From Abel to Zechariah

The Argument

In Luke 11:51/Matthew 23:35, Jesus refers to "the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the altar and the sanctuary."

The Zechariah that Jesus mentions is the Zechariah from 2 Chronicles 24:20-22, as he is the only example from the Bible of a Zechariah murdered in the temple.

The Jews use a different order of the books in their Bible - they start with Genesis and end with 2 Chronicles. This is the order of the Bible Jesus would have been familiar with as well.

Therefore by "blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah", Jesus was referring to the limits of the canon (from Genesis to 2 Chronicles) and did not consider later books like Maccabees as part of the scriptures.

Who has made this argument?

Allen Parr

But Jesus also says in Matthew 23:35 speaking of the Pharisees, He says "And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar." What is Jesus saying? He's saying hey, the blood from Abel - what book is that from? That's from the book of Genesis. And then who is one of the prophets towards the end of the Old Testament? Well you have Malachi, Zechariah, you have Haggai - so this is referring once again to the Old Testament ending somewhere around Zechariah. So you have Genesis all the way through Zechariah or the book of Malachi.
- 5 REASONS Why the Apocrypha is NOT INSPIRED and Should be REJECTED!, timestamp 18:48

Bibleask.org

Jesus named Abel and Zechariah because, according to the order of books in Hebrew Bibles, they represent the first and the last recorded martyrs. For in Hebrew Bibles, the books of Chronicles appear as the last books of Scripture, in the same position occupied by Malachi in our English Bibles.
- Who was the Zachariah that was murdered in the temple?

Carm.org

Jesus implicitly rejected the Apocrypha as Scripture by referring to the entire accepted Jewish Canon of Scripture, “From the blood of Abel [Gen. 4:8] to the blood of Zechariah [2 Chron. 24:20], who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation (Lk. 11:51; cf. Mt. 23:35).” Abel was the first martyr in the Old Testament from the book of Genesis, while Zechariah was the last martyr in the book of Chronicles. In the Hebrew Canon, the first book was Genesis, and the last book was Chronicles. They contained all of the same books as the standard 39 books accepted by Protestants today, but they were just arranged differently. For example, all of the 12 minor prophets (Hosea through Malachi) were contained in one book. This is why there are only 24 books in the Hebrew Bible today. By Jesus’ referring to Abel and Zachariah, He was canvassing the entire Canon of the Hebrew Scriptures, which included the same 39 books as Protestants accept today. Therefore, Jesus implicitly rejected the Apocrypha as Scripture.
- Reasons why the Apocrypha does not belong in the Bible

Doug Wilson

The Jews of the Dispersion used the Septuagint, and the Jews used the Hebraic OT. We can tell this from the fact that Jesus referred to the “blood of Abel” to the “blood of Zechariah,” which was basically giving us the A to Z, the table of contents — Genesis to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles was the last book in their arrangement. The OT of Jesus and the apostles was identical to the Protestant OT, which gives me my baseline.
- Letter Response: What Bible Did Jesus Use?

[Gleason Archer] takes the Lord’s statement straight up, and argues that the son of Barachiah was martyred in much the same way as the son of Jehoida was. Now this would mess with my chronological canonical argument, but it avoids having to assume a scribal error in Matthew. The problem with the Latin fathers’ approach is that Jesus really does seem to arguing in an A to Z fashion, and the son of Jehoida was not a Z.
- Letter Response: A Textual Question

F.F. Bruce

It appears that the order of the Hebrew Bible which has come down to us is the order with which our Lord and His contemporaries were familiar in Palestine. In particular, it appears that Chronicles came at the end of the Bible which they used: when our Lord sums up all the martyrs of Old Testament times He does so by mentioning the first martyr in Genesis (Abel) and the last martyr in Chronicles (Zechariah). (See Lk. xi. 51 with 2 Ch. xxiv. 21).
[...] The books of the Apocrypha were not included in the Hebrew Bible, nor were they regarded as canonical by the leaders of official Judaism anywhere. Our Lord and the apostles certainly did not regard the apocryphal books as part of Holy Scripture; the evidence is that they acknowledged as canonical only the books of the Hebrew Bible. and that is the justification for the Protestant Evangelical attitude.
- "The Canon of Scripture," Inter-Varsity (Autumn 1954): 19-22.

Matt Whitman

But Jesus gives us a little bit more about this chronological arrangement that gradually came to displace the scrolls and bucket arrangement... and that is in Luke 11:50-51... what is Jesus talking about? Abel, ok - whether you are looking at the Hebrew canon or the Christian Old Testament canon... Abel is the first martyr, he's the first person killed for representing God in what we call the Old Testament... ok we all agree on that. But Zechariah? Aren't there like lots of Zechariahs? Which one - who are we talking about? [...] Remember, the Christian Old Testament is organized differently than the Hebrew Old Testament, and the very last book of the Hebrew Old Testament is Chronicles, and the very last person to get killed in what we call 2 Chronicles is Zechariah, whose blood was shed in the way that Jesus describes... What he's saying is that from the very beginning of the first book that we have now organized into chronological order, all the way to the very end of the last book that we organized into chronological order, everything in here has a whole bunch of people who got killed by zealous folks who didn't recognize a prophet when they saw it, and ya'll will be held responsible for that (speaking to his enemies). Aha! So Jesus had this order, we've got external corroboration as well, that the canon was not only in place but that it was a long established tradition that it... was organized in such a way that chronicles came at the very end.
- Who Picked What Books Went In the Old Testament?, timestamp 17:20

Mike Winger

Jesus affirms the Old Testament books in a few different places. He says in Matthew 23:35, he's rebuking the Jews and He says to them that "on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel" - Abel is from what book in the Bible? Genesis, right? - "to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the temple and the altar" - speaking then of the last prophet martyr recorded in the Old Testament. So I've got the first martyr Abel, to the last martyr of the Old Testament and then at 400 it stops. He doesn't mention any of the Maccabees guys, he doesn't mention any of the other Jews in the next 400 years that died, it's as though these are the only ones in his mind, because they are the bookends of our Old Testament of books. So in a sense with that he sort of affirmed that whole Old Testament... That would be Genesis to Malachi.
- How we got the OT Canon: Evidence for the Bible pt11, timestamp 28:50

Roger Beckwith

A second saying of Jesus's makes further allusion to the three groups of canonical books. As will be seen in the next chapter, his utterance about all righteous blood from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, which is found in Mat. 23.35 and Luke 11.51, in all probability implies that for Jesus and his hearers the canon began with Genesis and ended with Chronicles, seeing that the murder of Abel is recorded near the beginning of the former book (Gen. 4.3-15) and the murder of Zechariah near the end of the latter book (2 Chron. 24.19-22). This appears to reflect the traditional Jewish arrangement of the books (recorded in the Talmud and discussed below), whereby Chronicles is not placed with Samuel and Kings, in the second group of books, but is put in the third and last group, as its concluding item.
- The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church: and its Background in Early Judaism, page 115

Steve Christie

By Jesus saying "from" the blood of Abel, He is indicating Abel was the first murdered prophet in human history... which occurred in the first book of the Bible. Jesus continued by saying "to the blood of Zechariah"... Zechariah was the last Old Testament martyred prophet written chronologically in the last Old Testament book (Nehemiah) of the canon of the Pharisees... Jesus was addressing the boundaries of the Old Testament canon. Whether chronologically beginning with Genesis and ending with Nehemiah, or in the canon order beginning with Genesis and ending with 2 Chronicles, Jesus was limiting the Old Testament canon to the boundaries of the Hebrew Bible of the Pharisees.
- "Why Protestant Bibles are Smaller", page 146-149

Timothy Smith

The two murders Jesus mentions here are from the boundaries of the Old Testament Scriptures... These two men are the first and last of God’s prophets murdered in the Old Testament. 2 Chronicles is the last book of the Old Testament in the Hebrew order of the books. Our English order of Old Testament books comes to us through the Greek and Latin translations. Jesus is saying “from beginning to end, throughout this people’s history, from the front of the Old Testament to the back, God’s prophets have been murdered.”... Jesus’ choice of Zechariah from 2 Chronicles also draws a boundary around the Old Testament canon for us. None of the stories of the apocryphal books—not even the murders of certain believers in the days of the Maccabees like the mothers who were murdered for circumcising their sons (2 Maccabees 6:10) and the pious men and women who were burned to death in the caves for trying to keep the Sabbath (2 Maccabees 6:11), and the great Judas Maccabaeus who fell in battle against Bacchides (1 Maccabees 9:14-18)—none are held up as Biblical examples by the Lord. Those writings are not part of the inspired word of God...
- Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: God’s Word for You

Historical Record

The Identity of Zechariah

The argument asserts that the Zechariah that Jesus mentions is the Zechariah from 2 Chronicles 24:20-22, as he is the only example from the Bible of a Zechariah murdered in the temple.

While plausible, that is not the universal historical interpretation.

Jesus gives us certain identifiers about who this Zechariah is in Luke 11:51/Matt 23:35

Martyred "between the altar and the temple"
"Son of Berechiah"
Possibly a contemporary of Jesus' audience: "whom YOU murdered"

From the historical records, there are several possible Zechariahs that Jesus may have been referring to:

Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:20)

Martyred in the temple area (2 Chronicles 24:21)

Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, "Thus says God, 'Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.'" But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, "May the Lord see and avenge!"
- 2 Chronicles 24:20-22

Zechariah, the son of Berechiah (Zech 1:1)

Martyred in the temple area (Rabbinic Targum)
Son of Berechiah (Zech 1:1)

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying...
- Zech 1:1

See, O Lord, and observe from heaven against whom you have turned. Thus is it right for the daughters of Israel to eat the fruit of their wombs due to starvation, the lovely boys wrapped in fine linen? The Attribute of Justice replied, and said, “Is it right to kill priest and prophet in the Temple of the LORD, as when you killed Zechariah son of Iddo, the High Priest and faithful prophet in the Temple of the Lord on the Day of Atonement because he admonished you not to do evil before the Lord?”
- Targum on Lamentations 2:20

Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah (Isaiah 8:2)

Son of Berechiah (Isaiah 8:2, Jeberechiah is just a fuller form of Berechiah)

And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.
- Isaiah 8:2

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5)

Martyred in the temple area (Protoevangelium of James, Origen)
Son of Berechiah (Origen ascribes this tradition to Josephus)
Contemporary of Jesus' audience

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron...
And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying...
- Luke 1:5,67

