How many books are in the Catholic Bible?
The Catholic Bible has 73 books: 46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. The 7 that Protestant Bibles do not count are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, and Catholic editions of Esther and Daniel include the Greek additions. Protestant Bibles have 66 books, with the same 27 in the New Testament.
Updated October 25, 2026. The book list is the USCCB's. Chapters, verses and words are counted from the World English Bible, which prints the deuterocanonical books, and from the King James Version's Apocrypha.
What are the deuterocanonical books?
The deuterocanonical books are the 7 Old Testament books in Catholic Bibles that are not in the Hebrew Bible: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. The name means "second canon"; Wikipedia's "Deuterocanonical books" article dates the term to 1566 and the theologian Sixtus of Siena. Protestants call the same books the Apocrypha. The table counts each one in the World English Bible (WEB), with the King James Version (KJV) word count beside it.
| Book | Chapters | Verses (WEB) | Words (WEB) | Words (KJV) | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tobit | 14 | 244 | 6,773 | 6,964 | An Israelite exile in Nineveh is blinded; the angel Raphael, sent to heal him, travels with his son Tobias. (Tobit 12:15) |
| Judith | 16 | 339 | 11,000 | 11,062 | Judith, a widow, goes into the camp of Holofernes, Nebuchadnezzar's general, and beheads him. (Judith 13:8) |
| WisdomKJV: Wisdom of Solomon | 19 | 436 | 10,858 | 10,604 | Teaching on wisdom in the voice of a king who prays for it; the KJV calls it the Wisdom of Solomon. (Wisdom 9:7) |
| SirachKJV: Ecclesiasticus | 51 | 1,356 | 27,670 | 28,275 | Proverbs and teaching signed by Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem; also called Ecclesiasticus. (Sirach 50:27) |
| BaruchKJV: Baruch, with the Epistle of Jeremy | 6 | 213 | 5,136 | 5,054 | Words of Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, written in Babylon; chapter 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah. (Baruch 1:1) |
| 1 Maccabees | 16 | 924 | 23,523 | 23,116 | The revolt led by Judas Maccabaeus in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, and the eight-day rededication of the altar. (1 Maccabees 4:59) |
| 2 Maccabees | 15 | 555 | 17,289 | 16,328 | A second account of the revolt, with the seven brothers and their mother who chose death over breaking the law. (2 Maccabees 7:1) |
| All 7 | 137 | 4,067 | 102,249 | 101,403 |
By our count of the World English Bible text, the 7 deuterocanonical books and the additions to Esther and Daniel come to 108,504 words, 62% of the length of the whole New Testament (175,088 words). They make a 73-book Bible 14.4% longer than a 66-book one.
Sirach is the longest of the 7 at 27,670 words (WEB), longer than Luke, the longest New Testament book (24,435 words in the WEB). Set among all 66 books of the Protestant Bible, it would rank 8th by length (WEB words). Baruch is the shortest, 5,136 words. The writer of Sirach signs his name near the end: "Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem hath written in this book the instruction of understanding and knowledge, who out of his heart poured forth wisdom." (Sirach 50:27, KJV). The writer of 2 Maccabees closes with an apology: "And if I have written well and to the point in my story, this is what I myself desired; but if meanly and indifferently, this is all I could attain to." (2 Maccabees 15:38, WEB).
Verse counts are the same in both translations except Sirach: the KJV has text at 37 verse numbers where the WEB has none (among them 26:19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27), and the WEB has one, 44:23, that the KJV lacks, so the KJV counts 1,392 verses to the WEB's 1,356. Baruch's count includes chapter 6, the Letter of Jeremiah, which the KJV prints as "the Epistle of Jeremy". Jeremiah's own book is at Jeremiah; Baruch is also named there as his scribe.
What are the additions to Esther and Daniel?
