ii. Extra-canonical:--

(a) _Palestinian_:--

(200-100 B.C.) Book of Noah. 1 Enoch vi.-xxxvi.; lxxii.-xc. Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs.

(100 B.C. to 1 B.C.) 1 Enoch i.-v.; xxxvii.-lxxi.; xci.-civ. Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs, i.e. T. Lev. x., xiv.-xvi., T. Jud. xxi. 6-xxiii, T. Zeb. ix., T. Dan. v. 6, 7. Psalms of Solomon.

(A.D. 1-100 and later.) Assumption of Moses. Apocalypse of Baruch. 4 Ezra. Greek Apocalypse of Baruch. Apocalypse of Zephaniah. Apocalypse of Abraham. Prayer of Joseph. Book of Eldad and Modad. Apocalypse of Elijah.

(b) _Hellenistic_:--

2 Enoch. Oracles of Hystaspes. Testament of Job. Testaments of the III. Patriarchs. Sibylline Oracles (excluding Christian portions).

_Book of Noah._--Though this book has not come down to us independently, it has in large measure been incorporated in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, and can in part be reconstructed from it. The Book of Noah is mentioned in Jubilees x. 13, xxi. 10. Chapters lx., lxv.-lxix. 25 of the Ethiopic Enoch are without question derived from it. Thus lx. 1 runs: "In the year 500, in the seventh month ... in the life of Enoch." Here the editor simply changed the name Noah in the context before him into Enoch, for the statement is based on Gen. v. 32, and Enoch lived only 365 years. Chapters vi.-xi. are clearly from the same source; for they make no reference to Enoch, but bring forward Noah (x. 1) and treat of the sin of the angels that led to the flood, and of their temporal and eternal punishment. This section is compounded of the Semjaza and Azazel myths, and in its present composite form is already presupposed by 1 Enoch lxxxviii.-xc. Hence these chapters are earlier than 166 B.C. Chapters cvi.-cvii. of the same book are probably from the same source; likewise liv. 7-lv. 2, and Jubilees vii. 20-39, x. 1-15. In the former passage of Jubilees the subject-matter leads to this identification, as well as the fact that Noah is represented as speaking in the first person, although throughout Jubilees it is the angel that speaks. Possibly Eth. En. xli. 3-8, xliii.-xliv., lix. are from the same work. The book may have opened with Eth. En. cvi.-cvii. On these chapters may have followed Eth. En. vi.-xi., lxv.-lxix. 25, lx., xli. 3-8, xliii.-xliv., liv. 7-lv. 2; Jubilees vii. 26-39, x. 1-15.

The Hebrew Book of Noah, a later work, is printed in Jellinek's _Bet ha-Midrasch_, iii. 155-156, and translated into German in Ronsch, _Das Buch der Jubilaen_, 385-387. It is based on the part of the above Book of Noah which is preserved in the _Book of Jubilees_. The portion of this Hebrew work which is derived from the older work is reprinted in Charles's _Ethiopic Version of the Hebrew Book of Jubilees_, p. 179.

_1 Enoch, or the Ethiopic Book of Enoch._--This is the most important of all the apocryphal writings for the history of religious thought. Like the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Megilloth and the Pirke Aboth, this work was divided into five parts, which, as we shall notice presently, spring from five different sources. Originally written partly in Aramaic (i.e. vi.-xxxvi.) and partly in Hebrew (i.-vi., xxxvii.-cviii.), it was translated into Greek, and from Greek into Ethiopic and possibly Latin. Only one-fifth of the Greek version in two forms survives. The various elements of the book were written by different authors at different dates, vi.-xxxvi. was written before 166 B.C., lxxii.-lxxxii. before the _Book of Jubilees_, i.e. before 120 B.C. or thereabouts, lxxxiii.-xc. about 166 B.C., i.-v., xci.-civ. before 95 B.C., and xxxvii.-lxxi. before 64 B.C. There are many interpolations drawn mainly from the Book of Noah.

_Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs._--This book, in some respects the most important of Old Testament apocryphs, has only recently come into its own. Till a few years ago, owing to Christian interpolations, it was taken to be a Christian apocryph, written originally in Greek in the 2nd century A.D. Now it is acknowledged by Christian and Jewish scholars alike to have been written in Hebrew in the 2nd century B.C. From Hebrew it was translated into Greek and from Greek into Armenian and Slavonic. The versions have come down in their entirety, and small portions of the Hebrew text have been recovered from later Jewish writings. The Testaments were written about the same date as the _Book of Jubilees_. These two books form the only Apology in Jewish literature for the religious and civil hegemony of the Maccabees from the Pharisaic standpoint. To the Jewish interpolation of the 1st century B.C. (about 60-40), i.e. T. Lev. x., xiv.-xvi.; T. Jud. xxii.-xxiii., &c., a large interest attaches; for these, like I Enoch xci.-civ. and the Psalms of Solomon, constitute an unmeasured attack on every office--prophetic, priestly and kingly--administered by the Maccabees. The ethical character of the book is of the highest type, and its profound influence on the writers of the New Testament is yet to be appreciated. (See TESTAMENTS OF THE XII. PATRIARCHS.)

_Psalms of Solomon._--These psalms, in all eighteen, enjoyed but small consideration in early times, for only six direct references to them are found in early literature. Their ascription to Solomon is due solely to the copyists or translators, for no such claim is made in any of the psalms. On the whole, Ryle and James are no doubt right in assigning 70-40 B.C. as the limits within which the psalms were written. The authors were Pharisees. They divide their countrymen into two classes--"the righteous," ii. 38-39, iii. 3-5, 7, 8, &c., and "the sinners," ii. 38, iii. 13, iv. 9, &c.; "the saints," iii. 10, &c., and "the transgressors," iv. II, &c. The former are the Pharisees; the latter the Sadducees. They protest against the Asmonaean house for usurping the throne of David, and laying violent hands on the high priesthood (xvii. 5, 6, 8), and proclaim the coming of the Messiah, the Son of David, who is to set all things right and establish the supremacy of Israel. Pss. xvii.-xviii. and i.-xvi. cannot be assigned to the same authorship. The hopes of the Messiah are confined to the former, and a somewhat different eschatology underlies the two works. Since the Psalms were written in Hebrew, and intended for public worship in the synagogues, it is most probable that they were composed in Palestine. (See SOLOMON, THE PSALMS OF.)

_The Assumption of Moses_.--This book was lost for many centuries till a large fragment of it was discovered by Ceriani in 1861 (_Monumenta Sacra_, I. i. 55-64) from a palimpsest of the 6th century. Very little was known about the contents of this book prior to this discovery. The present book is possibly the long-lost [Greek: Diatheke Mouseos] mentioned in some ancient lists, for it never speaks of the assumption of Moses, but always of his natural death. About a half of the original Testament is preserved in the Latin version. The latter half probably dealt with questions about the creation. With this "Testament" the "Assumption," to which almost all the patristic references and that of Jude are made, was subsequently edited. The book was written between 4 B.C. and A.D. 7. As for the author, he was no Essene, for he recognizes animal sacrifices and cherishes the Messianic hope; he was not a Sadducee, for he looks forward to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom (x.); nor a Zealot, for the quietistic ideal is upheld (ix.), and the kingdom is established by God Himself (x.). He is therefore a Chasid of the ancient type, and glorifies the ideals which were cherished by the old Pharisaic party, but which were now being fast disowned in favour of a more active role in the political life of the nation. He pours his most scathing invectives on the Sadducees, who are described in vii. in terms that recall the anti-Sadducean Psalms of Solomon. His object, therefore, is to protest against the growing secularization of the Pharisaic party through its adoption of popular Messianic beliefs and political ideals. (See also MOSES, ASSUMPTION OF.)

_Apocalypse of Baruch--The Syriac._--This apocalypse has survived only in the Syriac version. The Syriac is a translation from the Greek, and the Greek in turn from the Hebrew. The book treats of the Messiah and the Messianic kingdom, the woes of Israel in the past and the destruction of Jerusalem in the present, as well as of theological questions relating to original sin, free will, works, &c. The views expressed on several of these subjects are often conflicting. We must, therefore, assume a number of independent sources put together by an editor or else that the book is on the whole the work of one author who made use of independent writings but failed to blend them into one harmonious whole. In its present form the book was written soon after A.D. 70. For fuller treatment see BARUCH.