And Herod searched for John, and sent officers to Zacharias, saying: Where have you hid your son? And he, answering, said to them: I am the servant of God in holy things, and I sit constantly in the temple of the Lord: I do not know where my son is. And the officers went away, and reported all these things to Herod. And Herod was enraged, and said: His son is destined to be king over Israel. And he sent to him again, saying: Tell the truth; where is your son? For you know that your life is in my hand. And Zacharias said: I am God's martyr, if you shed my blood; for the Lord will receive my spirit, because you shed innocent blood at the vestibule of the temple of the Lord. And Zacharias was murdered about daybreak. And the sons of Israel did not know that he had been murdered.
- The Protoevangelium of James, paragraph 23

But a certain tradition has come to us such that there was a certain place at the Temple where it was permitted for virgins to enter and worship God, but they did not allow in that place those who had experienced the bed of a man. So Mary, after having given birth to [our] Saviour, having entered to worship, stood in the place of virgins. And while those who knew she had given birth were hindering her, Zechariah was saying to those hindering her that she was deserving of the place of virgins since she was still a virgin. So, on the assumption that he was clearly transgressing the law and allowing a married woman into the place of virgins, the men of that generation killed him 'between the Temple and the altar'
- Origen's Commentary on Matthew, ser. 25, as quoted here

Ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος ῎Αβελ τοῦ δικαίου. Εὐκαίρως ὧδε τοῦ ῎Αβελ μέμνηται, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐκεῖνος διὰ φθόνον ἀνῃρέθη. εὐκαίρως δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ τοῦ ῎Αβελ ἀνέμνησεν, ὅτι περ διὰ φθόνον καὶ ὁ εἰς αὐτὸν φόνος γέγονε. Ζαχαρίαν δὲ τὸν ᾽Ιωδαὲ λέγει· διώνυμος γὰρ ἦν. Εὑρίσκομεν δὲ καὶ ᾽Αζαρίαν ἐν τοῖς Παραλειπομένοις, ἱερέα φονευθέντα μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ὑπὸ ᾽Ιωὰς βασιλέως, Τίς δὲ ἐστὶν οὗτος ὁ Ζαχαρίας, περὶ οὗ εἶπεν ἕως τοῦ αἵματος Ζαχαρίου υἱοῦ Βαραχίου;οἱ μὲν τὸν ᾽Ιωάννου πατέρα φασίν, οἱ δὲ τὸν προφήτην, οἱ δὲ ἕτερον τινὰ διώνυμον ἱερέα, ὃν καὶ ᾽Ιωδαὲ φησὶν ἡ Γραφή. ὃν ᾽Ιώσηππος Ζαχαρίαν καλεῖ ἐξελληνίζων τὸ ὄνομα. Τινὲς δὲ Ζαχαρίαν υἱὸν τοῦ Βαραχίου οὐ τὸν ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα τεταγμένον φασὶ ἐνταῦθα εἰρῆσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὸν πατέρα ᾽Ιωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ. Οὐ δύνανται γὰρ τὸν ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα τεταγμένον Ζαχαρίαν ἀνῃρηκέναι οἱ νῦν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ὀνειδιζόμενοι· ἀλλ᾽ εἰκός, καθώς φησι‹ν› ᾽Ιώσηπος, Ζαχαρίαν νῦν λέγεσθαι τὸν ᾽Ιωάννου πατέρα. Περὶ οὗ ἀπὸ μὲν γραφῆς δεῖξαι οὐκ ἔχομεν, οὐδ᾽ ὅτι υἱὸς Βαραχίου ἦν, οὐδ᾽ ὅτι οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ἐφόνευσαν αὐτὸν μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. ᾽Αλλ᾽ ἐκ παραδόσεως ἐστὶν εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἄρα ὄντος τινὸς περὶ τὸν ναὸν τόπου ἔνθα ἐξῆν τὰς μὲν παρθένους εἰσιέναι καὶ προσκυνεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, τὰς δὲ ἤδη πεπειραμένας κοίτης ἀνδρὸς | 187r οὐκ ἐπέτρεπον ἐν ἐκείνῳ. ῾Η οὖν Μαρία μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι τὸν Σωτῆρα ἡμῶν, ἐλθοῦσα προσκυνῆσαι ἔστη ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τῶν παρθένων ὡς ἔτι παρθένος οὖσα καὶ μὴ κωλύσαντα αὐτὴν τὸν Ζαχαρίαν, ὡς σαφῶς παρανομοῦντα καὶ εἰς τὸν τόπον τῶν παρθένων ἐπιτρέποντα γυναῖκα γίνεσθαι, ἀπέκτειναν μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. Οἱ τῆς γενεᾶς οὖν ἐκείνης ὀνειδίζονται παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, οὐχ ὡς υἱοὶ τῶν τοὺς προφήτας ἀποκτεινάντων καὶ τὸν Ζαχαρίαν μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς αὐτοὶ φονεύσαντες. Γενεὰν δὲ ταύτην, ὡς ἅπαν τὸ τῶν φονευτῶν γένος λέγει. Οὐ θαυμαστὸν δὲ εἰ ἔτυχεν ὥσπερ ὁμωνύμους εἶναι τὸν πατέρα ᾽Ιωάννου Ζαχαρίαν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα, οὕτω καὶ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ πατρός.
Of the blood of Abel the righteous [Matt. 23:35]. Blessed is the memory of Abel... And Zacharias called Jehoiada- for he was a man of two names. And we find also Azariah in the Paralipomene [2 Chronicles 24:20-22], a priest slain between the temple and the altar by king Joash. And who was this Zechariah, of whom he spake until the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah? The first, the father of John [the Baptist], and the prophet, and the other, and a priest of two names, which the scripture also tells us. Which Josephus called Zacharias, who called the name Hellenizing [Josephus, The War of the Jews, IV.5.4]. And this is not Zacharias the son of Berechiah, who was cut in twelve pieces, but the father of John the Baptist. For they that live now under the Saviour cannot remember Zacharias, who was slain in the twelve, but they may, as Josephus said, call Zacharias the father of John. Of whom we have no scriptural evidence, neither that he was the son of Berechiah, nor that the scribes and Pharisees killed him between the temple and the altar. But a certain tradition [The Protoevangelium of James, 23] has come to us such that there was a certain place at the Temple where it was permitted for virgins to enter and worship God, but they did not allow in that place those who had experienced the bed of a man. So Mary, after having given birth to [our] Saviour, having entered to worship, stood in the place of virgins. And while those who knew she had given birth were hindering her, Zechariah was saying to those hindering her that she was deserving of the place of virgins since she was still a virgin. So, on the assumption that he was clearly transgressing the law and allowing a married woman into the place of virgins, the men of that generation killed him ‘between the Temple and the altar’.
- Origen: New Fragments from the Commentary on Matthew pages 316-317 [machine translated from the Greek]

Zechariah, the son of Baruch (Josephus)

Martyred in the temple area (Josephus)
Son of Berechiah (Josephus calls him the son of Baruch, which some bible dictionaries note is a variation of Berechiah)
Contemporary of Jesus' audience (in the future around 60 A.D., so assumes Jesus was prophesying even though he appears to speak in past tense)

And now these zealots and Idumeans were quite weary of barely killing men, so they had the impudence of setting up fictitious tribunals and judicatures for that purpose; and as they intended to have Zacharias the son of Baruch, one of the most eminent of the citizens, slain, - so what provoked them against him was, that hatred of wickedness and love of liberty which were so eminent in him... So two of the boldest of them fell upon Zacharias in the middle of the temple, and slew him.
- Josephus, The War of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter 5, Paragraph 4

As you may expect, with so many viable options the historical Christian identification of this Zechariah varied:

Tertullian (AD 155 - 220): He lists the righteous who suffered violence from Abel to Zechariah, then proceeds one further to John the Baptist who he describes as "the person himself, at the close of the law and prophets". The identity of the Zechariah is unclear (possibly the father of John the Baptist, and possibly the son of Jehoiada)

From the beginning, indeed, righteousness suffers violence. Forthwith, as soon as God has begun to be worshipped, religion has got ill-will for her portion. He who had pleased God is slain, and that by his brother. Beginning with kindred blood, in order that it might the more easily go in quest of that of strangers, ungodliness made the object of its pursuit, finally, that not only of righteous persons, but even of prophets also. David is persecuted; Elias put to flight; Jeremias stoned; Esaias cut asunder; Zacharias butchered between the altar and the temple, imparting to the hard stones lasting marks of his blood. That person himself, at the close of the law and the prophets, and called not a prophet, but a messenger, is, suffering an ignominious death, beheaded to reward a dancing-girl [Matthew 14:3 - John the Baptist].
- Scorpiace, Chapter 8

Origen (AD 184 - 253): Zechariah the father of John the Baptist

But a certain tradition has come to us such that there was a certain place at the Temple where it was permitted for virgins to enter and worship God, but they did not allow in that place those who had experienced the bed of a man. So Mary, after having given birth to [our] Saviour, having entered to worship, stood in the place of virgins. And while those who knew she had given birth were hindering her, Zechariah was saying to those hindering her that she was deserving of the place of virgins since she was still a virgin. So, on the assumption that he was clearly transgressing the law and allowing a married woman into the place of virgins, the men of that generation killed him ‘between the Temple and the altar’.
- Comm. ser. Matt. 25, as quoted here

Ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος ῎Αβελ τοῦ δικαίου. Εὐκαίρως ὧδε τοῦ ῎Αβελ μέμνηται, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐκεῖνος διὰ φθόνον ἀνῃρέθη. εὐκαίρως δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ τοῦ ῎Αβελ ἀνέμνησεν, ὅτι περ διὰ φθόνον καὶ ὁ εἰς αὐτὸν φόνος γέγονε. Ζαχαρίαν δὲ τὸν ᾽Ιωδαὲ λέγει· διώνυμος γὰρ ἦν. Εὑρίσκομεν δὲ καὶ ᾽Αζαρίαν ἐν τοῖς Παραλειπομένοις, ἱερέα φονευθέντα μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ὑπὸ ᾽Ιωὰς βασιλέως, Τίς δὲ ἐστὶν οὗτος ὁ Ζαχαρίας, περὶ οὗ εἶπεν ἕως τοῦ αἵματος Ζαχαρίου υἱοῦ Βαραχίου;οἱ μὲν τὸν ᾽Ιωάννου πατέρα φασίν, οἱ δὲ τὸν προφήτην, οἱ δὲ ἕτερον τινὰ διώνυμον ἱερέα, ὃν καὶ ᾽Ιωδαὲ φησὶν ἡ Γραφή. ὃν ᾽Ιώσηππος Ζαχαρίαν καλεῖ ἐξελληνίζων τὸ ὄνομα. Τινὲς δὲ Ζαχαρίαν υἱὸν τοῦ Βαραχίου οὐ τὸν ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα τεταγμένον φασὶ ἐνταῦθα εἰρῆσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὸν πατέρα ᾽Ιωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ. Οὐ δύνανται γὰρ τὸν ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα τεταγμένον Ζαχαρίαν ἀνῃρηκέναι οἱ νῦν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ὀνειδιζόμενοι· ἀλλ᾽ εἰκός, καθώς φησι‹ν› ᾽Ιώσηπος, Ζαχαρίαν νῦν λέγεσθαι τὸν ᾽Ιωάννου πατέρα. Περὶ οὗ ἀπὸ μὲν γραφῆς δεῖξαι οὐκ ἔχομεν, οὐδ᾽ ὅτι υἱὸς Βαραχίου ἦν, οὐδ᾽ ὅτι οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι ἐφόνευσαν αὐτὸν μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. ᾽Αλλ᾽ ἐκ παραδόσεως ἐστὶν εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἄρα ὄντος τινὸς περὶ τὸν ναὸν τόπου ἔνθα ἐξῆν τὰς μὲν παρθένους εἰσιέναι καὶ προσκυνεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, τὰς δὲ ἤδη πεπειραμένας κοίτης ἀνδρὸς | 187r οὐκ ἐπέτρεπον ἐν ἐκείνῳ. ῾Η οὖν Μαρία μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι τὸν Σωτῆρα ἡμῶν, ἐλθοῦσα προσκυνῆσαι ἔστη ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τῶν παρθένων ὡς ἔτι παρθένος οὖσα καὶ μὴ κωλύσαντα αὐτὴν τὸν Ζαχαρίαν, ὡς σαφῶς παρανομοῦντα καὶ εἰς τὸν τόπον τῶν παρθένων ἐπιτρέποντα γυναῖκα γίνεσθαι, ἀπέκτειναν μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. Οἱ τῆς γενεᾶς οὖν ἐκείνης ὀνειδίζονται παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, οὐχ ὡς υἱοὶ τῶν τοὺς προφήτας ἀποκτεινάντων καὶ τὸν Ζαχαρίαν μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς αὐτοὶ φονεύσαντες. Γενεὰν δὲ ταύτην, ὡς ἅπαν τὸ τῶν φονευτῶν γένος λέγει. Οὐ θαυμαστὸν δὲ εἰ ἔτυχεν ὥσπερ ὁμωνύμους εἶναι τὸν πατέρα ᾽Ιωάννου Ζαχαρίαν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς δώδεκα, οὕτω καὶ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ πατρός.
Of the blood of Abel the righteous [Matt. 23:35]. Blessed is the memory of Abel... And Zacharias called Jehoiada- for he was a man of two names. And we find also Azariah in the Paralipomene [2 Chronicles 24:20-22], a priest slain between the temple and the altar by king Joash. And who was this Zechariah, of whom he spake until the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah? The first, the father of John [the Baptist], and the prophet, and the other, and a priest of two names, which the scripture also tells us. Which Josephus called Zacharias, who called the name Hellenizing [Josephus, The War of the Jews, IV.5.4]. And this is not Zacharias the son of Berechiah, who was cut in twelve pieces, but the father of John the Baptist. For they that live now under the Saviour cannot remember Zacharias, who was slain in the twelve, but they may, as Josephus said, call Zacharias the father of John. Of whom we have no scriptural evidence, neither that he was the son of Berechiah, nor that the scribes and Pharisees killed him between the temple and the altar. But a certain tradition [The Protoevangelium of James, 23] has come to us such that there was a certain place at the Temple where it was permitted for virgins to enter and worship God, but they did not allow in that place those who had experienced the bed of a man. So Mary, after having given birth to [our] Saviour, having entered to worship, stood in the place of virgins. And while those who knew she had given birth were hindering her, Zechariah was saying to those hindering her that she was deserving of the place of virgins since she was still a virgin. So, on the assumption that he was clearly transgressing the law and allowing a married woman into the place of virgins, the men of that generation killed him ‘between the Temple and the altar’.
- Origen: New Fragments from the Commentary on Matthew pages 316-317 [machine translated from the Greek]

Basil of Caesarea (AD 330 - 379): Zechariah the father of John the Baptist

∆ηλοῖ δὲ καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὸν Ζαχαρίαν ἱστορία, ὅτι μέχρι παντὸς παρ θένος ἡ Μαρία. Λόγος γάρ τίς ἐστι, καὶ οὗτος ἐκ παραδόσεως εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀφιγμένος, ὅτι ὁ Ζαχαρίας, ἐν τῇ τῶν παρθένων χώρᾳ τὴν Μαριὰμ κατατάξας μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου κύησιν, ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατεφονεύθη μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστη ρίου, ἐγκληθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ ὡς διὰ τούτου κατα σκευάζων τὸ παράδοξον ἐκεῖνο καὶ πολυύμνητον σημεῖον, παρθένον γεννήσασαν καὶ τὴν παρθενίαν μὴ διαφθείρασαν.
For the reason is this, and this by tradition is brought down to us, that Zechariah, in the virgin's womb and after the Lord's conception, Zechariah, having made Mary of the land of the virgins was slain between the temple and the altar, being accused by the people as thus making this strange and much-remembered note, born of a virgin, and not corrupted of virginity.
- Homily: On the holy generation of Christ 5; PG 31, 1468 C - 1469 A [machine translated from the Greek]

Gregory of Nyssa (AD 335 - 395): Zechariah the father of John the Baptist

But, at the risk of drifting far off topic, perhaps it is not untimely that Zechariah who was murdered between the sanctuary and the altar also be cited as testimony to the incorrupt mother. This man Zechariah was a priest, yet not only a priest but also endowed with the gift of prophecy. But the unremarked power of prophecy is proclaimed in the book of the Gospel. When the divine grace was preparing the way so that birth from a virgin not be considered unbelievable by human beings, it used as a preliminary exercise the assent of unbelievers to lesser marvels: a child is born to a barren and elderly woman. This became a prologue for the marvel concerning virginity. For just as it was not by a power of nature that Elizabeth became an infertile mother late in life, but rather the child’s birth is ascribed to the divine will, in the same way too the incredibility of virginal birthpangs gains credibility by reference to the divine. Therefore, since the one born from a barren woman preceded the one born form a virgin, leaping in his mother’s womb at the voice of her who was pregnant with the Lord before he came forth into the light, as soon as the Word’s precursor had come to birth, Zechariah’s silence is broken through prophetic inspiration. And everything Zechariah relates is a prophecy of what is to come. Therefore, since this man was acting as a guide in the prophetic spirit to the knowledge of hidden things, understanding the mystery of virginity at the incorrupt birth, he did not set apart the unmarried mother in the sanctuary of the place set apart for virgins according to the law. He was teaching the Jews that the maker of beings and the king of all creation has, along with all things, his own human nature that is subservient to his own will, and he directs it as he sees fit. He is not ruled by it, since it is in his power to make a new birth that does not remove virginity from the one who becomes a mother. For this reason, Zechariah did not set her apart in the sanctuary of the virgins’ chorus. This place was the intervening space between the sanctuary and the altar. And so when they heard that the king of creation had come forth to human birth in his economy, fearing that people might become servants to the king, they slaughtered the one who testified to these things about the birth, sacrificing the priest at the altar itself!
- Oration on the Savior’s Nativity, pages 11-13
- Alternatively available as "In diem natalem Salvatoris" (ed. F. Mann, Gregorii Nysseni opera 10.2; Leiden: Brill, 1996) 248-250

Jerome (AD 342 - 420): Zechariah the son of Jehoiada

But we do need to ask who this Zechariah son of Barachiah is. For we read about many Zechariahs. He even removes the possibility of error for us by adding: "whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar." I have read diverse things in diverse sources, and I ought to record the opinions of each of these. Some say that Zechariah son of Barachiah is the eleventh of the twelve prophets. The name of his father is in agreement with this, but the Scripture does not say when he was killed between the sanctuary and the altar, chiefly since in his time there were scarcely even ruins of the Temple. Others want this Zechariah to be understood as the father of John. They approve of certain daydreams from apocryphal writings that say that he was killed because he had predicted the Savior’s advent. Since this view does not have the authority of the Scriptures, it is rejected with the same facility with which it is approved. Others want this Zechariah to be the one who was killed between the sanctuary and the altar by Joash king of Judea, as the history of Kings narrates. But one should observe that that Zechariah was not the son of Barachiah, but the son of Jehoiada the priest. This is why the Scripture relates: "Joash did not remember the good deeds of Jehoiada his father, which he had done for him." Since, then, we should also retain Zechariah and the place of the killing is in agreement, we need to ask why he is called the son of Barachiah, and not of Jehoiada. Barachiah means “blessed of the Lord” in our language, and the justice of the priest Jehoiada is shown in the Hebrew language. In the gospel that the Nazarenes use, in place of "son of Barachiah" we have found it written: "son of Jehoiada."
- Jerome's Commentary on Matthew 23:35

John Chrysostom (AD 347 - 407): Says some identify this Zechariah as the father of John the Baptist, others as the prophet, others as the priest who is the son of Jehoiada.

But who is this Zacharias? Some say, the father of John; some, the prophet; some, a priest with two different names, whom the Scripture also calls, the son of Jehoiada. But do thou mark this, that the outrage was twofold. For not only did they slay holy men, but also in a holy place. And saying these things, He did not only alarm them, but also comfort His disciples, showing that the righteous men also who were before them suffered these things...
For these too slew prophets even in their synagogues, and reverenced neither the place, nor the dignity of the persons. For not merely ordinary persons did they slay, but prophets and wise men, such that they had nothing to lay to their charge. And by these He means the apostles, and those after them, for, indeed, many prophesied...
For I will ask them, Did He send the prophets and wise men? Did they slay them in their synagogue? Was their house left desolate? Did all the vengeance come upon that generation? It is quite plain that it was so, and no man gainsays it. As then all these things came to pass, so shall those also come to pass, and most surely they shall submit then.
- Homily 74 on Matthew

Moreover, He names Abel, to shew that it would be out of envy that they would kill Christ and His disciples. He names Zacharias, because there was a twofold resemblance in his case, the sacred place, as well as the sacred person.
- As quoted by Thomas Aquinas (AD 1225 - 1274) in Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 23

