letters including Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. The difference the confessions argue is the Old Testament books named above, and whether tradition shares authority with Scripture.

Do Catholics use the King James Bible?

The King James Old Testament on this site does not contain the books Trent and the Catechism receive. Dei Verbum 22 (3) asks for suitable translations into different languages. It does not mention the King James Version.

What are the seven extra books called?

In Catholic use, the deuterocanon: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees, the seven names that are in the Catechism’s list and not in Westminster’s. Protestant confessions call that class the Apocrypha. The Anglican article’s “other books” also include additions to Esther and Daniel, and books it titles the Third and Fourth of Esdras. What is the Apocrypha? is that longer list.

The churches on this site

• Catholic
• Lutheran
• Reformed
• Anglican
• Christianity
• What is the Apocrypha?
• Has the Bible been changed?
• Catholic vs Protestant
• Common arguments