_4 Ezra._--This apocryph is variously named. In the first Arabic and Ethiopic versions it is called I Ezra; in some Latin MSS. and in the English authorized version it is 2 Ezra, and in the Armenian 3 Ezra. With the majority of the Latin MSS. we designate the book 4 Ezra. In its fullest form this apocryph consists of sixteen chapters, but i.-ii. and xv.-xvi. are of different authorship from each other and from the main work iii.-xiv. The book was written originally in Hebrew. There are Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic (two), and Armenian versions. The Greek version is lost. This apocalypse is of very great importance, on account of its very full treatment of the theological questions rife in the latter half of the 1st century of the Christian era. The book, even if written by one author, was based on a variety of already existing works. It springs from the same school of thought as the _Apocalypse of Baruch_, and its affinities with the latter are so numerous and profound that scholars have not yet come to any consensus as to the relative priority of either. In its present form it was composed A.D. 80-100. For fuller treatment see EZRA.

_Apocalypse of Baruch--The Greek._--This work is referred to by Origen (_de Princip._ II. iii. 6): "Denique etiam Baruch prophetae librum in assertionis hujus' testimonium vocant, quod ibi de septem mundis vel caelis evidentius indicatur." This book survives in two forms in Slavonic and Greek. The former was translated by Bonwetsch in 1896, in the _Nachrichten von der konigl. Ges. der Wiss. zu, Gott_. pp. 91-101; the latter by James in 1897 in _Anecdota_, ii. 84-94, with an elaborate introduction (pp. li.-lxxi.). The Slavonic is only of secondary value, as it is merely an abbreviated form of the Greek. Even the Greek cannot claim to be the original work, but only to be a recension of it; for, whereas Origen states that this apocalypse contained an account of the seven heavens, the existing Greek work describes only five, and the Slavonic only two. As the original, work presupposes 2 Enoch and the Syriac _Apocalypse of Baruch_ and was known to Origen, it was written between A.D. 80 and 200, and nearer the earlier date than the later, as it would otherwise be hard to understand how it came to circulate among Christians. The superscription shows points of connexion with the _Rest of the Words of Baruch_, but little weight can be attached to the fact, since titles and superscriptions were so frequently transformed and expanded in ancient times. As James and Kohler have pointed out, part of section 4 on the Vine is a Christian addition. A German translation of the Greek appears in Kautzsch's _Apok. u. Pseud_, ii. 448-457, and a strong article by Kohler on the Jewish authorship of the book in the _Jewish Encyclopedia_, ii. 549-551. (See BARUCH.)

_Apocalypse of Abraham._--This book is found only in the Slavonic (edited by Bonwetsch, _Studien zur Geschichte d. Theologie und Kirche_, 1897), a translation from the Greek. It is of Jewish origin, but in part worked over by a Christian reviser. The first part treats of Abraham's conversion, and the second forms an apocalyptic expansion of Gen. xv. This book was possibly known to the author of the _Clem. Recognitions_, i. 32, a passage, however, which may refer to Jubilees. It is most probably distinct from the [Greek: Apokalepsis Abraam] used by the gnostic Sethites (Epiphanius, _Haer_. xxxix. 5), which was very heretical. On the other hand, it is probably identical with the apocryphal book [Greek: Abraam] mentioned in the Stichometry of Nicephorus, and the Synopsis Athanasii, together with the Apocalypses of Enoch, &c.

_Lost Apocalypses: Prayer of Joseph._--The _Prayer of Joseph_ is quoted by Origen [_In Joann._ II. xxv, (Lommatzsch, i. 147, 148); _in Gen._ III. ix. (Lommatzsch, viii. 30-31)]. The fragments in Origen represent Jacob as speaking and claiming to be "the first servant in God's presence," "the first-begotten of every creature animated by God," and declaring that the angel who wrestled with Jacob (and was identified by Christians with Christ) was only eighth in rank. The work was obviously anti-Christian. (See Schurer[3], iii. 265-266.)