Cyril of Alexandria (AD 376 - 444): Zechariah the father of John the Baptist

- In the article The Blood from Abel to Zechariah in the History of Interpretation (2014), the author notes the following:
From whatever source Origen derived this tradition, his version of the story became influential among some later Greek Fathers. The same basic approach to the interpretation of Matt 23.25, linking Zechariah son of Barachiah to the father of John the Baptist, appears in Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and Cyril of Alexandria [Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. in Lucam 11:47, PG 72.720b–721a].
- I was unable to track down this exact resource for Cyril of Alexandria. The closest I came was this 1859 English translation of Cyril of Alexandria's commentary on the Gospel of Luke, wherein the translator appended this note to the end of Sermon LXXXV:
In the Syriac the 49th and two following verses are omitted, other instances of which habit of S. Cyril repeatedly occur. In filling up this lacuna, the Catenists first attribute to him an explanation of v. 49, to the effect that by the prophets whom the wisdom of God sends are meant the apostles, and their successors, the chief pastors of the church: but as the apostles are mentioned by name in the text, there is no reason for making the prophets identical with them in meaning, especially as our Lord was plainly referring to 2 Chron. xxiv. 19 — 21. Next on v. 51, two of Mai's codices C and D assign to Cyril a passage closely resembling, as he remarks, one in Gregory of Nyssa's sermon in diem nat. Domini, and actually referred to him by B, and by Cramer's MS.: and though there are many verbal discrepancies in Gregory's text, yet other portions, especially towards the end, so exactly agree, that there can be no doubt that it is really his. It records an "unwritten tradition," to use Severus' words, to the effect that by Zacharias is meant John Baptist's father, and that he was put to death at the altar for asserting the virginity of Mary, who after her conception had nevertheless taken her place in that part of the temple appropriated to virgins. Upon the Jews wishing to remove her, Zacharias prophesied that she would be the mother of God, and that her offspring would be "God the Saviour Jesus Christ, the King and Ruler of their race." The Jews then in alarm at the prediction of a king, slew Zacharias at the altar. Of such a tradition it is enough to say in the words of Jerome; 'Quia de scripturis non habet auctoritatem, eadem fadlitate contemnitur, qua probatur.' Com. in Mat. xxiii. 35.
- To understand the above translator's note, I found this background information on the text in this preface, which says the following:
Among the manuscripts brought back to the British Library from the Nitrian desert in Egypt by Archdeacon Tattam in 1842, were two volumes containing the Commentary on Luke of Cyril of Alexandria. This text consisted of a compilation of 156 sermons, although some had suffered damage. The text had not survived in Greek, although long quotations existed in Byzantine catena-commentaries -- chains of quotations of the Fathers, which had been published by Angelo Mai and by Cramer.
Robert Payne-Smith produced an edition of the Syriac text [in 1858]. In 1859 he produced an English translation, supplemented from the catenas [which had the note we quoted above]
- So from the above, I conclude Cyril of Alexandria's remarks on the identification of Zechariah in this passage are included in other church father writings where they quote Cyril's commentary on Luke, but was not included in the damaged manuscript of Cyril's commentary on Luke that we recovered in 1842.
- I have not (yet) dug into Mai and Cramer's publications of the cantenas to confirm this. For now, I accept Robert Payne-Smith's summary of Cyril's position identifying this Zechariah as the father of John the Baptist, as Payne-Smith is a hostile witness (preferring Jerome's identification of Zechariah as the son of Jehoiada).

Remigius (AD 437 - 533): Zechariah was a priest (implying either the father of John the Baptist or the son of Jehoiada)

It should be enquired too how He says, “to the blood of Zacharias,” since the blood of many more saints was afterwards shed. This is thus explained. Abel a keeper of sheep was killed in the field, Zacharias a priest was slain in the court of the temple. The Lord therefore names these two, because by these all holy martyrs are denoted, both of lay and priestly order.
- As quoted by Thomas Aquinas (AD 1225 - 1274) in Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 23

Bede (AD 673 - 735): Zechariah the son of Jehoiada

Rursusque regnantibus David posteris legimus, quod Joiada pontifex maximus uxorem habuerit de tribu regali, hoc est, Josabeth, filiam regis Joram. Ipse est Joiada, cujus filium Zachariam virum veque sanctissimum lapidaverunt inter templum et altare, sicut etiam ipse Dominus beatorum martyrum mentionem faciens in Evangelio testatur. Unde tribus utraque, hoc est, regia et sacerdotalis, cognatione semper adinvicem probatur esse conjuncta.
And again, in the reign of David, we read to his posterity that Jehoiada the high priest the eldest had a wife of the royal tribe, that is, Josabeth, the daughter of king Joram. He is Jehoiada, whose son they stoned Zechariah the most holy man the temple and the altar, as also the Lord himself He makes mention of the martyrs, he testifies in the Gospel. Hence it is always proven that both tribes, that is, the royal and the priestly family, are united to each other.
- The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, 8 vols. page 366 - Homily 47, paragraph 12 [machine translated from the Latin]

Thomas Aquinas (AD 1225 - 1274): Quotes verbatim the positions of Origen, Jerome, John Chrysostom, and Remigius, but does not give his own opinion.

Jerome: Concerning the Abel here spoken of, there is no doubt that it is he whom his brother Cain murdered. He is proved to have been righteous, not only by this judgment of the Lord, but by the passage in Genesis, which says that his offerings were accepted by God. But we must enquire who is this Zacharias, son of Barachias, because we read of many Zachariases; and that we might not mistake, here it is added, “whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” Some say that it is that Zacharias who is the eleventh among the twelve Prophets, and his father’s name agrees to this, but when he was slain between the temple and the altar, Scripture does not mention; but above all, in his time there were scarce even the ruins of the temple. Others will have it to be Zacharias the father of John.

Origen: A tradition has come down to us, that there was one place in the temple in which virgins were allowed to worship God, married women being forbidden to stand there. And Mary, after the Saviour’s birth, going into the temple, stood to pray in this place of the virgins. And when they who knew that she had borne a Son were hindering her, Zacharias said, that forasmuch as she was still a virgin, she was worthy of the place of the virgins.

Whereupon, as though he manifestly were contravening the Law, he was slain there between the temple and the altar by the men of that generation; and thus this word of Christ is true which He spake to those who were standing there, “whom ye slew”.

Jerome: But as this has no Scripture authority, it is as readily despised as offered. Others will have it to be that Zacharias who was killed by Joas, king of Judah, between the temple and the altar, [2 Chron 24:21] that is, in the court of the temple. But that Zacharias was not the son of Barachias, but of Jehoiada the Priest. But Barachias in our language is interpreted ‘Blessed of the Lord,’ so that the righteousness of Joiada the Priest is expressed by this Hebrew word. But in the Gospel which the Nazarenes use, we find written ‘son of Joiada’ instead of “son of Barachias.”

Remig.: It should be enquired too how He says, “to the blood of Zacharias,” since the blood of many more saints was afterwards shed. This is thus explained. Abel a keeper of sheep was killed in the field, Zacharias a priest was slain in the court of the temple. The Lord therefore names these two, because by these all holy martyrs are denoted, both of lay and priestly order.

Chrys.: Moreover, He names Abel, to shew that it would be out of envy that they would kill Christ and His disciples. He names Zacharias, because there was a twofold resemblance in his case, the sacred place, as well as the sacred person.

Origen: Zacharias is interpreted ‘The memory of God.’ Whosoever then hastes to obliterate the memory of God, seems to those to whom he gives offence to shed the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias. For it is by the blessing of God that we retain the memory of God. Also the memory of God is slain by the wicked, when the Temple of God is polluted by the lustful, and His altar defiled by the carelessness of prayers.

Abel is interpreted ‘mourning.’ He then who does not receive that, “Blessed are they that mourn,” sheds the blood of Abel, that is, puts away the truth of wholesome mourning.

Some also shed, as it were, the blood of the Scriptures by putting aside their truth, for all Scripture, if it is not understood according to its truth, is dead.
- Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 23

The Order of the Books in the Bible

The argument asserts that the Jews use a different order of the books in their Bible from Christians - they start with Genesis and end with 2 Chronicles.

Modern Jews certainly place Chronicles at the end of their Bible - but if Jesus was referring to the canon of scripture when he said "Abel to Zechariah" (implying Genesis through Chronicles) then His statement would have only made sense if that order was already widely received by the Jews at His time.

Let's examine the historical record, taking a look at the last three books of all extant lists for both Jews and Christians:

Melito of Sardis (AD 170): Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra

Accordingly when I went East and came to the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and send them to you as written below. Their names are as follows: Of Moses, five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth; of Kings, four books; of Chronicles, two; the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, Wisdom also, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one book ; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras.
- Eusebius's (AD 324) Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, Chapter 26, Section 14

Bava Batra 14b (AD ~200-600): Esther, Ezra, Chronicles

The order of the books of the Prophets when they are attached together is as follows: Joshua and Judges, Samuel and Kings, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and Isaiah and the Twelve Prophets...
The order of the Writings is: Ruth and the book of Psalms, and Job and Proverbs; Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Lamentations; Daniel and the Scroll of Esther; and Ezra and Chronicles.
- Bava Batra 14b

Origen (AD 240): Daniel, Job, Esther

It should be stated that the canonical books, as the Hebrews have handed them down, are twenty-two; corresponding with the number of their letters...
The twenty-two books of the Hebrews are the following: That which is called by us Genesis, but by the Hebrews, from the beginning of the book, Bresith, which means, 'In the beginning'; Exodus, Welesmoth, that is, 'These are the names'; Leviticus, Wikra, 'And he called'; Numbers, Ammesphekodeim; Deuteronomy, Eleaddebareim, 'These are the words'; Jesus, the son of Nave, Josoue ben Noun; Judges and Ruth, among them in one book, Saphateim; the First and Second of Kings, among them one, Samouel, that is, 'The called of God'; the Third and Fourth of Kings in one, Wammelch David, that is, 'The kingdom of David'; of the Chronicles, the First and Second in one, Dabreïamein, that is, 'Records of days'; Esdras, First and Second in one, Ezra, that is, 'An assistant'; the book of Psalms, Spharthelleim; the Proverbs of Solomon, Meloth; Ecclesiastes, Koelth; the Song of Songs (not, as some suppose, Songs of Songs), Sir Hassirim; Isaiah, Jessia; Jeremiah, with Lamentations and the epistle in one, Jeremia; Daniel, Daniel; Ezekiel, Jezekiel; Job, Job; Esther, Esther. And besides these there are the Maccabees, which are entitled Sarbeth Sabanaiel.
- Eusebius's (AD 324) Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, Chapter 25, Section 1-2

Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 350): Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel

