The Following Books make up the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Canon
It is important to note that the EOTC has two Bible Canons the Narrow Canon which contains fewer books and the Broader Canon which contains more. The Broader Canon has not been printed in Ethiopia since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Haile Selassie Version of the Bible, which was published in 1962, contains the Narrower Canon in Amharic translated from the Ge’ez.
Ideally we would like to offer the original Ge’ez or Amharic along with an English translation. The Ethiopian Orthodox Bible Project has the Haile Selasse Version in its possession in Amharic so far.
The Narrow Old Testament Canon is listed here:
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- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Joshua
- Judges
- Ruth
- I and II Samuel
- I and II Kings
- I Chronicles
- II Chronicles (including the Prayer of Manasseh)
- Jubilees
- Enoch
- Ezra-Nehemiah (In Catholic Bibles Ezra-Nehemiah are sometimes known as I and II Esdras)
- Ezra (2nd) and Ezra Sutuel (Also known as I and II Esdras in the KJV, II Esdras is Chapters 3-14)
- Tobit
- Judith
- Esther (Including the Rest of Esther)
- I Meqabyan (Not the same as I Maccabees)
- II and III Meqabyan (Not the same as II and III Maccabees)
- Job
- Psalms (Including Pslam 151)
- Messalë (Proverbs ch 1–24)
- Tägsas (“Reproof”; Proverbs ch 25–31)
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of Songs (Also known as Song of Solomon)
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah (incl. Lamentations, Letter of Jeremiah, Baruch and Ethiopic 4 Baruch)
- Ezekiel
- Daniel (Including the Rest of Daniel)
- Hosea
- Amos
- Micah
- Joel
- Obadiah
- Jonah
- Nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- Zechariah
- Malachi
- The book of Joshua (Sometimes rendered Jesus) the Son of Sirach
The Old Testament Broader Canon is:
All of the books of the narrower Old Testament canon plus one book:
Yosëf wäldä Koryonor Josippon or The Book of Josephas the Son of Ben Gorion (Some Non- Ethiopians refer to this book as Pseudo Josephus) It has 8 parts
The Narrower New Testament Canon is:
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- Matthew
- Mark
- Luke
- John
- Acts of the Apostles
- Romans
- I Corinthians
- II Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- I Thessalonians
- II Thessalonians
- I Timothy
- II Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
- Hebrews
- I Peter
- II Peter
- I John
- II John
- III John
- James
- Jude
- Revelation
The Broader New Testament Canon is all of the books of the Narrower New Testament Canon plus:
28 Sirate Tsion (the Book of Order or the Order of Zion)
29 Tizaz (The Book of Herald or Commandments)
30 Gitsew
31 Abtilis
32 The I Book of Dominos (Also known as the Book of the Covenant I)
33 The II Book of Dominos (Also known as the Book of the Covenant II)
34 The book of Qälëmentos or Clement
35 Didesqelya or Didascalia (Ethiopic Didascalia not to be confused with other versions)
Note: Sirate Tision, Tizaz, Gitsew and Abtilis are all known as Sinodos as well and are each attributed to the Apostles.
* All together 81 books are counted in the Ethiopian Orthodox Canon it must be remembered however that books are sometimes counted and divided differently than in the other canons.
We are still in need of copies of the following books in Ge’ez and Amharic:
Josippon and all of the books of the Greater New Testament Canon (Except for Gitsew.)
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