Maybe I can help, a bit; there is a LOT of misinformation on this thread. When I began studying Bible at the University level, roughly 40 years ago, we were taught that the Jewish cannon was set shortly after 130 AD and given a lot of stories about the criteria. Recently, people are talking about Jamina circa 90 AD. All this appears to be “old scholars tales”. I can find no record of a council that set the Jewish canon, only that Christians in dialog with Jews noticed, around the middle of the second century AD, that some books were no longer accepted by Jews, that had formerly been accepted by them. Where, when and why; is just speculation.
The Catholic canon is basically the Greek Septuagint. Josephus tells us that the Septuagint was the scripture of Palestine of about a generation after Jesus. Until the Dead Sea Scrolls, roughly contemporary with Jesus, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament were centuries newer than the oldest manuscripts of the Septuagint; they do not read the same. Looking at the quotes, scholars quickly deduced that the New Testament quotes the Septuagint, rather than the Hebrew. Now that we are, finally, getting some of the Dead Sea Old Testament published, it appears to also agree with the Septuagint, rather than the nearly medieval Hebrew texts. So we can no longer be sure which was quoted.
When Latin replaced Greek as the common language of the Western Church, it was decided to translate scripture into Latin. The East had no problem as they still spoke Greek and had all their books in Greek. The Vulgate was the commonly accepted books in the common language. Saint Jerome consulted the Hebrew in making his translation, but translated from the Greek into Latin (otherwise, there would be no mention of a virgin in Isaiah 7:14, etc., etc.). This is when the Catholic canon was set, both Old and New Testaments. Several local councils were held, over decades. Not enough difference was found to hold a major council; the Pope declared the canon set; no one argued. Saint Jerome did give the reasons the 4th century Jews had explained to him for excluding the deuterocanonical books, but did not endorse them; this has been a source of misunderstanding; Saint Jerome endorsed the same canon as everyone else.
The Jews continued to pass the deuterocanonical books down, with their scripture; the early church passed books down that were not scripture (also occasionally quoted and alluded to them); early Protestants passed the deuterocanonical books down in their Bibles, but separate from their canonical books. If you acquire a copy of the Saint Joseph’s Edition of the New American Bible, you will find two sets of footnotes; commentary and cross reference. The latter will aid you in determining how much reference the New Testament makes to the deuterocanonical books. Ideas and wording repeat throughout the Old Testament. On the Cross, Jesus said "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.” Could refer to Psalm 31:6 and/or Wisdom 1:16-3:9; judge for yourself. READ THE BOOKS; we’re quite fond of them.
Why any Christian would lend credence to a Jewish canon set over 100 years after the Crucifixion is beyond me.
