The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) possesses a unique biblical canon, differing from those of other Christian denominations. The Holy Scriptures and tradition form the foundation of the faith. The word of God is not contained in the Bible alone, it is to be found in tradition as well. The Sacred Scriptures are the written word of God who is the author of the Old and New Testaments containing nothing but perfect truth in faith and morals. But God’s word is not contained only in them, there is an unwritten word of God also, which we call apostolic tradition.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has 46 books of the Old Testament and 35 books of the New Testament that will bring the total of canonized books of the Bible to 81. As a whole, books written in the Geez language and on parchment are numerous.
The canon of the Ethiopic Bible differs both in the Old and New Testament from that of any other churches. It includes the book of Enoch, Baruch, and the third and fourth Esdras. In the international Bible studies there are certain books belonging to the class usually designated pseudepigraphic. The whole Christendom and whole-learned world owes a debt of gratitude to the church of Ethiopia for the preservation of those documents.
Among these books is the book of Enoch which throws so much light on Jewish thought on various points during the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era. The book of Jubilee (Kufale, i.e. Division) otherwise known as the Little Genesis has also been preserved entire only in the Ethiopic version. The preservation of yet one more book in its entity, namely, the Ascension of Isaiah, is to be remembered to the credit of the Ethiopic Church.
The Ethiopic version of the Old and New Testament was made from the Septuagint.
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The canons, regulations of Christian instruction and worship of the Ethiopian Church, are contained in the Sinodos and Didascalia, two compilations of ancient church canons, dating from the second period of Ethiopic literature. The Sinodos, classed as part of Ethiopic New Testament, is composed of various elements: Constitutions of Apostles, the Statutes of the Apostles, the Canons of the Apostles, the canons of Various councils-Nicaea, Gangra, Sardica, Antioch, New-Caesarca, Aneyra, Laodienea - and various theological and pastoml treatises. Eight books make up the Sinodos.
Sinodos is the Corpus juris Ecclesiastic of the Church.
The Didascalia a document well known in the Christian Church originally composed in Greek probably in the middle of the third century, a discourse on Church life and society. The whole work was afterwards, somewhere in the fourth century, incorporated in the Apostolic Constitutions. It has Latin, Arabic and Syriac versions, which differ among themselves and from the Ethiopic version with regard to the subject matter.
Briefly the contents of the document are: Questions of morality, the duty of studying the Scriptures and observance of the Seventh Commandment, mutual duties of husband and wife, offices and duties of Christian ministers; the duties of widows; the method of baptism, laymen not to baptize; vows of virginity; the duties of the faithful towards the martyrs; observance of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy week and method of calculating the date of Easter; warning against heresy; respect to be shown to the faithful departed; prayers to be used on specified and unspecified occasions.
But books, which should be considered for higher education and could be prepared carefully in order to suit modern thinking, are the following:
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- Works of St.
- The exegesis of the letter to the Hebrews by St.
- The pastoral work of St.
- Hymn books, mostly by St.
- Biography and works of St.
- Biography and works of St.
- Biography and works of St.
- Biography and works of St.
- On the Miracles of St.
There are very many grammatical books written by different people and found at different places in the world. The above noted are but a very few examples from among the different books numbered by the thousands that the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church has.
In the past, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church had not much opportunity to expand and propagate the above, noted doctrine and orders of the church inside and outside the nation; this is because of the different circumstances prevailing in the surroundings of the country. Because of the advent of European Colonialism upon its neighboring African countries and the great monetary support that other religious groups received to convert Africans. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church had no other choice but to defend on and preserve all here Christian legacy. Henceforth, she was unable to raise her apostolic voice louder among her African brothers and sisters.
If you are curious about the Ethiopian Bible and want to finally understand what makes it different from the Western canon, keep reading.
The Problem with "Complete" Ethiopian Orthodox Bibles in English
Ethiopian Bible Containing FORBIDDEN Texts Missing From The Scriptures
It's important to note that there seems to be an entire industry devoted to trying to swindle the public about the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible. Multiple Bibles are being offered up for sale purporting to be Ethiopian Orthodox Bibles and not a single one of them is what it claims to be. Not even one! Remember, not even in Ethiopia in Ge’ez or Amharic or any other language is there a complete Ethiopian Orthodox Bible for sale with all the books in one volume, let alone one in English!
In fact, some of the books of the broader canon are hard to find even in Ethiopia, they are not published all together in one volume! We hope that situation changes in the future and that the Church there will publish one Bible with all of the books included. We do not know when a complete Ethiopian Ge’ez or Amharic Bible will be published. Again, there isn’t one in English.
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On amazon.com there are listed for sale several Bibles which were intended by their publishers or their editors to pass for Ethiopian Orthodox Bibles, or Bibles with all of the books in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible canon. In some cases including additional books by their admission. They are ALL frauds. They are all misleading. They are all incorrect.
Let’s look at the first one that we found on Amazon “Ethiopian Bible in English Complete 88 Books: The Entire Text with Missing Deuterocanonical Apocrypha Enoch, Jubilees and The Lost Writings.” by “Bob Henry Oakland” If you read the reviews, buyers warn that it doesn’t have 88 books, it has 78. Remember some of the books of the Ethiopian canon were never translated into English.
Here are a few examples of misleading Bibles:
- “HOLY BIBLE Ethiopic Version / Volume 1 Containing the Old Testament, Apocrypha, Enoch 1,2 and Jubilees considered as Canon / Ethiopian Bible considered as canon by the Ethiopic Church Hardcover” By “Bible Society” under the author listing. The book known as 2 Enoch isn’t in the Ethiopian canon, while “Enoch” is!
