Why Catholic Bibles have 73 books, and most Protestant ones have 66

It comes down to seven Old Testament books. The Church has counted them as Scripture since at least the fourth century. In the 1500s, Protestant Bibles set them aside.

THE SEVEN BOOKS
Tobit Judith Wisdom Sirach Baruch 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees

Catholic Bibles also carry longer versions of Esther and Daniel.

What they're called

Catholics call them the deuterocanonical books. It means "second canon": not second best, just the second group to be formally listed.

Protestant Bibles that include them usually print them in a separate section called the Apocrypha.

How it happened

  1. 300s AD Church synods at Rome and Carthage list the books of Scripture. The seven are on the list.
  2. 1500s Martin Luther moves the seven into a separate section of his Bible, the Apocrypha.
  3. 8 April 1546 The Council of Trent confirms the full list of 73, the seven included, on a par with every other book.

What this site uses

Revelatum follows the Catholic Bible, all 73 books. Quotes come from the Douay-Rheims translation.

Keep exploring

What language was the Bible written in? The stone that proves Pontius Pilate was real
Check it yourself: sources
  1. Council of Trent, Session IV, decree De Canonicis Scripturis, 8 April 1546.
  2. Synods of Rome and Carthage, fourth century: lists of the books of Scripture.
  3. Luther's German Bible: the Apocrypha section.

Last updated 14 October 2026.