The Biblical Apocrypha

THE BIBLICAL APOCRYPHA (Jewish, c. 200 BCE-400 CE)

The ancient texts which Protestants call "the Apocrypha" ("hidden") and the Catholics call "Deuterocanonical" ("secondary canon") are books that were included in a 3rd-century-BCE Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures (the Septuagint), but are not considered canonical by the Jews themselves. They are not part of the Protestant Bible (though sometimes printed between the Old and New Testaments, and read in some churches) but are incorporated into the Catholic Bible. Thus the Protestants have 66 books, the Catholics 73 (plus passages in other books that the Catholics include but the Protestants do not).

• The 14 additional books in the King James Bible (bringing the full count to 80): 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, Wisdom (of Solomon), Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach), Baruch, Song of the Three Children, Story of Susanna, The Idol Bel and the Dragon (the last three added to Daniel), the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. The Catholics add most of the same.

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