Everything About the Bible That You Never Had Time to Look Up: A Condensed Guide to Biblical Literature

By W. Milton Timmons Ph.D.

Visit the author's website at www.miltontimmons.com.

Heretofore it has required years of study, access to many rare books, and superhuman effort to cut through the nearly impenetrable prose of these ancient books.

Now all the hard work has been done for you in this easy to read summary.

The project began during the course of collecting background material for a novel about the origins of Christianity when it soon became apparent that reliable information was very scarce. Perhaps half the books that shaped Western concepts of religion have ceased to exist. Many were destroyed as heretical after the early ecumenical councils closed the biblical canon in the fourth century; others have simply turned to dust. The oldest biblical manuscripts in existence are the Dead Sea Scrolls, which go back to approximately 100 B.C.E. And the oldest Christian manuscripts are those found in the Gnostic library of Nag Hammadi, in Egypt written in the fourth century C.E. But they dont contain any of the canonical books.

All other information comes to us via copies of copies. Before invention of the printing press in 1450, all replication was by hand which allowed countless variations to creep into texts. Especially after translation into multiple languages, many stories evolved into a wide spectrum of versions. Which is the true version? It is impossible to say.

The aim of this volume is to be concise rather than exhaustive thus making available to general readers the main sources of Judeo-Christian thought, without the distraction of scholarly disputes. For the benefit of those who may question the interpretation of certain documents, or who wish more information about original sources, a selected bibliography is included.

It should be remembered that the books in this volume were written by very primitive people who were trying to make sense of the world with the only information they had. But even in those days, most of these authors were not considered educated by their Greek and Roman contemporaries. Moreover, the Jewish and Christian leaders who created the biblical canon rejected the majority of these documents as products of overheated imagination. So there are times when descriptions necessarily become a bit whimsical. Always, however, the goal has been to cover the authors main points while eliminating only the extraneous.

Even though many of these books did not end up in any authorized Bible, they have nevertheless been extremely influential in the evolution of religious traditions. To this day, sermons, theological doctrines, and Sunday school lessons are still based on these extra-canonical sources: Where did medieval artists get the idea for all those paintings about the Assumption of the Virgin? Theres nothing in the Bible about any such event. How do Catholics justify their doctrine that Mary remained a virgin all her life even though the Bible says Jesus had several brothers and sisters? Where did Dante Alighieri get his concepts about the levels of hell? Where did John Milton get the plot for his story about Lucifer the fallen angel?

The documents contained in this book are where those ideas, and a myriad others, all came from.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 28, 2003
• ISBN: 9781450046107

W. Milton Timmons Ph.D.

With a Ph.D. in Mass Communications from the University of Southern California and a teaching career spanning thirty years, Professor Timmons has conducted courses in virtually every aspect of Speech, Drama, Radio-TV-Film, Journalism, and Advertising. As head of the Motion Picture Department at Los Angeles Valley College in the North Hollywood area for 22 years he wrote two textbooks and produced hundreds of educational films. Since 1990 he has been listed in Who’s Who in America and, following his retirement in 1992, he has devoted his time to scholarly writing and research.

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Copyright © 2002 by W. Milton Timmons, Ph.D.

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Contents

FOREWORD

HISTORY OF THE BIBLE

THE OLD TESTAMENT

THE APOCRYPHA

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA AND OTHER JUDEO-CHRISTIAN LITERATURE FROM THE BIBLICAL ERA

CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA OF THE PRE-NICEAN ERA

CHRISTIAN DOCUMENTS ACCEPTED AS CANONICAL BY THE COUNCIL OF NICEA

CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHA OF THE POST-NICEAN ERA

FOREWORD

Heretofore it has required years of study, access to many rare books, and superhuman effort to cut through the nearly impenetrable prose of these ancient books.

Now all the hard work has been done for you in this easy to read summary.

The project began during the course of collecting background material for a novel about the origins of Christianity – when it soon became apparent that reliable information was very scarce. Perhaps half the books that shaped Western concepts of religion have ceased to exist. Many were destroyed as heretical after the early ecumenical councils closed the biblical canon in the fourth century; others have simply turned to dust. The oldest biblical manuscripts in existence are the Dead Sea Scrolls, which go back to approximately 100 B.C.E. And the oldest Christian manuscripts are those found in the Gnostic library of Nag Hammadi, in Egypt – written in the fourth century C.E. But they don’t contain any of the canonical books.

All other information comes to us via copies of copies. Before invention of the printing press in 1450, all replication was by hand – which allowed countless variations to creep into texts. Especially after translation into multiple languages, many stories evolved into a wide spectrum of versions. Which is the true version? It is impossible to say.

The aim of this volume is to be concise rather than exhaustive – thus making available to general readers the main sources of Judeo-Christian thought, without the distraction of scholarly disputes. For the benefit of those who may question the interpretation of certain documents, or who wish more information about original sources, a selected bibliography is included.

It should be remembered that the following books were written by very primitive people who were trying to make sense of the world with the only information they had. But even in those days, most of these authors were not considered educated by their Greek and Roman contemporaries. Moreover, the Jewish and Christian leaders who created the biblical canon rejected the majority of these documents as products of overheated imagination. So there are times when descriptions necessarily become a bit whimsical. Always, however, the goal has been to cover the author’s main points while eliminating only the extraneous.

Even though many of these books did not end up in any authorized Bible, they have nevertheless been extremely influential in the evolution of religious traditions. To this day, sermons, theological doctrines, and Sunday school lessons are still based on these extra-canonical sources: Where did medieval artists get the idea for all those paintings about the Assumption of the Virgin? There’s nothing in the Bible about any such event. How do Catholics justify their doctrine that Mary remained a virgin all her life even though the Bible says Jesus had several brothers and sisters? Where did Dante Alighieri get his concepts about the levels of hell? Where did John Milton get the plot for his story about Lucifer the fallen angel?