Of these read the two and twenty books, but have nothing to do with the apocryphal writings. Study earnestly these only which we read openly in the Church. Far wiser and more pious than yourself were the Apostles, and the bishops of old time, the presidents of the Church who handed down these books. Being therefore a child of the Church, trench thou not upon its statutes. And of the Old Testament, as we have said, study the two and twenty books, which, if you are desirous of learning, strive to remember by name, as I recite them. For of the Law the books of Moses are the first five, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And next, Joshua the son of Nave , and the book of Judges, including Ruth, counted as seventh. And of the other historical books, the first and second books of the Kings are among the Hebrews one book; also the third and fourth one book. And in like manner, the first and second of Chronicles are with them one book; and the first and second of Esdras are counted one. Esther is the twelfth book; and these are the Historical writings. But those which are written in verses are five, Job, and the book of Psalms, and Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, which is the seventeenth book. And after these come the five Prophetic books: of the Twelve Prophets one book, of Isaiah one, of Jeremiah one, including Baruch and Lamentations and the Epistle ; then Ezekiel, and the Book of Daniel, the twenty-second of the Old Testament.
- Catechetical Lecture 4, Section 35

Hilary of Poitiers (AD 360): Ezekiel, Job, Esther [some add Tobit and Judith]

The reason for reckoning twenty-two books of the Old Testament is that this corresponds with the number of the [Hebrew] letters. They are counted thus according to old tradition: the books of Moses are five, Joshua son of Nun the sixth, Judges and Ruth the seventh, first and second Kings the eighth, third and fourth [Kings] the ninth, the two of Chronicles make ten, the words of the days of Ezra the eleventh, the book of Psalms twelfth, of Solomon the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs are thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, the Twelve Prophets sixteenth, then Isaiah and Jeremiah (with Lamentations and the Epistle) and Daniel and Ezekiel and Job and Esther complete the number of the books at twenty-two. To this some add Tobit and Judith to make twenty-four books, according to the number of the Greek letters, which is the language used among Hebrews and Greeks gathered in Rome.
- Expositions of the Psalms (Tractatus super Psalmos) 15

Cheltenham List (AD 360): Daniel, Ezekiel, 12 minor prophets

Here begins a list of the canonical books of the Old Testament
Genesis 3700 lines
Exodus 3000 lines
Numbers 3000 lines
Leviticus 2300 lines
Deuteronomy 2700 lines
Joshua son of Nave 1750 lines
Judges 1750 lines
Total for the seven books 18,100 lines
Ruth 250 lines
Kings book I 2300 lines
Kings book II 2200 lines
Kings book III 2550 lines
Kings book IIII 2250 lines
Total 9500 lines
Chronicles book I 2040 lines
book II 2100 lines
Maccabees book I 2300 lines
book II 1800 lines
Job 1700 lines
Tobit 900 lines
Esther 700 lines
Judith 1100 lines
The 151 Psalms of David 5000 lines
The books of Solomon 6500 lines
The Major Prophets 15,370 lines, 4 in number
Isaiah 3580 lines
Jeremiah 4450 lines
Daniel 1350 lines
Ezekiel 3340 lines
The Twelve Minor Prophets 3800 lines
The total number of lines 69,500 lines
But as it was said in the Apocalypse of John, 'I saw 24 elders casting their crowns before the throne,' our predecessors prove these books to be canonical, and that the elders signify this.

Likewise a list of the New Testament:

The Four Gospels Matthew 2700 lines
Mark 1700 lines
John 1800 lines
Luke 3300 lines
All the lines amount to 10,000 lines
The Epistles of Paul 13 in number
The Acts of the Apostles 3600 lines
The Apocalypse 1800 lines
3 Epistles of John 350 lines
[one only]
2 Epistles of Peter 300 lines
[one only].

- Cheltenham or Mommsen List, reproduced from Erwin Preuschen, Analecta: Kürzere texte zur Geschichte der Alten Kirche und des Kanons, zusammengestellt von Erwin Preuschen (Leipzig: Mohr, 1893), pp. 138-40

Athanasius (AD 367): Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel

There are, then, of the Old Testament, twenty-two books in number; for, as I have heard, it is handed down that this is the number of the letters among the Hebrews; their respective order and names being as follows. The first is Genesis, then Exodus, next Leviticus, after that Numbers, and then Deuteronomy. Following these there is Joshua, the son of Nun, then Judges, then Ruth. And again, after these four books of Kings, the first and second being reckoned as one book, and so likewise the third and fourth as one book. And again, the first and second of the Chronicles are reckoned as one book. Again Ezra, the first and second are similarly one book. After these there is the book of Psalms, then the Proverbs, next Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. Job follows, then the Prophets, the twelve being reckoned as one book. Then Isaiah, one book, then Jeremiah with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle, one book; afterwards, Ezekiel and Daniel, each one book. Thus far constitutes the Old Testament.
- Letter 39 Section 4

Amphilochius of Iconium (AD 380): Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel

But this especially for you to learn
is fitting: not every book is safe
which has acquired the venerable name of Scripture.
For there appear from time to time pseudonymous
books, some of which are intermediate or neighbours,
as one might say, to the words of Truth,
while others are spurious and utterly unsafe,
like counterfeit and spurious coins
which bear the king's inscription,
but as regards their material are base forgeries.
For this reason I will state for you the divinely inspired
books one by one, so that you may learn them clearly.
I will first recite those of the Old Testament.
The Pentateuch has Creation, then Exodus,
and Leviticus, the middle book,
after which is Numbers, then Deuteronomy.
Add to these Joshua, and Judges,
then Ruth, and of Kingdoms the four
books, and the double team of Chronicles;
after these, Esdras, one and then the second.
Then I would review for you five in verse:
Job, crowned in the contests of many sufferings,
and the Book of Psalms, soothing remedy for the soul,
three of Solomon the Wise: Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Canticle of Canticles.
Add to these the Prophets Twelve,
Hosea first, then Amos the second,
Micah, Joel, Obadiah, and the type
of Him who three days suffered, Jonah,
Nahum after those, and Habakkuk; and ninth,
Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zechariah,
and twice-named angel Malachi.
After these prophets learn yet another four:
The great and fearless Isaiah,
the sympathetic Jeremiah, and mysterious
Ezekiel, and finally Daniel,
most wise in his deeds and words.
With these, some approve the inclusion of Esther.
Time now for me to recite the books of the New Testament.
Accept only four Evangelists,
Matthew, then Mark, to which Luke as third
add; count John in time as
fourth, but first in sublimity of dogma.
Son of Thunder rightly he is called,
who loudly sounded forth the Word of God.
Accept from Luke a second book also,
that of the catholic Acts of the Apostles.
Add to these besides that Chosen Vessel,
Herald of the Gentiles, the Apostle
Paul, writing in wisdom to the churches
twice seven epistles, one to the Romans,
to which must be added two to the Corinthians,
and that to the Galatians, and to the Ephesians,
after which there is the one to the Philippians, then those written
to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians two,
two to Timothy, and to Titus and Philemon
one each, and to the Hebrews one.
Some call that to the Hebrews spurious,
but they say it not well; for the grace is genuine.
What then is left? Of the Catholic epistles
some say seven, others only three
must be accepted: one of James,
one of Peter, one of John,
otherwise three of John, and with them two
of Peter, and also Jude's, the seventh.
The Apocalypse of John, again,
some approve, but most
will call it spurious. This would be the most unerring
canon of the divinely inspired scriptures.
- Iambics for Seleucus, found in vol. 37 of Migne's Patrologia Graeca

Apostolic Canons (AD ~380): Psalms, Solomon books, Prophet books

Let the following books be esteemed venerable and holy by all of you, both clergy and laity. Of the Old Testament: the five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; one of Joshua the son of Nun; one of the Judges; one of Ruth; four of the Kings; two of Paralipomena (the books of Chronicles); two of Ezra; one of Esther; [one of Judith;] three of the Maccabees; one of Job; the one hundred and fifty Psalms; three books of Solomon: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs; the sixteen of the Prophets. And see that those newly come to discipleship become acquainted with the Wisdom of the learned Sirach.
- Apostolic Canons, canon 85
- Greek text from appendix in Westcott's General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament (London, 1870)

Epiphanius of Salamis (AD 385): Daniel, Ezra, Esther

By the time of the captives' return from Babylon these Jews had acquired the following books and prophets, and the following books of the prophets: 1. Genesis. 2. Exodus. 3. Leviticus. 4. Numbers. 5. Deuteronomy. 6. The Book of Joshua the son of Nun. 7. The Book of the Judges. 8. Ruth. 9. Job. 10. The Psalter. 11. The Proverbs of Solomon. 12. Ecclesiastes. 13. The Song of Songs. 14. The First Book of Kings. 15. The Second Book of Kings. 16. The Third Book of Kings. 17. The Fourth Book of Kings. 1 18. The First Book of Chronicles. 19. The Second Book of Chronicles. 20. The Book of the Twelve Prophets. 21. The Prophet Isaiah. 22. The Prophet Jeremiah, with the Lamentations and the Epistles of Jeremiah and Baruch. 23. The Prophet Ezekiel. 24. The Prophet Daniel. 25. I Ezra. 26. II Ezra. 2 27. Esther. These are the twenty-seven books given the Jews by God. They are counted as twenty-two, however, like the letters of their Hebrew alphabet, because ten books which (Jews) reckon as five are double. But I have explained this clearly elsewhere. And they have two more books of disputed canonicity, the Wisdom of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, apart from certain other apocrypha. All these sacred books taught (them) Judaism and Law's observances till the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Panarion (also called Against Heresies) viii. 6 [another source]

Therefore in this manner the books also are counted as twenty-two; but there are twenty-seven, because five of them are double. For Ruth is joined to Judges, and they are counted among the Hebrews (as) one book. The first (book) of Kingdoms is joined to the second and called one book; the third is joined to the fourth and becomes one book. First Paraleipomena is joined to Second and called one book. The first book of Ezra is joined to the second and becomes one book. So in this way the books are grouped into four "pentateuchs," and there are two others left over, so that the books of the (Old) Testament are as follows: the five of the Law---- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy----this is the Pentateuch, otherwise the code of law; and five in verse----the book of Job, then of the Psalms, the Proverbs of Solomon, Koheleth, the Song of Songs. Then another "pentateuch" (of books) which are called the Writings, and by some the Hagiographa, which are as follows: Joshua the (son) of Nun, the book of Judges with Ruth, First and Second Paraleipomena, First and Second Kingdoms, Third and Fourth Kingdoms; and this is a third "pentateuch." Another "pentateuch" is the books of the prophets----the Twelve Prophets (forming) one book, Isaiah one, Jeremiah one, Ezekiel one, Daniel one ----and again the prophetic "pentateuch" is filled up. But there remain two other books, which are (one of them) the two of Ezra that are counted as one, and the other the book of Esther. So twenty-two books are completed according to the number of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrews. For there are two (other) poetical books, that by Solomon called "Most Excellent," and that by Jesus the son of Sirach and grandson of Jesus---- for his grandfather was named Jesus (and was) he who composed Wisdom in Hebrew, which his grandson, translating, wrote in Greek----which also are helpful and useful, but are not included in the number of the recognized; and therefore they were not kept in the chest, that is, in the ark of the covenant.
Ezekiel, Ezra, Esther - Weights and Measures, 4

Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 389): Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel

The divine oracles should always on the tongue and in the mind be rehearsed. For God will indeed give a reward for this labor, so that you may obtain light from anything hidden, or, what is far better, that you may be spurred by God to greater purity, and thirdly, be called away from the cares of the world by such study. But let not extraneous books seduce your mind. For many malignant writings have been disseminated. Accept, o friend, this my approved number. These are all twelve of the historical books, of the most ancient Hebrew wisdom: First there is Genesis, then Exodus, Leviticus too. Then Numbers, and the Second Law. Then Joshua and Judges. Ruth is eighth. The ninth and tenth books [are] the acts of Kings, and [the eleventh is] Chronicles. Last you have Ezra. The poetic books are five: Job being first, then [the Psalms of] David; and three of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Canticles and Proverbs. And similarly five of prophetic inspiration. There are the Twelve written in one book: Hosea and Amos, and Micah the third; then Joel, and Jonah, Obadiah, Nahum also, and Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, Haggai, then Zechariah, and Malachi. All these are one. The second is of Isaiah. Then the one called as an infant, Jeremiah, Then Ezekiel, and the gift of Daniel. I count therefore, twenty-two of the ancient books, corresponding to the number of the Hebrew letters.
- Concerning the Genuine Books of Divinely Inspired Scripture

Jerome (AD 391): Chronicles, Ezra, Esther

The first book is called among them Bresith, which we call Genesis; the second, Hellesmoth, which is named Exodus; the third, Vaiecra, that is Leviticus; the fourth Vaiedabber, which we call Numbers; the fifth, Addebarim, which is designated Deuteronomy. These are the five books of Moses, which they appropropriately call Thorat, that is, the Law.

The second order is made of the Prophets, and begins with Jesus son of Nave, which is called among them Joshua benNum. Then they append Sopthim, that is the book of Judges; and they attach Ruth to the same, because the history narrated happened in the days of the Judges. Samuel follows third, which we call First and Second Kingdoms. Fourth is Malachim, that is Kings, which book contains Third and Fourth Kingdoms; and it is much better to say Malachim, that is Kings, rather than Malachoth, that is Kingdoms, for it does not describe the kingdoms of many nations, but only that of the Israelite people which contains twelve tribes. Fifth is Isaiah, sixth Jeremiah, seventh Ezekiel, eighth the book of the Twelve Prophets, which is called Thareasra among them.

The third order holds the Hagiographa, and begins with Job, the first book, the second by David, which is also one book of Psalms comprising five sections. The third is Solomon, having three books: Proverbs, which they call Parables, that is Masaloth, and Ecclesiastes, that is Accoeleth, and The Song of Songs, which they denote with the title Sirassirim. Sixth is Daniel, seventh Dabreiamin, that is Words of the Days, which we may call more clearly a chronicle (Gk here: χρονικον) of all of Divine history, which book is written among us as First and Second Paralipomenon; eighth is Ezra, which is also in the same manner among Greeks and Latins divided into two books; ninth is Esther.

And thus there are likewise twenty-two books in the Old (Testament), that is five of Moses, eight of the Prophets, nine of the Hagiographa. Although some may write Ruth and Cinoth among the Hagiographa, and think of counting these books among their number, and then by this to have twenty-four books of the Old Law, which the Apocalypse of John introduces with the number of twenty-four elders worshipping the Lamb and offering their crowns, prostrated on their faces, and crying out with unwearying voice: "Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty, Who was and Who is, and Who will be."
- Preface to the Book of Kings

Augustine (AD 397): Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel

Now the whole canon of Scripture on which we say this judgment is to be exercised, is contained in the following books:— Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one of Judges; one short book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to the beginning of Kings; next, four books of Kings, and two of Chronicles— these last not following one another, but running parallel, so to speak, and going over the same ground. The books now mentioned are history, which contains a connected narrative of the times, and follows the order of the events. There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra, which last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the books of Kings and Chronicles. Next are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the Psalms of David; and three books of Solomon, viz., Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. For two books, one called Wisdom and the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed to Solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be reckoned among the prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as being authoritative. The remainder are the books which are strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books of the prophets which are connected with one another, and having never been disjoined, are reckoned as one book; the names of these prophets are as follows:— Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; then there are the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old Testament is contained within the limits of these forty-four books.
- On Christian Doctrine, Book II, Chapter 8, Section 13

Council of Carthage (AD 397): Esther, Ezra, Maccabees

The Canonical Scriptures are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua the son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, two books of Paraleipomena, Job, the Psalter, five books of Solomon, the books of the twelve prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Daniel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, two Books of the Maccabees.
- Synod of 397 [archive link]

Innocent I (AD 405): Maccabees, Ezra, Chronicles

Which books really are received in the canon, this brief addition shows. These therefore are the things of which you desired to be informed. Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and Joshua the son of Nun, and Judges, and the four books of Kings together with Ruth, sixteen books of the Prophets, five books of Solomon, and the Psalms. Also of the historical books, one book of Job, one of Tobit, one of Esther, one of Judith, two of Maccabees, two of Ezra, two of Chronicles. And of the New Testament: of the Gospels four. Epistles of the apostle Paul fourteen. Epistles of John three. Epistles of Peter two. Epistle of Jude. Epistle of James. Acts of the Apostles. John's Apocalypse. But the rest of the books, which appear under the name of Matthias or of James the Less, or under the name of Peter and John (which were written by a certain Leucius), or under the name of Andrew (which were written by the philosophers Xenocharides and Leonidas), or under the name of Thomas, and whatever others there may be, you should know they are not only to be rejected but also condemned.
- Letter to Exsuperius, found in B.F. Westcott, A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament (5th ed. Edinburgh, 1881), pp. 570f

Decretum Gelasianum (AD ~550): Esther, Judith, Maccabees

LIKEWISE THE ORDER OF THE PROPHETS: Isaiah, Jeremiah, with Cinoth i.e. his lamentations, Ezechiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

LIKEWISE THE ORDER OF THE HISTORIES: Job, Tobit, Esdras two books, Ester, Judith, Maccabees two books
- DECRETUM GELASIANUM DE LIBRIS RECIPIENDIS ET NON RECIPIENDIS
- Some parts of the text can be traced back to Pope Damasus (AD 382), but generally it's believed the text came from closer to AD 550.

Synopsis of Sacred Scripture (AD ~550): Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel

And the books of the Old Testament are these: Genesis, which begins, "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth"; Exodus, which begins "These are the names of the sons of Israel that came into Egypt"; Leviticus, which begins "And the Lord called Moses again and spoke to him out of the tabernacle of witness"; Numbers, which begins "And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sina, in the tabernacle of witness"; Deuteronomy, which begins "These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side Jordan in the desert towards the west near the Red Sea"; Joshua son of Naue, which begins "And it came to pass after the death of Moses, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Naue, the minister of Moses, saying"; Judges, which begins "And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Chananites, to fight against them?"; Ruth, which begins "And it came to pass when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land"; First and Second Kings, which are counted as one book, in which the first begins "There was a man of Armathaim Sipha, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Helkana, a son of Jeremeel the son of Elias", and in which the second begins, "And it came to pass after Saul was dead, that David returned from smiting Amalec"; Third and Fourth Kings, which are likewise counted as one book, in which the third begins, "And king David was old and advanced in days, and they covered him with clothes, and he was not warmed", and the fourth begins, "And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Achaab"; Paralipomenon First and Second, which are counted as one book, of which the first begins, "Adam, Seth, Enos, and Cainan, Maleleel, Jared, Enoch, Mathusala, Lamech, Noe", and the second begins, "And Solomon the son of David was established over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and increased him exceedingly"; First and Second Esdras, which are counted as one book, in which the first begins, "Josias kept the passover to his Lord in Jerusalem; he killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month", and the second begins, "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians"; The Psalms of David, which includes 151 Psalms, the first one beginning with "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly"; The Parables of Solomon, beginning with "The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, who reigned in Israel, to know wisdom and instruction"; Ecclesiastes by the same author, which begins "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king of Israel in Jerusalem: vanity of vanities ... all is vanity"; Song of Songs by the same author, which begins "The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s: let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine"; Job, which begins "There was a certain man in the land of Ausis, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and godly"; The Twelve Prophets, which are counted as one book; and of these Hosea is the first, which begins, "The word of the Lord which came to Osee the son of Beeri, in the days of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, kings of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joas, king of Israel. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Osee"; next is Amos, which begins "The words of Amos which came to him in Accarim out of Thecue, which he saw concerning Jerusalem, in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel, two years before the earthquake"; Michaeas [Micah], which begins "and the word of the Lord came to Michaeas the son of Morasthi, in the days of Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, kings of Juda, concerning what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem."; Joel, which begins "The word of the Lord which came to Joel the son of Bathuel: hear these words, ye elders, and hearken all ye that inhabit the land"; Obdias [Obadiah], which begins, "The vision of Obdias: thus saith the Lord God to Idumea"; Jonas, which begins, "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonas the son of Amathi, saying, Rise, and go to Nineve, the great city"; Naum [Nahum], which begins "The burden of Nineve: the book of the vision of Naum the Elkesite"; Ambacum [Habakkuk], which begins "The burden which the prophet Ambacum saw"; Sophonias [Zephaniah], which begins "The word of the Lord which came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the son of Godolias, the son of Amorias, the son of Ezekias, in the days of Josias son of Amon, king of Juda"; Aggaeus [Haggai], which begins "In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of the prophet Aggaeus, saying"; Zacharias, which begins "In the eighth month, in the second year of the reign of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying"; Malachias, which begins "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of his messenger." These, then, are the Twelve in one book. And besides these, there are four others which have each one book: Esaias [Isaiah], which begins "The vision which Esaias the son of Amos saw, which he saw against Juda, and against Jerusalem, in the reign of Ozias, and Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias, who reigned over Judea: hear, O heaven, and hearken, O earth, for the Lord has spoken"; Jeremias, which begins "The word of God which came to Jeremias the son of Chelcias, of the priests"; Ezechiel, which begins "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, that I was in the midst of the captivity by the river of Chobar; and the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God"; Daniel, which begins "There was a man living in Babylon whose name was Joakim, and he took a wife named Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, a very beautiful woman and one who feared the Lord";
- Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae
- English translation above comes from Greek at: J.P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca, vol. 28 (Paris, 1887; volume 4 of the collected works of Athanasius), cols. 284-93 and 432

Codex Claromontanus (AD ~550): Esther, Job, Tobit

- Codex Claromontanus 468r [Second Source]

Isidore of Seville (AD ~600): Chronicles, Ezra, Esther [some add Ruth and Lamentations]

The Hebrews take the Old Testament, with Ezra as its redactor, as consisting of twenty-two books, corresponding to the number of letters in their alphabet. They divide these books into three classes: Law, Prophets, and Sacred Writings. 4. The first class, Law (Lex), is taken as being five books: of these the first is Bresith,1 which is Genesis; second Veelle Semoth, which is Exodus; third Vaiicra, which is Leviticus; fourth Vaiedabber, which is Numbers; fifth Elleaddebarim, which is Deuteronomy.

