Genesis

Opening book of the Torah and of Jewish and Christian Bibles.

Genesis is the opening book of the Torah and of Jewish and Christian Bibles. Jewish and Christian tradition receive it as the first book of Moses, from the time of the Exodus and the wilderness journey. The Tanakh, the Protestant sixty-six, the Catholic canon, and the Orthodox and Ethiopian collections all receive it as Scripture. It is in the Canon list so a widely received book can be compared with writings that only some traditions receive. The verse text stays in Books. Josephus’s twenty-two-book summary includes the Torah that begins here.

Canonical across Jewish and historic Christian canons. Included here so Books can link a widely received work into Canonical History without duplicating verse text.

Date

Time of Moses (c. 15th–13th century BCE, traditional)

Confidence

medium

Languages

Hebrew

Traditional authorship

Moses

Authorship note

Received by Jewish and Christian tradition as the first book of Moses

• Firkovich B 19 A · Codex Leningradensis

  1008 CE · Hebrew · Opening book of the Torah

  Codex Leningradensis, Firkovich B 19 A, was copied in 1008 by Samuel ben Jacob. It is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible and the base of the standard modern scholarly editions of the Masoretic Text. Genesis stands at the front of the Torah in this codex. The Aleppo Codex is older in part, but most of its Torah is missing, so Leningrad is the complete Hebrew witness used here. This is manuscript evidence for the Hebrew book. It is not a Christian canon list, and it does not contain Tobit, 1 Enoch, or the New Testament.

• 4QGen · Qumran Genesis fragments

  2nd–1st centuries BCE (medium confidence) · Hebrew · Cave 4 Hebrew fragments

  Several Cave 4 manuscripts, grouped under the label 4QGen, preserve Hebrew pieces of Genesis from the second and first centuries BCE. The dating is paleographic, so this dataset marks it medium confidence. The fragments show that Genesis was being copied in Judea in the Second Temple period. They do not preserve the whole book, and they are not the medieval Masoretic Text. Survival at Qumran is existence evidence. It does not decide the later Protestant, Catholic, or Ethiopian table of contents.

• A · Codex Alexandrinus

  5th century CE · Greek · Greek Genesis from chapter 14

  Codex Alexandrinus is a fifth-century Greek parchment Bible, shelfmark Royal MS 1 D V–VIII in the British Library. Its Old Testament is Septuagint-shaped and includes books that later Western lists call deuterocanonical, among them Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, 1 Esdras, and 1–4 Maccabees, plus the Prayer of Manasseh among the Odes. The New Testament includes Jude. After the biblical books the codex copies 1 Clement. A fifth-century binding shows what one scriptorium copied. It is not the Council of Trent and not the Westminster Confession.

• lists canonical

  Flavius Josephus

  Josephus, in Against Apion 1.8, near the end of the first century, describes twenty-two Jewish books that his people trust, and he distinguishes later writings as less authoritative. The reception kind is lists canonical, and the writing linked here is Genesis, because his summary includes the Torah that begins with Genesis. The twenty-two-book count combines some books that later Hebrew Bibles count separately, which is why readers also meet a twenty-four-book Tanakh. Josephus is a Jewish witness to a shorter Hebrew collection. He is not describing the Septuagint manuscripts, the Catholic deuterocanon, or the Ethiopian broader list.

• calls scripture

  Greek-speaking churches

  Genesis was already Scripture for the Jewish communities from which the church came, and Greek-speaking Christians read it in the Septuagint. The New Testament quotes and retells it as Scripture, from creation and Abraham through the patriarchs. No early Christian canon list disputes Genesis. Fourth-century pandects such as Alexandrinus copy the Greek book at the head of the Old Testament. That reception is continuous. It is not a claim that Christians received every other book in the Septuagint on the same terms.

• ProtestantCanonical

  First book of the Protestant Old Testament.

• CatholicCanonical

  First book of the Catholic Old Testament.

• OrthodoxCanonical

  First book of the Orthodox Old Testament.

• EthiopianCanonical

  First book of the Ethiopian Old Testament.

• TanakhCanonical

  Bereshit, first book of the Torah.

• LXXCanonical

  Genesis in the Greek Torah.

• Early ChristianCanonical

  Universally received among early Christian Old Testament lists.