The following books are where those ideas, and a myriad others, all came from.

Dr. W. Milton Timmons

HISTORY OF THE BIBLE

There is no historical or archeological evidence that the Hebrews had ever been held in captivity by the Egyptians, as claimed by the Torah – except that their deity, named Yah (or Yahweh), bears a striking resemblance to the Egyptian sun god Ra, elevated to monotheistic status by Pharaoh Akhenaton in the 13th century B.C.E. All we know is that the Jews were a nomadic tribe living on the Arabian Peninsula – and the literature suggests that they had been closely associated with the Babylonians. King Hammurabi of Babylon had written his code of laws (which include the Ten Commandments) around 1700 B.C.E.; and the Ark of the Covenant, which Jews allegedly carried around, could well have been a trunk full of scrolls containing these laws along with Babylonian stories of Gilgamish and Atrahasis. These two tales were eventually modified into Jewish versions of Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, Moses and the Commandments, etc., gradually embellished and passed down orally from generation to generation.

About 1200 B.C.E. the Hebrews crossed the river Jordan and settled in the land of Canaan.

Around 1000 B.C.E. a monarchy was established in the city of Jerusalem, with David as the first important king. During the tribal period it had been traditional for one man to serve as high priest. But David made the mistake of appointing two high priests to share the duties: Abiathar and Zardok. To complicate matters, David had two sons, Adonijah and Solomon, who both wanted to be his successor, with each priest backing a different son.

Eventually Solomon was chosen as the new king, who, not surprisingly, appointed the cleric who had supported him as high priest of the kingdom (while the rival priest was subsequently banished). Solomon and his priest then proceeded to construct a great temple in Jerusalem.

In 922 B.C.E. the banished priest organized a rebellion which eventually led to secession from the kingdom of Judah, forming the northern kingdom of Israel. Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king of Judah, while a former official named Jeroboam became king of Israel.

Each of the two kings probably ordered each of their high priests to write an official history of the Hebrew people to help unify and legitimatize their respective regimes. Each kingdom claimed to be the true heirs of God’s favorite family.

The priest in Judah consistently used the name Yahweh (later mistranslated as Jehovah) in writing his tale, while the priest in Israel used the name Elohim in composing his version of the saga. Not only was the deity given a different name by the two priests, but the style of writing was distinctively different; and many of the same events (intermixed with legends from Gilgamesh and Atrahasis) were given different interpretations. Scholars now refer to these two versions as the J version and the E version. Some unknown priest expanded on the legends more than a century later, and his contributions are identified as P.

In 722 B.C.E. the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, but Judah survived.

Judah, however, was becoming weak and corrupt, until King Josiah took the throne as a reformer. He subsequently banned all religious practices of which he disapproved, then spruced up the temple and commissioned the writing of Deuteronomy to give divine sanction to his new laws. He claimed, however, that the book had been written by Moses centuries earlier but had been misplaced until his scholars found it in the temple. The author of Deuteronomy (and parts of several other books) was probably a scholar named Baruch.

In 586 B.C.E. the Babylonians conquered Judah and destroyed the temple. Those Jews who survived the war were then taken as slaves to Babylon.

Around 550 B.C.E. Babylon was conquered by the Persians, under King Cyrus. Cyrus then let the Jews return to their devastated homeland. But after decades of slavery among foreigners they had forgotten all their ancient laws and traditions.

During the reconstruction period, a priest named Ezra discovered the E, J, and P versions of Jewish history, edited and combined them into what he called the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. The temple was rebuilt. Then, adding the book of Deuteronomy, a public meeting was held, where this anthology of tales was read aloud to the citizens, thus creating the Torah, and establishing it as state law. The tradition was created that Moses (one of the characters in the book of Exodus) was the one who wrote the entire Torah, taking dictation directly from Yahweh.

The remaining books of what Jews call the Tanakh and Protestants call the Old Testament were written by many people. King David is credited with the Psalms. Tradition claims that Solomon wrote Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. (Rabbis say that he wrote Song of Songs when he was young, Proverbs when he was middle aged, and Ecclesiastes when he was old.)

The Book of Samuel may have been written around 900 B.C.E., and redacted in the sixth century B.C.E. by Baruch, the same author who wrote Deuteronomy.

The first and second parts of Isaiah were written by two anonymous scholars, around 790 to 750 B.C.E.

Even if Proverbs was not written by Solomon, it is obvious that it was written by various aristocrats, which made it popular among the upper classes.

Amos was written by a poor shepherd, which made it popular among the lower classes. So the Jewish anthology of sacred literature contained something for every taste.

By 300 B.C.E. all the books of the Tanakh had been written, but only the Torah had been canonized as the official Word of God. The remaining books were simply regarded as important national literature.

At this time the language of commerce around the Mediterranean was Greek, and all Jews outside their homeland spoke that language rather than Hebrew. King Ptolemy of Egypt wanted Greek translations of the best Hebrew literature for his new library in Alexandria, so he commissioned seventy-two Jewish scholars (six from each of the twelve tribes) to create the Septuagint. Legend has it that, for mystical reasons, each man labored exactly seventy-two days to produce a translation of the ancient texts. Actually, biblical scholars say it took more than a hundred years.

In 47 B.C.E. the library was destroyed by Julius Caesar’s legions as they captured the city. It is known that the Septuagint contained numerous scrolls other than the Tanakh, but exactly which additional volumes are missing is unknown. Many books are mentioned in the present Tanakh which are no longer extant.

The Romans attacked Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and destroyed the second temple. After their country had been completely dismantled, a group of refugee priests met at the town of Jamnia to establish an official canon of what they referred to as the Jewish Bible (i.e., library). In 90 C.E. they selected the books now included in the King James Version of the Old Testament, declaring this reading list to be divinely inspired, while excluding many of those which had originally been included in the Septuagint. Those excluded books were called the Apocrypha (meaning of doubtful inspiration). By the time of the Diaspora, the Jewish canon was closed.

