Gospel

Biblical Apocrypha

by Miz KJV Only
09/08/20
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The Biblical Apocrypha from the Ancient Greek: ἀπόκρυφος, denotes the collection of apocryphal ancient books thought to have been written sometime between 200 BC and 400 AD.Some Christian Churches include some or all of the same texts within the body of their version of the Old Testament.

The seven books which compose the Protestant Apocrypha, first published as such in Luther's Bible (1534) are considered canonical Old Testament books by the Catholic Church, affirmed by the Council of Rome (AD 382) and later reaffirmed by the Council of Trent; they are also considered canonical by the Eastern Orthodox Church and are referred to as anagignoskomena per the Synod of Jerusalem. The Anglican Communion accepts "the Apocrypha for instruction in life and manners, but not for the establishment of doctrine.

King James Version

The English-language King James Version (KJV) of 1611 followed the lead of the Luther Bible in using an inter-testamental section labelled "Books called Apocrypha", or just "Apocrypha" at the running page header. The KJV followed the Geneva Bible of 1560 almost exactly (variations are marked below). The section contains the following:

• 1 Esdras (Vulgate 3 Esdras)


• 2 Esdras (Vulgate 4 Esdras)


• Tobit


• Judith ("Judeth" in Geneva)


• Rest of Esther (Vulgate Esther 10:4 – 16:24)


• Wisdom


• Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach)


• Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy ("Jeremiah" in Geneva) (all part of Vulgate Baruch)


• Song of the Three Children (Vulgate Daniel 3:24–90)


• Story of Susanna (Vulgate Daniel 13)


• The Idol Bel and the Dragon (Vulgate Daniel 14)


• Prayer of Manasseh (Daniel)


• 1 Maccabees


• 2 Maccabees

      Modern editions

• All King James Bibles published before 1666 included the Apocrypha,^[41] though separately to denote them as not equal to Scripture proper, as noted by Jerome in the Vulgate, to which he gave the name, "The Apocrypha. In 1826,the National Bible Society of Scotland petitioned the British and Foreign Bible Society not to print the Apocrypha, resulting in a decision that no BFBS funds were to pay for printing any Apocryphal books anywhere. They reasoned that not printing the Apocrypha within the Bible would prove to be less costly to produce. Since that time most of the modern editions of the Bible and re-printings of the King James Bible omit the Apocrypha section. Modern non-Catholic re-printings of the Clementine Vulgate commonly omit the Apocrypha section. Many re-printings of older versions of the Bible now omit the apocrypha and many newer translations and revisions have never included them at all.