5. These are the five books of Moses, which the Hebrews call Torah (Thora), and Latin speakers call the Law. That which was given through Moses is properly called the Law.

6. The second class is of Prophets (Propheta), in which are contained eight books, of which the first is Josua Benun, called Iesu Nave in Latin (i.e. the book of Joshua ‘ben Nun,’ the son of Nun). The second is Sophtim, which is Judges; third Samuel, which is First Kings; fourth Malachim, which is Second Kings; fifth Isaiah; sixth Jeremiah; seventh Ezekiel; eighth Thereazar, which is called the Twelve Prophets, whose books are taken as one because they have been joined together since they are short.

7. The third class is of Sacred Writings (Hagiographa), that is, of ‘those writing about holy things’, in which there are nine books: first Job; second the Psalter; third Masloth, which is the Proverbs of Solomon; fourth Coheleth, which is Ecclesiastes; fifth Sir hassirim, which is the Song of Songs; sixth Daniel; seventh Dibre haiamim, which means ‘words of the days’ (verba dierum), that is Paralipomenon (i.e. Chronicles); eighth Ezra; ninth Esther. All together these books – five, eight, and nine – make up the twenty-two as was reckoned above.

8. Some add Ruth and Cinoth, which in Latin is the Lamentations (Lamentatio) of Jeremiah, to the Sacred Writings, and make twenty-four books of the Old Testament, corresponding to the twenty-four Elders who stand present before the face of God (Apocalypse 4:4, etc.)
- Etymologiae, Book VI, Section 9 (page 149 of PDF)
- Latin version

Codex Amiatinus (AD ~700): Esther, Ezra, Maccabees

- Pictures of Codex Here
- Esther starts on 730r, Ezra starts on 730v/750r, Maccabees starts on 777v, and the New Testament starts on 796v

John of Damascus (AD ~730): Daniel, Ezra, Esther

Observe, further , that there are two and twenty books of the Old Testament, one for each letter of the Hebrew tongue. For there are twenty-two letters of which five are double, and so they come to be twenty-seven. For the letters Caph, Mem, Nun, Pe , Sade are double. And thus the number of the books in this way is twenty-two, but is found to be twenty-seven because of the double character of five. For Ruth is joined on to Judges, and the Hebrews count them one book: the first and second books of Kings are counted one: and so are the third and fourth books of Kings: and also the first and second of Paraleipomena: and the first and second of Esdra. In this way, then, the books are collected together in four Pentateuchs and two others remain over, to form thus the canonical books. Five of them are of the Law, viz. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. This which is the code of the Law, constitutes the first Pentateuch. Then comes another Pentateuch, the so-called Grapheia , or as they are called by some, the Hagiographa, which are the following: Jesus the Son of Nave , Judges along with Ruth, first and second Kings, which are one book, third and fourth Kings, which are one book, and the two books of the Paraleipomena which are one book. This is the second Pentateuch. The third Pentateuch is the books in verse, viz. Job, Psalms, Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes of Solomon and the Song of Songs of Solomon. The fourth Pentateuch is the Prophetical books, viz the twelve prophets constituting one book, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Then come the two books of Esdra made into one, and Esther. There are also the Panaretus, that is the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Jesus, which was published in Hebrew by the father of Sirach, and afterwards translated into Greek by his grandson, Jesus, the Son of Sirach. These are virtuous and noble, but are not counted nor were they placed in the ark.
- An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV, Chapter 17

Stichometery of Nicephorus (AD ~800): Ezekiel, Daniel, 12 minor prophets

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numeri, Deuteronomium, Jesus, Judices et Ruth, Regnorum primus et secandus, Regnorum tertius et quartes, Paralipomenon primus et secundas, Esdrae primus et secundus, Liber Psalmoram, Paremiae SAlominis, Ecclesiastes, Canticum canticorum, Job, Isaias, Jeremias, Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, Duodecim prophetae
- The Stichometery of Nicephorus
- Picture of the specific page

Aleppo Codex (AD 930): Esther, Daniel, Ezra

In the Aleppo Codex, the order of the Ketuvim is Books of Chronicles, Psalms, Book of Job, Book of Proverbs, Book of Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Book of Lamentations, Book of Esther, Book of Daniel, and Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah.
- Wikipedia Article

Leningrad Codex (AD 1008): Esther, Daniel, Ezra

In the Leningrad Codex, the order of the Ketuvim is: Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah.
- Wikipedia Article

Adath Deborim (AD 1207): Esther, Daniel, Ezra (claims that this is the right and true order, but the Babylonians alter this order and place Chronicles or Esther at the end)

Know (God give thee understanding) that the Hagiographa are divided into eleven sections: Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra. But the Babylonians have altered this order: some place Chronicles at the end of the volume, others place the Scroll of Esther at the end of the volume. Now, we intend to begin with the first of these books, Chronicles, according to the order of the land of Israel; for this order is the right and true one, and all who copy the Holy Scriptures, in Babylonia and elsewhere, will return to this order.
- As quoted in Roger Beckwith's The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church
- According to here, English translation appears to be from: Lazar Lipshütz, "Mishael ben Uzziel's Treatise on the Differences between Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali," Textus 2 (Supplement; 1962) 41

Prior to AD 1200, no particular sequence of books is dominant. Following the Adath Deborim (AD 1207), numerous codices exist which end with Chronicles, becoming a more and more common practice that eventually becomes a standard with the invention of the printing press.

The only evidence hinting at a possible order of books that ends in Chronicles in the first millenium is the Talmud's Bava Batra (AD ~200-600) and Innocent I's Letter to Exsuperius (AD 405).

While Innocent I's letter ends with Chronicles, it actually includes the Deuterocanonical books earlier in the list:

Innocent I's Letter to Exsuperius (AD 405): Which books really are received in the canon... Job, Tobit, Esther, Judith, Maccabees, Ezra, Chronicles

While the Bava Batra does provide a canon list that excludes the Deuterocanonical books and ends in Chronicles, the Bava Kamma in the same section of the Mishnah explicitly identifies Sirach (one of the Deuterocanonical books) as being part of the Hagiographa (third part of Hebrew Bible):

Bava Kamma 92b (AD ~450-550): "This matter is written in the Torah, repeated in the Prophets, and triplicated in the Writings... And it is triplicated in the Writings, as it is written: All fowl will live with its kind, and men with those like him (Sirach 13:15)"

Rava said to Rabba bar Mari: From where is this matter derived whereby people say: A bad palm tree strolls and goes to be among a grove of barren trees, i.e., bad people seek out other bad people? Rabba bar Mari said to him: This matter is written in the Torah, repeated in the Prophets, and triplicated in the Writings, and we learned it in a mishna, and we learned it in a baraita.

Rabba bar Mari explains each of the sources. It is written in the Torah, as it is written: "And so Esau went to Ishmael" (Genesis 28:9). It is repeated in the Prophets, as it is written: "And there were gathered vain fellows to Yiftah, and they went out with him" (Judges 11:3). And it is triplicated in the Writings, as it is written: All fowl will live with its kind, and men with those like him (Sirach 13:15).
- Bava Kamma 92b

In a similar vein, Epiphanius of Salamis notes that the Jews of his day were still disputing the canonicity of Sirach and the Book of Wisdom:

Epiphanius of Salamis (AD 385): "By the time of the captives' return from Babylon these Jews had acquired the following books... they have two more books of disputed canonicity, the Wisdom of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon"

Was Jesus referring to the limits of the canon?

The argument asserts that by "blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah", Jesus was referring to the limits of the canon (from Genesis to 2 Chronicles) and did not consider later books like Maccabees as part of the scriptures.

Is that how this passage was interpreted throughout history?

Jerome (AD 342 - 420): The meaning of Abel to Zechariah [the son of Jehoiada] is not examined

John Chrysostom (AD 347 - 407): Abel to Zechariah [whichever Zechariah it was] was simply referring to a holy man slain in a holy place, and its purpose was to alarm the teachers of the Law and Pharisees and to comfort Jesus' disciples.

Remigius (AD 437 - 533): Abel to Zechariah [a priest] was simply denoting all the holy martyrs of both lay [Abel] and priestly [Zechariah] order

Bede (AD 673 - 735): The meaning of Abel to Zechariah [the son of Jehoiada] is not examined

John Calvin (AD 1509 - 1564): Abel to Zechariah [the son of Jehoiada] was referring to heinous examples of the 'murder of the prophets'

To the blood of Zechariah. He does not speak of Zechariah as the latest martyr; for the Jews did not then put an end to the murder of the prophets, but, on the contrary, their insolence and madness increased from that period; and posterity, who followed them, satiated themselves with the blood which their fathers only tasted. Nor is it because his death was better known, though it is recorded in Scripture. But there is another reason, which, though it deserves attention, has escaped the notice of commentators; in consequence of which they have not only fallen into a mistake, but have likewise involved their readers in a troublesome question. We might suppose it to have arisen from forgetfulness on the part of Christ, that, while he mentions one ancient murder, he passes by a prodigious slaughter which afterwards took place under Manasseh. For until the Jews were carried to Babylon, their wicked persecutions of holy men did not cease; and even while they were still under affliction, we know with what cruelty and rage they pursued Jeremiah, (32:2.) But our Lord on purpose abstains from reproaching them with recent murders, and selects this murder, which was more ancient—which was also the commencement and source of base licentiousness, and afterwards led them to break out into unbounded cruelty—because it was more suitable to his design. For I have lately explained, that his leading object was to show that this nation, as it did not desist from impiety, must be held guilty of all the murders which had been perpetrated during a long period. Not only, therefore, does he denounce the punishment of their present cruelty, but says that they must be called to account for the murder of Zechariah, as if their own hands had been imbrued in his blood.
There is no probability in the opinion of those who refer this passage to that Zechariah who exhorted the people, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, to build the temple, (Zechariah 8:9,) and whose prophecies are still in existence. For though the title of the book informs us that he was the son of Barachiah, (Zechariah 1:1,) yet we nowhere read that he was slain; and it is, forced exposition to say, that he was slain during the period that intervened between the building of the altar and of the temple. But as to the other Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the sacred history relates what agrees perfectly with this passage; that when true religion had fallen into decay, after the death of his father, through the wicked revolt of the king and of the people, the Spirit of God came upon him, to reprove severely the public idolatry, and that on this account he was stoned in the porch of the temple, (2 Chronicles 24:20, 21.) There is no absurdity in supposing that his father Jehoiada received, in token of respect, the surname of Barachiah, because, having throughout his whole life defended the true worship, he might justly be pronounced to be the Blessed of God. But whether Jehoiada had two names, or whether (as Jerome thinks) there is a mistake in the word, there can be no doubt as to the fact, that Christ refers to that impious stoning of Zechariah which is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:21, 22
Whom you slew between the temple and the altar. The crime is rendered still more heinous by the circumstance of the place, since they did not revere the sacredness of the temple. Here the temple is put for the outer court, as in other passages. Near it was the altar of burnt offerings, (1 Kings 8:64; 18:30,) so that the priest offered the sacrifices in presence of the people. It is evident, therefore, that there must have been furious rage, when the sight of the altar and of the temple could not restrain the Jews from profaning that sacred place by a detestable murder.
- Harmony of the Evangelists, Part 3, MATTHEW 23:29-39 LUKE 11:47-51; 13:34-35; 11:53-54