The books found in the caves of the Dead Sea had all been copied some time before 100 B.C.E., and were probably hidden to protect them from the approaching Roman armies. Those who hid them were most likely killed in the war. The scrolls contained all the books of the Jewish canon except Esther, but they also contained different versions of these books, proving that there were several versions in circulation before the canon was closed. In addition, the Dead Sea Scrolls contained many books about the doctrines and practices of a monastic cult called the Essenes – who totally disagreed with the priesthood in Jerusalem. They worshiped a deceased Teacher of Righteousness, said to have been the reincarnation of Joshua (translated in Greek as Jesus), who would return as a messiah (divinely appointed king) to deliver them from the Romans.

A Jewish businessman named Saul was apparently influenced by the Essenes and created his own version of Jesus, the Christ (christ was the Greek word for messiah). Saul changed his name to Paul and, in 37 C.E., began establishing churches around the Mediterranean, promoting his concept of Christ-ism. Between 37 and 67 C.E., Paul was alleged to have written fourteen letters to various congregations and friends. Other letters were said to have been dictated by original apostles – but that is doubtful since all these letters were written in Greek, whereas the apostles, if such men existed, would have spoken only Aramaic. Furthermore, they were written long after the apostolic period.

The book of Mark was written around 70 C.E. and revised in 100 C.E.

Matthew was written between 80 and 85 C.E.

Luke was written c. 85-100 C.E.

Acts was regarded as a continuation of The Gospel of Luke and written by the same author.

The book of Revelation (or Apocalypse of John) was written on the Greek island of Patmos between 81 and 96 C.E. – part of a long tradition of visionary literature.

John was written between 90 and 95 C.E., but revised by a committee in 150 C.E.

There was probably another gospel written about the same time as Mark, which scholars call Q (from the German word quelle, meaning source). This is because about eighty percent of Matthew and Luke are copied from Mark, and the remainder seems to have been copied from some other common source.

All the gospels were written in Greek, by unknown authors, who based their stories on the doctrines of Paul. We know they were originally composed in Greek because Mark occasionally quotes Jesus as saying something in Aramaic, which Mark then translates into Greek. It would appear, however, that this translation was provided by someone else – because whoever wrote the book of Mark was obviously unfamiliar with either Aramaic or Hebrew, as well as the geography, history, laws and customs of Judea, since much of what he wrote is incorrect. Perhaps the most striking discrepancy is that the town of Nazareth, where Mark claims that Jesus grew up, didn’t even exist during the time of Herod the Great. The phrase, Jesus of Nazareth was, in fact, based on a misinterpretation of Isaiah 11:1. The Hebrew phrase, yeshua netzer meant a savior (who will come) from the branch of Jesse (and David). The Septuagint translated netzer as nazer, so Mark apparently thought Nazarene referred to Joshua’s home town rather than his family tree. Furthermore, the locations of Gethsemane, Calvary, Bethany, and many others mentioned in the gospels were only metaphorical appellations. It wasn’t until centuries later, as Paul’s religion grew in popularity that various tourist areas began adopting these names to attract gullible pilgrims.

The names of the four gospels were arbitrarily chosen by early church fathers while debating which ones to select for the canon. There are no original manuscripts extant; the oldest fragments only go back to the third century.

All of Paul’s churches based their doctrines on his preaching and his letters but, in addition, the church in Rome had the gospel of Mark; the churches in Greece referred to the book of Luke; the city of Antioch had Matthew; and Ephesus had John. Besides these four books, various churches had hundreds of other biographies of Jesus (written by anonymous converts) along with tales of his miraculous adventures. Of particular importance was a book called The Diatessaron, written by a bishop named Tatian in 160. This was a combination of the four gospels which eliminated their contradictions and redundancies, and for five centuries served as the entire New Testament of the Syrian Church.

In 325 C.E., Emperor Constantine ordered fifty copies of what had come to be known as the Judeo-Christian Bible so he could distribute them to the old pagan temples and make Christianity the official religion of the empire – thus putting an end to the religious wars raging throughout the occupied territories. The first ecumenical council was convened in the city of Nicea, on the Black Sea, where 318 bishops then proceeded to argue for many years over which books to include in their official reading list. First, they adopted the Nicean Creed, which codified the doctrines established by Paul. Then they selected the books which they called the New Testament and, to further support their doctrines, accepted what was left of the Septuagint as their Old Testament. Finally they delivered their scrolls to the emperor, all written in Greek, packed, in no particular order, in trunks. This tended to solidify the position of the books now included in the New Testament, but by no means ended the disputes among various congregations.

At about the same time the New Testament canon was being debated in Nicea, a group of Gnostic Christians in Egypt were copying texts in the Coptic language – which included the Gospel of Thomas – a collection of quotations allegedly by Jesus (about twenty percent of which are also found in the four canonical gospels). After Constantine adopted the New Testament from the Council of Nicea, however, the Gnostics (along with their Gospel of Thomas) were declared heretical, forcing them underground to escape execution. So they hid their library in a cave near the Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. This library was discovered in 1945.

The first Latin translation of the Septuagint appeared around 175 C.E., later becoming known as the Old Latin Bible.

Pope Damasus was dissatisfied with the Old Latin version and, in 382, commissioned Bishop Jerome to create a new Latin version. It only took a year to translate the New Testament canon from Greek into Latin scrolls. Then he started working on books from the Septuagint. But he soon became unhappy with the Greek translations and taught himself Hebrew, allowing him to go back to the original texts. He finished the Latin translation of the Hebrew Tanakh around 405. This library of Latin scrolls was called the Vulgate. Jerome had misgivings about including some sixteen books from the Septuagint which were relatively late additions, composed in Greek rather than Hebrew and rejected by the rabbis in 90 C.E. But the council of Hippo in 393 C.E. and the Council of Carthage in 397 had already settled the matter by affirming these books as canonical.

