Why Do Catholic Bibles Have 7 More Books?

October 18, 2026

"Catholics added books to the Bible." You may have heard it. The history tells a different story.

Short answer: Catholic Bibles include Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch (plus longer versions of Esther and Daniel) because the early Church received them as Scripture. Church councils listed them from the late fourth century on, beginning with the Council of Rome (382) under Pope St. Damasus I. Sixteenth-century Reformers set them apart, and the Council of Trent (1546) reaffirmed them.

Key verses on the deuterocanonical books

"Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection" (Hebrews 11:35)
"the King of the universe will raise us up to live again forever, because we are dying for his laws" (2 Maccabees 7:9)
"The feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem" (John 10:22)
"He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God'" (Matthew 27:43)
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me" (Hebrews 10:5)

What Catholics Actually Teach

"It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books." That list, the canon, "includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New" (CCC 120). Its Old Testament names Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and Baruch. Most Protestant Bibles have 39 Old Testament books. That is the difference of seven.

Catholics call these books deuterocanonical ("second canon") because their place was debated longer, not because they are less inspired. Protestants usually call them the Apocrypha.

What Catholics do not teach:

That Protestant Bibles are fake. Every book in a Protestant Bible is in a Catholic Bible.
That the canon was never debated. It was. Some early writers, notably St. Jerome, preferred the shorter Hebrew list.
That the New Testament quotes these books outright. It alludes to them; it does not quote them with "it is written."

The Biblical Case

1. The apostles often used the Greek Old Testament

Many New Testament quotations follow the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures. Hebrews 10:5 reads, "a body you prepared for me." The Hebrew-based NABRE of Psalm 40:7 reads, "you opened my ears" (Psalm 40:7). The NABRE's note on Hebrews explains: "As usual, the author follows the Septuagint text." The oldest complete Greek Bibles, copied by Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries, include deuterocanonical books, though not always the same set.

2. Hebrews honors the Maccabean martyrs

"Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection." (Hebrews 11:35)

Compare 2 Maccabees 7, where seven brothers and their mother are tortured to make them break God's law. One says, "It is my choice to die at the hands of mortals with the hope that God will restore me to life" (2 Maccabees 7:14). The NABRE's notes on Hebrews 11 point to 2 Maccabees 6–7 and mention "the Maccabean martyrs." Hebrews places them in its roll call of Old Testament heroes of faith.

3. Jesus kept a feast known from Maccabees

"The feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon" (John 10:22–23). The NABRE note explains that this feast (Hanukkah) celebrated "the Maccabees' rededication of the altar and reconsecration of the temple in 164 B.C.," pointing to 1 Maccabees 4 and 2 Maccabees 10. Attending a feast does not by itself make a book Scripture. But the events those books record were part of the faith Jesus lived.

4. St. Matthew echoes Wisdom

At the cross, the mockers say, "He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God'" (Matthew 27:43). The NABRE note calls the last line "probably an allusion to Wis 2:12–20 where the theme of the suffering Just One appears." In Wisdom 2, the wicked plot against a righteous man who calls God his Father, to see whether God will rescue him (Wisdom 2:12–20).

5. What the history shows

Late fourth and early fifth centuries: The first council list is traditionally attributed to the Council of Rome (382) under Pope St. Damasus I; it names Tobit, Judith, two books of Maccabees, Wisdom, and Sirach, and is preserved in the Decretum Gelasianum, though scholars debate whether that document really dates from 382. The Catholic Encyclopedia says it contains "all the deuterocanonicals, without any distinction" ("Canon of the Old Testament"). The Council of Hippo (393) then issued a list of canonical books; its decisions survive through a summary approved at Carthage (397). The Council of Carthage (419) lists "Tobit," "Judith," "Macchabees, ij. books," and "The Five books of Solomon" (understood to include Wisdom and Sirach, as in St. Augustine's list below).
1442: The Council of Florence listed the same books.
1534: Martin Luther's complete German Bible translated these books but grouped them in a separate section after the Old Testament, under the label Apocrypha, describing them as books not held equal to Scripture yet useful and good to read. The original 1611 King James Version also printed them, in a separate section. Many later Protestant editions left them out entirely.
1546: The Council of Trent solemnly defined the canon, including these books.

