Note: a full bibliography of all sources used on this website is in progress.
For now, simply follow the link to each resource to determine a full citation.

Sources for the Canon Lists

Source for the Masoretic Text canon list

The Masoretic canon used by Rabbinic and Karaite Jews is common knowledge. Reference can be made to the Hebrew Wikipedia Page on the Tanakh. The exact order of the books in the "writings" section has only been standardised relatively recently.

Source for the Samaritan Pentateuch canon list

The Samaritan Pentateuch is the only scripture Samaritans consider canonical. See the Principles of Faith and Commentaries on the Five Books of Moses pages on israelite-samaritans.com.
The Samaritan Book of Joshua is not a canonical book of the bible for Samaritans. The English-language Wikipedia page provides a good summary on this subject.

Source for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church "Old Testament" canon list

EOTC sources fairly consistently list 46 canonical books of the "Old Testament". Anke Wanger's article provides a good introduction to the history of EOTC canon lists, as well as a good source for the current standard list. Ethiopianorthodox.org's list also makes mention of the deuterocanonical "Ascension of Isaiah". These lists show how the book of Sirach is sometimes grouped with other poetic/wisdom texts, and sometimes left at the end of the list. The list on EthiopianOrthodoxBible.Wordpress.com notes the semi-canonical status of the Zena Ayhud. This contempory Ge'ez bible for sale shows the order in which the books are placed, though not their numbering, and the exclusion of Zena Ayhud.

Source for the Beta Israel Holy Scriptures canon list

I was unable to find contemporary Beta Israel canon lists, and thus had to make use of historical and academic sources. This has the advantage of showing a Beta Israel perspective that pre-dates the major disruptions of the past 150 years.
The main source for the Beta Israel biblical canon is this list (original notes) narrated by Qes Abba Yishaq to the French explorer Antoine d'Abbadie during a meeting of theirs, when asked for a list of Beta Israel sacred texts. This same list was published by d'Abbadie.
The list consists of a 46-book "Beluyat" canon, which Qes Abba Yishaq notes are the most significant. As "Beluyat" is the same word the EOTC uses for the "Old Testament," and the 46-book number is also significant, this to me clearly indicates that Qes Abba Yishaq considered these books alone to constitute the Beta Israel bible. It is worth noting that Jubilees and Enoch are not included among the "Beluyat" here.
After listing the "Beluyat," Qes Abba Yishaq went on to list thirteen of "our other books," followed by three books that "we have as well". These sacred books, which include Jubilees and Enoch, do not seem to me to have been considered part of the bible by the Qes. Later academic sources, however, describe the Beta Israel as lacking a clear canonical vs. non-canonical distinction.
Dr. Steven Kaplan's list of Beta Israel sacred literature includes the entire list of Qes Abba Yishaq as well as five additional books that Dr. Kaplan identifies as on par with the rest of the list.
While I find the argument for considering these books "biblical" to be weak, they are clearly of importance in the Beta Israel community. For example, Dr. Sharon Shalom cites the book of Jubilees as support for Beta Israel halakhic practice, and many of these books are preserved carefully and used for liturgy.
My compromise has been to include the 21 books listed by Dr. Kaplan, drawing on Qes Abba Yishaq's list, as the "Beta Israel Secondary Canon" on this website. This helps draw more attention to these sacred texts.

Source for the Targumim canon list

The Sefaria page on the Targumim, among other sources, describes Targum Onkelos and Targum Jonathan as "authoritative" and having been identified as such since Talmudic times. I have labeled these two as the "Canonical" Targumim on this website. The "Semi-Canonical Targumim," meanwhile, are the other Jewish Targumim that are commonly included in Miqraot Gedolot (Bible with Commentary) collections, such as this one and this one.
Note that the Samaritan Targum, while well-regarded, is not canonical.

Source for the Peshitta canon list

The Peshitta presents an unusual case, because even though ancient and modern Peshitta bibles contain a very large canon, only those books that also form part of the Masoretic Text are considered fully canonical today.
This Assyrian Church of the East catechism, for example, enumerates only 22 books of the "Old Testament", and notes that the "other Old Testament books" are not included in the count. this Assyrian Church forum post identifies the remaining books as "apocrypha."
For the names of the canonical books, this Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate website was used.
The remaining "Old Testament" books have been included in the website as "The Peshitta Deuterocanon." For which books to include here, the Codex Ambrosianus (table of contents) and the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon were the main sources used.

Source for the Septuagint canon list

The Septuagint is in use as the "Old Testament" bible of many Greek Orthodox Christian denominations. The Apostoliki Diakonia website, the "Old Testament" page on OrthodoxWiki.org, and Greek Wikipedia provided useful contemporary canon lists.
For which books should be considered part of the "Septuagint deuterocanon" for this website, the books of the major Septuagint codices, as well as the New English Translation of the Septuagint and Rahlfs' edition of the Septuagint were used.

Source for the Vulgate canon list

Vulgate.org provides a good overview of the Vulgate canon, and their ordered list was used. For reference as to the exact numbering of the 46 books, see this United States Conference of Catholic Bishops page. The English Wikipedia article "Catholic Bible" clarifies the deuterocanonical status of the appended books.


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