I Kings Bible Question

[CindyBjerstedt]

While doing Scott Hahn’s Bible Study this week(Our Father’s Plan), several of us noticed something strange with our Chapter 5 in I Kings. This is the chapter where Solomon talks about building the temple.

I have the Catholic Edition of the RSV and Chapter 5 ends at verse 18, where the New American Bible continues on and ends at verse 32. The New Jerusalem Bible also ends at verse 18. A Protestant friend in the Bible study checked her KJV and it also excludes those final 14 verses.

Can anyone tell me what happened to those verses and why do two approved Catholic Bibles differ? (The NAB and the RSV).

Thanks much!

 

[Jim_Blackburn]

Neither Bible version has added or deleted verses but rather the verses are numbered and arranged differently. The numbering variation begins after verse 4:20. The NAB follows ancient Hebrew numbering which numbers the next 32 verses as 5:1-32 while the RSV follows the Latin Vulgate which numbers these same verses as 4:21-34 and 5:1-18. The NAB also rearranges some verses for better understanding: chapter 5 begins with verses 7-8, then inserts verse 20 from chapter 4, so the order in which the verses are read are 5:7-8, 4:20, 5:1-6, 5:9-32.