• Second TempleCanonical

  Part of the Jewish scriptural collection Josephus summarizes.

• 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Translation · Alexandria

  Greek Torah translation in Alexandria

  Jewish Scriptures began to circulate in Greek. The Letter of Aristeas narrates a Ptolemaic-era Torah translation; later Greek collections grew beyond the Torah.

  Jewish communities in Alexandria began to read their Scriptures in Greek during the third and second centuries BCE. The Letter of Aristeas tells the story of a Torah translation made for a Ptolemaic court. Later Greek collections grew past the five books of Moses and picked up different extra writings from manuscript to manuscript. The Septuagint became the Old Testament many Greek-speaking Jews and, later, Greek-speaking Christians actually heard. That is a fact about transmission and about the text people used. It is not yet one Christian canon closed by a council. Use the Septuagint column for this Greek reading world, and use the later Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant columns for the lists those churches eventually printed.

  Why it matters. The Septuagint became the Old Testament many Greek-speaking Jews and later Christians actually read. That is a transmission fact, not yet a single locked Christian canon.

  Source: The Letter of Aristeas narrates a Ptolemaic-era Greek translation of the Torah in Alexandria. It is a reception story for the Septuagint’s beginnings, not a complete later LXX canon list.

• 367 CE · Canon list · Alexandria

  Athanasius, Festal Letter 39

  Athanasius lists 22 Old Testament books and the 27-book New Testament, and names some other writings as useful to read but not canonical.

  Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote Festal Letter 39 for Easter 367. The public-domain text in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers preserves his reminder of which books the church accepts as divine Scripture, written because some readers were mixing other books in with them.

  He counts twenty-two Old Testament books, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet as he had heard it handed down. In that count, several familiar writings share one entry: the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings are two books of Kings, the two books of Chronicles are one, Ezra and Nehemiah are one, the twelve prophets are one, and Jeremiah is counted with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle. He then names the New Testament as the four Gospels, Acts, seven Catholic epistles, fourteen Pauline epistles including Hebrews, and the Revelation of John.

  He also names books that are outside that canon and still appointed to be read by newcomers who want instruction in godliness: the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd. He calls the first list the books in which the doctrine of godliness is proclaimed, and the second list books that are read.

  Read the letter as one bishop’s Easter list from Alexandria. It belongs on Councils & Lists because it names books and draws a line around them. It is an influential episcopal list, especially for the twenty-seven-book New Testament, and it is a single letter rather than a council minute that bound every church on that date.

  Why it matters. An influential episcopal list, not a claim that every church already agreed or that earlier Jewish collections were identical.

  Follow-up questions

  Where does Athanasius place Esther, Judith, and Tobit?

  In this letter they stand with the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd: appointed to be read for instruction, and outside the twenty-two-book Old Testament list. That is his classification in 367. Later Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant lists do not all copy it.

  How does he reach twenty-two Old Testament books?

  He pairs some English Bible books into one entry. Samuel and Kings become two books of Kings, Chronicles are one book, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book, the twelve prophets are one book, and Jeremiah is one book together with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle.

  Is Festal Letter 39 a church council?

  It is an Easter letter from the bishop of Alexandria. Corpus Witness files it as a canon-list on this tab because it names books. A council minute and a bishop’s letter are different kinds of evidence, and both can still be read side by side.

  Source: Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367), lists 22 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books and names some other writings as useful but not canonical.

• c. 390–405 CE · Historical witness · Bethlehem / Latin West

  Jerome’s Vulgate prefaces and the Hebrew list

  Jerome’s Prologus Galeatus distinguishes books in the Hebrew canon from other church-read writings.

  Around 390 to 405, in Bethlehem, Jerome wrote prefaces for his Latin translation that became the Vulgate. The Prologus Galeatus, the helmeted preface to Kings, draws a line between books he finds in the Hebrew canon and other writings the church was reading, the books later often called Apocrypha. Reformation arguments for a shorter Old Testament often appeal to that distinction. Jerome still translated some of the church-read books so Latin Christians could use them. The preface is a church father’s classification, not a council, which is why it sits on the timeline beside the lists rather than inside the Councils & Lists type. Catholic status for the deuterocanonical books is defined later, at Trent.