As noted, not all congregations accepted the verdicts of the ecumenical councils, and the Ethiopian church rejected the whole idea of distinctions between Old and New Testaments, as well as canonical vs. non-canonical books. In addition to the sixteen extra books from the Septuagint, Ethiopian Bibles are likely to include a wide variety of books, including:

The Book of Jubilees

The (Ethiopian) Book of Enoch

The Rest of the Words of Baruch

The Ascension of Isaiah

The Shepherd of Hermas

The Apocalypse of Abraham

The Testament of Abraham

The Testament of Moses

Wisdom of Sybil

Didascalia Apostolorum

Lives of the Prophets

Etc.

On the other hand, the Peshitta (Standard Bible of Syria) rejected not only the additions of the Ethiopian Church but also the last eight books of the New Testament. Furthermore, it did not replace the Diatessaron with the Four Separated Gospels until the fifth century, and even today it deletes a number of doctrinal verses which are normally found in Western texts.

In fact, all the Byzantine churches rejected the Book of Revelation until the end of the tenth century.

By 550 C.E. Bibles were frequently copied in the form of a codex, which was a gigantic book with leather pages bound between wooden covers.

The oldest codex of the New Testament is the Sinaiticus Codex, written in Greek and copied as early as 350 C.E., found in an ancient church at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It apparently had once contained both Old and New Testaments, but some of the Old Testament is now missing. It is on display at the British Museum.

The next oldest codex is called the Aleppo Codex, written in Hebrew around 800-900 C.E., containing the entire Palestinian canon of the Old Testament (i.e., the Tanakh) but not the New Testament. It is now on display at the Museum of the Book in Jerusalem.

John Wycliffe was the first to translate the Bible into Middle English around 1375. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church regarded Latin as the only appropriate language for ecclesiastical literature, so Wycliffe was condemned as a heretic in 1382 and the book was banned.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450, and the very first book to be printed was the Vulgate.

In 1517 Martin Luther posted his ninety-five charges against the Catholic Church – thus launching the Protestant Reformation. One of his complaints against the church was its acceptance of the sixteen apocryphal books of the Old Testament. Adopting the Palestinian Tanakh instead, he then translated both halves of the Bible into German from the oldest available Hebrew and Greek texts and had them printed. He did include the apocryphal books, but separated them from the rest of the Old Testament and added them as an appendix, noting that they were useful but not divinely inspired. This is still the authorized Bible of the German Evangelical Church.

William Tyndale was the next to attempt an English translation, which was published in 1523 – but of the New Testament only. All copies were ordered to be confiscated by the Catholic Church, and Tyndale escaped to Germany, where he was trying to translate the Old Testament when he was captured and executed for heresy.

In 1533, King Henry VIII severed relations with the Vatican and established himself as supreme authority of the English church – thus joining Luther in the Protestant Reformation.

In 1535, Miles Coverdale published the first printed edition of both testaments in English. This book was made in Zurich, where it was reasonably safe to do so. But it was a bad translation, generally unintelligible, and soon went out of print.

In 1537, Thomas Matthew pieced together a version which combined the best sections from Tyndale and Coverdale.

In 1538, Henry VIII ordered 2,500 copies of Matthew’s Bible to be printed and placed in every major church in the kingdom. Even though it was printed on paper rather than parchment, it was nevertheless a very large and expensive book – which was referred to as the Great Bible. This version went through six editions – each being quite different from the one before.

Partly in response to Protestant criticism, the Council of Trent in 1546 agreed to drop Third and Fourth Maccabees but reaffirmed the remaining apocryphal books as part of the Roman Catholic canon.

When the Catholic Queen Mary I assumed the throne of England in 1553, she ordered all English Bibles destroyed and replaced by the slimmed down version of the Latin Vulgate.

When the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558, she banned the Vulgate and ordered a new English translation, henceforth known as the Geneva Bible. This was the first Bible to divide the text into chapters and verses. It was smaller and more affordable than the Great Bible, but it also contained commentaries in the margins which created much opposition.

The Bishops Bible was published in England in 1568. Even though it was more popular than the previous version it was never officially authorized by the Queen.

In 1610, the Catholic Church reluctantly authorized an English Bible. This was a translation from the revised Latin Vulgate, published in the city of Douay. But the preface clearly states that the book was not for the laity (who would only be confused by such profundity). It should not be read by husbandmen, it says, artificers, apprentices, boys, girls, mistresses, or maids. It was not intended for table talk, ale houses, boats, barges, and for every profane person and company. It further states that, In those better times men were not so curious as to abuse the blessed book of Christ. The official position was that only priests could explain what it means.

The Eastern Orthodox Church, however, had never been as concerned about ideological purity as Roman Catholics, and from the beginning had translated the Bible into all the indigenous languages of its missionary outreach. It also had disagreed with Rome regarding the apocryphal books. The Byzantine churches accepted Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, III Esdras, Questions of Ezra, and The Prayer of Manasseh, but rejected the remaining problematic books.

Among English Protestants there was much dispute about doctrine, because of the contradictions among various editions of the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the Bishops Bible. So King James I commissioned fifty-four scholars to write a new English translation, based on medieval Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. Eschewing any attempt at literalism in order to gloss over the more obvious contradictions, these scholars freely paraphrased the original texts while imitating the poetic style of the contemporary playwright William Shakespeare. This translation which, like its Protestant predecessors, separated the Apocrypha into an appendix, was published in 1611, becoming the most popular version in history. It also happened to be of great political value in establishing Elizabethan English as the standard for an expanding British empire.

In 1881 a revised edition of the King James New Testament was published, based on the discovery of more ancient Greek manuscripts. In 1885 a revised version of the King James Old Testament was published.

Since that time, there have been hundreds of translations into American English, as well as other languages.

