Apocrypha

What is the Apocrypha?

The Apocrypha — also called the Deuterocanonical books in Catholic and Orthodox tradition — is a collection of Jewish religious writings composed in the four centuries between the close of the Old Testament (c. 400 BC) and the rise of the New Testament church. They were preserved in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, printed in the original 1611 King James Bible between the Old and New Testaments, and counted as Scripture by the majority of Christians worldwide.

These thirteen books fill the 'silent years' between Malachi and Matthew with the world the New Testament writers actually grew up in — the Hasmonean revolt, the rededication of the Temple (commemorated by Hanukkah), the rise of apocalyptic literature, the deepening of Jewish wisdom traditions, and stories of martyrdom under Hellenistic and Roman oppression that resound through the New Testament epistles.

Whether you read them as canonical Scripture or as the most important window we have into Second-Temple Judaism, the Apocrypha is essential context for understanding the New Testament — and a body of literature that has shaped Christian art, liturgy, and theology for two thousand years.

When was the Apocrypha written?

The Apocryphal books were composed mostly in the three centuries before Christ. Some — Sirach, Tobit, 1 Maccabees, Judith — were originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic and survive primarily in Greek translation. Hebrew fragments of Tobit and Sirach were recovered at Qumran among the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Cairo Geniza, confirming the Semitic origins of texts the church had known mostly in Greek. Others — Wisdom of Solomon, 2 Maccabees, the Greek additions to Daniel and Esther — were composed in Greek from the start.

Most of these books were transmitted to the church through the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament made by Alexandrian Jewish scholars beginning in the 3rd century BC. From the Septuagint they passed into the Latin Vulgate (Jerome, c. AD 400), then into every major medieval and reformation-era Bible — including the original 1611 King James Version, which placed the Apocrypha as a distinct section between the Old and New Testaments following the 1611 binding pattern.

Canon: How Christian Traditions Differ

Christian traditions divide on the canonical status of these books. The Roman Catholic Church recognises seven of them as Deuterocanonical Scripture — fully canonical, alongside the Hebrew Old Testament: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch (with the Letter of Jeremiah), and 1 & 2 Maccabees, plus expanded versions of Esther and Daniel. This canon was affirmed at the Council of Trent (1546).

The Eastern Orthodox canon is broader still, adding 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, and (in the Slavonic tradition) 2 Esdras and 4 Maccabees. The Anglican and Lutheran traditions place them between the testaments as edifying but non-doctrinal reading. Most modern Protestant traditions follow the shorter Hebrew canon and treat them as historically important but non-canonical — though they remain printed in many study Bibles and read in liturgical contexts.

The Jewish canon, finalised around the late first century AD, does not include the Apocrypha. The reason most often cited is that these books — though respected — were not part of the Hebrew Tanakh and were composed largely in Greek, after the prophetic age was understood to have closed with Malachi.

Why the Apocrypha Still Matters

Even where they are not received as canonical, the Apocryphal books are indispensable for understanding the world of the New Testament. 1 & 2 Maccabees supply the only sustained narrative of the Hanukkah miracle Jesus celebrated in John 10. Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 ('she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God') stands behind New Testament Christology in Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 1:15. Sirach's practical wisdom shapes the ethical instruction of James. The seven martyred brothers of 2 Maccabees 7 are echoed in Hebrews 11:35. Early church fathers — including Clement, Augustine, and Aquinas — quote the Apocrypha as Scripture freely.

Whether read devotionally, historically, or as fully canonical Scripture, the Apocrypha rewards careful reading and supplies the missing link between the Old and New Testaments.