Old Testament Apocrypha

Scope and List

The Old Testament Apocrypha (books outside the canon) is the term used in Protestantism for Jewish writings that appear in Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament, such as the Septuagint, but are absent from the Hebrew Bible (the Masoretic Text). The word "Apocrypha" comes from the Greek apokrypha ("hidden things"). The Catholic Church accepts some of these books into the canon and calls them the "deuterocanonical books."

The books included in the Catholic canon are as follows:

• Tobit: the story of the family of Tobit, an Israelite living in exile
• Judith: the story of the widow Judith, who saved her people by slaying the enemy commander
• 1 and 2 Maccabees: accounts of the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid dynasty in the second century BC
• Wisdom (of Solomon) and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus): books belonging to the wisdom literature
• Baruch: a work transmitted under the name of Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe
• The Greek additions to Esther and Daniel: including the Prayer of Esther, the story of Susanna, and the story of Bel and the Dragon

The Orthodox Church also accepts additional books, such as 1 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh. The list of accepted books varies somewhat from church to church.

Historical Background

Most of these books are believed to have been written between the third century BC and the first century AD, that is, around the intertestamental period. Many were either written in Greek or transmitted in Greek translation. The early church used the Septuagint as its Greek Old Testament and read these books as well.

Relationship to the New Testament

The New Testament nowhere quotes an apocryphal book by name. The Feast of Dedication mentioned in John 10:22 originated in the rededication of the temple recorded in 1 Maccabees 4. Hebrews 11:35 speaks of those who "were tortured, not accepting deliverance," and many interpreters understand this as a reference to the account of the martyrs in 2 Maccabees 7. The Book of Enoch, quoted in Jude 1:14-15, is classified in Protestantism not as Apocrypha but as Pseudepigrapha (books written under an assumed name).

Views by Tradition

• The Catholic Church definitively affirmed the deuterocanonical books as canonical at the Council of Trent in 1546. The prayer for the dead in 2 Maccabees 12:43-46 is cited as one of the grounds for the doctrine of purgatory.
• Lutheranism: In his 1534 German Bible, Martin Luther placed the Apocrypha in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments. He presented these books as not equal to Holy Scripture yet profitable to read.
• Presbyterian and other Reformed churches: Chapter 1, section 3 of the Westminster Confession of Faith confesses that the Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, is no part of the canon and has no authority in the church.
• Anglicanism: Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles states that the Church reads the Apocrypha for example of life and instruction of manners but does not apply it to establish any doctrine.

In the Korean Church

The Bibles widely used in Korean Protestantism, such as the New Korean Revised Version, do not include the Apocrypha. The Korean Common Bible, published jointly by Catholics and Protestants in 1977, included the deuterocanonical books in its Catholic edition. In Catholic usage, the Korean term for "Apocrypha" (oegyeong) is sometimes applied to the books that Protestants call Pseudepigrapha. As a result, the same word may refer to different books depending on the church.