Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible
The deuterocanonical books accepted by Catholic and Orthodox traditions but not the Protestant or Jewish canons. Includes 1-2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Manasses, 1-2 Maccabees, and additions to Esther and Daniel. Note: Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon are catalogued separately.
Translation: King James Version / Douay-Rheims tradition (public-domain)
Overview
The Deuterocanonical Books, also called the Apocrypha by Protestants, occupy a fascinating and contested space in the history of the Bible. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles include these texts as fully canonical Scripture; Protestant Bibles following the Reformation tradition typically exclude them or include them in a separate section. The texts themselves include wisdom literature, historical narratives, additions to canonical books, and devotional poetry, all composed in the Second Temple period between roughly 300 BCE and 100 CE.
The core deuterocanonical books are Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch, along with additions to the Greek text of Daniel and Esther. These books were part of the Septuagint — the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures — and were therefore the Scriptures used by most early Christians, who read the Bible in Greek. Their inclusion in most early church biblical lists and their use by New Testament authors explains why they were accepted as Scripture by Catholic and Orthodox Christianity.
For any reader of the New Testament, these books are essential context. They fill the 400-year gap between Malachi and Matthew, providing priceless information about Jewish history, theology, and practice during the Hellenistic period that directly shaped the world of Jesus and the apostles. They show how Judaism evolved under Greek cultural pressure, how resurrection theology developed, and how the Jewish Scriptures were interpreted in the centuries immediately before the New Testament.
- Hebrews 11:35 (martyrs who refused release to gain a better resurrection = 2 Maccabees 7)
- John 10:22 (Festival of Dedication / Hanukkah = 1 Maccabees 4)
- Romans 1:18-32 (Gentile inexcusability = Wisdom of Solomon 13-14)
- 1 Corinthians 1:24 (Christ as Wisdom = Wisdom of Solomon 7-8)
- John 6 (bread of life = Sirach 24's Wisdom invitation)
- Matthew 6 (almsgiving, prayer, fasting = Tobit 4 and 12)
The Hanukkah story — the miraculous oil, the Maccabean revolt, and the rededication of the Temple — is not told anywhere in the Hebrew Bible or Protestant Old Testament. First and Second Maccabees are the only ancient Jewish sources that narrate these events. Without them, one of the most observed Jewish holidays would have no surviving ancient narrative source.