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The Third Book of Ezra (= LXX 1 Esdras)⁶ contains an independent compilation of biblical excerpts, which mainly come from parts of the Hebrew books of Ezra and Nehemiah (= LXX 2 Esdras). This book, which came into being in the Egyptian Diaspora in the second century BCE, contains an accurate but linguistically free Greek translation, which probably emerged earlier than the Greek version of 2 Esdras, which stays close to the Hebrew text.

3 Ezra presents a reinterpretation of materials from 2 Chr 35f. to Ezra 10 and Neh 7:72–8:3a in connection with the peculiar narrative of the »contest of the three servants« (Ezra 3:1–5:6), which is linked literarily with the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The book has pilgrimage festivals at the beginning and the end. Its two protagonists (Josiah and Ezra) are closely linked by the motif of the »rediscovery of the Torah of Moses,« which may explain the historical bridge from Josiah’s Passover to Ezra’s reading of the Torah in 3 Ezra. At 9:55 the narrative is interrupted in mid-sentence (»and they gathered ...«); it is generally assumed that the feast of Tabernacles of Neh 8:13–18 is meant.

The First Book of Maccabees,⁷ which came into being between 140 and 63 BCE, gives an account of the background and course of the Maccabean uprising. In the style of the Chronicler and in the form of a series of stories, the book describes the conflict between the Judean Jews and the Hellenistic rulers, the heroic struggle of the three Maccabee brothers Judah, Jonathan, and Simon for the liberation of Judea from Seleucid dominance, and the rise of the Hasmonean dynasty up to the murder of Simon (175–135 BCE).

Although there are no surviving text witnesses to the book, which was handed down only in the Christian tradition, the existence of a lost Hebrew original is suggested by its Hebraizing phraseology and diction and by the witness of St. Jerome (ca. 400 CE).

At the center of the events narrated is the attempt by a segment of the Jerusalem aristocracy, with the support of the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, to rescind the Torah as its constitution, to change the Temple state into a Hellenistic city, and to consolidate their own position of power (1:11–16). The First Book of Maccabees presents this failed coup by an aristocratic minority as a general religious persecution, at the same time equating the objectives of their religious opponents with those of the people as a whole. The Maccabee brothers and their opponents are constantly contrasted using stereotypes and polarization. The unknown author of the historical narrative focused on the assimilation efforts on the part of many of his compatriots, which he regarded as signs of religious and cultural decline, and so branded as illegitimate (cf. 1:11). In his Hasmonean-friendly account of the military and diplomatic events, he displayed how the Maccabee brothers succeeded in an anti-Hellenistic movement, defending against the violent efforts toward cultural and religious modernization within the Jerusalem upper classes. He stressed the political-national side of the action by citing a series of letters, alliance treaties, and decrees (e.g. 12:6–23).

The opening, introductory part of the book (1:1–2:70) tells of the background to the uprising. The second part (3:1–9:22) deals with the military successes of the uprising and of the renewal of the Temple cult under the leadership of Judas. In the third part (9:23–12:53) there is an account of the consolidation of power and the founding of the high priesthood of the Hasmonean dynasty under Jonathan. The fourth part (13:1–16:24) is occupied with the Jews’ complete independence from the Syrians under the rule of Simon.

A key function of 1 Maccabees consists in the internal political legitimation of the Hasmonean dynasty, which appealed to neither a royal (Davidic) nor a priestly (Zadokite) lineage. This work of propaganda can be seen as a literary effort to deal with the looming disintegration of the anti-Hellenistic following of the Maccabee brothers. The controversial Jewish dynasty was consistently represented as a house of religious zealots and fighters for Torah, temple, and cult. Judas Maccabeus appears as God’s instrument (3:18f. ). His brother Simon’s rise to power (13:1–9) was depicted as the fulfillment of the hopes of the pious rebels, even though it was a Hellenistic prince’s declaration of autonomy. After the failed attempt of the Hellenistic reformers to forcibly correct various fundamental stipulations of the Torah, further intellectual development of Judaism concentrated on the Torah itself.

