Behind | Deuterocanonical Texts

The sixty-six books that make up the core of these two testaments are typically referred to as the canonical books. Additional texts, beyond the first 66 that have also been received as authoritative, are known as the deuterocanonical books, meaning “second” or “later on.” Many of these books are related to the Second Temple period, between the time the Jews returned from Babylon and the coming of Jesus. The specific time of about 400 years between the final Old Testament books and the New Testament books is called the “Intertestamental Period.”

For Protestants, these texts may be less familiar than canonical ones. They often focus on events in the Intertestamental Period, but some overlap with Old Testament history. Here is a list of more familiar books describing their setting or author:

• Wisdom [of Solomon] (from Israel’s king in the 10th c. _bc)
• Tobit (a righteous Israelite who lived in Nineveh in the late 8th c. _bc)
• Judith (a courageous Israelite who outwits and kills a Babylonian general in the early 6th c. _bc)
• Baruch (from Jeremiah’s scribe in the 6th c. _bc)
• [Wisdom of] Sirach or Ben Sira (from this Jewish scribe in 2nd c. _bc)
• 1 & 2 Maccabees (describing wars in the 2nd c. _bc)

Deuterocanonical writings also include additions to the book of Daniel and Esther. Eastern Orthodox Christians have additional deuterocanonical texts in their Bibles, depending on the branch of Orthodox tradition to which they belong. Most Orthodox Christians also have 3 and 4 Maccabees, The Prayer of Manasseh and an additional Psalm that tells the story of David’s defeat of Goliath—Psalm 151. Some Orthodox Bibles also include 1 Enoch, the Book of Jubilees and others.