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Canon & Tradition

Books of the Ethiopian Bible: a guide to the 81-book canon.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church preserves one of Christianity's most distinctive biblical traditions. This guide begins with the church's own published English list, explains important naming differences, and identifies where further scholarly care is needed.

Updated July 28, 2026Tradition identified throughoutSources listed below By El Roi Digital Ministries Editorial standards
The Short Answer

The official church list counts 46 Old Testament books and 35 New Testament books.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's English canon page totals these as 81. Its method of counting sometimes groups multiple familiar books under one numbered heading and includes books of church order alongside the 27-book New Testament familiar to most Christians.

This means a simple comparison chart can mislead. A title translated as "Maccabees," for example, may refer to Ethiopian Meqabyan literature rather than the Greek Maccabean books used in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions.

Research leadership

This canon guide is published by El Roi Digital Ministries under the research and editorial direction of Michael Gatica. Review the leadership profile, research method, and project disclosures, including the permission-pending status of the proposed Ethiopian Millennium Bible translation research.

Why canon language needs care

A biblical canon is a community's recognized collection of sacred books. Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches do not all organize that collection identically. Differences can involve the number of books, how books are divided, the names used in translation, and whether a text is printed in the same physical volume.

Western scholarship sometimes speaks of a "narrower" and "broader" Ethiopian canon. That language can be useful, but it is an analytical description rather than a substitute for the church's own account. This guide therefore starts with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's published list and then notes scholarly questions separately.

Important:

This page describes a Christian tradition; it does not ask readers to pretend that all Christian traditions hold the same canon. Respectful comparison begins by naming the difference accurately.

The 46 Old Testament headings in the church's English list

The following titles normalize obvious English spelling while preserving the church page's order and grouped counting. Follow-up studies will examine each collection's Ge'ez title, textual history, contents, and reception.

  1. Genesis
  2. Exodus
  3. Leviticus
  4. Numbers
  5. Deuteronomy
  6. Joshua
  7. Judges
  8. Ruth
  9. 1 and 2 Samuel
  10. 1 and 2 Kings
  11. 1 Chronicles
  12. 2 Chronicles
  13. Jubilees
  14. 1 Enoch
  15. Ezra and Nehemiah
  16. Second Ezra and Ezra Sutuel
  17. Tobit
  18. Judith
  19. Esther
  20. First Meqabyan / Maccabees in the English list
  21. Second and Third Meqabyan / Maccabees in the English list
  22. Job
  23. Psalms
  24. Proverbs
  25. Tegsats (Reproof)
  26. Metsihafe Tibeb (Book of Wisdom)
  27. Ecclesiastes
  28. Song of Songs
  29. Isaiah
  30. Jeremiah
  31. Ezekiel
  32. Daniel
  33. Hosea
  34. Amos
  35. Micah
  36. Joel
  37. Obadiah
  38. Jonah
  39. Nahum
  40. Habakkuk
  41. Zephaniah
  42. Haggai
  43. Zechariah
  44. Malachi
  45. Sirach
  46. Josippon / Joseph ben Gorion

Books that especially distinguish the Ethiopian collection

1 Enoch

An ancient Jewish apocalyptic collection preserved completely in Ge'ez. Aramaic fragments from Qumran confirm that major portions circulated centuries before the surviving Ge'ez manuscripts.

Study Enoch and the Bible

Jubilees

A Hebrew retelling and interpretation of Genesis and part of Exodus organized through jubilees, chronology, covenant, festival practice, and angelic revelation. The completed study explains its Qumran manuscripts, complete Ge'ez preservation, 364-day calendar, and canonical reception.

Study the Book of Jubilees

First Meqabyan

A Ge'ez Ethiopian canonical work distinct from Greek 1 Maccabees. The completed guide explains its unknown author and uncertain date, traditional 36-chapter structure, catalogued manuscripts, martyrdom narrative, resurrection, justice, kingship, and responsible use.

Study First Meqabyan

Second Meqabyan

A Ge'ez Ethiopian canonical work distinct from Greek 2 Maccabees. The guide covers conquest and repentance, faithful witness, resurrection, justice, manuscripts, and its 20/21-chapter presentations.

Study Second Meqabyan

Third Meqabyan

A ten-chapter Ge'ez Ethiopian work distinct from Greek 3 Maccabees. The guide covers Adamic traditions, pride, repentance, resurrection, judgment, charity, prayer, and love.

Study Third Meqabyan

Sirach

A wisdom book named by the church’s English list as the “Book of Joshua the son of Sirac.” The completed guide covers its Hebrew and Greek textual history, Ge'ez reception, practical instruction, canonical status, and responsible use.

Open the Sirach study

Judith

A Jewish historical novella received as Scripture in Ethiopian Orthodox, Catholic, and other Orthodox traditions. The completed guide traces its Greek text, ancient translations, canonical reception, courage, gender, violence, and responsible use.