John Lightfoot (AD 1602 - 1675): Abel and Zechariah [the son of Jehoiada] were named because the requiring of vengeance is mentioned only concerning them

That the discourse here is concerning Zacharias the son of Jehoiada, killed by king Joash, we make appear by these arguments:
I. Because no other Zacharias is said to have been slain before these words were spoken by Christ. Those things that are spoke of Zacharias, the father of the Baptist, are dreams; and those of Zacharias, one of the twelve prophets, are not much better. The killing of our Zacharias in the Temple is related in express words: and why, neglecting this, should we seek for another, which in truth we shall nowhere find in any author of good credit?
II. The Jews observe, that the death of this Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada, was made memorable by a signal character [nota] and revenge: of the martyrdom of the other Zacharias they say nothing at all.
...I suppose that Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah in Isaiah [Isaiah 8:2] is the very same with our Zacharias the son of Jehoiada
...Objection. But since our Saviour took examples from the Old Testament, why did he not rather say, "from the blood of Abel to the blood of Uriah the priest?" that is, from the beginning of the world to the end of the first Temple? I answer,
1. The killing of Zechariah was more horrible, as he was more high in dignity; and as the place wherein he was killed was more holy.
2. The consent of the whole people as more universal to his death.
3. He was a more proper and apparent type of Christ.
4. The requiring of vengeance is mentioned only concerning Abel and Zechariah: "Behold, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me." [Genesis 4:10] And, "Let the Lord look upon it, and require it." [2 Chronicles 24:22]
5. In this the death of Christ agrees exactly with the death of Zechariah; that, although the city and nation of the Jews did not perish till about forty years after the death of Christ, yet they gave themselves their death's wound in wounding Christ. So it was also in the case of Zechariah: Jerusalem and the people of the Jews stood indeed many years after the death of Zechariah, but from that time began to sink, and draw towards ruin. Consult the story narrowly, and you will plainly find, that all the affairs of the Jews began to decline and grow worse and worse, from that time when "blood touched blood," (the blood of the sacrificer mingled with the blood of the sacrifice), and when "the people became contentious and rebellious against the priest."
- From the Talmud and Hebraica, Matthew, Chapter 23, Section 35

If our Saviour had not in the evangelist St. Matthew added "the son of Barachias," no one could have doubted that it referred to any other than Zacharias the son of Jehoiada, whose slaughter is recorded 2 Chronicles 24. It is certain the Jews own no other Zacharias slain in the Temple but himself...
And however a great part of it in these relations of theirs may be mere flourish, yet by the whole framing of the thing, it must needs be observed, that the slaughter of this Zacharias was so famous and rooted in the minds of that people generally, that when our Saviour speaks of one Zacharias, slain between the Temple and the altar, it cannot be imagined that they could understand him pointing at any other than this very man. As for his father being here called Barachias, and not Jehoiada, we have spoken to that matter elsewhere...
If any one hesitate about the changing of the name, let him say by what name he finds Jehoiada recited in that catalogue of priests set down in 1 Chronicles 6. It must be either some other name, or else we must suppose him wholly left out of that number. If by another name, you will say (supposing he be also called Barachias) he was then a man of three names. This indeed is no unusual thing with that nation for some to have more names than one: nay, if you will believe the Jewish doctors, even Moses himself had no less than ten.
- From the Talmud and Hebraica, Luke, Chapter 11, Section 51

Johann David Michaelis (AD 1717 - 1791): Abel and Zechariah [the son of Jehoiada] were named because the requiring of vengeance is mentioned only concerning them

Now it appears from 1 Chron. xxiv. 20 — 22. that Zacharias, who was slain between the temple and the altar, was the son, not of Barachias, but of Jehoiada: consequently if the account in the Chronicles be accurate, the reading Barachias at Matth. xxiii. 35. cannot be the true reading. Some commentators have had recourse to the supposition that Jehoiada and Barachias were different names of the same person: but this assertion is wholly incapable of proof, and is in itself highly improbable. Wetftein conjectures that St. Matthew purposely avoided the use of the word Jehoiada, because it contained in it the abbreviated name of Jehova, and therefore substituted Barachia. But this caution in respect to the abbreviation [?] was confined only to the number 15, which it is true the Jews never noted by [?] though Jod is 10, and He is 5. And even if this reverence for [?] extended to proper names, Wetftein's solution would be unsatisfactory, for in the Hebrew these two letters occur together in Barachia, as well as in Jehoiada. That Zacharias the eleventh of the the minor prophets, who was son of Barachias, was murdered, we read no where: and it is not probable that two different perfons named Zacharias, should both of them have been murdered under the very same circumstances. But if we admit that the eleventh of the minor prophets fell a sacrifice to the Jews, as well as the son of Jehoiada, yet Christ would rather have instanced the son of Jehoiada, because the murder of this person was not only particularly known, but was supposed to call aloud for vengeance. The blood therefore of this Zacharias was more properly mentioned with the blood of Abel, than the blood of another Zacharias, whose murder, even if he did fall a victim, was unknown.
- Introduction to the New Testament, page 172-174

Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (AD 1752 - 1827): Abel to Zechariah [the son of Jehoiada] was referring to the boundaries of the canon of scripture

The order in which the writings of the Old Testament now follow each other appears to be of extreme antiquity. Jesus Sirach the elder reckons out of the Old Testament the famous men, who deserve the esteem of posterity, in the very same order in which they succeed one another in our editions : the twelve lesser Prophets he throws together in one book and places it after Ezekiel (Sirach xlv.- xlix.). According to the New Testament, in the manuscripts of that day the series of Hagiographa commenced with the Psalms and the book of Chronicles closed the entire collection. For Christ uses the term Hagiographa of the Psalms, which He names as the first book thereof (Luke xxiv. 44 3 ) ; and when He wishes to cite the first and last instances of the shedding of innocent blood, from the history of the Old Testament, He chooses the example of that of Abel from Genesis as the first book of the Old Testament, and that of Zachariah from the book of Chronicles as the last book of all (Matthew xxiii. 35).
- Introduction to the study of the Old Testament, pages 31-32 (1780)

In extant historical records, the first time a person interpreted this passage as referring to the limits of the canon was AD 1780 (notably after the printing press standardized 2 Chronicles at the end of the Hebrew Bible).

Does the argument hold up against the historical record?

In light of the historical record, in order to accept this argument:

We must believe that Jesus expected his audience to have a common understanding that Abel to Zechariah meant Genesis to 2 Chronicles and was referring to the beginning and end of the scriptures
- Despite Bibles ending in 2 Chronicles were virtually unheard of prior to AD 1200 and only became common with the invention of the printing press.
- Despite that not a single Christian in extant historical records understood Jesus to be referring to the canon until AD 1780.
We must identify the Zechariah based on the location of his murder (between the altar and the temple), and not his name "Zechariah son of Berechiah".
- This Zechariah must be the son of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:21) as that is the only Zechariah that scripture explicitly identifies as martyred in the temple area.
  - Historical records of other Zechariahs martyred in the temple area (Rabbinic Targum on Zechariah the son of Berechiah, Protoevangelium of James/Origen on Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, Josephus on Zechariah the son of Baruch) must be dismissed.
- We must explain away "Son of Berechiah" by one of the following:
  1. "Berechiah" was a copyist error
    - Despite every major critical edition of the New Testament giving "son of Berechiah" as its preferred reading
  2. "Son of Berechiah" really means "descendent of Jehoiada"
    - Similar to how Ezra 5:1/6:14 refer to "Zechariah the son of Iddo" when he's really the grandson of Iddo (Zechariah 1:1).
    - The difficulty with this approach is that 2 Chronicles 24:22 explicitly says "King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son", not leaving any doubt as to the exact relationship.
  3. "Berechiah" was another name for "Jehoiada"
    - A pure guess, but supported by Jerome: "Barachiah means 'blessed of the Lord' in our language, and the justice of the priest Jehoiada is shown in the Hebrew language." [Jerome's Commentary on Matthew 23:35]
  4. Jesus was using a homiletic device of blending two people into one to enhance the praise of righteous men ("rabbinic name conflation").
    - In the Talmud, the rabbis would blend two people into one, that "the lecturer may in all possible ways enhance the praise of righteous and pious men, and wherever he finds reference in Holy Writ to the worthiness of a particular righteous man he should attribute any other virtue to him which is found in any other outstanding personality, if only this can be given Biblical support, however far-fetched" (Z. H. Chajes in The Student's Guide through the Talmud, Chapter 21, page 172-174)
    - The difficulty with this approach is that while we can grant that this interpretive method was used by rabbinic Judaism more than a century after Christ, what proof is there that this interpretive method existed at the time of Jesus and prior? The proofs usually given have numerous alternative explanations that are far more plausible.
      - The first proof offered is Mark 2:26, where Jesus tells the story recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. However while 1 Samuel 21 identifies the priest as Ahimelech, Mark 2:26 identifies the priest as Abiathar (the son of Ahimelech - 1 Samuel 22:20). Is this an example of this interpretive method? Or was Jesus merely saying "in the time of Abiathar", which is technically correct (1 Samuel 23:6,9)?
      - The second proof offered is the title prefixed to Psalm 34, where Achish (the philistine king with whom David sojourned in 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1) is called Abimelech (the philistine king with whom Abraham and Isaac sojourned in Genesis 20-21, 26). Was this an example of this interpretive method? Or was Achish just his actual name and Abimelech a title (like Pharoah) that he held?