As a Christian you must already know that the Bible has had several versions throughout history. These versions have been made, not with the intention of modifying the word of God, but to facilitate the understanding of the same; adapting the language to the evolution of the times. But so that you can see with your own eyes the differences between the different versions of the Bible, in this website you can find a Bible version comparator.

• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• 1 Samuel
• 2 Samuel
• 1 Kings
• 2 Kings
• 1 Chronicles
• 2 Chronicles
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Esther
• Job
• Psalms
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• Song of Solomon
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Lamentations
• Ezekiel
• Daniel
• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi
• Matthew
• Mark
• Luke
• John
• Acts
• Romans
• 1 Corinthians
• 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessalonians
• 1 Timothy
• 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon
• Hebrews
• James
• 1 Peter
• 2 Peter
• 1 John
• 2 John
• 3 John
• Jude
• Revelation

How many versions are there of the Bible?

An estimate has been made that, over the centuries, some five billion copies of the Bible have been produced. This estimate takes into account all varieties of The Holy Bible. Many scholars claim that the number should be much higher. Therefore we are talking about there being a large number of versions of the Bible.

Most of these copies of the Holy Bible have been made in recent decades, and it is estimated that three billion nine hundred million have been produced between the years 1960 and 2013. Given these figures, the Bible can be considered the most widely distributed and sold book in history, and with that it is recognized as the most influential book of all time.

We must take into consideration, when dealing with the subject of Bible versions, that any version written in English is already a version of the original texts, which had to be translated at the time. Thus, it is important to keep in mind that the interpretation of the translators can influence the final result of the version of the Bible that we are reading.

Original texts, translations and versions of the Bible

The books that make up the Bible were originally written in different languages or tongues, called biblical languages. These biblical languages are Hebrew, Aramaic and Hellenistic Greek. During different historical periods these biblical books were translated from these languages into other languages, and later into other languages. In many of these languages it is also possible to find different versions of the Bible, and in this section we present the versions of the Bible in English so that you can compare them and study them in depth.

Christian Bibles are formed from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek writings. These Christian bibles have taken up texts from the Greek Bible, known as the Septuagint, and also from the Hebrew-Aramaic Tanakh. These biblical texts were regrouped under the name Old Testament.

To the texts that formed this Old Testament were added a third series of Greek Christian writings, which are known as the New Testament. The inclusion or exclusion of some books from both testaments is something that has been long debated by different Christian groups. From these heated debates have arisen the concepts of apocrypha and deuterocanonicals, which serve to refer to some of these texts.

The biblical canon.

The biblical canon and Bible versions

The word canon, understood as 'rule' or 'measure', leads us to call 'biblical canon' the set of books that make up the Holy Bible according to a particular Christian tradition. Depending on the branch of Christianity we are talking about, some books may be considered 'divinely inspired' or not, distinguishing them from other texts that are not considered to be revealed by God. We can find these differences only for the Old Testament. An example of this is that, according to the Catholic Church, the Old Testament consists of 46 books, while according to most Protestant churches there are 39.

At present, the books that are not considered canonical by Catholics and Orthodox, are called apocryphal books. Protestants call those same books pseudepigrapha, who usually also respect the name deuterocanonical for books that have been recognized as canonical by Catholics and Orthodox. However, there are fundamentalist Protestant currents that insist on retaining the name apocrypha for the deuterocanonical books.

Despite all that has been said about the numerous versions of the Bible, it is worth noting that the early Christians did not use the Hebrew Bible, but used the Septuagint or LXX, since several of the new Christians were Jews of Greek culture, such as Paul of Tarsus, Stephen, and the evangelists Luke and Mark.

Thus we can state that the Catholic versions of the Bible consist of 73 writings, while most of the Protestant versions contain only 66. However, the Bibles of the Anabaptists, Lutherans, Anglicans and Episcopalians, include the deuterocanonicals under the heading of apocrypha.

The Orthodox versions of the Bible have 76 books in total. To all this must be added that the Coptic Church includes in its Old Testament canon the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. These books are not included in any of the other current streams of Judeo-Christianity, despite being quite popular books at the time of Christ. We know this because traces of them can be found in the writings of the New Testament. The Syriac Church had only 22 books in its New Testament at the beginning. Later on it ended up accepting the others.

Versions of the Bible: All different, all infallible

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Opinions are divided as to whether much of the Bible has been preserved without major change to the present day. Despite this, at present the common belief in almost all of Christianity assumes the infallibility of the biblical text, whatever version of the bible we are talking about. It is taken for granted that the Bible is exempt from all error, being perfect as the word of God to man.

The concept of infallibility of the Holy Bible is similar to the doctrine of sola scriptura, which considers that the Bible contains everything necessary for man's salvation. It is in the Nicene creed that the belief that the Holy Spirit 'has spoken through the prophets' is confessed. The Nicene creed is followed by Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans and most Protestant denominations. Thus, the subtle modifications that may exist between different versions of the Bible, do not make a dent in God's message to men.

The Nicene Creed is followed by Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans and most Protestant denominations.

Bible Version Comparator: Getting Closer to God

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The Bible Version Comparator was born as a tool to give more sense, if possible, to the affirmation that there is no error in the Bible versions, since the Holy Spirit has guided its writing so that it would be so. Moreover, thanks to this Bible version comparator, it is possible to bring out with more strength and with a renewed understanding the message of God to men, bringing more light and understanding in each reading.