Biblical Apocrypha: What They Are and Why They Were Excluded

Why does the Catholic Bible have 73 books while the Protestant Bible has 66? The answer involves the so-called apocryphal books—from the Greek apokryphos, "hidden"—Jewish texts written roughly between 300 BC and AD 100 that were not included in the Hebrew or Protestant canon but are part of Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. Knowing them is not mere academic curiosity: it is the key to understanding the period between the Testaments and the decisions that shaped the Bible you read today.

The 400-Year Silence That Wasn't Silence

Between Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, and John the Baptist lies an interval of about four centuries often called the "silent period." But the Jewish world did not stop: Alexander the Great conquered the East, Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires fought over Judea, the Maccabean revolt expelled Greek oppressors, and Rome rose as the dominant power. The apocrypha are the literary portrait of this world in transition—the intertestamental period that prepares the New Testament stage.

First, a vocabulary distinction: Catholics call these books deuterocanonical ("second canon"), reserving "apocrypha" for texts they also reject, such as the Gnostic gospels. Protestants call Catholic deuterocanonical books "apocrypha." Here we use the common English sense: apocrypha are texts outside the Protestant canon of 66 books.

Which Books Are Deuterocanonical?

The main group consists of books written by devout Jews, preserved in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), and accepted by Catholic and Orthodox churches:

• •Tobit (200–180 BC): the story of Tobit, a pious Jew exiled in Assyria, and his son Tobias guided by the angel Raphael—with marriage, healing from blindness, and lessons about prayer, almsgiving, and family life.
• •Judith (150–100 BC): a Jewish widow saves her city by beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes. A heroic story of faith and courage in crisis, though with notable historical inaccuracies such as calling Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria.
• •1 Maccabees (c. 100 BC): the historical account of the revolt against the Seleucid Empire (175–134 BC), led by Mattathias and his sons and culminating in the Temple's purification—the origin of Hanukkah, which Jesus himself celebrated (John 10:22).
• •2 Maccabees (c. 124 BC): the same period with theological emphasis, including the martyrdom of seven brothers and their mother. It contains the first explicit mention of bodily resurrection in Jewish literature and prayer for the dead (12:43–46), a Catholic basis for purgatory.
• •Wisdom of Solomon (50 BC–AD 40): a philosophical treatise attributed to Solomon but written in Alexandria, praising wisdom as divine emanation and criticizing idolatry. Compare it with Hebrews 1 and John 1.
• •Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) (c. 180 BC): teachings of Jesus Ben Sira of Jerusalem in the style of Proverbs—ethics, family, friendship, wealth, and fear of the Lord. Hebrew fragments were found at Qumran and Masada.
• •Baruch (200–60 BC): attributed to Jeremiah's scribe, with confession of sins, a poem about wisdom, words of hope for Jerusalem, and the "Letter of Jeremiah."
• •Additions to Esther and Daniel (second–first century BC): sections found only in the Greek version—prayers of Mordecai and Esther, the Song of the Three Young Men in the furnace, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon.

Why Were These Books Left Outside the Protestant Canon?

The reasons vary by book, but the criteria repeat. First, none belongs to the Hebrew canon (the Tanakh): Jews in Palestine never recognized them as Scripture, whether because they were written too late or circulated in Greek rather than Hebrew. Second, several contain historical or authorship problems: Judith mixes empires and chronologies, while Baruch and Wisdom are pseudepigraphal. Third, some contain doctrines without parallels elsewhere in Scripture, such as prayer for the dead in 2 Maccabees and Platonic-flavored immortality of the soul in Wisdom.

The canon's history gives the full picture. The Septuagint (250–100 BC) included the apocrypha and was used by diaspora Jews and the early church. Around AD 90, the so-called Council of Jamnia consolidated a 39-book Hebrew canon without them. Among the Church Fathers, opinions divided: Jerome distinguished canonical books from ecclesiastical books useful for edification, while Augustine included them. The question was formally decided at the Council of Trent (1546), when the Catholic Church declared them canonical in response to the Reformation. Luther placed them between the Testaments as useful but not equal to Scripture, and Protestant Bibles eventually stopped printing them.

The Gnostic Gospels Are Another Category

Do not mix the deuterocanonical books with the Gnostic gospels—Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Judas, and others. Written in the second and third centuries, these texts were never considered Scripture by any Christian tradition. Their value is historical.

• •Gospel of Thomas (AD 50–140): 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, without narrative. Some parallel the canon; others reflect Gnostic emphasis on "secret knowledge," the opposite of Jesus' public gospel.
• •Gospel of Mary Magdalene (AD 120–180): fragmentary; Mary receives private revelations from the risen Christ about the soul within a Gnostic cosmology that treats matter as evil.
• •Gospel of Judas (AD 130–170): reverses the canonical story and presents Judas as a hero helping Jesus escape the material body—a product of the Cainite Gnostic sect.

Late dating, Gnostic theology, and the absence of apostolic connection explain why the ancient church rejected them unanimously. There is no forbidden gospel hiding the real Jesus—there is second-century sectarian literature responding to gospels already in circulation.

Why Study the Apocrypha?

Rejecting a book as Scripture does not mean ignoring it. Protestant readers have at least four reasons to know the apocrypha:

• •Historical context: they illuminate the 400 years between the Testaments—the Maccabean revolt, Hellenization, and the development of beliefs about angels, demons, and resurrection that the New Testament assumes.
• •Influence on the New Testament: bodily resurrection, personified wisdom, and angelology appear developed before the NT. Hebrews 11:35 probably alludes to the martyrs of 2 Maccabees 7.
• •Use by Jesus and the apostles: Jesus celebrated Hanukkah (John 10:22), whose origin is narrated in 1 Maccabees; James seems familiar with Sirach.
• •Ecumenical dialogue: understanding these books—and why Catholics and Orthodox consider them Scripture—makes conversation between traditions more honest and less caricatured.

Where to Begin Reading

If you have never read an apocryphal book, begin with 1 Maccabees, the most historical and accessible. Continue with Sirach, practical wisdom in the style of Proverbs, then Wisdom of Solomon alongside Hebrews 1 and John 1. Finish with Tobit, a compelling story of faith, family, and providence.

Memra's apocrypha section presents each book with date, genre, themes, reason for exclusion, Catholic view, and historical value; several can be read in full in the Scripture reader.

The question "why were these books left out?" has an answer that strengthens rather than weakens confidence in the canon: the church did not choose books randomly. Over centuries and by public criteria, it recognized which texts carried apostolic and prophetic authority. The apocrypha remained on the border—and from the border, the whole map is easier to see.