Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance

This comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the Old Testament apocryphal books summarizes their context, message, and significance. The first edition has been very well reviewed and widely adopted. It is the most substantial introduction to the Apocrypha available and has become a standard authority on the topic. The second edition has been substantially revised and updated throughout to reflect the latest scholarship. The book includes a foreword by James H. Charlesworth.

Contents

Foreword by James H. Charlesworth

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the First Edition

1. Introduction: The Value of the Apocrypha

2. Historical Context: "The Yoke of the Gentiles"

3. Tobit: "Better Is Almsgiving with Justice"

4. Judith: "Hear Me Also, a Widow"

5. Greek Esther: "The Aid of the All-Seeing God and Savior"

6. Wisdom of Solomon: "The Righteous Live Forever"

7. Wisdom of Ben Sira: "In All Wisdom There Is the Doing of Torah"

8. Baruch: "Return with Tenfold Zeal to Seek God"

9. Letter of Jeremiah: "They Are Not Gods, So Do Not Fear Them"

10. Additions to Daniel: "Let Them Know That You Alone Are God"

11. 1 Maccabees: "The Family through Which Deliverance Was Given"

12. 2 Maccabees: "There Is Some Power of God about the Place"

13. 1 Esdras: "Leave to Us a Root and a Name"

14. Prayer of Manasseh: "The God of Those Who Repent"

15. Psalm 151: "He Made Me Shepherd of His Flock"

16. 3 Maccabees: "Blessed Be the Deliverer of Israel!"

17. 2 Esdras: "The Mighty One Has Not Forgotten"

18. 4 Maccabees: "Noble Is the Contest"