Apocrypha

Apocrypha, from the Greek meaning hidden or concealed, refers to a collection of Jewish religious writings produced between approximately 300 B.C. and A.D. 100 that are included in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate but are not part of the Hebrew canon. The principal books include 1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), Baruch, and additions to Daniel and Esther. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches received these books as deuterocanonical scripture at the Council of Trent (1546), while Protestant traditions following the Reformers classify them as useful but non-canonical.

The term has also been applied more broadly to a range of pseudepigraphical writings attributed to biblical figures but excluded from all canonical lists. The Apocrypha proper is historically valuable for understanding Judaism and early Christianity in the intertestamental period: 1 and 2 Maccabees provide the primary historical account of the Maccabean revolt, while Sirach and Wisdom illuminate the development of wisdom theology. Their presence in the Septuagint meant they were read and cited in early Christian communities, leaving traces in New Testament vocabulary and thought.