_Book of Eldad and Modad._--This book was written in the name of the two prophets mentioned in Num. xi. 26-29. It consisted, according to the Targ. Jon. on Num. xi. 26-20, mainly of prophecies on Magog's last attack on Israel. The Shepherd of Hermas quotes it _Vis._ ii. 3. (See Marshall in Hastings' _Bible Dictionary_, i. 677.)

_Apocalypse of Elijah._--This apocalypse is mentioned in two of the lists of books. Origen, Ambrosiaster, and Euthalius ascribe to it I Cor. ii. 9. If they are right, the apocalypse is pre-Pauline. The peculiar form in which I Cor. ii. 9 appears in Clemens Alex. _Protrept._ x. 94, and the _Const. Apost._ vii. 32, shows that both have the same source, probably this apocalypse. Epiphanius (_Haer._ xlii., ed. Oehler, vol. ii. 678) ascribes to this work Eph. v. 14. Isr. Levi (_Revue des etudes juives_, 1880, i. 108 sqq.) argues for the existence of a Hebrew apocalypse of Elijah from two Talmudic passages. A late work of this name has been published by Jellinek, _Bet ha-Midrasch_, 1855, iii. 65-68, and Buttenwieser in 1897. Zahn, _Gesch. des N.T. Kanons_, ii. 801-810, assigns this apocalypse to the 2nd century A.D. (See Schurer[3], iii. 267-271.)

_Apocalypse of Zephaniah._--Apart from two of the lists this work is known to us in its original form only through a citation in Clem. Alex. _Strom._ v. II, 77. A Christian revision of it is probably preserved in the two dialects of Coptic. Of these the Akhmim text is the original of the Sahidic. These texts and their translations have been edited by Steindorff, _Die Apokalypse des Elias, eine unbekannte Apokalypse und Bruchstucke der Sophonias-Apokalypse_ (1809). As Schurer (_Theol. Literaturzeitung_, 1899, No. I. 4-8) has shown, these fragments belong most probably to the Zephaniah apocalypse. They give descriptions of heaven and hell, and predictions of the Antichrist. In their present form these Christianized fragments are not earlier than the 3rd century. (See Schurer, _Gesch. des jud. Volkes[3]_, iii. 271-273.)

2 _Enoch_, or the _Slavonic Enoch_, or the _Book of the Secrets of Enoch._--This new fragment of the Enochic literature was recently brought to light through five MSS. discovered in Russia and Servia. The book in its present form was written before A.D. 70 in Greek by an orthodox Hellenistic Jew, who lived in Egypt. For a fuller account see ENOCH.

_Oracles of Hystaspes._--See under _N. T. Apocalypses_, below.

_Testament of Job._--This book was first printed from one MS. by Mai, _Script. Vet. Nov. Coll._ (1833), VII. i. 180, and translated into French in Migne's _Dict. des Apocryphes_, ii. 403. An excellent edition from two MSS. is given by M.R. James, _Apocrypha Anecdota_, ii. pp. lxxii.-cii., 104-137, who holds that the book in its present form was written by a Christian Jew in Egypt on the basis of a Hebrew Midrash on Job in the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. Kohler (_Kohut Memorial Volume_, 1897, pp. 264-338) has given good grounds for regarding the whole work, with the exception of some interpolations, as "one of the most remarkable productions of the pre-Christian era, explicable only when viewed in the light of Hasidean practice." See _Jewish Encycl._ vii. 200-202.

_Testaments of the III. Patriarchs._--For an account of these three Testaments (referred to in the _Apost. Const._ vi. 16), the first of which only is preserved in the Greek and is assigned by James to the 2nd century A.D., see that scholar's "Testament of Abraham," _Texts and Studies_, ii. 2 (1892), which appears in two recensions from six and three MSS. respectively, and Vassiliev's _Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina_, (1893), pp. 292-308, from one MS. already used by James. This work was written in Egypt, according to James, and survives also in Slavonic, Rumanian, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions. It deals with Abraham's reluctance to die and the means by which his death was brought about. James holds that this book is referred to by Origen (_Hom. in Luc._ xxxv.), but this is denied by Schurer, who also questions its Jewish origin. With the exception of chaps. x.-xi., it is really a legend and not an apocalypse. An English translation of James's texts will be found in the _Ante-Nicene Christian Library_ (Clark, 1897), pp. 185-201. The Testaments of Isaac and Jacob are still preserved in Arabic and Ethiopic (see James, _op. cit._ 140-161). See TESTAMENTS OF THE III. PATRIARCHS.

