The Jewish apocrypha and pseudepigrapha () are religious texts written in large part by Jews, especially during the Second Temple period, not accepted as sacred manuscripts when the Hebrew Bible was canonized. Some of these books are considered sacred in certain Christian denominations and are included in their versions of the Old Testament. The Jewish apocrypha is distinctive from the New Testament apocrypha and Christian biblical apocrypha as it is the only one of these collections which works within a Jewish theological framework.
Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha in Judaism Some sects of Second Temple Judaism, such as the Essenes in Judaea and the Therapeutae in Alexandria, were said to have a "secret or hidden" literature. The Pharisees were familiar with these texts. The Apocalyptic literature is an example of this secret literature. Because they were based on unfulfilled prophecies, these books were not considered scripture but rather part of a literary form that flourished from 200 BCE to 100 CE. These works usually bore the names of ancient Hebrew worthies to establish their validity among the contemporaries of the true writers.
2 Esdras—a Greek text purportedly written by Ezra and not considered scripture in Judaism—reinforces this theory. When Ezra was inspired to dictate the sacred scriptures that were destroyed in the overthrow of Jerusalem:
Writings that were wholly apart from scriptural texts were designated as () by Chazal in tractate Sanhedrin, and reading them was controversial. The Talmud also generally discourages the reading of apocrypha; it's debated if one should merely avoid elevating apocrypha to the level of scripture, or if one is not to read apocrypha at all. In the following centuries, these apocrypha fell out of use in Judaism.
Books
Hebrew and Greek 1 Baruch () 2 Baruch () 3 Baruch () 1 Enoch () 2 Enoch () 3 Enoch () 1 Esdras () 2 Esdras () 1 Maccabees () 2 Maccabees () 3 Maccabees () 4 Maccabees () Additions to the Book of Esther () Additions to Daniel () Apocalypse of Abraham () Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres () Ascension of Isaiah () Assumption of Moses () Book of Gad the Seer () Book of Jubilees () Book of Judith () Book of Tobit () Book of Wisdom () Genesis Apocryphon () History of the Captivity in Babylon () Joseph and Aseneth () Letter of Aristeas () Letter of Jeremiah () () Life of Adam and Eve () Prayer of Manasseh () Psalm 151 () Psalms 152–155 () Psalms of Solomon ()
Book of Sirach () Testament of Abraham () Testament of Job () Testament of Qahat () Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs () Visions of Amram () Gabriel's Revelation ()
Geʿez/Haymanot Texts accepted by or originating from Jews: Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron () () () () ()
() () () () () ()
See also Apocrypha Pseudepigrapha Deuterocanonical books
References