They are passages from the Greek Old Testament that Catholic Bibles print inside Esther and Daniel: five passages in Esther as the WEB sets them out, and three in Daniel. They are not counted as separate books, so they do not change the total of 73. The USCCB's Bible prints Susanna and Bel and the Dragon as Daniel chapters 13 and 14, with a note that they were never part of the Hebrew Bible and were in the Septuagint. The WEB places the Song of the Three in Daniel 3 after verse 23, where the three men are thrown into the furnace.
| Addition | Where it goes | Verses (KJV) | Words (WEB) | Words (KJV) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Additions to EstherKJV: The Rest of Esther | five passages; the WEB brackets them in 1:1, 3:13, 4:17, 8:13, 10:3 | 105 | 2,388 | 2,708 |
| Prayer of Azariah and Song of the ThreeKJV: The Song of the Three Holy Children | Daniel 3, after verse 23 | 68 | 1,337 | 1,405 |
| SusannaKJV: The History of Susanna | Daniel 13 in Catholic Bibles | 64 | 1,449 | 1,447 |
| Bel and the DragonKJV: Bel and the Dragon | Daniel 14 in Catholic Bibles | 42 | 1,081 | 1,070 |
| All additions | 6,255 | 6,630 | ||
The Esther additions change the book most. Esther as translated from the Hebrew never uses the words "God" or "Lord": 0 times in the KJV and 0 in the WEB. The 2,388 words of the Greek additions say "God" 20 times and "Lord" 21 times (WEB). The KJV prints them on their own, as "The Rest of Esther", chapters 10:4 to 16:24; the WEB translates the whole Greek Esther (7,396 words, against 5,415 for the Hebrew) and brackets the additions.
The WEB numbers the Song of the Three 1 to 68 but has no verse 19, 45, 46 and 49, so it holds 64 verses to the KJV's 68. The three Daniel additions together are 3,867 words in the WEB.
Catholic vs Protestant vs Orthodox: which books does each Bible have?
Protestant Bibles have 66 books, Catholic Bibles 73, and Orthodox Bibles more again. All three share the same 27 New Testament books and the 39 books of the Hebrew Bible; the difference is in the books below. The Greek Orthodox column follows Wikipedia's "Biblical canon" table and OrthodoxWiki's "Old Testament Canon"; where they differ, on where the Prayer of Manasseh is printed, the cell gives both. Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian churches each differ in the details.
| Book | Protestant (66) | Catholic (73) | Greek Orthodox | KJV Apocrypha | Words (WEB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tobit | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 6,773 |
| Judith | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 11,000 |
| Wisdom | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 10,858 |
| Sirach | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 27,670 |
| Baruch | No | Yes | Yes (Letter of Jeremiah apart) | Yes | 5,136 |
| 1 Maccabees | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 23,523 |
| 2 Maccabees | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 17,289 |
| Additions to Esther | No | Yes, inside Esther | Yes | Yes | 2,388 |
| Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three | No | Yes, inside Daniel | Yes | Yes | 1,337 |
| Susanna | No | Yes, inside Daniel | Yes | Yes | 1,449 |
| Bel and the Dragon | No | Yes, inside Daniel | Yes | Yes | 1,081 |
| 1 Esdras | No | No | Yes | Yes | 11,824 |
| Prayer of Manasseh | No | No | Carried (Odes or appendix) | Yes | 423 |
| Psalm 151 | No | No | Yes, with the Psalms | No | 106 |
| 3 Maccabees | No | No | Yes | No | 6,711 |
| 4 Maccabees | No | No | Appendix | No | 10,333 |
| 2 Esdras | No | No | No | Yes | 23,005 |
"No" in the Protestant column means the book is not part of the 66; some Protestant Bibles still print these books in a separate Apocrypha section, as the King James Version did. 1 Esdras (11,824 words in the WEB), 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh are in that Apocrypha but not in the Catholic 73. Wikipedia's "Biblical canon" article gives the Anglican position from Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles: the Apocrypha are "read for example of life" but not used "to establish any doctrine".
Why do Catholic and Protestant Bibles have different books?
The two traditions settled on different Old Testaments. The 7 deuterocanonical books are in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by the early church, but not in the Hebrew Bible, as Wikipedia's "Deuterocanonical books" article sets out. The Catholic Church holds them to be Scripture; Protestant churches keep to the books of the Hebrew Bible. Wikipedia's "Biblical canon" article notes that the 24 books of the Jewish Tanakh are divided into 39 in Protestant Bibles and, with the deuterocanonical works, 46 in Catholic ones.
