Publisher's Synopsis
The first of two books, this volume contains the 14 books of the Apocrypha considered Scriptural by Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and various other branches. In addition to these, it also contains an extra section, containing Psalms 151-155. These texts, in the order presented in the book, are: * 1 Esdras (AKA 3 Ezra)* 1 Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* Prayer of Azariah (AKA Song of the Three Holy Children)* Susanna* Bel and the Dragon* Additions to Esther* Psalms 151-155* 1 Baruch (inc. The Letter of Jeremiah)* Tobit* Judith*Prayer of Manassas* Sirach (AKA Ecclesiasticus)* Wisdom of Solomon* 2 Esdras (AKA 4 Ezra)Many of these books expand books of the Bible themselves. For example, Prayer of Azariah, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon are all additional stories from the Biblical book of Daniel. These come from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Additions to Esther are entire sections of the book that are likewise found in the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew text.What sets this volume apart is that, being a member of the Shem Qadosh Version family, it has been heavily revised and emended. These revisions include the restoration of Hebraic names over their Greek and Latin forms (ex. Yehudah Maqabi instead of Judas Maccabeus), as well as the restoration of the Tetragrammaton (the Name of The Almighty: YHWH), written in Hebrew script.Additionally, this edition has also consulted texts that were formerly left out of the translation process. Most copies of the Apocrypha available today are made exclusively from the Greek and Latin texts that were available to the King James Version translators. The SQV Apocrypha, however, has gone a step further. We have analyzed and compared not only the common Greek and Latin texts, but also readings present in the Syriac, Ethiopic, and Hebrew versions. It is accepted by most scholars that many of these books were, originally, Hebrew. The texts of Sirach, 1 Maccabees, Tobit, Psalms 151-155, and possibly Judith and 2 Esdras are all believed to be originally Hebrew. Sirach, though not entirely extant in Hebrew, does exist in large portions from a number of Hebrew texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Cairo Genizah. Tobit, similarly, is extant in a few fragments in Hebrew and Aramaic, while Psalms 151-155 were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. 1 Maccabees exists in a Hebrew edition, though it is a 19th Century translation from the Greek text