The Second Book of Maccabees⁸ also tells the story of conflict between the faithful inhabitants of Judea and the Seleucid kings from Antiochus IV Epiphanes to Demetrius I Soter. It is not, however, a continuation of the First Book of Maccabees, as it begins with the end of the rule of Seleucus IV Philopator (187–175 BCE) and goes on to offer an alternative account of the events described in 1 Macc 2:52–7:50. This work, originally written in Greek and also preserved only in the Christian tradition, represents a summary of the (lost) five-volume historical account of Jason of Cyrene (2:19–32).

The book’s date is disputed. A possible window is from 124 BCE to the beginning of the first century CE. Linguistic peculiarities, the critical distance from Hasmonean rule, and the anti-Roman slant of the book point to its having come into being before 63 BCE. The audience of this account were the Alexandrian Jews, whose attention the author steered toward the fate of their brothers and sisters in the Land of Israel, and to the fortunes of the Temple as the focus of religious life.

The beginning of the book contains one genuine (1:1–9) and one fictitious letter (1:10–2:18) from the Jews of Jerusalem to their brethren in the Egyptian Diaspora. Chapter 3 relates the background story of the failed sacking of the Temple by Heliodorus, which champions the inviolable sanctity of the sanctuary. The first main part (4:1–10:9) deals with the desecration of the Temple, religious persecution under the Seleucids, the victory of Judas Maccabee, and the resumption of sacrifices in accordance with the ancestral law. The second main part (10:10–15:36) offers an account of the defense of the Temple by the rebels. The book ends with a concluding note by the author (15:37–39).

In the Second Book of Maccabees a prime concern was to glorify the Jerusalem Temple as a sign of the covenant faithfulness of God (10:1–9) . The message aligns with the Deuteronomistic model of history: if the people are guilty, they are punished by God; if they repent, they are saved. The failings of an individual bring culpability upon the community as a whole (4:16f.; 7:18; 10:4). At the same time, the narrator emphasizes how important it is that the righteous remain true to their religion (6:24–28). While the Jewish heroes resist Hellenization, the author writes in the style of the Hellenistic historians, unashamedly bringing in Greek notions of the underworld (6:23) and adopting a Hellenistic perspective—speaking several times of »barbarians« (2:21; 4:25; 10:4).

The Second Book of Maccabees contains the first clear reference to creatio ex nihilo (7:28) and is one of the early witnesses to Jewish hope for the bodily resurrection of the pious (7:9, 11, 14, 23, 29, 36; 14:37–46). It is a lively testimony of Jewish faith, as well as being a model of Greek historiography and one of the most important sources of information on the Seleucid monarchy.

The Third Book of Maccabees,⁹ in genre the etiology of an annual Diaspora festival, tells in Greek of the persecution of the Alexandrian Jews and their faith by a pagan king (Ptolemy IV Philopator, 221–204 BCE). It narrates their salvation through a divine miracle of deliverance, which saves the pious from being murdered in the Alexandrian hippodrome. The text’s references to 2 Maccabees (e.g. 2 Macc 3:1–40; 6:1–9; 9:3f. ) and numerous allusions to the Letter of Aristeas (see below; e.g. Arist 22–25; 83–91; 128–166; 184–186) as well as the narrowing of the geographical framework indicate that the work was composed in Egypt toward the end of the first century BCE.

The content of the book goes back to pre-Maccabean times and recounts events that are supposed to have taken place in 217 BCE. Its five-part structure complies with the principles of ancient drama and rhetoric. The festival legend is meant to be a way of strengthening faith in God’s help in times of distress. Throughout the work, the author emphasizes the equal fate of the Palestinian and the Egyptian Jews, in particular their faith as experienced and practiced.

Third Maccabees is regarded as a cult etiology; in fact, however, the etiological element is only a medium for an internal Jewish controversy. The book re-examines Jerusalem’s claim to religious leadership in the Diaspora as well as at home and draws attention to the exemplary nature of Egyptian Judaism.

