I'v spoken of the value of the Apocrypha with regards to including it in the Bible in past threads. You are certainly welcome to talk about it in this thread, but my focus is on compiling as complete as possible the list of extra-Biblical books. I've seen various lists and Bible editions on the Internet that include or omit different books. The purpose of this exercise is to create a list that I as a reader of religious texts can reference when searching for the various scattered texts. The rule for any book to be included in the list is that it be Hebrew religious literature written at the times when the Bible was being written and compiled and at some point was a candidate for inclusion in the Bible. LDS literature does not count (sorry Mormons) So without further ado here we go. Here are the books that appear in my NRSV Bible sectioned off between the Old Testament and the New Testament: Tobit Judith Additions to Esther Wisdom of Solomon Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 1 Baruch Letter of Jeremiah (often considered an add on to 1 Baruch) Additions to Daniel: Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees (At this point the Roman Catholic cannon ends and the following books are accepted as cannon by different Eastern Orthodox churches. Different churches accept different books) 1 Esdras Prayer of Manasseh Psalm 151 3 Maccabees 2 Esdras (can be divided into 3 parts and different parts are accepted by different churches. Purgatory is mentioned here) 4 Maccabees --- That is where my Bible stops. Next we have the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with their additional content. I've read Enoch, but none of the others: Jubilees Enoch 1, 2 and 3 Meqabyan 4 Baruch Josippon (The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the ONLY church with additional New Testament Cannon Here it is.) Sinodos (copied and pasted from Wikipedia) Ser`atä Seyon (30 canons) Te'ezaz (71 canons) Gessew (56 canons) Abtelis (81 canons) I-II Covenant Ethiopic Clement Ethiopic Didascalia --- Then we have books from Syriac Christianity, a sect found in various parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. This one is short. 2 Baruch Psalms 152, 153, 154 and 155 --- Then there are some odd texts I found that no church accepts as cannon but have some kind of link to books considered Cannon. These are: 3 Baruch 5 Maccabees Jasher Psalms of Solomon (found in the Septuagint) --- Here is where my list ends and where I hope you can contribute. I've made no mention of the New Testament Apocrypha which includes the Gnostic Gospels. The list for this is even more scattered than the Old Testament Apocrypha. I have found no comprehensive list so far. Some books are lost while others have not been translated into English (as is the case with some of the Old Testament Apocrypha) so this will be extremely difficult to compile. But let's try!
Two more from me: 2 Enoch 3 Enoch Again, these books are part of no Cannon but are additions to 1 Enoch written when the Bible was being compiled. There will be more from me unless you beat me to the other titles! lol
From the CEB = Tobit 1234567891011121314 Judith 12345678910111213141516 Greek Esther 12345678910 Wisdom 12345678910111213141516171819 Sirach 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051 Baruch 12345 Letter of Jeremiah 1 Prayer of Azariah 1 Susanna 1 Bel and the Dragon 1 1 Maccabees 12345678910111213141516 2 Maccabees 123456789101112131415 1 Esdras 123456789 Prayer of Manasseh 1 Psalm 151 1 3 Maccabees 1234567 2 Esdras 12345678910111213141516 4 Maccabees 123456789101112131415161718
Here are the remaining texts referenced in the Wikipedia page of the Bible: Assumption of Moses Letter of Aristeas Life of Adam and Eve (Apocalypse of Moses) Ascension of Isaiah Sibylline Oracles Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (I think that's the whole Old Testament Apocrypha. Correct me if I'm wrong. Now for the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament Apocrypha!)
Here is an interesting fact: The Apocrypha has not been put in chronological order. The earliest event described in the Apocrypha (at least in MY Bible) is in Psalm 151 where David gives a brief biography of his life shortly after defeating Goliath. The latest event described in the Apocrypha is the end of the reign of Maccabean leader John Hyrcanus in 1 Maccabees in 104 BCE. I don't know where on the timeline the book of Sirach would fall in.
Do you know who Goliath was? It seems that a lot of the biblical events took place at the same time although they are in books that were supposedly written centuries apart.