The Council of Trent, 1546. At its fourth session, on April 8, 1546, the council set down its list of the sacred books. Among them are "Tobias, Judith, Esther", "Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus", "Jeremias, with Baruch" and "two books of the Machabees, the first and the second", and the decree adds that the books are to be received "entire with all their parts, as they have been used to be read in the Catholic Church, and as they are contained in the old Latin vulgate edition" (Waterworth's 1848 translation). Wikipedia's "Deuterocanonical books" article lists earlier councils that named these books, from Rome in 382 to Florence in 1442.
Luther's Bible, 1534. According to Wikipedia's "Luther Bible" article, Martin Luther did not drop the books from his complete German Bible of 1534. He gathered them in a section between the Old and New Testaments under the title "Apocrypha: These Books Are Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read". Wikipedia's "King James Version" article says Protestant Bibles of the 1500s generally followed that layout, and the King James Version of 1611 did the same.
Did the 1611 King James Bible include the Apocrypha?
Yes. Wikipedia's "King James Version" article says the 1611 edition had 80 books: 39 in the Old Testament, 14 in the Apocrypha and 27 in the New. The same article dates the first King James Bibles bound without the Apocrypha to 1666, and says the British and Foreign Bible Society stopped funding Bibles that included those books in 1826; with the rise of the Bible societies, most editions have left them out.
The King James text this site counts from is the standard 1769 text, "with Apocrypha/Deuterocanon", and it still carries all 14 books, printed between Malachi and Matthew: 173 chapters, 5,718 verses and 140,650 words by our count (the 66 books come to 790,325). 11 of the 14 are Catholic books or additions; 1 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasses and 2 Esdras are not in the Catholic Bible.
- Tobit (6,964 words)
- Judith (11,062 words)
- The Rest of Esther (2,708 words)
- The Wisdom of Solomon (10,604 words)
- Ecclesiasticus (28,275 words)
- Baruch (with the Epistle of Jeremy) (5,054 words)
- The Song of the Three Holy Children (1,405 words)
- Susanna (1,447 words)
- Bel and the Dragon (1,070 words)
- 1 Maccabees (23,116 words)
- 2 Maccabees (16,328 words)
- 1 Esdras (11,778 words, not in the Catholic Bible)
- The Prayer of Manasses (408 words, not in the Catholic Bible)
- 2 Esdras (20,431 words, not in the Catholic Bible)
What order are the books of the Catholic Old Testament in?
The Catholic Old Testament runs from Genesis to Malachi in 46 books, in 5 groups as the USCCB's list sets them out. The 39 books Protestants share keep their usual order; the 7 deuterocanonical books (in bold) are placed among them, with Tobit, Judith and the Maccabees beside Esther, Wisdom and Sirach after the Song of Songs, and Baruch after Lamentations. The Protestant order is on the Old Testament books in order.
The Pentateuch
- 1.Genesis
- 2.Exodus
- 3.Leviticus
- 4.Numbers
- 5.Deuteronomy
Historical books
- 6.Joshua
- 7.Judges
- 8.Ruth
- 9.1 Samuel
- 10.2 Samuel
- 11.1 Kings
- 12.2 Kings
- 13.1 Chronicles
- 14.2 Chronicles
- 15.Ezra
- 16.Nehemiah
Biblical novellas
- 17.Tobit
- 18.Judith
- 19.Esther
- 20.1 Maccabees
- 21.2 Maccabees
Wisdom books
- 22.Job
- 23.Psalms
- 24.Proverbs
- 25.Ecclesiastes
- 26.Song of Songs
- 27.Wisdom
- 28.Sirach
Prophetic books
- 29.Isaiah
- 30.Jeremiah
- 31.Lamentations
- 32.Baruch
- 33.Ezekiel
- 34.Daniel
- 35.Hosea
- 36.Joel
- 37.Amos
- 38.Obadiah
- 39.Jonah
- 40.Micah
- 41.Nahum
- 42.Habakkuk
- 43.Zephaniah
- 44.Haggai
- 45.Zechariah
- 46.Malachi
The New Testament is the same 27 books, Matthew to Revelation, in every one of these Bibles. Baruch sits with the prophets in Catholic Bibles; the Protestant split into major and minor prophets is on the major and minor prophets.
