Which bibles have the apocrypha

The Council of Trent which took place over multiple meetings from and reiterated that the Roman Catholic Church considered the Apocrypha to be canonical Scripture. When the Protestant Reformation took place, Martin Luther released his German Bible translation with the Apocrypha as a separate section. There are a variety of minor denominations such as the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which have their own opinions about the matter, some holding individual apocryphal or pseudepigraphical works as Scripture.

There are a number of reasons why different scholars have described the Apocrypha as not being part of the Scripture canon. Here are five of the clearest and simplest reasons:. Not enough manuscript evidence. One important question scholars ask when analyzing the Scripture canon is if books have a line of tradition backing them.

What we see instead is that those additions appear in the Septuagint, but not in earlier Hebrew copies of Esther, Daniel, or the Psalms. The canon was closed already. For them, the Apocrypha were interesting books, but not divinely inspired. Tonal shifts. For example, Carey A. That strongly suggests that these additions to Esther are later bits tacked on by someone else. Thematic problems. The emphasis is on Daniel being clever, without him giving glory to God for his giftedness.

He comes across as just being a naturally smart guy who gets places on his own steam. The canonical book of Daniel describes Daniel and his friends as wise, but it focuses on God providing surprising help for them in tough situations and giving Daniel visions. Using the Hebrew Scripture would have been as effective as using a Russian Bible to evangelize Americans. The Septuagint served to bridge the culture gap. Quickly the Greek-speaking converts outnumbered the Hebrew Christians.

Scholars also recognize that the NT writers quoted extensively from the Septuagint, e. The Septuagint became the OT of the early Church. Only after the destruction of the Temple and debates with Christians, the Pharisees at Jamnia finally limited the Hebrew Canon in the 2nd century A. They restricted the Hebrew Canon to Books written before B.

They also rejected the Septuagint claiming it to be corrupted by the Christians. In the mid-2nd century, St. Tertullian during this period also commented on this difference. These manuscripts show that the Septuagint with its larger and looser canon was the OT "Bible" of the early Church.

In the 4th century, some Church fathers, especially those who debated with the Jews, like Jerome, favored the shorter Hebrew Canon. Some Church fathers like Ambrose and Augustine favored the larger canon of the Septuagint. Jerome while favoring the shorter canon, several times in his writings cited Books from the larger canon as Scripture. The OT canon which they proclaimed is still found in Catholic Bibles today.

The controversy continued but in the Council of Florence upheld this larger canon. OT ; JBC, p. In an edition of the OT containing all these Books was officially approved by the Holy Synod of the Greek church.

Some Christians attempt to discredit these Books by pointing out apparent historical errors contained in them. For example, does 2 Maccabees —46 teach prayer for the dead?

Certainly not as a regular habit. Judas Maccabeus and his Jewish soldiers discovered that some of their comrades had died in battle because they had taken from their slain enemies what was forbidden to them.

They had an animal sacrifice offered on behalf of their dead fellow-soldiers and prayed that God would not hold this sin against them. They did this because of their belief in a future resurrection.

It is their belief in the resurrection that is commended in this passage. It is possible to interpret this passage in a manner similar to the way we interpret Job , where Job looks forward to a future vindication in the resurrection. I do not believe that they teach that salvation comes by works, but I can understand why someone might think so.

Could not the words in Tobit be understood similarly? Finally, that Judith asks God to help her in a falsehood Judith —13 is supposed to prove that the teaching of this book is unethical.

But are there not stories in Bible books that seem to promote the same thing? Rahab the harlot lied in order to protect the Jewish spies Joshua —7. She was commended not for lying but for her faith Hebrews