It should be noted that those Bibles containing the Apocrypha as an appendix are inconsistent in the books they entail. Besides those that are part of the Catholic canon, some Protestant versions also include at least three books that are part of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, but which are not recognized by the Vatican:

IV Ezra (or III Esdras)

Questions of Ezra

The Prayer of Manasseh

In 1944, the Catholic Church authorized an updated English edition, also translated directly from the 1592 version of the Vulgate, this time by an English cleric named Ronald Knox. Interestingly, Knox retained enough of the Elizabethan language to make it sound like its Douay ancestor but not quite so unintelligible. A final revision of the Knox version was published in 1956.

In 1970, the Catholic Church issued the New American Bible. This book, like the King James Version, goes back to the oldest Greek and Hebrew manuscripts for its sources. But unlike so many others, it is actually written for the purpose of elucidation, rather than intimidation through archaic vocabulary and opaque sentence structure.

As has been the case throughout history, each new edition of the Bible has always been sponsored by some religious organization for the purpose of making their translation appear to support the doctrines of that denomination.

Perhaps the only exception to this rule has been The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version, published by the Jesus Seminar in 1992. This translation was compiled by more than two hundred theologians from all over the world, representing a wide variety of Christian traditions, utilizing the most advanced techniques of historical and archeological scholarship. But since they concluded that eighty-two percent of the words allegedly spoken by Jesus were in fact fictitious, traditionalists have, naturally, denounced the Jesus Seminar as having its own (demonic) agenda.

Major Versions of the Judeo-Christian Bible

Ancient Greek Language

Original Septuagint (? books)—compiled approx. 150 B.C.E.

Surviving Septuagint (58 books) c. 100 C.E.

Aquila version (58 books) c. 130 C.E.

Theodotion version (58 books) c. 180 C.E.

Symmachus version (58 books) c. 190 C.E.

Hexapla (58 books) c. 235 C.E.—by Origen

Latin Language

Old Latin (58 books) translated from Septuagint c. 175—authors unknown.

Vulgate (combines 54 books from original Hebrew Bible and adds 27 books from New Testament)—translated by St. Jerome in 405 C.E.

Clementine Vulgate (52 books) 1592

Hebrew Language

Samaritan Pentateuch (5 books) c. 400 B.C.E.

Hexapla (one section of it) (52 books) c. 235 C.E.

Masoretic text (39 books) c. 850 C.E.

Aramaic Language

Targum (5 books + ?) c. 400 B.C.E.

Syrian Language

Peshitta (the number of books has varied widely over the years. They accepted many books not found in the Septuagint, and still reject some that are normally found in the New Testament)

Ethiopian Language

Ethiopian Orthodox (approx 90 books—depending on the publisher. They accept all 27 books of the New Testament, plus many books that were rejected by the Council of Nicea)

Eastern European Languages

The Byzantine (or Eastern Orthodox) federation consists of fifteen national churches—each with a Bible in its own language. (80 books before c. 1050 C.E.—81 books afterwards)

German

Lutheran version (66 books) c. 1517

English Catholic

Reims-Douai (79 books) 1610

Ronald Knox Version (79 books) 1944-56

Jerusalem Bible (79 books) 1966

English Protestant

John Wycliffe version (79 books) 1375

William Tyndale version (66 books) 1530

Miles Coverdale version (66 books) 1535

Thomas Matthew version (66 books) 1537

Great Bible of Henry VIII (66 books) 1538

Geneva Bible (66 books) 1558

Bishops Bible (66 books) 1568

King James I (66 books) 1611

King James II (66 books) 1881

King James III (79 books) 1895

New King James (66 books) 1979

New English Bible (66 books) 1961-70

American Catholic

New American Bible (79 books) 1970-92

American Protestant

American Standard Bible (66 books) 1901

Schofield Reference Bible (66 books) 1909

Revised Standard Bible (66 books) 1946-57

Good News Bible: Today’s English Version (81 books) 1979

Living Bible (66 books) 1971

New International Version (66 books) 1978

Spirit Filled Life Bible (66 books) 1991

Annotated Scholars Version (5 books) 1992

MacArthur Study Bible—1997

Modern Language Version

New American Standard Version

Bible in Basic English

New World Translation

Lamsa’s Version

New Jerusalem Study Bible

Anchor Bible

American Jewish

Revised King James Old Testament (39 books)—1917

American English from Masoretic text (39 books)—1973

THE OLD TESTAMENT

consists of the following thirty-nine books according to:

Hebrew Bible (orTanakh), 90 C.E.

King James, 1611 and most Protestant versions

GENESIS (or First Book of Moses in some Bibles)

The first five books of the Bible (The Torah) were based on Hebrew and Babylonian folklore, first written down and edited into their present form after the Babylonian exile – which would date their composition after 538 B.C.E. The editorial work was most likely done by the priest Ezra.

Adam and Eve – two contradictory versions. The first version says Adam and Eve were created together. The other version says Adam was created first and Eve was made from his rib. [Note: These variant stories were derived from the Babylonian tales of Gilgamesh and Atrahasis.]

Noah – two contradictory versions. The first version specifies two of each species. The second version stipulates two of some species and seven of others. [Note: These flood stories are derived from the Sumerian legend of Ut-Napishtim.]

Tower of Babel (a folk tale about the great ziggurat of Babylon – 325 ft. high – exceeded at that time only by the pyramids of Egypt).

Sodom and Gomorrah

Abraham’s family history

Joseph in Egypt

EXODUS (or Second Book of Moses in some Bibles)

Hebrews in bondage

Moses in the bulrushes [Note: Based on the legendary King Sargon of Babylonia]

Plagues

Miraculous Crossing of Red Sea. [Note: If there had been an escape from Egypt, scholars date it about 1200 B.C.E.]

Ten Commandments and other laws [Note: These are based on the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, carved in stone at the city gate, 1700 B.C.E.]

Lots of other commandments

Hebrews build a portable tabernacle and start their journey.

LEVITICUS (or Third Book of Moses in some Bibles)

This book was written almost entirely by an anonymous priest some time during the fifth century B.C.E.