Questions about the Catholic Bible's books
How many books are in the Catholic Bible?
73: 46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, the list the US Conference of Catholic Bishops gives on its Books of the Bible page. Baruch counts as one book with the Letter of Jeremiah as its chapter 6.
What are the books of the Apocrypha?
In the King James Version the Apocrypha is 14 books: Tobit, Judith, The Rest of Esther, The Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch (with the Epistle of Jeremy), The Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasses and 2 Esdras. 11 of them are books or parts of books in the Catholic Bible; 1 Esdras, The Prayer of Manasses and 2 Esdras are not. Protestants call the Catholic deuterocanonical books the Apocrypha.
Why do Catholic Bibles have 73 books and Protestant Bibles 66?
The 7 extra books are in the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, but not in the Hebrew Bible (Wikipedia, "Deuterocanonical books"). The Catholic Church set out its list of books, with these seven in it, at the Council of Trent on April 8, 1546. Protestant churches kept the books of the Hebrew Bible, which they count as 39. Both have the same 27 New Testament books.
Did the 1611 King James Bible include the Apocrypha?
Yes. Wikipedia's article on the King James Version says the 1611 edition had 80 books: 39 Old Testament, 14 Apocrypha and 27 New Testament, and that the first editions bound without the Apocrypha date from 1666. The standard 1769 text still carries all 14 books, 140,650 words by our count, printed between Malachi and Matthew.
What is the longest deuterocanonical book?
Sirach, with 51 chapters and 27,670 words in the World English Bible. That is longer than any New Testament book (the longest, Luke, has 24,435 words in the same translation). The shortest of the 7 is Baruch, 5,136 words.
Do Orthodox Bibles have more books than Catholic Bibles?
Yes. Greek Orthodox Bibles have all 7 Catholic deuterocanonical books and add 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees and Psalm 151, with 4 Maccabees in an appendix and the Prayer of Manasseh also printed, according to Wikipedia's "Biblical canon" table and OrthodoxWiki. Other Orthodox churches differ in the details.
Sources
- The World English Bible (with the deuterocanonical books) and the King James Version (1769 standard text, with the Apocrypha), both public domain: every verse quoted and every chapter, verse and word count on this page, from the text at github.com/seven1m/open-bibles, counted by scripts/lists/how-many-books-are-in-the-catholic-bible.mjs (read and counted 2026-10-25).
- USCCB, Books of the Bible: the 73 book names and their order and groups (read 2026-10-25).
- USCCB, Daniel chapter 13: Susanna and Bel and the Dragon as Daniel 13 and 14, and the note on their history (read 2026-10-25; the book names only, no text quoted).
- Council of Trent, fourth session (April 8, 1546), decree concerning the canonical Scriptures, J. Waterworth's translation (1848), Hanover Historical Texts Project (read 2026-10-25).
- Wikipedia, "Deuterocanonical books": the term and Sixtus of Siena, the Septuagint, the earlier councils (read 2026-10-25).
- Wikipedia, "Biblical canon": the comparison table of churches, the 24-book Tanakh, the Anglican position (read 2026-10-25).
- OrthodoxWiki, "Old Testament Canon": the Greek Orthodox Old Testament list and appendix (read 2026-10-25).
- Wikipedia, "Luther Bible": the 1534 Bible and its Apocrypha section (read 2026-10-25).
- Wikipedia, "King James Version": the 80 books of 1611, the 1666 editions and the 1826 decision (read 2026-10-25).
The 66 books with their chapters, verses and words are on the books of the Bible, and the longest of them on the longest book in the Bible. Word counts: wisdom and God. More counts are on the Bible by the numbers.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-25.