Every source used in our Ethiopian Bible in English, documented by book. Nothing is copy-and-paste. Every archaic translation was rephrased into modern prose.
| Source | License | Attribution? |
|---|---|---|
| Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | Public domain | No |
| World English Bible (WEB) | Public domain | No |
| R.H. Charles, Book of Jubilees (1902) | Public domain | No |
| R.H. Charles, Book of Enoch (1912) | Public domain | No |
| J. Rendel Harris, Rest of the Words of Baruch (1889) | Public domain | No |
| Wikisource Ge'ez translations (1/2/3 Meqabyan) | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Yes |
| Rev. G. Horner, Statutes of the Apostles (1904) | Public domain | No |
| J.M. Harden, The Ethiopic Didascalia (1920) | Public domain | No |
| Prof. George H. Schodde, Apostolic Canons (1885) | Public domain | No |
| Revised Version Apocrypha (1895) | Public domain | No |
| WEB long recension of Tobit (Codex Sinaiticus) | Public domain | No |
| L. Guerrier & S. Grebaut, Le Testament en Galilee, PO vol. 9 (1913) | Public domain | No |
| S. Grebaut, Litterature ethiopienne pseudo-Clementine, RoC (1911-1920) | Public domain | No |
| E.A.W. Budge, Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great (1896) | Public domain | No |
The three books of Meqabyan in this edition are modernized adaptations of community translations from Wikisource. The Wikisource originals are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Because we have modernized the text rather than reproducing it verbatim, our versions are adaptations under copyright law, and the share-alike obligation applies to them.
The full text of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license is available at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Our modernized adaptations of 1, 2, and 3 Meqabyan are released under the same license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).
This license requires anyone reusing our Meqabyan adaptations to:
The CC BY-SA 4.0 license applies only to the three books of Meqabyan as presented in this edition. It does not extend to the rest of the edition, which is sourced from public domain materials and governed by the edition's general license.
The # column is the volume's place among the 90 separately printed volumes of this edition, not its canonical book number. The canon counts 81 books because traditional enumeration groups several of these texts together. Titles below are listed standard-first, then the texts distinctive to the Ethiopian canon; the printed book interleaves them in traditional order.
| # | Book | Ch. | Source | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis | 50 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 2 | Exodus | 40 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 3 | Leviticus | 27 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 4 | Numbers | 36 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 5 | Deuteronomy | 34 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 6 | Joshua | 24 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 7 | Judges | 21 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 8 | Ruth | 4 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 9 | 1 Samuel | 31 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 10 | 2 Samuel | 24 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 11 | 1 Kings | 22 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 12 | 2 Kings | 25 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 13 | 1 Chronicles | 29 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 14 | 2 Chronicles | 36 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 15 | Ezra | 10 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 16 | Nehemiah | 13 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 17 | Esther | 11 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851), Greek additions included | PD |
| 18 | Job | 42 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 19 | Psalms | 151 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851), includes Psalm 151 | PD |
| 20 | Proverbs | 24 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851), chapters 1-24 | PD |
| 21 | Book of Correction (Tegsat) | 6 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851), Proverbs 25-31 | PD |
| 22 | Ecclesiastes | 12 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 23 | Song of Solomon | 8 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 24 | Wisdom of Solomon | 19 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 25 | Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) | 51 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 26 | Isaiah | 66 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 27 | Jeremiah | 52 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 28 | Lamentations | 5 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 29 | Baruch | 5 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 30 | Letter of Jeremiah | 1 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851), Baruch ch. 6 | PD |
| 31 | Ezekiel | 48 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 32 | Daniel | 14 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851), Greek additions included | PD |
| 33 | Hosea | 14 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 34 | Amos | 9 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 35 | Micah | 7 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 36 | Joel | 3 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851), Ethiopian 3-chapter division | PD |
| 37 | Obadiah | 1 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 38 | Jonah | 4 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 39 | Nahum | 3 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 40 | Habakkuk | 3 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 41 | Zephaniah | 3 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 42 | Haggai | 2 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 43 | Zechariah | 14 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
| 44 | Malachi | 3 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD |
All 44 standard OT books use Brenton's 1851 English Septuagint, modernized for contemporary readability. The Septuagint is the appropriate base text because the Ge'ez Old Testament was translated from the Greek, not the Hebrew Masoretic text.