Recipes for sacrifice

Rites and incantations

Dietary laws

Another listing of rules which include some of the Ten Commandments.

Stoning of witches

Feast days

Rules for buying and sacrificing slaves

Tax collection (i.e., tithing)

NUMBERS (or Fourth Book of Moses in some Bibles)

Yahweh orders Moses to take a census, where each family is assigned specific duties.

Tribes leave Sinai

More on proper method of sacrifice

Moses performs more miracles: Walking stick sprouts almonds. Water from a rock. Golden serpent cures snakebite. Talking jackass, etc.

Conquest of various tribes

DEUTERONOMY (or Fifth Book of Moses in some Bibles)

This book identifies itself as the words of Moses. But most likely it was written by a scholar named Baruch during the sixth century B.C.E. to propagate Yahvism as the state religion and suppress competitive religions. In Greek, the word Deuteronomy means The Second Law.

More wandering through desert

Still another variation of Ten Commandments

More explication of laws and rituals

Song of Moses

Moses appoints Joshua as his successor, then dies – although by tradition all these first five books are said to have been written by Moses. After his death there is a description of his burial and an official period of mourning which lasts thirty days.

JOSHUA (called Josue in Knox and Douay Bibles)

The Greek translation for Joshua is Jesus, and perhaps for that reason the early Catholic Bibles spell this character’s name as Josue. Although the Jews don’t classify this book as part of the Torah, it was nevertheless written at the same time and by the same priests as the first five books.

Joshua leads Hebrews across the Jordan into Canaan.

Battle of Jericho and other cities

Joshua commands the sun to stand still until they have won the battle.

Hebrews occupy the conquered territories.

Joshua dies.

JUDGES

This is thought to be a collection of writings from different people during the period of tribal leaders known as judges – c. 1040 B.C.E.

Indigenous tribes fight back. Bloody descriptions. Families begin fighting each other.

Tale of Samson and Delilah

RUTH

This story is set during the era of judges (c. 1040 B.C.E.) but it was written at least 500 years later, during the reconstruction period after the exile. It was probably written as propaganda against the statute which prohibited intermarriage with foreigners.

Very short tale about a young woman and her mother-in-law. Naomi sells Ruth to a businessman. Ruth then bears a son to take care of Naomi. Naomi raises the child, who eventually becomes the ancestor of Jesse and King David.

FIRST SAMUEL (called First Kings in Knox and Douay Bibles)

Written some time after Saul’s accession to the throne in 1028 B.C.E. Starting with this book, we move from mythology into verifiable history with some of the oldest documents in the Bible.

Samuel is born. Philistines capture the ark. Yahweh smites them with smallpox until they return it.

Samuel becomes a Judge.

People demand a king. Samuel appoints Saul as king. Saul proves incompetent, so Samuel appoints David.

David and Goliath

David and Saul constantly squabbling

Saul is killed in battle (c. 1013 B.C.E.)

SECOND SAMUEL (called Second Kings in Knox and Douay Bibles)

[Note: The reason Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, etc. are broken into sections is because a scroll of parchment can only hold a limited amount of data.]

David conquers Jerusalem.

David and Bathsheba

David has a son named Absalom who tries to usurp the throne. Absalom is killed. Saul’s sons are executed.

Song of David

FIRST KINGS (called Third Kings in Knox and Douay Bibles)

As David is dying, his son Adonjah assumes the throne. David objects and appoints Solomon instead. [Note: David then died in 1006 B.C.E.]

Solomon builds a temple in Jerusalem, then a palace for himself. Places Ark of Covenant in temple.

Solomon takes several hundred wives from neighboring tribes and begins honoring their gods.

Solomon dies and is succeeded by Rehoboam (933 B.C.E.).

A former employee of Solomon, named Jeroboam, leads a revolt to form the kingdom of Israel. Rehoboam remains king of Judah. War breaks out between the two kingdoms. Then Israel is attacked by Syria and Judah comes to their defense.

Death of King Ahab (853 B.C.E.)

SECOND KINGS (called Fourth Kings in Knox and Douay Bibles)

Israel’s new king, Ahazia, sends for Prophet Elijah, but Elijah is annoyed by the summons and kills over 100 soldiers with fire from heaven. Another platoon is sent to ask him more politely. He says, oh . . . well, OK. Why didn’t you say so. [Note: Elijah was leader of the prophetic political movement which wanted to establish Yahvism as a state religion – which had come to pass by the time this book was written, obviously by a Yahvist.]

Ahaziah dies and is succeeded by Jehoram.

Elijah is taken to heaven in a chariot of fire.

His son Elisha performs miracles in defeating the Moabites.

Elisha revives a dead boy.

Elisha cures a leper.

Bloody death of Jezebel

Various kings murder the families of their rivals.

After years of war, Syria finally conquers most of Israel.

Elisha dies.

There is a long list of successive kings. [Note: Usually, it says to refer to the Annals of the Kings of Israel, or Judah – both of which have ceased to exist.]

Finally, the remainder of Israel is conquered and its citizens taken to Assyria as slaves.

Isaiah causes the sun to jump backwards across the sky to impress King Hezekiah with his powers.

King Josiah abolishes religious freedom and enforces strict orthodoxy.

Josiah is killed in battle.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invades Judah and destroys Solomon’s temple.

All the Jews are held captive in Babylon for 37 years. [Note: Josephus says it was 70 years.]

FIRST CHRONICLES (called First Book of Paralipomena in Knox and Douay Bibles)

A patriarchal list of begats from Adam on down through all the important families. Occasionally it stops to recount a tale about one of them.

Retells death of Saul.

Retells story of David’s selection as king. Anecdotes about David: David rescuing the ark; battles with the Philistines; building palace and new tabernacle.

Song composed for dedication of the tabernacle.

Retells more of David’s battles.

David tells his son Solomon to build a temple.

