De ordine et numero librorum.
The Two Testaments and Their Three Orders
All divine Scripture is contained in two testaments, each divided into three orders: the Old Testament holds the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographers, while the New Testament holds the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Fathers.
All of divine Scripture is contained in two testaments — the Old and the New. Each testament is divided into three orders. The Old Testament contains the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographers; the New, however, contains the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Fathers.1
The Law: The Five Books of Moses
The first order of the Old Testament is the Law, the Pentateuch of Moses, whose five books are named in both Hebrew and Latin: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
The first order of the Old Testament is the Law, which the Hebrews call the Torah, and it contains the Pentateuch, that is, the five books of Moses. In this order, the first book is Bereshith, which is Genesis; the second is Shemoth, which is Exodus; the third is Vayikra, which is Leviticus; the fourth is Vayedaber, which is Numbers; the fifth is Devarim, which is Deuteronomy.
The Prophets: Eight Volumes of Sacred History
The second order of the Old Testament is the Prophets, comprising eight volumes: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1–2 Kings), Kings (3–4 Kings), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets.
The second order is that of the prophets. It contains eight volumes. First, Joshua son of Nun — that is, the son of Nun, who is also called Joshua, and Jesus, and Jesus of Nun; second, Shophethim, which is the book of Judges; third, Samuel, which is first and second Kings; fourth, Malachim, which is third and fourth Kings; fifth, Isaiah; sixth, Jeremiah; seventh, Ezekiel; eighth, Theasar, which is the twelve prophets.
The Hagiographers: Nine Books and the Wider Canon
The third order of the Old Testament contains nine books—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Daniel, Chronicles, Ezra, and Esther—totaling twenty-two books, with additional books like Wisdom, Sirach, Judith, Tobit, and Maccabees read but not included in the canon.
Then the third group has nine books. The first is Job, the second is David, the third is Masloth — which means 'parables' in Greek and is called Proverbs in Latin, that is, of Solomon — the fourth is Coheleth, which is Ecclesiastes, the fifth is Sirach of Syriac, that is, the Song of Songs, the sixth is Daniel, the seventh is Dabrehiamin, which is Chronicles, the eighth is Ezra, the ninth is Esther. So all of them together come to twenty-two in number. There are also other books — the Wisdom of Solomon, the book of Jesus son of Sirach, the book of Judith, Tobit, and the books of the Maccabees — which are indeed read, but are not included in the canon.
The New Testament and the Harmony of Both Testaments
The New Testament's three orders are the four Gospels, the Apostles (Paul's Epistles, canonical Epistles, Apocalypse, Acts), and the Fathers (Decretals and the writings of the Church doctors); the parallel structure of both testaments reveals a divine harmony, and the chapter closes with a reflection on the reader's duty to engage with this vast inheritance.
The first order of the New Testament has four volumes: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the second, likewise four: Paul's fourteen Epistles woven together under one volume, and the canonical Epistles, the Apocalypse, and the Acts of the Apostles. In the third order, the Decretals hold the first place — what we call canons, that is, regular norms — then the writings of the holy fathers and doctors of the church: Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, Ambrose, Isidore, Origen, Bede, and many other orthodox writers, so vast in number that they can't be counted. From this it's clear how much fervor of faith they had in Christian belief, since for its defense they left behind so many and such great works to be remembered by later generations. And so our own sloth is reproved, since we don't have the strength to read what they were able to dictate. In these orders, the harmony between each Testament is especially evident: just as after the Law came the prophets, and after the prophets the hagiographers, so after the Gospel came the apostles, and after the apostles came the doctors, succeeding in proper order. And by a certain wondrous ordering of divine providence it has come about that, although full and perfect truth is found in each individual book, none is superfluous. I've touched briefly on the order and number of the divine books, so that the reader may recognize what material is laid out before him.
Read the original Latin
Omnis divina scriptura in duobus testamentis continetur, in veteri videlicet et novo. utrumque testamentum tribus ordinibus distinguitur. Vetus Testamentum continet legem, prophetas, hagiographos, Novum autem evangelium, apostolos, patres.
Primus ordo Veteris Testamenti, id est, lex quam Hebraei thorath nominant, Pentateuchum habet, id est, quinque libros Moysi. in hoc ordine primus est bresith, qui est Genesis, secundus hellesmoth, qui est Exodus, tertius vaiecra, qui est Leviticus, quartus vaiedaber, qui est Numeri, quintus adabarim, qui est Deutronomius.
Secundus ordo est prophetarum. hic continet octo volumina. primum Iosue ben Nun, id est, filium Nun, qui et Iosue et Iesus et Iesu Nave nuncupatur, secundum sophtim, qui est liber Iudicum, tertium Samuel, qui est primus et secundus Regum, quartum malachim, qui est tertius et quartus Regum, quintum Isaiam, sextum Ieremiam, septimum Ezechielem, octavum thareasra, qui est duodecim prophetarum.
Deinde tertius ordo novem habet libros. primus est Iob, secundus est David, tertius est masloth, quod Graece Parabolae, Latine Proverbia sonat, videlicet Salomonis, quartus coeleth, qui est Ecclesiastes, quintus, sira syrin, id est, Cantica canticorum, sextus Daniel, septimus dabrehiamin, qui est Paralipomenon, octavus Esdras, nonus Esther. omnes ergo fiunt numero xxii. sunt praeterea alii quidam libri, ut Sapientia Salomonis, liber Iesu filii Sirach, et liber Iudith, et Tobias, et libri Machabaeorum, qui leguntur quidem, sed non scribuntur in canone.
Primus ordo Novi Testamenti quattuor habet volumina: Matthaei, Marci, Lucae, Ioannis; secundus, similiter quattuor: Epistulas Pauli numero quattuordecim sub uno volumine contextas, et canonicas Epistulas, Apocalypsim et Actus apostolorum. in tertio ordine primum locum habent Decretalia, quos canones, id est, regulares appellamus, deinde sanctorum patrum et doctorum ecclesiae scripta: Hieronymi, Augustini, Gregorii, Ambrosii, Isidori, Origenis, Bedae, et aliorum multorum orthodoxorum, quae tam infinita sunt, ut numerari non possint. ex quo profecto apparet quantum in fide Christiana fervorem habuerint, pro cuius assertione tot et tanta opera memoranda posteris reliquerunt. unde nostra quoque pigritia arguitur, qui legere non sufficimus quae dictare illi potuerunt. in his autem ordinibus maxime utriusque testamenti apparet convenientia, quod sicut post legem, prophetae, et post prophetas, hagiographi, ita post Evangelium, apostoli, et post apostolos, doctores ordine successerunt. et mira quadam divinae dispensationis ratione actum est, ut cum in singulis plena et perfecta veritas consistat, nulla tamen superflua sit. haec breviter de ordine et numero divinorum librorum perstrinximus, ut quae sibi sit praescripta materia lector agnoscat.
Notes
- 1 ↩Hagiographers (hagiographos) is a transliterated Greek term for the third division of the Old Testament canon (Writings); rendered as Hagiographers to preserve the technical canonical sense.
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