Bel and the Dragon_.
47. 1 _Maccabees_.
48. 2 _Maccabees_.
49. 3 _Maccabees_.

The arrangement of books in the Latin _Vulgate_ agrees with that of the
Septuagint with the following exceptions: the two canonical books of
Ezra and Nehemiah appear together, as in the Septuagint, but under the
titles of 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras. Next follow the two apocryphal books of
Esdras (the latter wanting in the Septuagint), under the titles of 3
Esdras and 4 Esdras. The Greater Prophets, with Lamentations after
Jeremiah and Daniel after Ezekiel, are inserted before the twelve Minor
Prophets, which last stand in the order followed in our version.
Throwing out of account, therefore, the apocryphal books, the order of
the Vulgate is that followed by our English Bible.

From the above it is manifest that in neither the Hebrew, the
Greek, nor the Latin arrangement is the _order of time_ strictly
followed. The Hebrew, for example, to say nothing of the Psalms,
which were written in different ages, throws into the
Hagiographa Ruth, Job, Proverbs, etc., which are older than any
of the so-called latter prophets. The Hebrew places the books of
Kings, and the Greek and Latin not only these, but also the
books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, before all the
proper prophetical books, though it is well known that several
of these were much earlier. In the Hebrew arrangement, the three
Greater Prophets precede all the Minor Prophets, though several
of the latter were earlier than Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and even
Isaiah. In the Greek, on the contrary, Isaiah and Jeremiah, as
well as Ezekiel, are placed after even the prophets of the
Restoration. The biblical student should carefully remember
these facts. He must not hastily assume that the books of the
Old Testament stand in the order in which they were written, but
must determine the age of each for itself, according to the best
light that he can obtain. See further in the introductions to
the several books.

5. In high antiquity, the _continuous mode of writing_, (_scriptio
continua_,) without divisions between the words, was common. We cannot
indeed infer, from the continuous writing of the oldest manuscripts of
the New Testament, that the same method prevailed in the ancient Hebrew
writing; for in very ancient inscriptions and manuscripts, belonging to
different languages, the words are distinguished from e