Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, 1 Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah, Susannah, and
Bel and the Dragon. Furthermore, the partially preserved Cologne–
Chester Beatty Papyrus 967 (second-third century) contains fragmentary
versions of Susannah and Bel and the Dragon alongside several biblical
books (Esther, Ezekiel, Daniel). Finally, like Codex Alexandrinus, the
seventh-century Codex T transmits the Prayer of Manasseh among the
Odes appended to the Psalms.
The manuscript tradition thus reflects a fluid understanding of where
the boundaries for the literature not preserved in Hebrew lie. The manu-
scripts attest the following works, which are omitted from modern collec-
tions of the “Apocrypha” or “Deuterocanonicals”:Psalms of Solomon, 3
and 4 Maccabees. This fluidity is echoed by the Syriac manuscript7a1(see
above) and, of course, the Ethiopic Orthodox tradition.
At the same time, two works not found in the Greek but preserved in
many Latin manuscripts have found their way into this collection: 2 Esdras
(chaps. 3–14 of which =4 Ezra) and the Prayer of Manasseh (first attested
in Syriac manuscripts in the ninth century and in Latin manuscripts from
the thirteenth century, but also found in the Cairo Geniza).“Apocrypha” in Antiquity
Luther’s view of “apocrypha” as profitable to read without being Scripture
goes back to Jerome. The prefaces to his Latin translations of Jewish and
Old Testament writings (ca. 405c.e.) make it clear that for Jerome “apocry-
pha” such as Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Tobit, Judith, and 1 and
2 Maccabees could be read for edification in the church; however, the
church does not receive them “among the canonical books,” and they
should not be used to establish doctrine (so Jerome’s prologues to the book
of Kings [=Prologus Galeatus], Judith, Tobit, and the books of Solomon).
Jerome’s use of the term “apocrypha” was, however, not consistent.
He not only could admit in the translation prefaces a certain overlap be-
tween what he called “apocrypha” and “pseudepigrapha” (e.g., in the case
of Wisdom of Solomon), he could even appear to equate the two terms al-
together. In a letter (107.12) written in the year 403, he instructs a certain
Laeta to have her daughter “avoid all apocryphal writings” because they
cannot be read for “the truth of the doctrines they contain,” they “are not
actually written by those to whom they are ascribed,” and they have
“many faults” that “have been introduced into them.” This negative as-184loren t. stuckenbruckEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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