| # | Book | Ch. | Source | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | Jubilees (Kufale) | 34 | R.H. Charles (1902) | PD | Restructured from Western 50-chapter scheme to Ethiopian 34-chapter division |
| 46 | 1 Enoch | 42 | R.H. Charles (1912) | PD | Restructured from 108-section scheme to Ethiopian 42-chapter division |
| 47 | 1 Esdras | 9 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD | |
| 48 | Ezra Sutuel (4 Ezra) | 13 | Revised Version Apocrypha (1895) | PD | 2 Esdras chs 3-14; includes restored 7:36-105; Ethiopian 13-chapter division |
| 49 | Tobit | 14 | World English Bible, long recension | PD | Sinaiticus recension, fuller than Brenton's shorter text |
| 50 | Judith | 16 | Brenton English Septuagint (1851) | PD | |
| 51 | 1 Meqabyan | 36 | Wikisource Ge'ez translation | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Modernized; read free online |
| 52 | 2 Meqabyan | 21 | Wikisource Ge'ez translation | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Modernized; read free online |
| 53 | 3 Meqabyan | 10 | Wikisource Ge'ez translation | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Modernized; read free online |
| 54 | Rest of the Words of Baruch (4 Baruch) | 9 | J. Rendel Harris (1889) | PD |
Prayer of Manasseh appears as a section within 2 Chronicles, not as a standalone book.
The Josippon (Zena Ayhud, also Joseph Ben Gurion) closes the Old Testament in the broader Ethiopian enumeration, where it is reckoned as canonical Old Testament book #46. In this edition it is the 55th separately printed Old Testament volume, set between Malachi and Matthew. Those two numbers describe different things: the first is its place in the canonical count of 81, the second its place among the 90 volumes we print. It is not a Book of Church Order. It is a 116-chapter history of the Jewish people from Adam to the fall of the Temple. No public-domain Ge'ez-to-English translation exists; this is an English approximation of the Ethiopian recension's scope.
| # | Book | Source | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | Josippon (History of the Jews) | Munster (1541) + Breithaupt (1710) + Budge (1896) | PD | ZA approximation: 116 chapters. Core from Munster Latin; Table of Nations and Jewish War from Breithaupt Latin; Alexander splice from Budge Ethiopic. Chapter selection per Binyam 2017 |
| # | Book | Ch. | Source | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | Matthew | 28 | World English Bible | PD |
| 57 | Mark | 16 | World English Bible | PD |
| 58 | Luke | 24 | World English Bible | PD |
| 59 | John | 21 | World English Bible | PD |
| 60 | Acts | 28 | World English Bible | PD |
| 61 | Romans | 16 | World English Bible | PD |
| 62 | 1 Corinthians | 16 | World English Bible | PD |
| 63 | 2 Corinthians | 13 | World English Bible | PD |
| 64 | Galatians | 6 | World English Bible | PD |
| 65 | Ephesians | 6 | World English Bible | PD |
| 66 | Philippians | 4 | World English Bible | PD |
| 67 | Colossians | 4 | World English Bible | PD |
| 68 | 1 Thessalonians | 5 | World English Bible | PD |
| 69 | 2 Thessalonians | 3 | World English Bible | PD |
| 70 | 1 Timothy | 6 | World English Bible | PD |
| 71 | 2 Timothy | 4 | World English Bible | PD |
| 72 | Titus | 3 | World English Bible | PD |
| 73 | Philemon | 1 | World English Bible | PD |
| 74 | Hebrews | 13 | World English Bible | PD |
| 75 | James | 5 | World English Bible | PD |
| 76 | 1 Peter | 5 | World English Bible | PD |
| 77 | 2 Peter | 3 | World English Bible | PD |
| 78 | 1 John | 5 | World English Bible | PD |
| 79 | 2 John | 1 | World English Bible | PD |
| 80 | 3 John | 1 | World English Bible | PD |
| 81 | Jude | 1 | World English Bible | PD |
| 82 | Revelation | 22 | World English Bible | PD |
The eight Books of Church Order are what make the Ethiopian Bible the Ethiopian Bible. Most editions on Amazon contain zero of them. Ours contains all eight.
| # | Book | Source | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 83 | Sirate Tsion (Order of Zion) | Rev. G. Horner, Statutes of the Apostles (1904) | PD | Statutes 1-48; modernized |
| 84 | Te'ezaz (Commandment) | Rev. G. Horner, Statutes of the Apostles (1904) | PD | Statutes 49-72; modernized |
| 85 | Abtilis (Statutes of the Apostles) | Henry Tattam, Apostolical Constitutions in Coptic (1848) | PD | 81 canons; modernized |
| 86 | Didascalia | J.M. Harden, The Ethiopic Didascalia (1920) | PD | Translated from multiple British Museum Ge'ez manuscripts; modernized |
| 87 | Gitzew (Apostolic Canons) | Prof. George H. Schodde (1885) | PD | 57 canons; modernized |
| 88-89 | 1st & 2nd Book of the Covenant (Mashafa Kidan) | L. Guerrier & S. Grebaut, Le Testament en Galilee, PO vol. 9 (1913) | PD | Ge'ez to French to English; single entry covering both books |
| 90 | Qalementos (Ethiopic Clement) | S. Grebaut, RoC vols. 16/17/19/20/22 (1911-1920) | PD | Ge'ez to French to English; three books |