The Ethiopian Bible, also known as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Bible, is the sacred scripture of one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world.
It is written primarily in Ge’ez, an ancient Semitic language no longer spoken but still used in liturgy.
The Ethiopian Bible is notable for its size and content-it contains more books than the Protestant Bible, and it includes texts that are not found in the canons of Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy.
Key Differences Between the Ethiopian and Protestant Bibles
One of the most significant differences between the Ethiopian Bible and the Protestant Bible is the number of books.
The Protestant Bible contains 66 books-39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.
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In contrast, 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.
Among the additional writings are books such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees, 1-3 Meqabyan (which are different from the 1-2 Maccabees found in Catholic Bibles), and The Book of the Covenant.
Ethiopian Bible Entire Story: Hidden Truths in Ancient Textual Controversies
Here is a list of the books included in the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible:
Old Testament (46 books)
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Joshua
- Judges
- Ruth
- 1 Samuel
- 2 Samuel
- 1 Kings
- 2 Kings
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles
- Ezra
- Nehemiah
- Esther
- Tobit
- Judith
- 1 Meqabyan
- 2 Meqabyan
- 3 Meqabyan
- Job
- Psalms
- Proverbs
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of Solomon
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Lamentations
- Baruch
- Ezekiel
- Daniel
- Hosea
- Joel
- Amos
- Obadiah
- Jonah
- Micah
- Nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- Zechariah
- Malachi
- Enoch
- Jubilees
New Testament (35 books)
- Matthew
- Mark
- Luke
- John
- Acts
- Romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
- 1 Timothy
- 2 Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
- Hebrews
- James
- 1 Peter
- 2 Peter
- 1 John
- 2 John
- 3 John
- Jude
- Revelation
- Sirate Tsion (Books of Order) - 1
- Sirate Tsion (Books of Order) - 2
- Tesanseyma (Books of Covenant) - 1
- Tesanseyma (Books of Covenant) - 2
- The Book of Clement - 1
- The Book of Clement - 2
- Didache
- Didascalia
The Ethiopic version of the Old and New Testament was made from the Septuagint. It includes the book of Enoch, Baruch, and the third and fourth Esdras.
Theological and Historical Significance
The Protestant Bible is based on the principle of sola scriptura, emphasizing the authority of Scripture alone.
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Reformers such as Martin Luther affirmed the 66-book canon based on the Hebrew Bible for the Old Testament and the universally accepted New Testament writings.
The Ethiopian canon, however, developed separately, influenced by early Jewish and Christian traditions in the region of Ethiopia.
From a theological standpoint, the Ethiopian Bible’s inclusion of books like 1 Enoch, with its sensationalistic themes and heavy angelology, is significant.
While 1 Enoch is quoted in Jude 1:14-15, it was not included in the Protestant canon because it was not recognized as inspired Scripture by the early church councils.
Another key difference between those who use the Ethiopian Bible and those who use the Protestant Bible lies in each group’s approach to Scripture.
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The Ethiopian Orthodox Church places a strong emphasis on tradition alongside Scripture, whereas Protestantism insists that Scripture alone is the final authority in matters of faith and practice.
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.
Preservation of Ancient Texts
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.
Canons and Regulations
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.
Historical Context
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.
