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OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 177 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHAL BOOKS We shall now proceed to enumerate the apocryphal books: first the Apocrypha Proper, and next the See also:

rest of the Old and New Testament apocryphal literature. I. The Apocrypha Proper, or the apocrypha of the Old Testament as used by See also:English-speaking Protestants, consists of the following books: r Esdras, 2 Esdras, See also:Tobit, See also:Judith, Additions to See also:Esther, See also:Wisdom of See also:Solomon, See also:Ecclesiasticus, See also:Baruch, See also:Epistle of See also:Jeremy, Additions to See also:Daniel (See also:Song of the Three See also:Holy See also:Children, See also:History of Susannah, and See also:Bel and the See also:Dragon), See also:Prayer of See also:Manasses, r See also:Maccabees, 2 Maccabees. Thus the Apocrypha Proper constitutes the surplusage of the See also:Vulgate or See also:Bible of the See also:Roman See also:Church over the See also:Hebrew Old Testament. Since , this surplusage is in turn derived from the See also:Septuagint, from which the old Latin version was translated, it thus follows that the difference between the See also:Protestant and the Roman See also:Catholic Old Testament is, roughly speaking, traceable to the• difference between the Palestinian and the Alexandrian canons of the Old Testament. But this is only true with certain reservations; for the Latin Vulgate was revised by See also:Jerome according to the Hebrew, and, where Hebrew originals were wanting, according to the Septuagint. Furthermore, the Vulgate rejects 3 and 4 Maccabees and See also:Psalm cli., which generally appear in the Septuagint, while the Septuagint and See also:Luther's Bible reject 4 See also:Ezra, LITERATURE I77 which is found in the Vulgate and the Apocrypha. Proper. Luther's Bible, moreover, rejects also 3 Ezra. It should further be observed that the Vulgate adds the Prayer of Manasses and 3 and 4 Ezra after the New Testament as apocryphal. It is hardly possible to See also:form any See also:classification which is not open to some objection. In any See also:case the classification must be to some extent provisional, since scholars are still divided as to the See also:original See also:language, date and See also:place of See also:composition of some of the books which must come under our classification.' We may, however, discriminate (i.) the Palestinian and (ii.) the Hellenistic literature of the Old Testament, though even this distinction is open to serious objections.

The former literature was generally written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and seldom in See also:

Greek; the latter naturally in Greek. Next; within these literatures we shall distinguish three or four classes according to the nature of the subject' with which they See also:deal. Thus the books of which we have to treat will be classed as: (a) See also:Historical, (b) Legendary (Haggadic), (c) Apocalyptic, (d) Didactic or Sapiential. The Apocrypha Proper then would be classified as follows: i. Palestinian Jewish Literature: (a) Historical. (c) Apocalyptic. I (i.e. 3) Ezra. 2 (i.e.

End of Article: OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHAL

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