- “Ethiopian Bible in English Complete: Lost Books of the Bible. “THE COMPLETE ETHIOPIAN BIBLE WITH 88 BOOKS: Apocryphal Texts Included Paperback - April 19, 2024” By “Jeremy Copson” “Anonymous Anonymous” and “R.H. Charles” R.H. Charles was a translator for Enoch, Jubilees, and other books. He is long deceased and had nothing to do with this book. They may have reprinted some of his material though.
- “Ethiopian Bible Complete Apocrypha (Annotated)” By “Anonymous Anonymous” and “Dante S. Harvard” A lot of these names sound contrived. Is Dante S. Harvard a real person? We doubt it.
- Ethiopian Bible in English 88 Books: The Ultimate Edition Complete With Apocryphal Scriptures By “Ancient Scriptures,” R.H. Charles, and Anonymous.
- “Books Of The Ethiopian Bible Hardcover” By “Ethiopian Church” This wasn’t done by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and we doubt that any “Ethiopian church” did it! Again another one that isn’t a complete Ethiopian Bible!
- “Ethiopian Bible in English: Complete Edition of Missing Books Including Apocrypha, Jubilees, Meqabyan 1-3, and Enoch (The Watchers, The Parables, The … Epistle of Enoch) (The Apocrypha Chronicles)” By “Holy Apocrypha” The Apocrypha refers to books in Orthodox and Catholic Bibles but not in Protestant ones. These are in ALL Orthodox and Catholic Bibles though already. Would a reputable publisher use a name like this?
- “The Ethiopian Coptic Bible: History of the Oldest and Most Complete Book and Ancient Lost Biblical Text” Is an example of this. Who is this person on the cover? Who is “Kebede Tadele” the listed author? Who knows? The Coptic Orthodox Church has a different canon from the Ethiopian, despite the fact the churches are in union, the Coptic Church has less books in its canon.
- “THE CANON COMPLETE SCRIPTURES: The Oldest Missing and Rejected Text From The Ethiopian Orthodox Bible” by “David Alon Hagrid” The English language title isn’t even using proper grammar.
A reoccurring element is that most of these “Complete” “Bibles” have extremely small text, so that in addition to not being what they purport, they also are extremely hard for people to read.
We notice that many of these fake “Complete” Ethiopian Bibles do not allow a preview picture showing the table of contents, if there is one. No doubt because that would discredit them straight away if one knows what books are in the canon and are not! Some of the publishers have impressive sounding names but they are simply churning out misleading books and information.
If you don’t believe us that there is no complete Ethiopian Orthodox Bible in English, and that they are all fakes, ask an Ethiopian Orthodox priest. He will tell you the truth. He will say he doesn’t know of one.
If you read all of the reviews for most of these Bibles, you come across some sincere and well meaning people who say they are so happy to have the book. Unfortunately, they don’t understand which books are in the EOTC Bible canon and which are not. You also come across a LOT of reviews that do point out they are missing books, and/or they are in small text, and they have mistakes and typos.
We could go on and on listing even more books that purport to be the Complete Ethiopian Bible in English, but we hope that this matter has been cleared up. NOT ONE of those books is what it purports to be.
So, since we don’t yet have all of the books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible in English, what do we advise for those who want to read as many of the books as possible in print form in English?
You can buy the Pseudepigrapha Volumes 1 and 2 by James Charlesworth. It contains some of the books of the EOTC Bible, along with copious scholarly notes. This translation has some elements we disagree with, but it has all 3 books of Meqabyan in English and in print. Mr. Curtin has a better translation of Meqabyan 1 and 2, but this is does not include 3 unfortunately. We recommend getting it as well however. We do not necessarily agree with all of the notes but they can often provide helpful background information. It is a better translation than the one by Feqade Selassie. (There is a “lyrical” Version of Meqabyan online by Selassie free. It is better than not having any for free version online probably, but it is a very problematic translation because it was done to give it a lyrical quality rather than to focus on accuracy.
There is not a text of Josippon in English based on the Ethiopian version. Sepher Yosippon: A Tenth-Century History of Ancient Israel (Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology) By Steven B. Ethiopian Josippon This is “The life and exploits of Alexander the Great : being a series of translations of the Ethiopic histories of Alexander by the Pseudo-Callisthenes and other writers, with introduction, etc.”by Budge, E. A. Wallis This book contains a very small section of Ethiopian Josippon in English, while the rest of it is not part of the EOTC canon.
(Be careful, there is a non-Ethiopic Didascalia and it is a different book in terms of content. Also some Didascalia editions are abridged. This work corresponds with part of what is called Sinodos but it is incomplete. You can also get it free in pdf at this link. Ethiopic Clement should not be confused with the First Epistle of Clement, which is found in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers and is a completely different book.
We know that many people would like a single bound volume containing all the books. There isn’t one though because some of them haven’t been translated into English yet. The goal of this project is to translate the remaining books into English. Just obtaining all of the books is not easy. Once again, even in Ethiopia there isn’t a single print volume containing all of the books at this time. There should be, and we hope there will be in the future.
If you would like to support the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible Project, please consider a donation, do not forget to follow our site so that we can continue to keep you posted with new developments concerning the EOTC canon, EOTC canon books in English and our project.
Would you like a complete yet beginner-friendly edition that introduces all 88 books of the Ethiopian canon in a simple and guided way? If you answered YES to at least one of these questions, you MUST KEEP READING…
THE ETHIOPIAN BIBLE EXPLAINED AND UNLOCKED is a guided edition that presents the full 88-book Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, including The Book of Enoch, The Book of Jubilees, and the Meqabyan books, in a clear and structured format.
Table of Old Testament Books
| Number | Book |
|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis |
| 2 | Exodus |
| 3 | Leviticus |
| 4 | Numbers |
| 5 | Deuteronomy |
