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Did the Deuterocanonical Books Influence the New Testament?

Michie

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The New Testament contains quotes from, and allusions to, other literature. Some sources identify as many as 132 such influences. A question sometimes raised is whether Deuterocanonical books have influenced the New Testament.

1. What Are the Deuterocanonical Books?

The Deuterocanonical books are seven documents which appear as canonical Scripture in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles.

  1. The Book of Tobit was written between 225 and 175 BCE. It was composed in either Hebrew or Aramaic, as fragments in each language were found at Qumran. (See 4Q Tob.) The oldest complete copies of the text exist in Greek. See Codex Sinaiticus.
  2. The Book of Judith was written around 100 BCE. Linguistic analysis suggests that it was probably composed in Hebrewor in Aramaic, but there is no direct evidence to confirm it. The oldest manuscripts are in the Greek Septuagint: Codex Alexandrinus.
  3. 1 Maccabees was written about 100 BCE. Linguistic analysis suggests that it was probably written in Hebrew. The oldest text is to be found in the Greek Septuagint: Codex Alexandrinus.
  4. 2 Maccabees was written about 150–100 BCE. It was probably written in the Greek version which can be seen in the Septuagint: Codex Alexandrinus.
  5. The Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon) was written in the first century BCE. It was probably composed in the Greek version which can be seen in the Septuagint: Codex Vaticanus.
  6. The Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) was written about 175–120 BCE. It was preserved in a Greek Septuagint version. (See Codex Sinaiticus.) However, it was probably originally written in Hebrew, as around 2/3 of a Hebrew version has been recovered from Qumran, Masada and the Cairo Genizah. (See Bensira.org.)
  7. The Book of Baruch was written about 200–100 BCE. It was probably written in Hebrew, as a Hebrew fragment of Chapter six (the Letter of Jeremiah) was discovered at Qumran. (See 7Q2.)
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