_Sibylline Oracles._--Of the books which have come down to us the main part is Jewish, and was written at various dates, iii. 97-829, iv.-v. are decidedly of Jewish authorship, and probably xi.-xii., xiv. and parts of i.-ii. The oldest portions are in iii., and belong to the 2nd century B.C.

III. NEW TESTAMENT APOCALYPTIC

When we pass from Jewish literature to that of the New Testament, we enter into a new and larger atmosphere at once recalling and transcending what had been best in the prophetic periods of the past. Again the heavens had opened and the divine teaching come to mankind, no longer merely in books bearing the names of ancient patriarchs, but on the lips of living men, who had taken courage to appear in person as God's messengers before His people. But though Christianity was in spirit the descendant of ancient Jewish prophecy, it was no less truly the child of that Judaism which had expressed its highest aspirations and ideals in pseudepigraphic and apocalyptic literature. Hence we shall not be surprised to find that the two tendencies are fully represented in primitive Christianity, and, still more strange as it may appear, that New Testament apocalyptic found a more ready hearing amid the stress and storm of the 1st century than the prophetic side of Christianity, and that the type of the forerunner on the side of its declared asceticism appealed more readily to primitive Christianity than that of Him who came "eating and drinking," declaring both worlds good and both God's.

Early Christianity had thus naturally a special fondness for this class of literature. It was Christianity that preserved Jewish apocalyptic, when it was abandoned by Judaism as it sank into Rabbinism, and gave it a Christian character either by a forcible exegesis or by a systematic process of interpolation. Moreover, it cultivated this form of literature and made it the vehicle of its own ideas. Though apocalyptic served its purpose in the opening centuries of the Christian era, it must be confessed that in _many_ of its aspects its office is transitory, as they belong not to the essence of Christian thought. When once it had taught men that the next world was God's world, though it did so at the cost of relinquishing the present to Satan, it had achieved its real task, and the time had come for it to quit the stage of history, when Christianity appeared as the heir of this true spiritual achievement. But Christianity was no less assuredly the heir of ancient prophecy, and thus as spiritual representative of what was true in prophecy and apocalyptic; its essential teaching was as that of its Founder that both worlds were of God and that both should be made God's.

(i.) Canonical:-- Apocalypse in Mark xiii. (Matthew xxiv., Luke xxi.). 2 Thessalonians ii. Revelation.

(ii.) Extra-Canonical:-- Apocalypse of Peter. Testament of Hezekiah. Testament of Abraham. Oracles of Hystaspes. Vision of Isaiah. Shepherd of Hermas. 5 Ezra. 6 Ezra. Christian Sibyllines. Apocalypses of Paul, Thomas and Stephen. Apocalypses of Esdras, Paul, John, Peter, The Virgin, Sedrach, Daniel. Revelations of Bartholomew. Questions of Bartholomew.

_Apocalypse in Mark xiii._--According to the teaching of the Gospels the second advent was to take the world by surprise. Only one passage (Mark xiii. = Matt. xxiv. = Luke xxi.) conflicts with this view, and is therefore suspicious. This represents the second advent as heralded by a succession of signs which are unmistakable precursors of its appearance, such as wars, earthquakes, famines, the destruction of Jerusalem and the like. Our suspicion is justified by a further examination of Mark xiii. For the words "let him that _readeth_ understand" (ver. 14) indicate that the prediction referred to appeared first not in a spoken address but in a written form, as was characteristic of apocalypses. Again, in ver. 30, it is declared that this generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled, whereas in 32 we have an undoubted declaration of Christ "Of that day or of that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." On these and other grounds verses 7, 8, 14-20, 24-27, 30, 31 should be removed from their present context. Taken together they constitute a Christian adaptation of an originally Jewish work, written A.D. 67-68, during the troubles preceding the fall of Jerusalem. The apocalypse consists of three Acts: Act i. consisting of verses 7, 8, enumerating the woes heralding the parusia, Act ii. describing the actual tribulation, and