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How are you fallen from heaven, O Heylel, son of the howling morning! how are you cut down to
the ground, which did weaken the nations!
Yesha`yahu (Isaiah) 14:12
You will also find references to books that you may not recognize if you are an adherent to the post-19
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century Protestant Bible and its sixty-six books. These citations include books such as the Cepher
Yovheliym (Jubilees), the Cepher Chanok (Enoch), the Cepheriym Baruk, the Cepheriym Esdras (Ezra), or
the Cepheriym Makkabiym. These books are called the Deuterocanon, or second books. Some of these
books have been called the Apocrypha (secret writings). Over the years, these books have been excluded
from the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible. However, this exclusion cannot be justified historically.

In the second century BC, 70 Rabbis translated 46 books from Ivriyt (Hebrew) to Greek, a translation
called the Septuagint (known as LXX). The LXX did not include the Cepher Chanok (Enoch) and the Cepher
Yovheliym (Jubilees). The LXX did not include the Cepheriym of 3 Makkabiym and 4 Makkabiym
(Maccabees), because they were written in the period between 200 BC and 1 AD. In the first century, the
early believers relied on this Septuagint as their source for sacred Scriptures, and the writings of the Brit
Chadashah (New Testament) also indicate that there was reliance on the Cepher Chanok (Enoch),
Yovheliym (Jubilees), and 4 Ezra (2 Esdras).
The first attempt to limit the books available to the believers happened at the council of Nicea in 325 AD.
This council created 60 rules or canons. The 60 canon concluded that the books of the Old Testament
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which were approved to be read were 1, Genesis of the world; 2, The Exodus from Egypt; 3, Leviticus;
4, Numbers; 5, Deuteronomy; 6, Joshua, the son of Nun; 7, Judges, 8, Ruth; 9, Esther; 10, Of the Kings, First
and Second; 11, Of the Kings, Third and Fourth; 12, Chronicles, First and Second; 13, Esdras, First and
Second; 14, The Book of Psalms; 15, The Proverbs of Solomon; 16, Ecclesiastes; 17, The Song of Songs;
18, Job; 19, The Twelve Prophets; 20, Isaiah; 21, Jeremiah, 22, Baruk, 23, Lamentations, and the Epistle;
24, Ezekiel; 25, Daniel. 42 books are individually counted and this list includes Baruk and the Epistle of
Jeremiah.
The council then concluded that the books of the Brit Chadashah (New Testament) which were approved
to be read were the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; The Acts of the Apostles; Seven Catholic
Epistles, to wit, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude; Fourteen Epistles of Paul, one to
the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one
to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one
to Philemon. 26 books were counted, and the Book of Revelation was excluded.

This first attempt at the canonized version of Scripture included 68 books, not 66.
Both the council of Nicea and the council of Laodikeia adopted the existing Tanakh (Torah, Nevi’iym,
Ketuviym) as the total text of the Old Testament in their rule, although the order was obscured. Around
AD 100, Jewish rabbis met at the Council of Jamniah and decided to include only 39 books in the Jewish
canon, because they were the only texts that could be found in the original Ivriyt (Hebrew). Recall that
three centuries earlier, 70 rabbis translated 46 books from Ivriyt to Greek.
The delineation of sacred Scripture by rule or canon began to emerge in the late 4 Century and early
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5 Century with the work of St. Jerome, aka Eusebius. Jerome sought to limit the books of the Old
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Testament to the 39 books of the Tanakh. He was overruled, however, by Pope Damasus, who wanted
all 46 traditionally-accepted books included in the Old Testament, so the Latin Vulgate Old Testament
was finalized with 46 books.

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