Are There Missing Books In The King James Bible?

Question

How many and which books are considered lost scriptures or missing chapters from the KJV? Heard about 'apocryphal' texts not in modern versions.

Jessica Casela Pajarillo · Answer

I think there is a lot of confusion floating about regarding what is included in the King James Version. It contains the same 66 books of the Protestánt canon, and therefore nothing is missing from the books that were intended to be included. It does not contain the deuterocanonical books found in the Catholic and Orthodox canons, but this is a matter of varying canons, not of anything being “left out”. On an entirely different note, I’ve just finished reading The Outcast Claimed by the King. It’s a clever book that explores issues of legitimacy and belonging in a somewhat strange royal court where hidden texts and disputed lineage are the keys to power. It makes for an interesting comparison to our forays into the canonical.

Owen · Answer

The King James Bible is one of the cornerstones of Western literature. The mention of ‘missing books’ refers to the Apocrypha, a collection of texts that were included in some of the early versions of the Bible but were, in the end, excluded from the bulk of the Protestant canon. Of these ‘missing books’ some are historical, others are more theological, but all, in the end, were not included in the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures as part of the so-called deuterocanonical books, Tobit, Judith and Wisdom of Solomon.

There are many other texts discovered from around the same time as the King James Bible, which show many variations. Some of the texts have even been almost completely lost, only to be rediscovered in full. The most famous of these lost books is probably the Book of Enoch, which is cited in the New Testament but is not included in the King James Bible. There are many reasons for a text not to have been included, and they often have to do with the theological positions of the translators and their cultural context. Many of these excluded texts are still worth reading, especially for those interested in delving deeper into the history of the Bible.

Elias · Answer

When compiling the Bible, many have wondered how the King James Version in particular was put together. Some books such as Baruch and Bel and the Dragon are even considered ‘lost’ because they are found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, but not in Protestant ones. Some of these were perhaps questioned early on in Church history, and others were perhaps cast aside during the Reformation. The King James Version originally included the Books of the Apocrypha as a separate section, and while they are found in many printed versions of the KJV, they are for the most part largely ignored today. It is very interesting to learn of the many theological disputes that led to their exclusion. A study of the KJV side by side with the Catholic Douay-Rheims version would also bring out many other variations.

Quinn · Answer

The 16th century King James Bible was a product of its time. Therefore some books were omitted. The books known as the Apocrypha (such as ‘1 Maccabees’ and ‘Sirach’) were part of the Christian Bible before the Reformation. They were even quoted by Shakespeare. The translators of the King James Bible included the Apocrypha in the early printed versions of the Bible but later separated them from the rest of the Scripture due to the theology of the Protestant Reformation. Thus, while these books are ‘missing’ from the King James Bible, they are still found in the Catholic Bible. Indeed an investigation of the rest of the biblical literature, such as the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha (writings as ‘Jubilees’) can be a rich and eye-opening experience. The King James Bible is a masterpiece but it is not the whole story.

Ava · Answer

The King James Bible does not include the Apocryphal books such as ‘Tobit’ and ‘Wisdom of Solomon’ which are found in the Catholic canon. These texts, which were part of the Christian writings of the earlier centuries, were rejected by the Protestants. The reasons for their exclusion were numerous, including doubts about their human authorship and the fact that they were often at variance with the bulk of Christian theology. Many study Bibles contain notes about the Apocryphal ‘missing’ books and thereby reveal the human construction of the Bible.

Preethi Stephanos · Answer

Looking at it from a literary perspective, it would be nice to have the Apocrypha included in the usual canon of scripture. The book of Wisdom is a particularly rich philosophical work. The story of Susanna in the additions to the Book of Daniel is a first-rate courtroom drama; Judith is a somewhat wild and woolly tale of stabbing and of seduction. So there’s some great stuff in there, wisdom literature that was formative for many English writers of the Renaissance, amongst others. Shakespeare would have known these works. It’s unfortunate that their exclusion from the standard English Bible in order to make Bibles cheaper to produce as print books in the 16th century has resulted in our losing a vital cultural link. All this is found in the Apocrypha, now published in separate volumes or on-line.

Ermelinda Estes · Answer

Haha, this would be a great sermon question for my pastor. I think he would say that the Holy Spirit created the canon and that God intended for us to have exactly what we have. Other books of the “Apocrypha” are historically relevant, but they are not God-breathed. From my perspective, there is nothing missing from the complete Word of God. The KJV is simply the most popular English version of the complete canon. As for authority, the early Jewish leaders who compiled the Hebrew Scriptures are more authoritative than any church council that added Greek books to the canon. Most evangelicals would agree with this assessment of authority. Catholics and Orthodox would generally disagree and consider the Apocrypha to be authoritative as well.