Families are assigned duty sections: construction crews, soldiers, bookkeepers, priests, farmers, etc.

A detailed list of construction expenses

Coronation of Solomon

SECOND CHRONICLES (called the Second Book of Paralipomena in Knox and Douay Bibles)

Solomon asks Yahweh for the gift of wisdom, which is granted.

Solomon begins construction of the temple.

Detailed description of temple

Solomon delivers a dedication prayer, then burns 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep as a sacrifice.

Solomon rebuilds his cities.

Story of visit by Queen of Sheba is retold.

Retells story of Rehoboam succeeding his father and threatening to be harder than Solomon, and how some tribes revolted to join Jeroboam.

Egypt attacks and strips the temple of its gold, but then retreats.

Retelling of how Rehoboam and Jeroboam battled for many years.

When Rehoboam dies he is succeeded by Abijah, who continues the war against Jeroboam.

Judah defeats Israel in a major battle and Jeroboam dies.

Abijah is succeeded by Asa.

Judah attacked by Ethiopia, but survives.

Asa is succeeded by Jehoshaphat.

Israel and Judah team up to fight Syria.

The king of Israel is killed in battle.

Thumbnail bios of various kings and queens. One of them, King Uzziah, is struck down by leprosy because he dared to offer incense directly to Yahweh instead of allowing the priests to do it. [Note: So says the priest writing Second Chronicles.]

The feast of Passover is established (or reinstated) during the reign of King Hezekiah.

Repeats the tales of other kings up to the Assyrian sack of Jerusalem, destruction of the temple, and exile to Babylon.

EZRA (called First Book of Esdras in Knox and Douay Bibles)

King Cyrus of Persia frees the Jews from Babylon and tells them to go home.

Detailed listing of his gifts to help rebuild the temple

List of all the families who returned

Reconstruction of temple

Dedication of temple

Genealogy of Ezra

Ezra lists all those who traveled with him from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra laments how the Jews have turned away from Yahweh. A proclamation is issued requiring everyone to assemble at the temple.

Ezra makes a speech demanding that they divorce their foreign wives. He publishes a list of every man who had married a foreign woman. They all promise to divorce their wives and abandon their children, lest they invoke the wrath of Yahweh.

NEHEMIAH (called Second Book of Esdras in Knox and Douay Bibles)

This book claims to be the autobiography of a man named Nehemiah, a Jew still working for the king of Babylon after his friends had already returned to Judah. He hears that things are not going well in his homeland and asks for a leave of absence. The king grants it. He arrives at Jerusalem and finds it in bad shape, so he organizes construction crews to repair the city walls and gates.

Detailed explanation of the work

Nehemiah is appointed governor of Judah. He complains that some people are getting rich off the poor, so he forbids the charging of interest on loans. Nehemiah brags that he never accepted a salary for his work as governor (although it is obvious that he was already a wealthy man).

After the walls are completed, Nehemiah resigns as governor, turning the office over to his brother.

Another listing of all the Jews who had returned from exile

Nehemiah retells the story of Ezra reading the Torah to the assembled citizens as the new Law of the Land. He says it took seven days to read all five books.

The following October, another ritual is conducted in which all Jews fast, wear burlap, and cover themselves with dirt. The Torah is again read aloud, then they publicly confess their sins and offer prayers and sacrifice to Yahweh.

A long prayer is recited in which everyone promises to obey the priesthood (which Nehemiah, of course, refers to as the Will of God).

Long list of signatories to the covenant. They promise not to marry gentiles and agree to give their eldest sons and first born of all their livestock to Yahweh. (Presumably that means they either sell or donate their sons into slavery under the priesthood.)

Another long list of families who have moved to Jerusalem

Long list of villages in Judah and surrounding areas [Note: There is no mention of a town called Nazareth.]

Long description of ceremonies dedicating the new wall

Nehemiah gets upset with people working on the Sabbath, so he passes strict blue laws, ordering the gates to be shut from Friday evening until Sunday morning. Anyone trying to do useful work during those hours is arrested and fined.

Nehemiah brags about the brutal assault he instigated against several families for allowing their sons and daughters to marry foreigners. Finally he runs all gentiles out of town.

ESTHER (Certain portions of this book appear in Catholic Bibles which have been deleted from Protestant and Eastern Orthodox versions)

Like all the previous books, this one was originally written in Hebrew, but part of the story was later added in Greek. Those portions are deleted from the Hebrew Bible. They are included, however, in the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and all subsequent Catholic Bibles.

King Ahasuerus, emperor of Persia, throws a great party. He sends orders for the queen to come down to the dining hall so he can show her off to his friends – queen Vashti being a great beauty. But she refuses to be paraded around like a show horse. The king is afraid that if she is allowed to get away with this disobedience, all wives throughout the empire will begin to disobey their husbands and society will collapse. So he banishes Vashti.

After awhile he begins to get lonely, so he organizes a beauty contest. A lovely Jewish orphan named Esther is brought to the harem by her cousin Mordecai. Each night one of the contestants is taken to the king’s bed to audition for the position of queen. The king is so pleased with Esther’s performance that he declares her queen. Mordecai had warned Esther not to mention that she was Jewish, so she keeps it secret.

Prime Minister Haman had long been annoyed by Mordecai’s stubborn pride, which exacerbates the growing tension between Persia and Judah. Haman gets the king to issue a decree calling for the annihilation of all Jews. Esther sends word to Mordecai that he should hold a prayer meeting for Yahweh to protect her while she tries to persuade the king to rescind his order.

Haman has already captured Mordecai and ordered his execution.

The king, meanwhile, has read about the time Mordecai once foiled an assassination attempt against him. He asks Haman how a hero should be rewarded. Haman, thinking the king is talking about him, says the man should be treated like royalty. The king so orders and, in humiliation, Haman has to release Mordecai and bestow great honors on him.

