Greek Septuagint Inclusions Versus the Hebrew Masoretic Text: Why Catholic Bibles Contain Seven More Books Than Protestant Canons

A Protestant reader opening a Catholic Bible for the first time will find themselves staring at 73 books instead of the familiar 66. The difference lies entirely in the Old Testament, where the Catholic canon contains 46 books compared to the Protestant 39. This seven-book gap is not a modern theological invention.[3]

Instead, the divide stems from a centuries-old divergence in ancient source texts. The Catholic Church relies on the textual tradition of the Greek Septuagint, while Protestant reformers aligned their Old Testament with the Hebrew Masoretic Text. That textual choice fundamentally reshaped the Western Christian canon.[3][4]

The seven contested texts are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. Catholic Bibles also include additional sections in the books of Esther and Daniel. To understand why these texts are present in one Bible and absent in another, one must trace the history of biblical translation back to ancient Egypt.[3]

The Greek Septuagint Tradition

Beginning around 250 B.C., Greek-speaking Jews in Alexandria began translating their Hebrew scriptures into Greek. This translation, known as the Septuagint, became the primary scripture for the Jewish diaspora across the Mediterranean. By the first century, the Septuagint included several books written or preserved exclusively in Greek.[1]

The Septuagint was not a single, monolithic document, but a collection of translations and original Greek texts that circulated widely. Because Greek was the lingua franca of the ancient Mediterranean, this version made the Hebrew scriptures accessible to a vast population of Hellenized Jews. It became the standard religious text for Jewish communities outside of Judea.

Early Christians, who primarily spoke and wrote in Greek, adopted the Septuagint as their Old Testament. The New Testament authors frequently quoted directly from the Septuagint when referencing Old Testament prophecies. Because the early Church used this Greek text, the additional seven books were woven into early Christian worship and theology.[1]

For over a millennium, the Western Christian church largely relied on the Latin Vulgate, translated by Jerome around 400 A.D. Although Jerome personally preferred the Hebrew texts, the broader Church maintained the Septuagint's wider canon. The seven additional books remained a standard part of the Christian Bible throughout the Middle Ages.

The Hebrew Masoretic Text

Meanwhile, within Rabbinic Judaism, the Hebrew textual tradition continued to develop independently of the Greek translations. Jewish scribes known as the Masoretes worked to perfect and standardize the Hebrew Old Testament. By the 10th century A.D., they had established the authoritative Masoretic Text.[1]

This standardized Hebrew version contained only 39 books, excluding the seven additional texts found in the Greek Septuagint. The Masoretic Text became the definitive scripture for Rabbinic Judaism, establishing a narrower canon. The Jewish community ultimately rejected the Septuagint, partly because it had become so closely associated with early Christianity.[3]

Modern archaeological discoveries have further complicated the textual history. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered at Qumran in the mid-20th century, researchers found ancient Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of books like Tobit and Sirach. This proved that some of the Deuterocanonical books existed in Semitic languages long before they were preserved in the Greek Septuagint.[4]

The existence of these two distinct textual traditions—the broader Greek Septuagint and the narrower Hebrew Masoretic Text—set the stage for a massive theological collision. For centuries, the Catholic Church had embraced the wider Greek tradition. But the 16th-century Protestant Reformation would challenge that consensus by returning to the Hebrew sources.[4]

Martin Luther's Textual Shift

During the Reformation, Protestant leaders placed a heavy emphasis on returning to the original source languages of Scripture. When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German in 1534, he chose to base his Old Testament on the Hebrew Masoretic Text rather than the Greek or Latin translations. This decision immediately excluded the seven Septuagint books.[2]

Luther did not discard the texts entirely, but he relocated them to an appendix placed between the Old and New Testaments. He labeled this section the "Apocrypha," a term that eventually took on a negative connotation in Protestant circles. Luther explicitly defined their secondary status in his preface to the section.[2]

"These are books that, though not esteemed like the Holy Scriptures, are still both useful and good to read," Luther wrote in his 1534 German Bible. By demoting the texts, Luther effectively removed them from the inspired Protestant Old Testament canon. Other Protestant reformers, including John Calvin, adopted similar positions regarding the Hebrew canon.[2]

The reformers' preference for the Masoretic Text was also driven by theological disputes. The Catholic Church used passages from the Septuagint texts to defend specific medieval doctrines. For example, 2 Maccabees 12:39–46 was frequently cited to legitimate the practice of praying for the dead and the doctrine of purgatory.[3]

By rejecting the Deuterocanonical books, Protestant reformers undermined the scriptural basis for several Catholic practices. Without 2 Maccabees, the theological foundation for purgatory and almsgiving as a meritorious act of penance was severely weakened. The textual shift to the Masoretic Text thus served both a linguistic and a theological purpose for the Reformation.

The Council of Trent Responds

The Catholic Church responded directly to the Protestant Reformation by convening the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563. Church leaders recognized the need to formally define the biblical canon in the face of Protestant challenges. On April 8, 1546, the Council explicitly declared the canonicity of the broader Septuagint-based Old Testament.[3]

The Council affirmed the seven contested books as "Deuterocanonical," a term meaning they belonged to a second canon of equal divine inspiration. The decision was confirmed by a formal vote, cementing the 73-book Catholic Bible. This ruling officially codified the divide between the two major Western Christian traditions.[3]

The Council of Trent's decree ensured that Catholic Bibles would continue to include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and the Maccabees. The Church maintained its long-standing tradition of using the Septuagint as the basis for the Old Testament. The Protestant and Catholic canons were now permanently fractured.[3]

The Modern Canon Divide

Today, the seven-book difference remains one of the most visible distinctions between Catholic and Protestant Bibles. Early Protestant English translations, such as the 1560 Geneva Bible and the 1611 King James Version, initially included the Apocrypha in a separate intertestamental section. The texts were still considered historically valuable.

However, tensions between Protestants and Catholics escalated throughout the 1600s, and the inclusion of the Apocrypha became increasingly contested. By the late 17th century, many Protestant publishers began omitting the Apocrypha entirely. This omission saved printing costs and reflected a hardening theological stance against the Catholic Deuterocanon.

In 1826, the British and Foreign Bible Society officially decided to stop funding the printing of Bibles that included the Apocrypha. This decision standardized the 66-book Protestant Bible that is universally recognized today. The seven Deuterocanonical books effectively vanished from the Protestant consciousness over the subsequent two centuries.[4]

The Eastern Orthodox Church, which also relies heavily on the Greek Septuagint, maintains an even broader canon. Orthodox Bibles include all the Catholic Deuterocanonical books, plus additional texts like 3 Maccabees and Psalm 151. Their canon reflects an even wider acceptance of the ancient Greek manuscript tradition.

Ultimately, the 73-book Catholic Bible and the 66-book Protestant Bible represent two different historical approaches to ancient texts. The Catholic canon preserves the Greek Septuagint tradition embraced by the early Christians in the first century. The Protestant canon reflects a 16th-century decision to align with the 10th-century Hebrew Masoretic Text.[1][3][4]