An Introduction to the

Deutero-Canonical Books

What is the Apocrypha? “Apocrypha” Greek word:

Literally means “things that are hidden.” Books that appeared in the Greek (Septuagint), Latin (Vulgate), Coptic (and its

Arabic version), as well as the Syriac and other translations of the Old Testament, but are not included in the original Hebrew Scriptures.

All are considered canonical (hence the word deutero-canonical or second canonical) and authoritative by all Orthodox Churches and by the Roman Catholic Church.

Martin Luther: “books which are not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures, and nevertheless are

useful and good to read.” In his translation of the Bible into German, Martin Luther differentiated the books

originally in Hebrew from those of Greek origin. The latter he labeled the Apocrypha.

What is the Apocrypha? When the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible was published in 1611,

it contained, between the Old and the New Testaments, the books of the Apocrypha.

Other Protestant leaders simply omitted these writings from their Bibles, and the Westminster Confession (1646) dismissed them as non-biblical, secular literature. In the course of time printers began to issue editions of the King James Bible without the books of the Apocrypha.

The Deutero-Canonical Books Tobit Judith The Additions to the Book of Esther (Verses 10:3a-k) Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach Baruch The Letter (Epistle) of Jeremiah (= Baruch Chapter 6) The 3 additions to the Book of Daniel:

The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews (68 verses between 3:23 – 24)

Susanna (= Chapter 13 or in the beginning) Bel and the Dragon (= Chapter 14 or at the end of Chapter 12)

The Deutero-Canonical Books 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees Psalm 151: follows Psalm 150 in the Greek Bible (not included in

the Roman Canon)

The Role of Ezra the Priest Ezra was a famous Jewish priest of the tribe of Levi, and a

descendant of Aaron. He was the first scribe. He was born during the period of exile and he lead the second

group of returning Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem in 458 BC. During the period of exile, many copies of the Scriptures were either

destroyed or lost. Furthermore, many of the Jews born in exile were Hebrew-illiterate

and therefore unable to read their own Scriptures. Ezra's greatest contribution was his teaching, establishing, and

implementing the Five Books of Moses among the Jews.

The Role of Ezra the Priest (Ezra 7:6-10 NKJV)  6This Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a

skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him. 7Some of the children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. 8And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. 10For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

(Neh 9:3 NKJV) And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God.

The Role of Ezra the Priest He was the first person to compile the Jewish Scriptures into one

collection. Jewish tradition says he authored Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah. Ezra is sometimes called “the father of Judaism,” though others

offer a different opinion. He did most to codify, emphasize, and sent up the Law of Moses.

The Ritual of TranscribingHebrew Scripture

The scribes were specially chosen people who transcribed the Holy Scriptures according to rigorous standards determined by the Jewish High Council. (The council, which was founded by Ezra, had three essential principles; the third required the Jews to be a solid fortress in protecting the Torah.)

(Rom 3:1-2 NKJV) What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

The Ritual of TranscribingHebrew Scripture

Scribes were ordered to follow the following traditions: Before transcribing bathe, wear the special Hebrew clothes and

prepare your mind with holy submissive thoughts. Use scrolls made from the skins of pure animals. Use pure black ink made of charcoal and coke powder mixed in

gum. Do not write a single word out of memory, always look at the original

text and read out loud the word before copying it. Before writing any of God’s names, pause and clean your pen; and

before writing the name of the Almighty, wash your entire body. At the end of your transcription, if you find three or more errors

destroy this copy and start all over.

The Ritual of TranscribingHebrew Scripture

Scribes were ordered to follow the following traditions: You should know how many letters are in a page before starting to

transcribe it. Each page should contain 30 equal lines. Count the number of times each letter occurred in each page and in the entire book.

Do not talk with other people during the transcription session.

The Septuagint After the death of Alexander the Great, Egypt and later Palestine fell

under the rule of Ptolemy I Soter, and his successors. The Ptolemies made Alexandria a center of learning and commerce. Ptolemaic rule directly impacted Jews both inside and outside of

Palestine. Ptolemy I Soter (323-283 BC) transported large numbers of Jews

from Palestine to Alexandria for settlement. This was the beginning of a large and influential Jewish community,

which prospered by maintaining good relations with the Ptolemies, frequently serving as mercenaries and merchants.

Soon Alexandria became a major center of world Jewish culture. The Alexandrian Jews imbibed Hellenism (the Greek culture) much

more deeply than the Jews of Judea.

