Which and how many there are.
Which and how many there are.
§ 65. The canonical books of the Old Testament are: (1) Genesis, (2) Exodus, (3) Leviticus, (4) Numbers, (5) Deuteronomy, (6) Joshua, (7) Judges, (8) Ruth, (9) the two Books of Samuel, (10) the two Books of Kings, (11) the two Books of Chronicles, (12) Ezra and Nehemiah (or Second Ezra), (13) Esther, (14) Job, (15) Psalms, (16) Proverbs, (17) Ecclesiastes, (18) Song of Songs, (19) Isaiah, (20) Jeremiah, (21) Lamentations, (22) Ezekiel, (23) Daniel, and (24) the twelve minor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
§ 66. Thus all told there are twenty-four canonical books of the Old Testament that the rabbinic scholars consequently call 
, “the twenty-four.” This is their witty saying: 
[“The twenty-four are Holy Writ”]. In his preface to Ezra and Nehemiah, Jerome thinks that this number is foreshadowed by the “twenty-four elders” who fall down before the throne of the Lamb, each holding a lyre and a golden bowl (Rev. 5:8) because they all show sweet speech about Christ and the acceptable odor of His person and office.
In Contra Apionem, bk. 1, Josephus counts twenty-two canonical books of the Old Testament. He says: “We do not have an unlimited number of books, but only twenty-two. Five of these are the books of Moses. After Moses’ death, however, the prophets wrote the histories of their times in thirteen books. The remaining four, which we understand to be the Psalms and the three books of Solomon, are known to contain hymns to God and commands for human life.” Some of the Christian teachers who follow Josephus are Origen (on Psalm 1, in Eusebius, Hist., bk. 6, c. 24), Epiphanius (De mensur. et ponderibus, p. 534, where he lists four books of the Pentateuch, having omitted the smaller number without a digit to round it off, as we say “the seventy translators” [of the Greek Old Testament] instead of seventy-two), Nazianzen (Carm.: “I reckoned twenty-two books of the Old [Testament], which are listed among the writings of the Hebrews”), Cyril of Jerusalem (Catech. 4, p. 98), and Hilary (preface to the Psalms). They compare that number with the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Just as the letters of the alphabet are totally complete and absolutely sufficient to express every word, so also these canonical books are totally complete, sufficient for solving every theological question. There are five double letters; so, too, they want to have five double books: Samuel, Chronicles, Kings, Ezra [with Nehemiah], and Jeremiah with Lamentations.
Some list twenty-five canonical books of the Old Testament, others thirty-five, and they do this without any dissent. You see, those who list twenty-two join Ruth with the Book of Judges and Lamentations with Jeremiah. Those who list twenty-five separate Nehemiah from Ezra, and the rest call it 2 Ezra. Those who list thirty-five count the Minor Prophets as individual books, though others count them as a single book. Regarding these canonical books of the Old Testament, Augustine says: “There really should have been few of them, lest what must be bright by religion become cheap by multitude; yet they should not be so few that their agreement would not be miraculous” (De civ. Dei, bk. 18, c. 41).