  Why it matters. Later Protestant arguments often appeal to this Hebrew-canon distinction. Jerome still translated some church-read books for Latin use.

  Source: Jerome, Prologus Galeatus, distinguishes Hebrew-canon books from other church-read writings later often called Apocrypha.

• 393 CE · Council · Hippo Regius, North Africa

  Council of Hippo

  A North African council is reported to have approved a scriptural list that includes books later called deuterocanonical in the West.

  In 393 a council at Hippo Regius, in North Africa, is reported to have approved a scriptural list. As later reports give that list, it includes books Western churches afterward call deuterocanonical.

  The source for this event says the original acts survive only in later reports, summarized through later Carthage recensions. The date, the place, and the report of a list are the claim this page is willing to make. A free-standing copy of the Hippo minutes is not what the source provides.

  Use Hippo as regional conciliar reception in Latin North Africa. Carthage in 397 is the next North African list on this tab, and Trent in 1546 is the much later decree that defines the modern Catholic canon. Each of those has its own source.

  Why it matters. Regional conciliar reception, known mainly through later reports—not a universal “removal” or addition by one person.

  Follow-up questions

  Why does this page say the Council of Hippo is reported?

  The source record says the original acts survive only in later reports, summarized through later Carthage recensions. The word “reported” matches that limit. The date and the idea of a list belong to that received tradition.

  What does the reported Hippo list include?

  Books later called deuterocanonical in the West, inside a scriptural list the council is said to have approved. Because the wording comes through later reports, this page keeps the summary and does not paste a reconstructed decree.

  How should I read Hippo next to Carthage and Trent?

  Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397 are North African reception. Trent in 1546 is the decree that defines the modern Catholic canon, including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate. Read them as three dated events, each with its own source.

  Source: The Council of Hippo (393) is reported to have approved a scriptural list that includes books later called deuterocanonical in the West.

• 397 CE · Council · Carthage, North Africa

  Council of Carthage

  The Carthage list includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, and 1–2 Maccabees among books to be read in church.

  The Council of Carthage in 397 left a canon in the African canonical collection, the Codex Canonum Ecclesiae Africanae. Editions number that canon as 36 or as 47. The curated source names Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, and 1–2 Maccabees among the books to be read in church, together with the books that later form the widely received Protestant sixty-six.

  “Read in church” is the council’s category: liturgical and canonical reception in Latin North Africa. Carthage documents that reception in 397. The modern Catholic definition of overlapping books comes later, at Trent on 8 April 1546. Reformation rankings, including Luther’s 1534 Apocrypha section, come later as well. Those further events stay on this tab with their own sources.

  Why it matters. Documents Western liturgical/canonical reception of books later disputed in the Reformation.

  Follow-up questions

  Why do references say canon 36 and canon 47?

  The same African list is numbered both ways in the Codex Canonum Ecclesiae Africanae. The source title records “canon 36 / 47” so either numbering still points at this 397 Carthage list.

  Which books does the Carthage list name beyond the later Protestant sixty-six?

  The curated source names Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, and 1–2 Maccabees among the books to be read in church, alongside the books later counted in the Protestant sixty-six.

  Does “read in church” mean the same thing as Trent’s canonical list?

  Carthage’s phrase is North African reception in 397: these books are to be read in church. Trent’s decree of 8 April 1546 lists the books the Catholic Church receives as canonical, including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate. The two documents belong to one broad story and remain two different acts.

  Source: The 397 Carthage list includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, 1–2 Maccabees among the books to be read in church, alongside the widely received Protestant 66.

• 8 April 1546 · Council · Trent

  Council of Trent, Session IV

  Trent listed the Catholic canonical books, including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate.

  On 8 April 1546, Session IV of the Council of Trent published its decree on the canonical Scriptures. The decree lists the books the Catholic Church receives as canonical, including the deuterocanonical writings already received in the Latin Vulgate. In this dataset, Tobit is one book tied directly to that decree.

  Trent answers sixteenth-century disputes about which books count as Scripture. Luther’s 1534 Bible had already printed selected Old Testament books in a separate Apocrypha section and ranked them below Holy Scripture. Trent’s list is the Catholic definition of canonical status for the books it names.