The Septuagint This Hellenization trend necessitated the translation of the Old

Testament writings into Greek. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (282-246 BC) built the School of Alexandria,

to help spread the Greek culture and philosophy. He then arranged with the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem to send

72 translators (six elders from each of the twelve tribes of Israel) to Alexandria.

As they sailed from Judea to Alexandria, two of them died during the trip, while the rest arrived in Alexandria and started the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek (280 BC).

This translation, called the Septuagint (or LXX), in its complete form, became widely used in the Greeko-Roman Empire around the time of Jesus Christ.

The Septuagint It included all the second canonical books recognized by our Coptic

Church. There are at least three complete and concordant historical

manuscripts of this version: the Codex Vaticanus (4th century AD), the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century AD) and the Codex Alexandrinus (5th century AD), as well as numerous less complete or more recent manuscripts.

The Dead Sea Scrolls Between 1946 - 1960 AD, about 40,000 fragments of 800 ancient

manuscripts were discovered and retrieved from eleven caves near the Dead Sea (the caves of Qumran).

Of these 170 are fragments of Old Testament books (including manuscripts of each Old Testament book except Esther). The most important may be a nearly complete text of Isaiah.

The rest of the scrolls include commentaries on Habakkuk and Micah, Jewish documents from the interbiblical and New Testament time periods – including parts of the deutero-canonical writings, as well as writings that describe the community at Qumran and the lifestyle of the Essene Jews that inhabited them.

Scrolls were found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

The Dead Sea Scrolls The scrolls themselves have been dated to about 200 BC to 70 AD,

and are believed to have been transcribed by the Essenes (who lived during that period).

The Dead Sea Scrolls provide Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts, which are one thousand years older than any other Old Testament manuscripts.

Before 1947, the earliest Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts known to exist dated to the late ninth century AD (the Masoretic Jews).

Josephus A Jewish Historian (37-100 AD). He listed 22 of the books that Ezra had compiled, and which

became the basis of the Hebrew Canon established by the council of Jamnia (100 AD).

From that point onwards, a standard Hebrew text has been recognized.

Josephus He also referred to the deutero-canonical books:

“It is true, our history has been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but has not been esteemed of the like authority with the former (i.e. Older Scriptures) by our forefathers, because there has not been an exact succession of prophets since that time. How firmly we have given credit to those books of our own nation, is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change in them. But it becomes natural to all Jews immediately and from their very birth, to esteem those books to contain divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and if occasion be, willingly to die for them.” (Josephus Against Apion, 1.8:41-42)

The Hidden Books There are probably many reasons why Ezra, and later the Council of

Jamnia, did not include all the books of the Septuagint when compiling the Jewish Scriptures. 1 Maccabees covers the period 180 – 135 BC after the time of Ezra. 2 Maccabees was originally written in Greek. Similarly, the Wisdom of Ben Sirach was written in the third century BC, and

translated to Greek by his grandson in the late second century BC. Only then was it added to the Septuagint.

The book of Tobit stayed as a family secret and heritage until the second century BC, when it was released to the public.

The Hidden Books There are probably many reasons why Ezra, and later the Council of

Jamnia, did not include all the books of the Septuagint when compiling the Jewish Scriptures. The Hebrew version of the book of Esther:

Makes no mention of the name of God, the God of the Jews. This is possibly explained on the basis of the political climate at that time.

This version was accessible to the non-Jews, including their enemies, and were routinely read every year during the Purim festivities.

The “hidden” chapters however, which are found only in the Greek version, show a deep spiritual attitude of worship towards the Almighty Sovereign God.

Prior to the first century, there was an emerging distinction between the books of scripture which are to be available to the public and the others which are to be “hidden,” and thus kept from public access, since the wisdom of God is reserved for the elect community alone.

The Hidden Books This tradition of secret writings may be the origin of the notion that some of

the biblical books were to be kept “hidden” (apocrypha). But by the end of the first century AD there were Jews who were dismissing

as non-authoritative many of the writings that the editors of the Septuagint had treated as biblical by the very act of including them among the scriptures in Greek.

There were over 70 “hidden” books, many of which were written in Greek. In a curious shift of connotations, the term that for some Jews initially

implied “secret” was now used by Protestants to mean inauthentic and lacking in authority for the community of faith.

In spite of this historical division of opinion among church bodies about the Apocrypha, in recent decades important translations of the Bible initiated by Protestants have included these works as part of the body of Sacred Scripture             

The Masoretic Jews These Jews were scholars who lived during the seventh to tenth

centuries AD. They edited the Hebrew text into its current version. They also added to it vowel sounds, rendering it more readable to

non-natives.