Open the Judith study

Tegsats (Reproof)

The Ethiopian list names Tegsats separately from Proverbs. The completed guide documents the traditional division: Messale corresponds to Proverbs 1–24, while Tegsats corresponds to Proverbs 25–31.

Open the Tegsats study

Metsihafe Tibeb

The completed guide identifies this title with the Greek Wisdom of Solomon, distinguishes it from other works of similar name, and studies its Jewish setting, personified Wisdom, Exodus retelling, canon, and responsible use.

Open the Metsihafe Tibeb study

Josippon

The completed guide identifies this broader-canon history with medieval Sefer Yosippon received through Arabic and Ge'ez as Zena Ayhud. It repeatedly distinguishes Joseph ben Gorion's pseudonymous narrative from Flavius Josephus.

Open the Josippon study

Sirate Tsion

The completed guide identifies this traditional Sinodos division with the 30 Canons after the Ascension, documents Ge'ez witnesses and numbering variation, and distinguishes literary apostolic authority from historical authorship.

Open the Sirate Tsion study

Tizaz

The completed guide identifies this traditional Sinodos division with the 71-canons Statutes of the Apostles, explains 72-title and 72-order witnesses, and maps its layered church-order sources.

Open the Tizaz study

Gitsew (Gessew)

The completed guide identifies this Sinodos division with the traditional 56 Apostolic Canons, explains Schodde's 57-item segmentation, and distinguishes the work from Abtilis.

Open the Gitsew study

Abtilis (Abtelis)

The completed guide anchors this Sinodos division to the traditional 81 Apostolic Canons while documenting distinct 80-, 81-, 82-, and 83-item recensions or segmentations.

Open the Abtilis study

First Book of Dominos

The completed guide identifies this heading with the sixty-chapter Mäṣḥafä Kidan or Testamentum Domini, distinguishing its risen-Christ revelation from its worship and community order.

Open the First Dominos study

Second Book of Dominos

The completed guide identifies this heading with the composite Testamentum Domini in Galilee and distinguishes its later eleven-chapter apocalypse from the older Epistula Apostolorum.

Open the Second Dominos study

Ethiopian Book of Clement

The completed guide identifies this heading with the seven-book Maṣḥafa Qalemǝnṭos, preserving its Ge'ez manuscript identity, layered contents, and literary Peter-and-Clement attribution.

Open the Ethiopian Book of Clement study

Ethiopian Didascalia

The completed guide identifies this heading with the 43-chapter Didǝsqǝlyā and carefully relates it to books 1–7 of the Apostolic Constitutions.

Open the Ethiopian Didascalia study

The 35 New Testament headings in the church's English list

The first 27 are the New Testament books recognized across most Christian traditions. Eight additional headings are church-order and apostolic-instruction texts in the Ethiopian tradition.

  1. Matthew
  2. Mark
  3. Luke
  4. John
  5. Acts
  6. Romans
  7. 1 Corinthians
  8. 2 Corinthians
  9. Galatians
  10. Ephesians
  11. Philippians
  12. Colossians
  13. 1 Thessalonians
  14. 2 Thessalonians
  15. 1 Timothy
  16. 2 Timothy
  17. Titus
  18. Philemon
  19. Hebrews
  20. 1 Peter
  21. 2 Peter
  22. 1 John
  23. 2 John
  24. 3 John
  25. James
  26. Jude
  27. Revelation
  28. Sirate Tsion (Book of Order)
  29. Tizaz (Book of Herald)
  30. Gitsew
  31. Abtilis
  32. First Book of Dominos
  33. Second Book of Dominos
  34. Book of Clement
  35. Didascalia

How the linked studies are built

This library goes beyond posting a list. Each linked guide asks the same core questions: What is the text? In what language and manuscripts is it preserved? When was it likely composed? How is it organized? What are its central theological ideas? Which communities receive it as Scripture? Where does it intersect with other biblical or early Jewish and Christian writings?

The linked study collection now includes First Enoch, Jubilees, all three Meqabyan books, Sirach, Ethiopian Second Ezra, Ezra Sutuel, Tobit, Judith, Tegsats, Metsihafe Tibeb, Josippon, Sirate Tsion, Tizaz, Gitsew, Abtilis, both Dominos books, the Ethiopian Book of Clement, and the Ethiopian Didascalia. Every article includes primary-text references, modern scholarship, explicit research limits, and a visible statement of canonical status.

Sources and further study

  1. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. "The Holy Scriptures: The Books of the Bible." The page cites a 1983 Holy Synod publication and lists 46 Old Testament and 35 New Testament headings.
  2. Mikre-Sellassie, G. A. "The Bible and Its Canon in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church." The Bible Translator 44, no. 1 (1993): 111-123. DOI record.
  3. Assefa, Daniel. "The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church (EOTC)." In The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Orthodox Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2022.
  4. Baynes, Leslie. "Enoch and Jubilees in the Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church." In A Teacher for All Generations, Brill, 2012.
  5. Library of Congress. "The Ethiopic Book of Enoch," a lecture by Ephraim Isaac on the text and its Ethiopian preservation.