  The decree dates that ruling. Composition dates and manuscripts for each writing stay on the writing’s own page. Trent describes the church’s canonical list in 1546, and it leaves the earlier existence of those books to the other evidence on this site.

  Why it matters. Defines the modern Catholic canon in response to Reformation disputes. It does not describe a single ancient moment when those books first existed.

  Follow-up questions

  What did Trent’s Session IV decide?

  On 8 April 1546 it listed the books the Catholic Church receives as canonical, including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate. In this dataset Tobit is one of the books attached to that decree.

  What dispute is the decree answering?

  Reformation arguments about which books count as Scripture. The Luther Bible of 1534 had already printed selected books in a separate Apocrypha section and said they were useful to read but not equal to Holy Scripture.

  Does Session IV tell me when Tobit was written?

  The decree dates a Catholic canonical ruling in 1546. Tobit’s composition, language, and manuscripts are earlier evidence, kept on Tobit’s own Canon page rather than inside the conciliar date.

  Source: Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), lists the Catholic canonical books including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate.

• 1646/1647 CE · Reformation · Westminster, London

  Westminster Confession names the 66-book canon

  The Confession lists the 66 books and says the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture.

  The Westminster Assembly’s Confession of Faith, chapter I, was finished in London in 1646/1647. Sections I.2–3 name the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon. They say the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture.

  This is a Reformed confession. It sits on Councils & Lists because it is a dated canon list with a church-document source. It explains why many later Protestant editions leave the Apocrypha out of the printed Bible.

  Set it next to the other Protestant-tradition entries on this tab. Luther’s 1534 Bible still printed selected books in a separate section and called them useful to read, while ranking them below Holy Scripture. The 1611 King James Bible still included an Apocrypha section. Westminster’s wording refuses those books a place in the canon.

  Why it matters. A defining Reformed statement of the modern Protestant 66. It explains later omission from many Protestant printings.

  Follow-up questions

  What does Westminster Confession chapter I say about the canon?

  It names the sixty-six books and says the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture. That wording is the source citation for this event.

  How is Westminster different from Luther’s 1534 Bible?

  Luther printed selected books in a separate Apocrypha section and called them useful to read, while ranking them below Holy Scripture. Westminster refuses them a place in the canon. Both are Protestant-tradition events, and they use different wording.

  How is Westminster different from the Council of Trent?

  Trent in 1546 defines the Roman Catholic list, including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate. Westminster in 1646/1647 is a Reformed confession that names the sixty-six and excludes the Apocrypha from the canon of Scripture. They are different bodies and different lists.

  Source: Westminster Confession I.2–3 names the 66-book Protestant canon and says the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture.

• 1947–1956 CE · Manuscript · Qumran, Judean Desert

  Dead Sea Scrolls come to light

  Caves near Qumran yielded Jewish manuscripts, including Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch such as 4Q201.

  From 1947 to 1956, caves near Qumran yielded Jewish manuscripts of the Second Temple period, including Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch such as 4Q201. The find shows that Enochic books were being copied in Judea in the second century BCE, long before the Ge'ez manuscripts that preserve the book in full. Discovery is manuscript evidence. The scrolls are not a Christian canon list, and they are not a table of contents for the Ethiopian, Catholic, or Protestant Bibles. They belong with the Second Temple column and with the existence of 1 Enoch. Canonical status for each later tradition stays on that tradition’s own witnesses.

  Why it matters. Shows that Enochic books were copied in Second Temple Judaism. Discovery is not a statement that the scrolls were a Christian canon list.

  Source: 4Q201 is an Aramaic 1 Enoch manuscript from Qumran Cave 4, commonly dated to the second century BCE.

• Strong parallel · Jubilees narrative ↔ Genesis

  High confidence — strong primary or manuscript support.

  Jubilees retells Genesis and the opening of Exodus in jubilee periods. The parallel is literary and sustained. Jubilees is not a manuscript of Genesis.

• Shared tradition · Genesis 1 ↔ Tablet sequence

  Low confidence — disputed or tentative.

  Both texts tell a creation story from the ancient Near East. The dataset does not claim that Genesis quotes the Enuma Elish.

• Shared tradition · Genesis 6–9 ↔ Flood episode

  Low confidence — disputed or tentative.

  Both texts tell of a flood survived in a boat. Shared theme is not the same as a demonstrated line of quotation.

