GW Apocrypha Hardcover: The Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament Hardcover – September 1, 2009

Easy read. Well done

This book helped me a lot in my Bible Studies class. Highly recommend.

loved this book

Very interesting. Jewish History, Poetry, and Wisdom Literature.

Good resource.

Anyone buying this should be immediately aware that the subtitle of this book is MOST accurate: The Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament. This is made even clearer on the back of the book: "This edition includes the books that are part of the Roman Catholic canon, the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament." That is the official Roman Catholic Church's view of these specific books. What this means is that this edition leaves out significant other books that are included in the canons of the Orthodox and Anglican Churches. For the Anglicans, 1st and 2nd Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh are missing. For the Orthodox, in addition to those just mentioned, there are also missing Psalm 151, and 3 & 4 Maccabees.There is a good short introduction that discusses very briefly Martin Luther, the King James Version, and the Roman Catholic view as specified at the Council of Trent in 1546, but the views of the Orthodox Churches are completely absent.If you are Roman Catholic and you want a very, very easy to read (approximately 5th grade level) expanded OT, then this book might be for you. Just know who the audience is before purchasing this book.But the CEB and CEV both have expanded versions of the Apocrypha that are also pretty easy to read and better meet the needs of Anglicans and Orthodox.

First, please note that Amazon has now confused the product pages for the KJV Apocrypha and the GWT Apocrypha, both published by Baker. The reviews for both products now appear interspersed on both product pages. This is a review of Baker's "God's Word" translation (GWT) of the Apocrypha, and not of the KJV Apocrypha.The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books are indeed among the most important texts one could and should read to understand the contours of Judaism in the centuries around the turn of the era and, thus, the most fruitful background reading one could and should do for understanding the New Testament writings. I am personally very enthusiastic about promoting awareness of these texts and making them as broadly accessible as possible. While the "God's Word" translation is very accessible in terms of reading level, it has achieved this at the cost of introducing unnecessary distance (a nice way of saying "inaccuracies") between the translation and the original text.Aside from my qualms about the accuracy of this translation (qualms that extend to the New Testament of the "God's Word" translation, and to a much greater degree), I would recommend against it for another important reason: it does not include several important texts that are readily available in other (better) translations of the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals -- 3 & 4 Maccabees, 2 Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh, and Psalm 151. You can find these in the New Revised Standard Version, the English Standard Version, or the Common English Bible, any of which I would recommend above this translation. ESV would be, in my opinion, the most accurate (being a recent revision of the RSV/NRSV Apocrypha), the CEB the most readable. The NRSV, however, remains frankly the translation of the Bible I require in class and use most often, when I turn to one, and this text is available in a dizzying array of editions, study Bibles, and the like. I would personally recommend the NRSV Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, 4th edition. For about the same price here on Amazon, you'll get a much more reliable (though, granted, aimed at an 11-grade reading level rather than a 6-8-grade reading level, thus a less "easy to read") translation of the Apocrypha and up-to-date study notes/annotations to help you along.

Missing first and second Esdras

The apocrypha is a known collection of heretical writings that varies from collection to collection from 13-24 books. This is the 'core' element of books it contains, and the translation seems reasonable, and the product overall arrived undamaged and in fit state. I would caution anyone who is new to the faith to take all these texts with a pinch of salt as they are NOT scripture. They are a collection of Jewish texts that were never regarded as scripture by the Jews or anyone else until 'the Da Vinci Code' came to be. They are not Gnostic, or anything of the sort, and so must be approached with caution. The theological novels "Tobit" and "Judith" are enchanting, and are very, very loosely based on theological history, but are far from it in reality. They are ancient novels and whilst entertaining, do not resemble or reflect scripture or particular events in Jewish history. Judith in particular, when analysed for this, presents many historical faux pas with regards conflict with Babylon.Some of the books are very lengthy, and can be a bore to read, and are very different in nature from biblical scripture, which is more easily digested. Be prepared for a lot of reading and some interesting elements that try to exert authority by integrating elements of scripture from the Old Testament to give credibility to writings that were never recognisable as scripture.Other than that. Enjoy the texts. Come to know why they're not included in scripture, and enjoy some of the cultural ideas and spiritual ideas cropping up in the inter-testamental period.

Hard cover and Paper quality very goodNo comments on content😇