Protestant Bible

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A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible translation or revision produced by Protestants. Such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Jewish Hebrew Bible canon, sometimes known to non-Protestants as the protocanonical books) and the 27 books of the New Testament for a total of 66 books. This is often contrasted with the 73 books of the Catholic Bible, which includes seven so-called deuterocanonical books[1] as a part of the Old Testament.[2]

The practice of including only the Old and New Testament books within printed bibles was standardized among Protestants following the 1825 decision by the British and Foreign Bible Society.[3]

Early Protestant Bibles

From the Reformation, Protestants have usually excluded the books which Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians consider to be Deuterocanonical, viewing them as non-canonical. However, prior to an 1825 British and Foreign Bible Society decision, most Protestant Bibles did include these additional books 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.

The German Luther Bible of 1522 did include the Apocrypha within its boards. However, unlike in previous Catholic Bibles which interspersed the books of the Apocrypha throughout the Old Testament, Martin Luther placed the Apocrypha in a separate section after the Old Testament. The books of the Apocrypha were not listed in the table of contents of Luther's 1532 Old Testament and, in the 1534 edition, they were given the well-known title: "Apocrypha: These Books Are Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read".[4]

In the English language, the incomplete Tyndale Bible published in 1525, 1534 and 1536, contained the entire New Testament. Of the Old Testament, although William Tyndale translated around half of its books, only the Pentateuch and the book of Jonah were published. The first complete Modern English translation of the Bible, the Coverdale Bible of 1535, also included the Apocrypha. Like Luther, Miles Coverdale placed the Apocrypha in a separate section after the Old Testament.[5]

For the following three centuries, most Protestant Bibles, including the Authorized Version, continued with this practice. However, there were some exceptions. A surviving quarto edition of the Great Bible, produced some time after 1549, does not contain the Apocrypha although most copies of the Great Bible did. A 1575 quarto edition of the Bishop's Bible also does not contain them. Subsequently, some copies of the 1599 and 1640 editions of the Geneva Bible were also printed without them.[6] The Souldiers Pocket Bible, of 1643, draws verses largely from the Geneva Bible but only from either the Old or New Testaments.

19th century developments

In 1826,[7] the National Bible Society of Scotland petitioned the British and Foreign Bible Society not to print the Apocrypha,[8] resulting in a decision that no BFBS funds were to pay for printing any Apocryphal books anywhere. Since that time most modern editions of the Bible and re-printings of the King James Bible 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.

Excluded books

A Protestant Bible excludes the books and passages of the Christian Old Testament that are not part of the Hebrew Bible canon, which Catholics and Eastern Christians consider to be deuterocanonical. Without these books there is a 400-year intertestamental period in the chronology of the Christian scriptures between the Old and New Testaments. This period is known to Protestants as the "400 Silent Years" because it is believed to have been a span where God made no additional canonical revelations to his people.[9] .

Included books

See also: Books of the Bible § Christian Old Testament, and Books of the Bible § New Testament

The books that comprise a Protestant Bible with their commonly accepted names among the Protestant churches are given below. Note that "1", "2", or "3" as a leading numeral is normally pronounced as the ordinal number, thus "First Samuel" for "1 Samuel".[10]

Old Testament

New Testament

Notable English translations

Most Bible translations into English conform to the Protestant canon and ordering. Notable English translations include:

Abbreviation Name Date Translation
Tyndale Bible 1526 (NT) Formal equivalence
TCB Coverdale Bible 1535 Formal equivalence
GEN Geneva Bible 1575 (NT), 1560 (OT) Formal equivalence
KJV King James Version (aka "Authorized Version") 1611, 1769 (Blayney revision) Formal equivalence
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1862 Extreme formal equivalence
ASV American Standard Version 1900 (NT), 1901 (OT) Formal equivalence
RSV Revised Standard Version 1946 (NT), 1952 (OT) Formal equivalence
NWT New World Translation 1950 (NT), 1961 (OT) Optimal equivalence
NEB New English Bible 1961 (NT), 1970 (OT) Dynamic equivalence
NASB New American Standard Bible 1963 (NT), 1971 (OT), 1995 (update) Formal equivalence
AMP The Amplified Bible 1958 (NT), 1965 (OT) Dynamic equivalence
GNB Good News Bible 1966 (NT), 1976 (OT) Dynamic equivalence, paraphrase
LB The Living Bible 1971 Paraphrase
NIV New International Version 1973 (NT), 1978 (OT) Optimal equivalence
NKJV New King James Version 1979 (NT), 1982 (OT) Formal equivalence
NRSV New Revised Standard Version 1989 Optimal equivalence
REB Revised English Bible 1989 Dynamic equivalence
GB God's Word Translation 1995 Optimal equivalence
NLT New Living Translation 1996 Dynamic equivalence
HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible 1999 (NT), 2004 (OT) Optimal equivalence
ESV English Standard Version 2001 Formal equivalence
MSG The Message 2002 Paraphrase
CEB Common English Bible 2010 (NT), 2011 (OT) Dynamic equivalence
MEV Modern English Version 2011 (NT), 2014 (OT) Formal equivalence
CSB Christian Standard Bible 2017 Optimal equivalence

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. 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. Other versions were used by fewer than 10%.[11] A 2015 report by the California-based Barna Group found that 39% of American readers of the Bible preferred the King James Version, followed by 13% for the New International Version, 10% for the New King James Version and 8% for the English Standard Version. No other version was favoured by more than 3% of the survey respondents.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Protestants do not recognize this distinction.
  2. ^ Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law, 825
  3. ^ Howsham, L. Cheap Bibles: Nineteenth-Century Publishing and the British and Foreign Bible Society. Cambridge University Press, Aug 8, 2002.
  4. ^ Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. Volume 3, p. 98 James L. Schaaf, trans. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–1993. ISBN 0-8006-2813-6
  5. ^ https://bible.org/seriespage/1-wycliffe-king-james-period-challenge
  6. ^ http://www.tbsbibles.org/pdf_information/307-1.pdf
  7. ^ Howsam, Leslie (2002). Cheap Bibles. Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-521-52212-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Flick, Dr. Stephen. "Canonization of the Bible". Christian heritage fellowship. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  9. ^ Lambert, Lance. "400 Silent Years: Anything but Silent". Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved 2012-09-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Library of Congress Rule Interpretations, C.8. http://www.itsmarc.com/crs/mergedProjects/lcri/lcri/c_8__lcri.htm
  11. ^ Goff, Philip. Farnsley, Arthur E. Thuesen, Peter J. The Bible in American Life, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, p. 12
  12. ^ https://www.americanbible.org/uploads/content/State_of_the_Bible_2015_report.pdf
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