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the term 'Apocryphal Books' arose has not yet been determined. It did not, as Zahn (Gesch. des Neutestamentlichen Kanons I. i. 123 sq.), Schurer, Porter, N. Schmidt, and others maintain, originate in the Late Hebrew phrase, 'hidden books.' But Talmudic literature knows nothing of such a class. The Hebrew word ganas does not mean 'to hide', but 'to store away' things in themselves precious. Indeed, so far is it from being a technical term in reference to non-Canonical writings, that it is most frequently used in reference to the Canonical Scriptures themselves. When writings were wholly without the pale of the Sacred books—such as those of the heretics or Samaritans—they were usually designated ḥiṣonim, i.e. 'outside' (Sanh. x. 1 and ). To this class the Apocrypha were never relegated, save Sirach, according to a statement found only in Sanh. x. 1 in the Palestinian Talmud, where it is stated that 'whoso reads the outside books would have no part in the life to come'. But it is clear that there is some error either in the text or the interpretation; for Sirach is very frequently cited by the Rabbis (see the Original Hebrew of a Portion of Ecclesiasticus, Cowley and Neubauer, pp. xix-xxx), and two passages of it (Sir. vii. 10 in Erubin 65$a$ and xiii. 16 in Baba Qama 92$b$) are cited as belonging to the Hagiographa. The facts show that Sirach was read—read at all events for private edification though not in the synagogues.

We are not here of course concerned with all Jewish apocryphal writings, but with those which were written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 120. The most notable of these in the past centuries were those which we may define as the Apocrypha Proper, i.e.

1 Esdras

2 Esdras

Tobit

Judith

Additions to Esther

Wisdom of Solomon

Ecclesiasticus or Sirach

1 Baruch

Epistle of Jeremy

Additions to Daniel—The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Children

Susanna

Bel and the Dragon

Prayer of Manasses

1 Maccabees

2 Maccabees

If we compare the collection of the Sacred books as they are found in the Hebrew Old Testament, the LXX, and the Vulgate, we shall find that the Apocrypha Proper constitutes the excess of the Vulgate over the Hebrew Old Testament, and that this excess is borrowed from the LXX. But the official Vulgate (1592) does not include 1 and 2 Esdras (i.e. 4 Ezra in this edition) and the Prayer of Manasses among the Canonical Scriptures, but prints them as an appendix after the New Testament. The Roman Church excludes them from the Canon. Only 1 Esdras is