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Home , Council of Jamnia, Jewish diaspora, Letter of Aristeas, The Books of the Bible, Twelve Minor Prophets

THE According to ST. MATHEW

Fr Joy Thomas Nellissery, PHD Welcome to the Church: inaugurated on the Pentecost, 33 AD Welcome to the written Holy Voice of from around 1000 BC until 100 AD Let us Pray Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. And kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth.

Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful. In the same Spirit help us to relish what is right and always rejoice in your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. WORD OF GOD GOD IS LIVING EXISTENCE, SO HIS WORDS ARE ACTIVE AND ALIVE… THUS, MANDATED THAT IF THERE IS NO ONE TO LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD DAILY, THE SHOULD NOT BE KEPT IN THAT PLACE. Because TORAH is the VOICE OF GOD. HENCE : CONTINUATION OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD, DID NOT ENCOURAGE LAITY TO HAVE IN THEIR HOME, FOR FEAR OF IRREVERNCE TO THE BIBLE. II VATICAN COUNCIL CHANGED THIS UNDERSTANDING and encouraged everyone to listen and meditate the Word of God Introduction to the Holy Bible THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 46+27 = 73

OLD TESTAMENT

 THE 4  THE PENTATEUCH 5  The 1  The Histories 16  The New Testament Letters 14  The Wisdom Books 7  The Catholic Letters 8  The 18  ------ ------ 27  46 (JEWISH) 39 BOOKS

 The Five Books of (TORAH) “teaching” ------5  Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers; Deuteronomy.

 The Prophets (Nevi’im) “prophets” ------21 Former Prophets: ; Judges; 1 and 2 ; 1 and 2 Kings; Latter Prophets: ; ; ; The Twelve (minor prophets) ……… ……… ……… ……… ; , ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Zechariah;

 The Books of the Writings (Kesuvim) “writings” ------13

; Proverbs; ; ; Ruth; Lamentations; ; ; ; - Nehemiah; 1 and 2 Chronicles.

 ------ 39

Protestant Bible 39+27 = 66

 The very first KJV had 73 books  THE MISSING BOOKS and parts:  , Tobit, Wisdom, Judith, 1 and , and Baruch.  And Wisdom, and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel.  (Catholics and Orthodox call these books as Deuterocanonical and  Jews and Protestants call them as Apocryphal.  These were the last WRITTEN books of the , composed in the last two centuries of B.C.  Their omission in Protestant leaves a chronological gap in salvation history. Why do we have these extra books in the OT (than the Jewish Bible)?  When the Jews returned from Babylonian to Palestine, they had lost almost everything; through the course of centuries developed the formation of Scribes, later and restructuring of their religion.  Their language has changed from Hebrew to and Greek.  The Bible in use at the time of was the (LXX, for the 70 men who translated it from Hebrew into Greek, 300 – 200 BC, SIMULTANEOUSLY yet independent) from Alexandrian manuscripts.  This Bible HAD the seven .  This was the version of the Old Testament used by the Jews, Jesus and New Testament authors and by Christians during the first century A.D  And that’s our Bible today! We haven’t changed it. The Temple in was destroyed in 70 A.D. The Christians were growing, and Jewish leaders had to differentiate their faith by officially making the list of books at the Council of Jamnia (about 100 A.D.) They rejected the seven Deuterocanonical books because they were not written in Hebrew, SINCE, they are Hebrew people. (In 1947, however, fragments in Hebrew of Tobit and Sirach were discovered among the . In addition, most Scripture scholars believe that , Judith, Baruch and parts of Wisdom were also originally written in Hebrew.)  In the 16th century, Martin Luther adopted the Jewish list, putting the Deuterocanonical books in an appendix.  He also put the letter of James, the letter to the , the letters of John, and the book of from the New Testament in an appendix.  He did this for doctrinal reasons:  (E.g.: 2 Maccabees 12:43-46 supports the doctrine of purgatory,  Hebrews supports the existence of the priesthood, and  James 2:24 supports the Catholic doctrine on Merit).  Later Lutherans followed Luther’s Old Testament list and rejected the Deuterocanonical books, but they did not follow his rejection of the New Testament books. The Septuagint (from the Latin: septuāgintā literally means "seventy"; LXX; also called the Greek Old Testament) is the earliest Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures.

It is estimated that the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Torah or Pentateuch, were translated in the mid-3rd century BC and the remaining texts were translated in the 2nd century BCE. The Septuagint was in wide use (since Jews came back from Babylonian diaspora), by the time of Jesus, because most Jews could no longer read Hebrew. Hence, LXX is quoted more often than the Hebrew Old Testament in the New Testament, in the Pauline , by the Apostolic Fathers, and by the Greek Church Fathers.

The title LXX, derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas that the LXX was translated at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BC) by 70 Jewish scholars or, according to later tradition, 72, with six scholars from each of the Twelve Tribes of , who independently produced identical translations. The miraculous character of the Aristeas legend indicates the esteem in which the translation was held in the ancient Jewish diaspora and, and in Palestine at the time of Jesus and later, early Christian circles. When was the Bible assembled as one Book?

 By the early second century compilation of these books evolved, yet the official approval of the Church came later.  The Canon/List of books of Scripture, was officially approved in the Council of Rome on 382 A D.  Decree of Pope [reign A.D. 366-384], cannon of the Bible was approved again at the Councils of Hippo, 393A.D and 397 A.D.  At the in 1546, the Council Fathers gave formal definition of the Canon of the Bible and declared the translation to be authentic. So What is Bible? God’s self revelation to the World

Stories of Relationship: God and his people, and with the universe

Is your story/family history part of the Bible? YES, indeed: God’s creation and salvation process continues through you…

History = His story and Her story!