the Ethiopian Bible is one of the most fascinating and debated books in history Ethiopia itself is a land full of Unexplained Mysteries but that's a tale for another time known for its ancient civilization Ethiopia is the only African country that was never colonized this unique history allows Ethiopians to trace their lineage back to ham one of Noah's sons a connection even acknowledged by Jewish Traditions however our Focus here is on Ethiopia's incredible possession Ethiopia holds some of the oldest Bible Scrolls in existence predating even the famous King James version while the King James Bible contains
66 books the ethiopic Bible includes 88 featuring works not found in other Christian Traditions these Scrolls Encompass the Old Testament New Testament and previously unseen text T remarkably Ethiopia had these Scrolls long before Christianity officially arrived in the 4th Century indicating that Christianity was not introduced to them like in many other nations it was already present since the 4th Century Ethiopia has been a Christian Nation Egyptian traveler Monk and historian Cosmos indap plers noted in the mid 6th Century that Ethiopia was a Christian country he observed how Ethiopian rulers welcomed numerous Christian refugees fleeing persecution
from other kingdoms and Empires hostile to Christianity certain Ethiopian tribes have been worshiping the Christian God for over 3,500 years contrary to Common belief the oldest organized Christian body in the world is not the Catholic church but the Ethiopian Orthodox Church known locally as teaha Ethiopia also possesses one of the earliest Illustrated Christian books part of the gospels written in GES an ancient Ethiopian language this remarkable manuscript was discovered in 2010 in a monastery at top of mountain in Ethiopia according to the KRA nagast a sacred Ethiopian text the biblical Queen of Sheba visited King
Solomon in Jerusalem in the 10th Century BC to seek his wisdom the Bible mentions this visit but omits an intriguing detail they had a son named menelik Queen Sheba returned to Ethiopia with menelik who became its first emperor in 2012 genetic studies of many Ethiopians revealed evidence supporting the story of sheba's Journey and her son's birth these findings suggest that people from Egypt Israel or Syria intermingled with Ethiopians around 3,000 years ago corroborating the ancient tale despite these significant credentials the Ethiopian Bible is often overlooked and not included in the cannon of holy books many
people even those of the same Faith are unaware of its existence this raises an important question why has the Ethiopian Bible been so disregarded and hidden why did they ban the Ethiopian Bible to understand this let's take a brief history lesson the Bible as we know it today wasn't always the same there were many versions of different parts of the Bible and various interpretations of its messages originally the Bible texts were written in Hebrew before being translated into other languages the first major translation was by St Jerome who translated the Bible from Hebrew to Latin
around the year 400 this translation known as The Vulgate became the principal Latin version of the Bible it included 27 books called the New Testament and 39 books called the Old Testament originally known as the Hebrew Bible in the first century numerous books were written about jesus' life and teachings however many of these were not accurate and were akin to fanfiction leading the public to believe these false accounts without modern means of factchecking these misleading books spread widely causing confusion early Christian leaders were concerned about this and convened at the Council of NAA in 325
ad and the First Council of Constantinople in 381 ad to determine which books should be included in the New Testament they decided that a book must have been written by one of Jesus's followers or someone who had witnessed his teachings and it had to align with the rest of the Bible the most significant change to the Bible occurred during the reign of King James the SE despite the Vulgate being around for about 500 years there were still many different versions of the Bible in circulation which worried the king he wanted a unified Bible to settle
religious differences and reinforce his authority several priests also suggested that some existing translations were incorrect to address this King James commissioned 47 experts to review all the different translations they were divided into six groups and worked independently for seven years following strict rules to avoid bias using various tools they aimed to create a Bible true to the original languages when the experts work was reviewed and found to be consistent despite their separation it was approved and the King James Bible was published in 1611 thanks to advancements in printing this version became widely accessible however both
the King James Bible and the original Vulgate excluded some books that the Ethiopian Bible still retains so why was the Ethiopian Bible rejected the main reason is that it includes additional books known as pseudepigrapha which are falsely attributed works these texts claim to be written by historical figures but are not similar to fanfiction this discrepancy led to the exclusion of the Ethiopian Bible from the Canon accepted by most Christians today pseudepigrapha are considered non-canonical by most Christian Traditions the books that were removed or rejected were recognized by scribes and theologians as not divinely inspired many
of these texts written before and after Jesus had questionable tensions leading to their exclusion imagine if someone today published a book claiming Kobe Bryant wasn't a great athlete such a book would fail and the author would face backlash because we know that's untrue however in 500 years people might start to believe it if the book remained to prevent such misinformation these texts were rejected the Ethiopian Bible has two cannons the broader and the narrower Cannon but first what is a cannon a cannon is a generally accepted law rule or principle by which something is judged
for instance it's Cannon for a phone to have one screen or a country to have one president the broader and more famous Ethiopian Cannon has 81 books including Enoch jubilees the three books of maccabian epistle to Clement and four books of kidusan the narrower Cannon was overseen by EMP Emperor Haley salassi who declared it the official and complete version of the Ethiopian Bible this version has 72 books excluding some found in the broader Cannon the broader Cannon hasn't been reprinted since the early 20th century adding to the controversies and differences in acceptance one reason for
the Ethiopian Bible's obscurity is its language GES making it difficult for non-speakers to access the lack of translations and unique practices have also contributed to its relative obscurity outside Ethiopia another reason is political in early Christianity the Roman Emperor prioritized power and politics over spiritual growth excluding Scrolls that didn't fit their preferred narrative the bishop of Rome even ordered the destruction of non-canonical Scrolls but some priests hid them leading to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in in the 1940s recently interest in the Ethiopian Bible has grown with efforts to translate it and conduct
academic studies it's remarkable that this Bible has survived especially after attacks by Muslims and Italy and a fire in the 1930s that burned the church where it was kept adding to its mystery what do you think about the Ethiopian Bible we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below thank you for watching and we'll see see you in our next video [Music]