So the Catholic list is not a sixteenth-century addition. Western councils had affirmed it since the late fourth century, and Christians were reading and citing these books as Scripture long before that (see below). No verse lists the books of either Testament; every Christian receives the canon through the Church that Christ built (Matthew 16:18). (More: Who Decided Which Books Are in the Bible?)

Objections Answered

(a) "The Jews never accepted these books."

At its strongest: St. Paul says the Jews "were entrusted with the utterances of God" (Romans 3:2). Jesus and the apostles were Jews. The Jewish canon, which matches the Protestant Old Testament, should be ours.

Answer: Read the next verse. St. Paul immediately asks, "What if some were unfaithful? Will their infidelity nullify the fidelity of God?" (Romans 3:3). Being entrusted with God's word did not make every later Jewish judgment right; the same leadership rejected the Messiah. St. Paul says they were entrusted with God's word. He does not say that rabbinic decisions made after Christ bind His Church. The evidence suggests first-century Jews did not all share one closed list. Older textbooks spoke of a "Council of Jamnia" (around AD 90) that fixed the Jewish canon, but many scholars now doubt any such binding decision took place. Fragments of Tobit and Sirach were even found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, so Jews did read them in Hebrew and Aramaic. Above all, Christ gave the power to bind and loose to His apostles (Matthew 18:18), and it is through His Church that Christians receive the New Testament canon too. A Protestant who takes his Old Testament list from rabbis who rejected Christ, while taking his New Testament list from the Catholic Church, needs to explain why.

(b) "The New Testament never quotes them."

At its strongest: The New Testament cites the Old Testament constantly, yet never introduces a deuterocanonical book with "it is written."

Answer: Fair: there are allusions, not formal quotations. But the New Testament never directly quotes Esther, Ecclesiastes, or the Song of Songs either, and Protestants rightly accept them. And St. Jude does quote a book no one counts as Scripture: "Enoch, of the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied also about them" (Jude 14), which the NABRE note says is "Cited from the apocryphal Book of Enoch 1:9." Quotation was never the test of canonicity in either direction. The real test is what the apostolic Church received, and the allusions in Hebrews 11:35 and Matthew 27:43 show the apostles knew and honored these books.

(c) "Jerome rejected them."

At its strongest: St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar who translated the Latin Vulgate, preferred the Hebrew canon and said these books were not part of it.

Answer: True, and Catholics shouldn't hide it. But St. Jerome was one voice, and a late one. St. Polycarp, Origen and St. Cyprian (below) had already drawn on these books, and St. Jerome's contemporary St. Augustine counted them as Scripture while the African councils listed them. St. Jerome himself still translated Tobit and Judith for the Church's Bible. A Protestant who follows St. Jerome here does not follow him on Mary's perpetual virginity, which St. Jerome defended at length. The Church's settled judgment, not one scholar's preference, decided the question.

(d) "2 Maccabees admits it isn't inspired."

At its strongest: The author closes, "If it is well written and to the point, that is what I wanted; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that is the best I could do" (2 Maccabees 15:38). No inspired writer would talk like that.

Answer: Inspiration does not erase the human author. St. Luke says he wrote "after investigating everything accurately anew" (Luke 1:3), describing research, not dictation. God uses real writers with real styles and real humility. A modest closing line is evidence of a human author, which Catholics affirm, not evidence against a divine one.

(e) "Tobit teaches salvation by works."

At its strongest: St. Raphael the Archangel says, "almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin" (Tobit 12:9). That contradicts salvation by grace, so the book cannot be Scripture.