Joannah Kent · Answer

This isn’t a simply Christian issue. The Jewish canon, the Tanakh, is 39 books as well but of a different organization, that of the Torah, the Nevi’im, and the Ketuvim. They do not consider the Deuterocanonical books to be scripture. Thus, the Protestant Old Testament is actually closer to the Hebrew Bible than the Catholic Old Testament is. The KJV OT is ‘missing’ some books found in the Greek Septuagint (Hellenistic Jews and early Christians used this Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures) but not found in the Hebrew Masoretic Text of theTanakh that the medieval Jews preserved. The Protestants followed the Hebrew trail instead of the Greek trail for the Old Testament. That choice defines the KJV OT.

Mira Harlson · Answer

I think of the “missing books” question when it comes to the biblical canon. The KJV uses the Protestant canon which was determined during the Reformation. The Latin Vulgate used in Western Christianity prior to this included the so-called Deuterocanonical books. These books were seen to be of value to the historical record but not to be considered inspired on the same level as the rest of Scripture. There were also some teachings that the reformers did not agree with and so they could be found in books that contained prayers for the dead amongst other things. The KJV translators saw that there were these other books that were considered to be of value and so they translated the Apocrypha and included it in their printed editions of the KJV. However, the KJV translators did not consider the Apocryphal books to be on the same level as the rest of Scripture. In fact, the KJV translators, as Protestant Christians, went back to the Hebrew canon of Scripture, which consists of 24 books. Today, most Protestant churches use a KJV that contains 66 books. The Catholic Bible contains 73 books and the Orthodox Bible contains even more. None of these books are “missing” pages. There are merely different collections of books that have been handed down through the centuries. People today who refer to these books as being “missing” are implying that there was some sort of mistake or cover-up and that these books should be included in the KJV. But the fact is that there are different standards for what makes it into the KJV and the other versions of the Bible.

Yalitssa Gil · Answer

The Apocrypha reads very differently from the Hebrew Bible, much more like a novel. The Book of Wisdom is like Platonic philosophy expressed within a Jewish, monotheistic framework. The Book of Sirach is simply good, practical advice, a “how to live” book, making it one of the key bridge books between the Testaments, giving us a glimpse into the Hellenistic Jewish world in which Jesus lived. Most importantly, by reading the Apocrypha, we avoid a huge 450 year gap of no conceptual Christians between Malachi (c. 400 BC) and Matthew (c. 50 AD). These “missing” books of the period fill out the historical context for the Christian New Testament and give us insight into the backgrounds of the Pharisees and Sadducees as well as the growing hope of the resurrection which was current in 1st century Judea. They are essential to good historical understanding of Christianity.

benten12 · Answer

Interestingly, the Anglican Church, for which the KJV was written, has a sort of middle position. According to the Thirty-Nine Articles (the Church of England’s statement of faith), the Apocrypha is read “for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.” In other words, it can be useful for example and teaching, but not for establishing doctrine. Thus the original 1611 KJV included the Apocrypha, for edification, not for doctrine. Later, low-church Protestants (like the Puritans, and later the Baptists and even Evangelicals) even rejected this material, and it was finally removed from the KJV. Interestingly, the history of the KJV reveals a rather broad spectrum of authority regarding the Apocryphal books, and the physical book itself evolved to conform to the beliefs of its greatest number of consumers.

Addobea Adu Danso · Answer

Most references to missing books of the Bible are couched in terms that suggest that at some point in history the church either censored the Bible or even corrupted it. While this is how many people understand the situation of the so-called Apocryphal books (the so-called deuterocanonical books) not all scholars understand the situation in the same way. The KJV translators worked from a canon that had been previously established, even if that establishment was long and contentious in the early centuries of the church. When the KJV translators were picking and choosing what books to include in their translation they worked from a defined list of twenty-seven New Testament books as determined by the 16th-century Protestant reformers. The Apocryphal books, those considered to be outside of the canon, were the object of suspicion for centuries before the KJV was translated. Jerome even had reservations about including some of them in the Vulgate. In the end, the KJV is merely a snapshot in time of the on-going discussion of the early Christian church regarding the boundaries of Scripture. There was no stealing of books in the dead of night, only a long publicly-debated process of the church working out its theological convictions.

Are There Missing Books In The King James Bible?

12 Answers

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