Protocanonical books Protocanonical books The protocanonical books are those books of the Old Testament that are also included in the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) and that came to be considered canonical during the formational period of Christianity. The term "protocanonical" is often used to contrast these books to the deuterocanonical books or apocrypha, which "were sometimes doubted" by some in the early church, and are considered non-canonical by most Protestants. There are typically 39 protocanonical books in most Christian bibles, which correspond to the 24 books in the Jewish Tanakh. The list of protocanonical books is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua,
Leviticus 19 (26-36) and a general instruction to obey all of God's commands (37). The laws of Leviticus 19 are put in no obvious order, and as a result scholars tend to think that the chapter includes a collection of regulations from various sources. The practice of leaving a portion of crops in the field for poor people or foreigners to use, mentioned in verses 9 and 10, reappears in the second chapter of the book of Ruth. In Judaism, the whole chapter is part of the weekly Torah portion (parashah) "Kedoshim" () which comprises Leviticus 19:1-20:27. Leviticus 19 Leviticus 19 is