What books are included in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo canon that are not in the King James Version?
Executive summary
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo canon contains roughly 81 books, including a suite of Old and New Testament writings that do not appear in the 66‑book King James Version; notable inclusions are 1 Enoch, Jubilees, the Ethiopic Meqabyan books (1–3), and several Jeremiah/Baruch traditions such as 4 Baruch (also called Paralipomena of Jeremiah) that the KJV omits [1] [2] [3]. Scholarship and Ethiopian church lists disagree about exact boundaries and which supplemental texts are counted toward the canonical 81, so any definitive inventory must be read as reflecting ecclesial practice and historical variation rather than a single fixed list [4] [5].
1. Canon count and the immediate difference with the KJV
The Ethiopian Orthodox Churches traditionally count 81 canonical books—46 Old Testament and 35 New Testament volumes according to the church’s own presentation—which contrasts with the Protestant/KJV 66‑book canon and explains why several books familiar to scholars but absent from Protestant Bibles are nonetheless treated as scripture in Ethiopia [2] [6]. That numerical difference is not merely additive; it reflects a divergent textual tradition (Ge’ez manuscripts and local reception) that preserved or elevated writings that Western Christianity classified as apocryphal or pseudepigraphal [3] [7].
2. Old Testament books found in the Ethiopian canon but not in the KJV
The Ethiopian Old Testament canon includes books absent from the KJV such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees—two works preserved in Ge’ez that are widely cited in Ethiopian liturgy and patristic collections but are classified outside the Protestant canon [3]. It also includes the distinctive Ethiopic Meqabyan corpus—1, 2 and 3 Meqabyan—which are not the same as the Maccabees found in Catholic or Orthodox collections and therefore do not correspond to the KJV‑absent but differently named books [1] [3]. Other Old Testament materials recognized in Ethiopian lists include expanded Jeremiah traditions (Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah) and what the sources call 4 Baruch, elements that either appear in Catholic/Oxford apocrypha collections or are unique Ethiopic survivals and which the KJV omits [1] [8]. Some additional Deuterocanonical titles familiar in other bodies—Judith, Tobit, Sirach/Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach—are treated variably in Ethiopian manuscripts, but Ethiopian lists place unique emphasis on Ge’ez‑transmitted books like Enoch and Jubilees that Protestant canons do not include [8] [3].
3. New Testament differences and “extra” texts
While the New Testament of the Ethiopian Church substantially overlaps with the broader Christian New Testament, the church historically recognizes additional epistles or collections and places different canonical weight on certain writings; the church’s published count of 35 New Testament books and manuscript lists create room for variant inclusions not present in the KJV’s 27‑book New Testament [2] [8]. Sources emphasize, however, that the larger canonical picture is more about which books are authoritative in liturgy and teaching than about wholly separate New Testament corpora—scholars note divergence and fluidity rather than a simple “extra New Testament” list [5].
4. Why catalogs differ, and the limits of certainty
Scholars and Ethiopian sources both warn that canonical lists vary by manuscript, ecclesial use, and epoch: “81 books” is the normative claim but which titles make those 81 shows local variation and historical uncertainty, and some books are “difficult to locate” even within Ethiopia and Eritrea [1] [4] [5]. Modern English‑language summaries therefore emphasize representative unique inclusions—Enoch, Jubilees, Meqabyan, 4 Baruch—while also noting that precise counts and the status of items like Sirach or Judith can differ across church documents and scholarly reconstructions [1] [8] [5].
5. Conclusion: what the KJV lacks that the Ethiopian canon commonly includes
Readers looking for a succinct catalogue should note that the most consistently reported major works present in the Ethiopian canon but absent from the KJV include 1 Enoch, Jubilees, the three Ethiopic Meqabyan books, and extra Jeremiah/Baruch material (including 4 Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah), with additional Deuterocanonical items treated variably in manuscript traditions; scholars stress variation in lists and urge consulting Ethiopian church publications and manuscript inventories for precise book‑by‑book claims [3] [1] [2] [5].