Christianity

Bible

Christian scriptures collected in the Old and New Testaments. The English editions here follow the Protestant and Catholic canons.

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Contents and editions

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Genesis

Editions & sources

World English Bible · Protestant edition Selected edition

Language: English
Contents: Books and chapters follow the selected edition and its coverage.
Credits: World English Bible · ENGWEBP
Rights: Public-domain dedication by the WEB publisher. Preserve translation wording and edition name.

World English Bible · Catholic Book Order

Language: English
Coverage: 73 books, including seven deuterocanonical books and the longer Greek forms of Esther and Daniel.
Contents: Books and chapters follow the selected edition and its coverage.
Credits: World English Bible Updated, Catholic Book Order. Published by eBible.org.
Text and translation: A Catholic book set and order in the World English Bible translation family. The publisher identifies the edition by its canon. Numbering follows this edition, including its Greek Esther and Daniel.
Rights: Public domain by the publisher’s dedication. World English Bible is a trademark of eBible.org. The translation wording is preserved.

WLC · Hebrew / Aramaic Old Testament

Language: Hebrew
Contents: Books and chapters follow the selected edition and its coverage.
Credits: Westminster Hebrew Institute, Philadelphia; eBible.org; contributor United Bible Societies
Rights: Public Domain

SBLGNT · Greek New Testament

Language: Ancient Greek
Contents: Books and chapters follow the selected edition and its coverage.
Credits: Copyright 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software
Rights: CC BY 4.0

How the collection took shape

Origins and literary forms

Genesis and the Gospel of John both open with an account of beginnings, but they belong to different parts of the Christian Bible. The Old Testament draws on Israel’s scriptures. Its books preserve law, family and national histories, songs, proverbs and prophetic speeches. The New Testament, transmitted in Greek, includes accounts of the life of Jesus and letters addressed to early Christian communities. A psalm composed as a prayer and a letter written to a particular congregation have quite different settings, even when later communities read both in worship.

Canons and book order

Christian communities differ over which books belong in the Old Testament. The World English Bible edition here contains the 66 books of the Protestant canon. The edition with Catholic book order contains 73, including Tobit, Judith and the two books of Maccabees. Esther and Daniel also have longer forms. Both English editions include the same 27 New Testament books.

Editions in this library

Both English editions published here belong to the World English Bible translation family. The Catholic edition places Tobit and Judith after Nehemiah and includes the prayers in the longer Greek form of Esther. Its book order and chapter contents have their own history. A chapter number alone may identify different material across the two editions. The Hebrew and Aramaic text and the Greek New Testament listed below each cover their own portion of the collection.