Why do some Protestant Bibles include extra books?

While standard modern Protestant Bibles contain 66 books, some historical and regional Protestant editions include additional texts known as the Apocrypha. Martin Luther's early translations grouped these extra texts into a separate intertestamental section rather than mixing them with the canonical books. Over time, many English-speaking Protestant groups omitted these extra books entirely, though certain traditions like Lutheranism and Anglicanism retained them for devotional reading.

What we know

• A standard Protestant Bible comprises 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament, totaling 66 books. [2]
• Some Protestants, particularly in the early modern period, used Bibles that included eleven or more additional books placed in a separate section called the Apocrypha. [2]
• Martin Luther's 1534 German Bible first published the Apocrypha as a separate intertestamental section rather than interspersing the books among the others. [2, 5]
• The omission of the Apocrypha from printed English Bibles was largely standardized following an 1825 decision by the British and Foreign Bible Society. [2]

Still open

• While Evangelicals widely agree that the Apocrypha is non-canonical, they vary among themselves in their personal attitudes toward and interest in these texts.

Where to go next

• compared withHow many books are in the Catholic Bible?
• whoWho was Martin Luther?
• the bigger pictureWhat is the biblical apocrypha?
• a case in pointHow did the King James Bible handle extra texts?
• what caused itWhat caused the British and Foreign Bible Society to drop the Apocrypha in 1825?
• an unexpected connectionHow did a Bible translation help create modern High German?Martin Luther's widespread vernacular Bible translation exposed speakers to language outside their local areas, promoting literacy and shaping modern High German.

Sources

• [1]Protestant Bible (Wikidata Q7251597) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Protestant Bible · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Biblical canon · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Catholic Bible · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Luther Bible · CC BY-SA 4.0