I have 4 translations of the bible and am aware that translations differ. I also know that bibles can have different numbers of books, but?
why can't they, (whoever they is), at least agree on the abbreviations for the book. It's sometimes confusing when one translation abbreviates a book differently than another translation.
2020-02-20T20:46:48Z
I guess I wasn't clear. My question is not about translations or the number of books in the canon. Take Numbers, for example, in my NRSV it's abbreviated "Num," but in my Jerusalem Bible it's abbreviated "Nb." Yet again, in the NAB, Numbers is abbreviated "Nm."
User2020-02-21T04:06:27Z
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There are standards but...more than one standard, as you've noticed.
There's not a universal standard for the same reason that there's not a universal standard on what books should be included or even on the verse and chapter numbering (though Protestant verse and chapter numbering is NEARLY universal in the West now, except in Psalms).
Typically the Bible-savvy person can figure out these abbreviations without too much effort... except in the cases of Jude / Judges (requires three letters, usually Jde / Jdg) Phillipians / Philemon (requires three letters, usually Php / Phm) Ecclesiasticus (typically Sir or Si because an alternate title is ben Sirah)
I always use a three-letter abbreviation for consistency's sake but study Bibles and similar resources typically use a two-letter abbreviation whenever possible probably to save ink and paper!
The original and complete Bible has 73 books, which is what the Holy Spirit guided the bishops of the Catholic Church to include when they compiled the Bible in the mid-4'th Century. Every Bible on Earth included those same 73 books for the next 1,100 years, until one misguided Catholic priest thought He could do a better job of interpreting the Bible than the Church to which Jesus Christ had promised the fullness of God's truth. So Luther decided to trash 10 books of God's Holy Word - 3 New Testament books and 7 Old Testament books - whose teaching He didn't agree with. His own followers were near the point of rebellion over trashing the writings of the Apostles, so he had to back down on the 3 New Testament books, but still threw out the 7 Old Testament books. If he had his way, Protestants today would be using an incomplete bible of 63 books instead of the incomplete bible of 66 books they do use.
My suggestion: Get a Parallel Bible, which will have four translations side by side by side by side. The book, chapter, and verse will all be side by side.
You can get it in a few different options:
NIV, KJV, NASB, and Amplified NIV, NKJV, NLT, and The Message KJV, NKJV, NIV, and NLT
There is also an online version with 34 versions: https://www.biblestudytools.com/compare-translations/