Other Translations Of The Old Testament

The Coptic Translation: This spread throughout Egypt during the second and third centuries. By the mid-third century, it was widely used in our churches. We still have most passages of scripture retained in the Coptic language.

The Latin Vulgate: The first official Latin Bible was translated by St. Jerome during the fourth century

at the request of the Roman Pope Damasus. (“Vulgate” means “for the people as a whole”)

St. Jerome added prefaces to the deutero-canonical books, noting their absence in the Hebrew canon.

The Vulgate also includes the two books of Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh, as an addendum. These books are considered apocryphal rather than canonical

by the Catholic Church.   

The Apocrypha inThe New Testament

Wis Sol 13:5,8 (NRSVA) 5For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. 8Yet again, not even they are to be excused.

Wis Sol 14:24,27 (NRSVA) 24they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery, 27For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.

Rom 1:20-25,29 (NKJV) 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds

The Apocrypha inThe New Testament

Wis Sol 13:5,8 (NRSVA) 5For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. 8Yet again, not even they are to be excused.

Wis Sol 14:24,27 (NRSVA) 24they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery, 27For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.

and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. …29being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-

mindedness; they are whisperers.

The Apocrypha inThe New Testament

Wis Sol 12:12,20 (NRSVA) 12For who will say, “What have you done?” or will resist your judgment? Who will accuse you for the destruction of nations that you made? Or who will come before you to plead as an advocate for the unrighteous? 20For if you punished with such great care and indulgence the enemies of your servants and those deserving of death, granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness.

Rom 9:20-23 (NKJV) 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? 22What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory.

The Apocrypha inThe New Testament

Wis Sol 15:7 (NRSVA) A potter kneads the soft earth and laboriously molds each vessel for our service, fashioning out of the same clay both the vessels that serve clean uses and those for contrary uses, making all alike; but which shall be the use of each of them the worker in clay decides.

Rom 9:20-23 (NKJV) 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? 22What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory.

The Apocrypha inThe New Testament

Wis Sol 9:15 (NRSVA) for a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind.

Sirach 5:11 (NRSVA) Be quick to hear, but deliberate in answering.

2 Cor 5:1,4 (NKJV) 1For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 4For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

James 1:19 (NKJV) So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

The Apocrypha inThe New Testament

Sirach 15:11-12 (NRSVA) 11 Do not say, “It was the Lord’s doing that I fell away”; for He does not do what he hates. 12Do not say, “It was He who led me astray”; for he has no need of the sinful.

James 1:13 (NKJV) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

The Apocrypha inThe New Testament

Wis Sol 7:25 (NRSVA) For she is a breath of the power of God & a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.

1 Maccabees 4:59 (NRSVA) Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.

Heb 1:3 (NKJV) who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

John 10:22 (NKJV) Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

Canonicity of theApocrypha

Many early church fathers (first four centuries, as is evident in the Apostolic Fathers) quoted these books in their teachings: Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Cyprian (none of whom knew any Hebrew) quoted passages from the deuterocanonical books, as “divine Scripture” and “inspired”. Hippolytus of Rome (170-230? AD) included in his Commentary on Daniel passages from the Additions to Daniel (Susanna and the Song of the Three Jews).

Others as Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Origen, Ambrose, Basil, Hilary, Chrysostom, Augustine, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Eusabius and Athanasius of Alexandria also used these books freely.

Saint Athanasius in the fourth century listed these books as canonical. Augustine (354-430 AD) treated them as canonical.

Canonicity of theApocrypha

Numerous church councils confirmed their canonicity such as the Council of Hippo (393 AD), and Carthage (397 & 419).

In reaction to the Protestant criticism of these books, the Council of Trent (April 8, 1546 by the Roman Catholics) declared the infallibility and canonicity of these books. They pronounced an anathema upon anyone who “does not accept as sacred and canonical the aforesaid books in their entirety and with all their parts … ”

The Greek Orthodox Church adopted as authoritative a list of these books that were dismissed by Protestants as “apocryphal.”

Our Coptic Church also considers them fully canonical. We include many deuterocanonical passages in our prayers and liturgy, especially during Lent and Holy Week (eg: Prayer of the 3 Young Men, Susanna, Tobit, Psalm 151, readings from Sirach)

Classification of the OT Books