Has Anyone Read The Apocrypha?

I found this in the Apocrypha, nobody can dispute that these are ancient writings and what I found is astonishing.
This is a prophecy of the end times.

2 Esdras 6:20--When the seal is placed upon the age THAT IS ABOUT TO PASS AWAY, then will I show these signs: the books shall be opened before the face of the firmament, and all shall see my judgment together.
21--Children a year old shall speak with their voices, and pregnant women shall give birth to PREMATURE CHILDREN AT THREE AND FOUR MONTHS, AND THESE SHALL LIVE AND LEAP ABOUT.
22- Sown places shall suddenly appear unsown, and full storehouses shall suddenly be found to be empty,
23--the trumpet shall sound aloud, and when all hear it, they shall be suddenly terrified
24--At that time friends shall make war on friends like enemies, the earth and those who inhabit it shall be terrified, and the springs of the fountains shall stand still, so that for three hours they shall not flow.
25--"It shall be that whoever remains after all that I have foretold to you shall be saved and shall see my salvation and the end of my world.
26--And they shall see those who were taken up, who from their birth have not tasted death; and the heart of the earth's inhabitants shall be changed and converted to a different spirit.

In 2 Esdras 12:11 it states that the prophet is Daniel's brother.

Yeshua Bless You
 
The Apocryphal books are fraudulent, but they are useful for getting ideas about Jewish beliefs circulating in the time before or around Christ's time. The Jews never recognized them as OT scripture, and as they were the custodians of the OT scripture, that fact is significant. Use them for historical information, but shun them for doctrine. They often contradict scripture.

Romans 3:1,2

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
 
I just find it interesting that a prophecy isn't from God unless it comes true. The one in 2 Esdras about babies being born premature and surviving to leap about is VERY close to being fulfilled. The earliest birth so far is about 4.8 months or a little earlier.
The Apocrypha consists of a set of books written between approximately 400 B.C. and the time of Christ. The word "apocrypha" (απόκρυφα) means "Hidden." These books consist of 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, (also titled Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Additions to Daniel, The Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees.
The Protestant Church rejects the apocrypha as being inspired, as do the Jews, but in 1546 the Roman Catholic Church officially declared some of the apocryphal books to belong to the canon of scripture. These are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch. The apocryphal books are written in Greek, not Hebrew (except for Ecclesiasticus, 1 Maccabees, a part of Judith, and Tobit), and contain some useful historical information.
Is the Apocrypha Scripture? Protestants deny its inspiration but the Roman Catholic Church affirms it.
The Jews never did (and still don't) accept these books as inspired on par with the rest of the OT Scripture (the Palestinian Canon, 22 books in Hebrew, equivalent to our 39 Old Testament books). However, the Apocrypha were translated into Greek along with the rest of the Old Testament in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT, circa 250 B.C.) to make up the Alexandrian canon. The 1 century Jewish historian Josephus said the prophets wrote from Moses to Artaxerxes (Malachi). The Talmud concurs. Jews did not consider this collection of their books as canon.
Some claim it and some don't. It was originally in the Septuagint--The original Greek translation of the Old Testament. Man didn't like some of the things, so he did away with them.
Yeshua Bless You
 
Some claim it and some don't. It was originally in the Septuagint--The original Greek translation of the Old Testament. Man didn't like some of the things, so he did away with them.
Yeshua Bless You
Proof? Please supply URL to an unabridged copy of the Septuagint, or the name of the publication containing it including the ISBN.
 
Hmmm. This is the first time I've ever seen anyone state that the Septuagint had the apocryphal books included. I'm surely not an expert on this work, but I know a good many people who are. Does anyone have a link? I'm not interested in challenging anyone, I'd just like to confirm this for myself.

Because He Loved a Wretch like me.
 
There is certainly no evidence that the Jews, or Jesus and the Apostles regarded the Apocryphal books as scripture. Certainly, it seems that it should be obvious that they are not as they contain elements of Greek Philosophy, magic, gross historical inaccuracies, and contradictions of the scriptures known to be inspired. We should be wary of anything that suggests we do not have the complete revelation of God that we need today.
 
I just find it interesting that a prophecy isn't from God unless it comes true. The one in 2 Esdras about babies being born premature and surviving to leap about is VERY close to being fulfilled. The earliest birth so far is about 4.8 months or a little earlier.
The Apocrypha consists of a set of books written between approximately 400 B.C. and the time of Christ. The word "apocrypha" (απόκρυφα) means "Hidden." These books consist of 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, (also titled Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Additions to Daniel, The Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees.
The Protestant Church rejects the apocrypha as being inspired, as do the Jews, but in 1546 the Roman Catholic Church officially declared some of the apocryphal books to belong to the canon of scripture. These are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch. The apocryphal books are written in Greek, not Hebrew (except for Ecclesiasticus, 1 Maccabees, a part of Judith, and Tobit), and contain some useful historical information.
Is the Apocrypha Scripture? Protestants deny its inspiration but the Roman Catholic Church affirms it.
The Jews never did (and still don't) accept these books as inspired on par with the rest of the OT Scripture (the Palestinian Canon, 22 books in Hebrew, equivalent to our 39 Old Testament books). However, the Apocrypha were translated into Greek along with the rest of the Old Testament in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT, circa 250 B.C.) to make up the Alexandrian canon. The 1 century Jewish historian Josephus said the prophets wrote from Moses to Artaxerxes (Malachi). The Talmud concurs. Jews did not consider this collection of their books as canon.
Some claim it and some don't. It was originally in the Septuagint--The original Greek translation of the Old Testament. Man didn't like some of the things, so he did away with them.
Yeshua Bless You

From the "Translation of the Apocrypha": by Ronald Cox:

  1. Not one of the apocryphal books is written in the Hebrew language, which was alone used by the inspired historians and poets of the Old Testament. All Apocryphal books are in Greek, except one which is extant only in Latin.
  2. None of the apocryphal writers laid claim to inspiration.
  3. The apocryphal books were never acknowledged as sacred scriptures by the Jews, custodians of the Hebrew scriptures (the apocrypha was written prior to the New Testament). In fact, the Jewish people rejected and destroyed the apocrypha after the overthrow of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
  4. The apocryphal books were not permitted among the sacred books during the first four centuries of the first Christian church.
  5. The Apocrypha contains fabulous statements which not only contradict the "canonical" scriptures but themselves. For example, in the two Books of Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanies is made to die three different deaths in three different places.
  6. The Apocrypha includes doctrines in variance with the Bible, such as prayers for the dead and sinless perfection.
 
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