• Shared tradition · Genesis 6–9 ↔ Sumerian flood

  Low confidence — disputed or tentative.

  The Sumerian Eridu Genesis includes a flood. Comparison with Noah is thematic. The tablet is not a source citation inside Genesis.

• Strong parallel · Sirach 44 ↔ Genesis patriarchs

  High confidence — strong primary or manuscript support.

  The Praise of the Ancestors in Sirach 44 begins with Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, whose stories are told in Genesis. Ben Sira uses those traditions. Sirach is not a manuscript of Genesis.

• Possible allusion · Tobit 4–7 ↔ Patriarchal narratives

  Medium confidence — a common reading, with some uncertainty.

  Tobit urges marriage within the kindred and tells a family story in a patriarchal key. That echoes Genesis. This dataset does not claim that Tobit quotes a Genesis verse.

• Strong parallel · 1 Clement 4 ↔ Cain and Abel

  High confidence — strong primary or manuscript support.

  1 Clement 4 retells Cain and Abel from Genesis while exhorting the Corinthian church. The letter uses Genesis. It is not a book of the Torah.

• Probable allusion · Barnabas on the patriarchs ↔ Genesis

  Medium confidence — a common reading, with some uncertainty.

  The Epistle of Barnabas allegorizes patriarchal stories from Genesis, including Abraham and Jacob. That is Christian use of Genesis, not a Jewish canon decision.

1. 3rd–2nd centuries BCE — Greek Torah translation in Alexandria
2. 367 CE — Athanasius, Festal Letter 39
3. c. 390–405 CE — Jerome’s Vulgate prefaces and the Hebrew list
4. 393 CE — Council of Hippo
5. 397 CE — Council of Carthage
6. 8 April 1546 — Council of Trent, Session IV
7. 1646/1647 CE — Westminster Confession names the 66-book canon
8. 1947–1956 CE — Dead Sea Scrolls come to light

• Genesis is the first book of the Torah and is canonical across Jewish and historic Christian canons.
• The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church publishes an 81-book list that includes 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the Meqabyan books.
• Brenton’s public-domain Septuagint translation includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, the Additions, and Maccabees as part of the Greek Old Testament corpus.
• Athanasius, Festal Letter 39 (367), lists 22 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books and names some other writings as useful but not canonical.
• Josephus, Against Apion 1.8, speaks of 22 Jewish books and distinguishes later writings as not equally trusted.
• Codex Leningradensis (Firkovich B 19 A), copied in 1008, is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible.
• Qumran caves preserved Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek fragments of biblical and parabiblical books, published in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert.
• Codex Alexandrinus is a fifth-century Greek Bible. It includes a Septuagint-shaped Old Testament, the New Testament, and 1 Clement.
• The Letter of Aristeas narrates a Ptolemaic-era Greek translation of the Torah in Alexandria. It is a reception story for the Septuagint’s beginnings, not a complete later LXX canon list.
• L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (1902), English edition of the Babylonian Enuma Elish. Comparative Ancient Near Eastern literature, not a biblical canon book.
• English translation of the Akkadian Atrahasis epic from public-domain Mesopotamian collections. Comparative Ancient Near Eastern literature, not a biblical canon book.
• English translation of the Sumerian Eridu Genesis flood/origins tradition from ETCSL and related public-domain collections. Comparative Ancient Near Eastern literature, not a biblical canon book.
• Codex Sinaiticus preserves a fourth-century Greek Bible and, after the New Testament, includes the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas.
• Jerome, Prologus Galeatus, distinguishes Hebrew-canon books from other church-read writings later often called Apocrypha.
• The Council of Hippo (393) is reported to have approved a scriptural list that includes books later called deuterocanonical in the West.
• The 397 Carthage list includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, 1–2 Maccabees among the books to be read in church, alongside the widely received Protestant 66.
• Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), lists the Catholic canonical books including the deuterocanonical writings received in the Vulgate.
• Westminster Confession I.2–3 names the 66-book Protestant canon and says the books commonly called Apocrypha are not of divine inspiration and are not part of the canon of Scripture.
• 4Q201 is an Aramaic 1 Enoch manuscript from Qumran Cave 4, commonly dated to the second century BCE.