Documents for "Bible: Apocrypha":

• Apocrypha [Gr.,=hidden things], term signifying a collection of early Jewish writings excluded from the canon of the Hebrew scriptures. It is not clear why the term was chosen. The Apocrypha include the...

• Baruch early Jewish book included in the Septuagint, but not included in the Hebrew Bible and placed in the Apocrypha in the Authorized Version. It is named for a Jewish prince Baruch (fl. 600 BC), friend...

• Bel and the Dragon customary name for chapter 14 of the Book of Daniel, a passage included in the Septuagint and the Apocrypha. It was written possibly in the 1st cent. BC as a response to Gentile threat to the Jewish culture and state. The first half recounts the story of the Babylonian idol Bel, ministered to by priests...

• Ecclesiasticus see Sirach.

• Esdras [Gr. from Heb. Ezra ], name of several books found in the Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. The New Revised Standard Version (following the Authorized Version) maintains the titles Ezra and Nehemiah for the books to which the Vulgate gives the titles First and Second Esdras respectively. The Septuagint gives the title Second Esdras to a work in which both books are combined. In the Hebrew Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah are also a...

• Jeremy English form of Jeremiah. The Epistle of Jeremy is a title given to the sixth chapter of Baruch.

• Judith [Heb.,=Jewess], early Jewish book included in the Septuagint, but not included in the Hebrew Bible, and placed in the Apocrypha of Protestant Bibles. It recounts an attack on the Jews by an army...

• Maccabees two books included in the Septuagint and placed as the last two books in the Old Testament of the Vulgate; they are not included in the Hebrew Bible and are placed in the Apocrypha in Protestant Bibles. First and Second Maccabees are...

• Manasseh, Prayer of see under Manasseh.

• Nicodemus, Gospel of book composed of the Acts of Pilate and Christ's Descent into Hell, part of the loosely defined New Testament Apocrypha. The Acts of Pilate is an amplified account of the trial, crucifixion, and...

• Sirach sī´rek or Ecclesiasticus [Lat. from Gr.,=ecclesiastical], book included in the Septuagint and in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament but not included in the Hebrew Bible and placed in the Apocrypha of the Authorized Version and Protestant Bibles since. It is called also the...

• Susanna 1 Heroine of a story told in the Book of Daniel, in a chapter (13) placed in the Apocrypha in the Authorized Version (see Daniel ). Two elders attempt to seduce Susanna and are repulsed; they accuse her of illicit relations with a young man, but she is saved from punishment by young Daniel, who traps the false accusers in...

• Three Holy Children see Three Young Men.

• Tobias see Tobit.

• Tobit [Gr. from Heb. Tobijah = "God is my good" ], book of the Old Testament Apocrypha , not included in the Hebrew Bible. It is the account of Tobit, a devout Jew in exile, and of his son Tobias. Despite his many good works, Tobit is mysteriously blinded and despairingly begs God to...

• Wisdom see Wisdom of Solomon.

• Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach see Sirach.

• Wisdom of Solomon or Wisdom, early Jewish book included in the Septuagint and the Vulgate but not in the Hebrew Bible. The book opens with an exhortation to seek wisdom, followed by a statement on worldly attitudes. Chapter 3 is an eloquent passage on the immortality of the just and the...