_The Peshitta Holy Bible_ translated by David Bauscher

[gbausc]

The apocrypha was not part of the canon of the early churches (1st four centuries), though they were recommended for reading. The Catholic Church did not include it officially into the canon until the 16th century- April 15,1546 Council of Trent. That is hardly a sound basis for the Old Testament canon. The Hebrew canon was settled as early as 400 BC by Ezra the Scribe. 3. Josephus (37-100 A.D), the Jewish historian also affirmed in his arguments in Contra Apion 1:7-8 the number of books in the Hebrew canon was numbered at 22, which according to Jewish numbering is the same as the 39 in the Protestant Old Testament. (See Chapter 5, Old Testament Canon)."Our books, those which are justly accredited, are but two and twenty and contain the record of all time. Contra Apion 1:7-8"4. Jewish tradition also taught in the Babylonian Talmud, the books in the Hebrew “Canon” are the identical 39 books, which are in both the Protestant and Catholic Bibles, to the exclusion of the Apocrypha. (See Talmud Babylon Baba Batra 14b) 5. Jerome (325-420 A.D.) The Biblical scholar of his day, and the translator of the Catholic Bible, the Latin Vulgate, clearly agreed with the Hebrew canon, being limited 39 books of the present Old Testament to the exclusion of the additional books of the Apocrypha.