Catholic vs. Protestant Bible: Which Books Are Different

Someone picks up a relative's Bible and notices books they don't recognize: Tobit, Judith, Maccabees. Their own Bible doesn't have them. Both books say "Holy Bible" on the cover. Both are complete, printed editions, not abridged. The difference isn't a printing error — it comes down to which books each tradition counts as part of the Old Testament.

Why the Old Testament Is Different Lengths

A Protestant Old Testament has 39 books. A Catholic Old Testament has 46. The extra seven books are called the deuterocanonical books by Catholics and, when included at all, the Apocrypha by Protestants. Everything else in both Bibles — the other 39 Old Testament books and all 27 New Testament books — is identical in content, just sometimes in a different translation.

The short version

• Protestant Old Testament: 39 books
• Catholic Old Testament: 46 books (39 plus 7 deuterocanonical books)
• New Testament: 27 books in both, no difference

The Seven Books Only in a Catholic Bible

These are the books a Catholic Old Testament includes that a standard Protestant Old Testament leaves out:

• Tobit — a story of a Jewish family in exile, healing, and an angel traveling in disguise.
• Judith — a widow who saves her city from a besieging army.
• 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees — historical accounts of the Jewish revolt against Greek rule in the second century BC.
• Wisdom (also called the Wisdom of Solomon) — reflections on wisdom, justice, and the afterlife.
• Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus) — practical proverbs and ethical teaching, similar in style to Proverbs.
• Baruch — a short book of prayer and prophecy attributed to Jeremiah's secretary.

Catholic Bibles also include longer versions of Esther and Daniel, with extra sections not found in the Protestant versions of those two books.

Where the Difference Came From

The early church mostly read the Old Testament in Greek, in a translation called the Septuagint, which included these seven books along with the rest. Jewish scholars later settled on a narrower Hebrew canon of 39 books, and that Hebrew list is what the Protestant reformers turned to in the 1500s. Martin Luther kept the seven disputed books in his German Bible but moved them into a separate section he labeled Apocrypha, meaning writings useful to read but not counted as Scripture on the same level as the rest.

The Catholic Church responded at the Council of Trent in 1546, formally affirming all 46 books as Scripture. That's the split still in print today: Catholic Bibles keep the seven books inside the Old Testament, most modern Protestant Bibles print only 39 and leave the Apocrypha out entirely, and a smaller number of Protestant editions still include an Apocrypha section between the Old and New Testaments as historical reading.

Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha — Two Names, Same Books

Deuterocanonical means "belonging to a second canon" — not lesser, just recognized formally at a later date than the rest. That's the Catholic term, and it signals these books are treated as Scripture. Apocrypha is the term used when a Bible includes the same books but doesn't count them as Scripture, usually with a note that they're included for historical or devotional reading. Same texts, different status depending on which Bible you're holding.

The New Testament Doesn't Change

This is the part people are often surprised by: the New Testament is the same 27 books in a Catholic Bible and a Protestant Bible. Matthew through Revelation, same order, same books, in every mainstream edition. The difference between the two traditions is entirely an Old Testament question. A Catholic and a Protestant reading the Gospel of John are reading the same text, just possibly in different English translations.

How to Tell Which Bible You're Holding

A few quick checks:

• Open the table of contents and count the Old Testament books. 39 means a standard Protestant canon. 46 means a Catholic canon.
• Look for "Catholic Edition" on the cover or title page, or abbreviations like NAB, RSV-CE, or NRSV-CE.
• Standard printings of the KJV, NIV, ESV, and NLT (without a "Catholic Edition" label) follow the 39-book Protestant canon.
• Some translations, like the NLT, exist in both a standard edition and a separate Catholic edition — the translation name alone doesn't tell you the canon.

Choosing a Bible Based on Which Canon You Want

If the goal is a Bible for a Catholic reader or a Catholic gift, the Tyndale NLT Inspire Catholic Bible (Hardcover, Rose Gold) ($51.99) is a full Catholic-canon Bible with the 46 Old Testament books, and it's also a coloring Bible with over 450 illustrations, so it works as a study Bible and a journaling Bible at once.

For a Protestant reader who wants to read the deuterocanonical books without switching to a Catholic edition, the All-In-One Holy Bible with Apocrypha ($78.99) prints the Apocrypha as its own labeled section, kept separate from the 39-book Protestant Old Testament.

For a standard gift Bible with the 39-book Protestant canon, the KJV Holy Bible, Gift Edition (Blossom Pink Floral) ($18.99) is a straightforward King James Version in a faux-leather cover, no Apocrypha section.

For someone who wants study notes alongside the 39-book canon, the NIV, the Woman's Study Bible ($39.99) is a full-color NIV study edition built around the standard Protestant Old Testament.

A Note on the Ethiopian Bible

Catholic and Protestant Bibles aren't the only two canons in print. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church uses a broader canon of 88 books, including texts like the Book of Enoch and Jubilees that appear in neither the Catholic nor the Protestant Old Testament. For a full breakdown of that canon, see our guide, The Ethiopian Bible Canon Explained.

FAQ

Are the deuterocanonical books "less true" than the rest of the Bible?

That depends on which tradition is answering. Catholics treat them as fully canonical Scripture, on the same level as the rest of the Old Testament. Protestants who include them as an Apocrypha section generally treat them as valuable historical and devotional reading, but not as authoritative Scripture for doctrine. Neither tradition treats them as false; the disagreement is about their status, not their content.

Can a Protestant reader read the Apocrypha?

Yes. Reading the deuterocanonical books doesn't require switching traditions. Several Bible editions print them as a clearly labeled section specifically so readers who want the historical background — the Maccabees books, for instance, cover events between the Old and New Testaments — can read them without confusion about their status.

Does a Catholic Bible use a different translation from a Protestant Bible?

Translation and canon are two separate questions. Some translations, like the NAB and RSV-CE, are Catholic-specific. Others, like the NLT, are published in both a standard edition and a separate Catholic edition using the same translation philosophy but a different set of included books. Checking the cover for "Catholic Edition" is a faster way to confirm the canon than checking the translation name.

Is the King James Version Catholic or Protestant?

The original 1611 King James Version included an Apocrypha section between the Testaments. Most KJV Bibles printed today leave that section out and are associated with the 39-book Protestant canon, but KJV printings that include the Apocrypha do still exist.

What about Orthodox Bibles?

Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches use canons that are broader still, and they don't all match each other. The Ethiopian Orthodox canon, linked above, is the widest in common circulation, at 88 books.