Answer: Then the objection must also strike St. Peter: "love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). And Daniel, who told a king, "atone for your sins by good deeds" (Daniel 4:24). Tobit says what the protocanonical books say: charity, flowing from God's grace, has real power over sin. Rejecting a book because it clashes with a later theology puts the theology above the Bible. (More: Is Salvation by Faith Alone?)

The Early Church Agrees

Long before any council, Christians were reading and citing these books in the churches.

St. Polycarp of Smyrna (Letter to the Philippians, c. AD 110–140, approximate) urges, "When you can do good, defer it not, because 'alms delivers from death'" (10). He does not name the book, but the line echoes Tobit (Tobit 4:10; 12:9).
Origen (Letter to Africanus, c. AD 240, approximate), defending the Greek additions to Daniel, appeals to "the History of Susanna, which is found in every Church of Christ in that Greek copy which the Greeks use" (2), and warns, "You shall not remove the ancient landmarks which your fathers have set" (5). He adds that "the Churches use Tobias," though "the Jews do not use" Tobit or Judith (13).
St. Cyprian of Carthage (On Works and Alms, c. AD 252, approximate) cites Tobit 12 as the word of an angel: "Raphael the angel also witnesses the like," then quotes, "Prayer is good, with fasting and alms; because alms does deliver from death, and it purges away sins" (5).
St. Augustine of Hippo (On Christian Doctrine, c. AD 397) lists among the Old Testament books "Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees." Of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), he writes: "they are to be reckoned among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as being authoritative" (2.8.13).
The Council of Carthage (AD 419), Canon 24, titled "That nothing be read in church besides the Canonical Scripture," includes "Tobit," "Judith," and "Macchabees, ij. books" (Canon 24).

Conclusion

Catholics did not add seven books. The early Church read them, the New Testament echoes them, councils listed them, and the Western Church used them for over a millennium before the Reformation set them apart.

If you are Protestant, pick up Sirach or Wisdom and read a chapter. Then ask a fair question: who decided which books belong in your Bible, and by what authority? (Related: Is Sola Scriptura in the Bible?)

Come home. The full canon of Scripture, received by the early Church and affirmed by her councils, is still read whole in the Catholic Church. Christ did not found many churches. He founded one, on St. Peter and the apostles (Matthew 16:18), and that Church is the Catholic Church. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). If you are a baptized Christian, you already share "a certain, although imperfect, communion" with her (CCC 838). Every truth you already hold is a call to the rest of the way. Christ is calling you into the Catholic Church.

Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.

FAQ

What are the 7 extra books in the Catholic Bible? Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch, plus longer forms of Esther and Daniel.

Did the Council of Trent add these books? No. Trent (1546) reaffirmed a list already found at Rome (382), Hippo (393), Carthage (397, 419), and Florence (1442).

Why does it matter? These books carry real teaching. For example, 2 Maccabees 12:46 says Judas Maccabeus "made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin" (2 Maccabees 12:46).

Sources

Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Psalm 40:7; Daniel 4:24; Tobit 4:10; Tobit 12:9; Wisdom 2:12–20; 2 Maccabees 7:1–14; 2 Maccabees 12:46; 2 Maccabees 15:38; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 18:18; Matthew 27:43 (with NABRE note); John 10:22–23 (with NABRE note); Luke 1:3; Romans 3:2–3; Hebrews 10:5 (with NABRE note); Hebrews 11:35 (with NABRE notes); 1 Peter 4:8; Jude 14 (with NABRE note).

Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 120; 816, 838.

Church Fathers and councils (newadvent.org): Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians 10 (ANF vol. 1); Origen, Letter to Africanus 2, 5, 13 (ANF vol. 4); Cyprian, On Works and Alms 5 (ANF vol. 5); Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 2.8.13 (NPNF1 vol. 2); Council of Carthage (419), Canon 24 (NPNF2 vol. 14).

Historical background: Catholic Encyclopedia, "Canon of the Old Testament"; Decretum Gelasianum, English translation (von Dobschütz ed.).

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