Apocrypha / Deuterocanon
Wisdom & Prayer
Deuterocanonical wisdom and devotional texts
These books stand in the wisdom stream of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but in conversation with Greek philosophy.
They are widely used in Catholic and Orthodox liturgy and were quoted freely by the Church Fathers.
Period
Composed c. 200 BCE – 50 CE, in Hellenistic Judaism (especially Alexandria) and Palestinian Judaism under Greek and Roman rule.
Themes
- ·Wisdom as gift and companion
- ·The immortality of the righteous soul
- ·Fear of the Lord as the beginning of learning
- ·Repentance and divine mercy
- ·Living faithfully in a foreign culture
Authorship — traditional
Sirach was written by Yeshua ben Sira in Jerusalem c. 180 BCE and translated into Greek by his grandson (whose preface is the earliest datable Jewish text of its kind). Wisdom of Solomon is written in Solomon's voice but is a Greek composition of Alexandrian Judaism, c. 1st c. BCE. Baruch presents itself as the work of Jeremiah's scribe; the Prayer of Manasseh is a short penitential prayer put in the mouth of the repentant king of 2 Chronicles 33.
Authorship — historical-critical
Critical scholarship dates Sirach securely to c. 180 BCE (the Hebrew original has been partially recovered from the Cairo Genizah and Masada). Wisdom of Solomon is treated as pseudepigraphic Alexandrian philosophy. Baruch is a composite of several short works. The Prayer of Manasseh is a Hellenistic-era penitential composition.
The books
Click a book to open it in the reader at chapter 1.
- Wisdom19 ch
1st c. BCE, Alexandrian Judaism.
A Greek meditation on Wisdom as God's own presence, on the immortality of the righteous, and on the folly of idolatry. Written in Solomon's voice.
- Sirach51 ch
c. 180 BCE, Jerusalem, by Yeshua ben Sira.
The longest wisdom book in the Bible: proverbs, ethics, praise of the ancestors, and a great hymn to Wisdom. Widely used in synagogue and church.
- Baruch6 ch
Composite, c. 2nd c. BCE.
Presented as the work of Jeremiah's scribe from exile: confession of sin, praise of Wisdom, and a letter about idolatry.
Hellenistic period, c. 2nd–1st c. BCE.
A short penitential prayer put in the mouth of the repentant king Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33). One of the great prayers of the tradition.