While Haman is brooding about how to get even with Mordecai, Esther organizes a banquet and reveals that if the king’s orders are carried out then she too must die. She says that Haman had deceived the king; moreover, he has constructed a gallows to hang Mordecai, the man Ahasueras has just made a national hero. The king checks it out and finds that the gallows is still standing and that it was indeed ordered for the execution of Mordecai. The king orders Haman to be hanged on it instead. Then he gives Haman’s estate to queen Esther and makes Mordecai his Prime Minister. The pogrom against the Jews is rescinded.

On the day all Jews had been scheduled for slaughter, however, the Jews take revenge and, instead, murder all those who had been harassing them. More than 75,000 of their enemies are butchered. The author of Esther says this massacre is still celebrated by Jews as the festival of Purim. Queen Esther and Prime Minister Mordecai of Persia are still celebrated among the greatest heroes of Jewish history.

JOB

[Note: This book deals with the concept of Satan, an idea the Jews picked up from the Babylonians during their years of exile. There had been no mention of Satan in earlier Jewish literature. Genesis only refers to a talking Serpent, an ancient symbol of wisdom, not to Satan.]

A wealthy and pious Jew named Job had seven stalwart sons and three beautiful daughters.

One day Yahweh is chatting with Satan and bragging about what a devoted subject Job is.

Satan sneers that he ought to be, considering all the favors Yahweh has bestowed upon him. Take away his wealth and see how fast he turns against you.

Yahweh tells Satan it’s OK to experiment with Job and see how he reacts.

Satan wipes out all of Job’s crops and herds by various natural disasters. Then Job is notified that all his children have been killed when the roof caved in on a party they were attending.

Job praises The Lord.

Yahweh gloats.

Satan says, Well, it’s only money. Take away his health and see what happens.

Yahweh says to go ahead.

Satan strikes Job with a terrible skin disease.

Job praises The Lord.

Friends come by to console Job.

The disease grows worse.

Finally Job curses the day he was born and asks why Yahweh should do this to him; such evil should only happen to evil people.

His friend Eliphaz says that Job must have done something wicked. He must ask forgiveness.

Job says that’s nonsense; he hasn’t done anything wrong.

His friend Bildad says Job must have done something wrong; otherwise, he would not be punished. He then begins expounding on Jewish history to prove his point.

Job says he has heard all that before. But what has happened to him is unjust. Why should an all-powerful deity pick on a poor mortal?

His friend Sophar says Job must not presume to judge God.

Job says he has become a laughingstock among his neighbors because they all thought he was so righteous. Such bad luck now makes them say he must have been a hypocrite. Job laments that he is not alone; Yahweh has brought similar misfortune upon many others who did not deserve it.

Eliphaz repeats that mere mortals have no right to make such accusations. It is obvious that Job is guilty of some heinous crime which he refuses to admit.

Job repeats that there is no justice in the world. Everywhere, the wicked prosper while the righteous are punished.

The three friends are disgusted because Job has refused to admit his guilt.

Finally Elihu speaks. He says that God, by definition, is incapable of sin. So Job’s sin is in arrogantly protesting his innocence and Yahweh’s guilt. We don’t know anything about how the universe works, so how can we presume to judge what is just or unjust?

Yahweh then speaks from a whirlwind, verifying what Elihu had said. He castigates Job for complaining, and goes on and on about the wonders of his creation. Consequently, he can do anything he pleases, he says, and humankind has nothing to say about it. Yahweh goes into great detail describing a fire-breathing dragon, and then dares Job to create anything equally fearsome. Yahweh then castigates Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, saying he has a good mind to slay them all. But if they each sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams he might consider letting them off.

They do so and Job offers a prayer for them.

Yahweh cures Job of his illness, restores his wealth, and gives him seven more sons and three more daughters. Job finally dies at the ripe old age of 140 years.

PSALMS

One hundred fifty poems of praise, intended to be sung while accompanied by a lyre. Most of these are stated as having been composed by King David, but some of them clearly refer to the Jewish years of exile in Babylon, centuries later. At least one is attributed to Moses. Many are simply unidentified.

There are several mentions of Sheol in the Psalms, but it is presented as a vague idea with no implications of the Christian concept of hell.

The repeated word Hallelujah means praise be to Jah, (Yah, or Yahweh).

Psalm #51 has been deleted from some Bibles as apocryphal.

PROVERBS

This is a collection of wisdom literature from all over the world, but attributed to Solomon, the icon of wisdom. These verses are filled with all sorts of inconsistent concepts and contradictory advice, reflecting their many authors.

ECCLESIASTES (or The Preacher in some Bibles)

Additional wisdom literature, but more coherent than Proverbs. It at least seems to have been written by a single author. The book identifies itself as the words of King Solomon, the Preacher (or Teacher). But according to Asimov’s Guide to the Bible, it was actually written some time between 200 and 300 B.C.E. – hundreds of years after Solomon’s reign.

It has the distinctive flavor of a Greek philosopher – quite naturalistic, and by far the most readable book in the entire Bible. It is in the form of an essay, written in first person, as King Solomon might have composed a journal of personal meditation. It mostly concerns the meaning of life – with the final conclusion that there is none. The author agrees with Job that we cannot expect justice from Yahweh, and we might as well take what pleasure we can find while we’re alive because this is all we get.

THE SONG OF SOLOMON (called The Song of Songs in the Knox and New American versions of the Catholic Bible, and Canticle of Canticles in the Douay version)

A kind of opera featuring King Solomon praising the beauty of some favorite girlfriend, while a chorus of women sing his praises in response. A very sensual song, totally unrelated to religion. But clerics claim it is actually a metaphor about Yahweh’s love for his people. The book is introduced as having been written by Solomon, but according to The New American Bible it was written after the exile, probably around 300 B.C.E. Asimov’s Guide suggests that it was most likely composed as an entertainment for someone’s wedding.

ISAIAH (called The Prophecy of Isais in Knox and Douay Bibles)

This book claims