Apocrypha

Great is truth, and mighty above all things. ~ 1 Esdras

Apocrypha (Medieval Latin apocryphus, "secret, or non-canonical", from the Greek adjective ἀπόκρυφος apokryphos, "obscure", from the verb ἀποκρύπτειν apokryptein, "to hide away") is a word applied to works, statements or claims that are considered of dubious authenticity. It is commonly used in reference to Biblical apocrypha, collections of ancient books, or passages within them, found in some editions of the Bible, but not others.

Biblical apocrypha

I Esdras

• Great is truth, and mighty above all things.
  • Often quoted in the Latin: Magna est veritas et praevalet.
  • 4:41

• Women are strongest: but above all things Truth beareth away the victory.
  • 3:12

II Esdras

• If he went not through the narrow, how could he come into the broad?
  • 7:5
• I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out.
  • 14:25

Book of Tobit

• So they went forth both, and the young man's dog with them.
  • 5:16

Book of Judith

• And became lord of his cities, and came unto Ecbatane, and took the towers, and spoiled the streets thereof, and turned the beauty thereof into shame.
  • 1:14

The Rest of the Book of Esther

• Behold, a noise of a tumult with thunder, and earthquakes, and uproar in the land. And behold, two great dragons came forth ready to fight, and their cry was great.
  • 11:5-6

Book of Wisdom (or Wisdom of Solomon)

• Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth.
  • 1:1

• The ear of jealousy heareth all things.
  • 1:10

• The ungodly ... reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, ... "We were born by mere chance, ... come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things. ... Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they wither."
  • 2:1-8 NRSV

• Through envy of the devil came death into the world.
  • 2:24

Wisdom of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)

• Better it is to die than to beg.
  • 40:28

• Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us.
  • 44:1

Baruch

• To the Lord our God appertaineth righteousness, but unto us and to our fathers open shame, as appeareth this day.
  • 2:6

The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children

• For we, O Lord, are become less than any nation, and be kept under this day in all the world, because of our sins.
  • v.13

• But the Angel of the Lord came down into the oven, together with Azarias and his fellows, and smote the flame of the fire out of the oven: And made the midst of the furnace, as it had been a moist whistling wind, so that the fire touched them not at all, neither hurt nor troubled them.
  • vv.25-26

II Maccabees

Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life. ~ Eleazar

• Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine's flesh. But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the the rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh, as men ought to go who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life.
  Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside, because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing, proper for him to use, and pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal which had been commanded by the king, so that by doing this he might be saved from death, and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them.
  But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs which he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God-given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades. "Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life," he said, "lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion, and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws." When he had said this, he went at once to the rack.
  And those who a little before had acted toward him with good will now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness. When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: "It is clear to the Lord in His holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him."
  So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.
  • 6:18 - 31

• When he was at the last gasp.
  • 7:9

• Nicanor lay dead in his harness.
  • 15:28