Subject: Why is the Apocrypha not included? |
Bible Note: A reason Protestants don't think the Apocrypha as scripture is that there is no agreement on HOW MANY books there are and were they should be placed. Let me explain. The *base* number of books in the Apocrypha ia 18. That number includes the books our Catholic Brothers and Sisters call Deuterocanonical. Those books are: Tobit Judith Additions to Esther Baruch Letter of Jeremiah 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees Prayer of Azarah and Song of the Three Holy Children Bel and the Dragon Susanna Wisdom Sirach That makes 12 books. Add to that number six books Catholics do not accept. We'll call them *other* books. They are: 1 Esdras 2 Esdras Prayer of Manasseh 3 Maccabees 4 Maccabees Psalm 151 That gets us to our number of 18. Do all translations feature all 18 books? It depends. The King James Bible (KJB) has 14 out of 18 (The Letter of Jeremiah is Baruch 6.) The New English Bible (NEB) does it one better, having 15 out of 18 books. The official Catholic Bible, The New American Bible (NAB) , has 11 out of 18 books. (Azariah, Bel, and Susanna are placed in the book of Daniel itself). The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) has all 18 books. Now on to placement. In the NAB, the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees AFTER the book of Esther, while the Douay-Rheims places them after Malachi. What gives? For these reasons, and more, this is why I do not accept the Apocrypha as scripture. However, I do not rule out using them as morality buliders. I hope this helps. Joshua |