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
- Introduction: The Value of the Apocrypha
- Historical Context: "The Yoke of the Gentiles"
- Tobit: "Better Is Almsgiving with Justice"
- Judith: "Hear Me Also, a Widow"
- Greek Esther: "The Aid of the All-Seeing God and Savior"
- Wisdom of Solomon: "The Righteous Live Forever"
- Wisdom of Ben Sira: "In All Wisdom There Is the Doing of Torah"
- Baruch: "Return with Tenfold Zeal to Seek God"
- Letter of Jeremiah: "They Are Not Gods, So Do Not Fear Them"
- Additions to Daniel: "Let Them Know That You Alone Are God"
- 1 Maccabees: "The Family through Which Deliverance Was Given"
- 2 Maccabees: "There Is Some Power of God about the Place"
- 1 Esdras: "Leave to Us a Root and a Name"
- Prayer of Manasseh: "The God of Those Who Repent"
- Psalm 151: "He Made Me Shepherd of His Flock"
- 3 Maccabees: "Blessed Be the Deliverer of Israel!"
- 2 Esdras: "The Mighty One Has Not Forgotten"
- 4 Maccabees: "Noble Is the Contest"
- Indexes