This comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the Old Testament apocryphal books summarizes their context, message, and significance. It is the most substantial introduction to the Apocrypha available and has become a standard authority on the topic. The new edition has been substantially revised and updated throughout to reflect the latest scholarship.

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"
• Indexes