The Book of Judith¹⁰ is found only in the LXX and the »old« translations that depend on it—in Latin, Syriac, etc. It was written toward the end of Persian rule. The novelistic didactic narrative is about the rescue of the city of Bethulia (i.e. Jerusalem) from the Assyrian army of Holofernes by young, rich, clever, brave, and godly Judith.

Handed down in various forms of the Greek text, the book of Judith contains syntax and vocabulary elements that make it appear to be a translation of a Semitic original (as Jerome says in his preamble to the Latin translation of the Bible). However, it uses the LXX rather than the MT, and also uses stylistic figures that are not »translation Greek.« The present Greek text of Judith is an independent version of a lost Semitic model.

Arguments in favor of a post-150 BCE date for the origin Greek Judith are—besides the borrowing of Hellenistic motifs (cf. 12:15–19)—echoes of Dan 2f. (Nebuchadnezzar’s dream), and the books of Maccabees. The narrator’s historical situation is probably the Hasmonean period. The Hebrew original points to the book’s having originated in Palestine. References to the book of Judith in Clement of Rome’s Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Clement, ca. 90 CE)¹¹ provide a secure terminus ad quem for its present Greek version.

The fictional narrative refers to the events shortly after the Babylonian Exile, looking back on the crisis under Antiochus IV. It is necessary to understand its references to older biblical books. These books are constantly reinterpreted for changing times. Individual figures, episodes, motifs, and stories (identity-creating threat-and-rescue stories in particular) are taken up and linked together as a historical construct with contrasting individual actors and scenes.

Given the signs of fabrication in the designation of the ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire as king of the Assyrians in Nineveh (1:6), along with the imaginary geography and chronology, the narrative is presented from the outset as a parabolic condensation of events. Its speeches and prayers emphasize its didactic character.

In Judith, the narrator brings together features of great women of the biblical tradition. In her courageous rescue act she fulfills the will of God; by her programmatic name she becomes a type for all God-fearing Jews. The story of Judith’s resistance and her resolute faith in God is a literary expression of the conflict between the God of Israel and the anti-divine powers, in other words between the endangered Judeans and the foreign peoples and rulers around them.

The book of Judith asserts the encouraging message that there is no need for the godly to despair as they persevere in the Jewish faith—even in troubled times. This time of tribulation could, instead, be interpreted as a test on the part of Almighty God, who can utilize anything, even things that are opposed to him, but never abandons his people to their enemies.

Part of the Greek version of the book of Esther, namely the traditional text of the Septuagint, contains six additions, which vary in terms of form and content.¹² These supplementary embellishments, totaling approximately 100 verses, use an edifying, novelistic style to enhance the religious content of the biblical book of Esther. They also correct the omission of any explicit mention of God in the book.

• Addition A (dream vision of the Judean Mordechai and discovery of the conspiracy) before 1:1 (MT);

• Addition B (text of the anti-Jewish decree of the Persian king) after 3:13 (MT);

• Addition C (long prayers by Mordechai and Esther composed from different elements of biblical literature) after 4:17 (MT);

• Addition D (detailed dramatic account of the course of Esther’s audience with the king, during which she pleads for the lives of her people) in place of 5:1–2 (MT);

• Addition E (counter-decree of the Persian king to protect his righteous Jewish subjects) after 8:12 (MT);

• Addition F (interpretation of Mordechai’s dream and authenticating signature to the Greek book of Esther) after 10:3 (MT).

The additions to Esther probably came into being during the Second Temple period; Josephus already seems to have been familiar with them (Ant. XI 184–296). As the book of Esther enjoyed great popularity in ancient Judaism, a narrative pool of different haggadic units seems to have been created from which the individual strands of the tradition drew.

The Greek version of the book of Daniel¹³ and the versions that depend on it include three major blocks of text not found in the Aramaic and Hebrew book:

• Susanna;

• Bel and the Dragon;

• Prayer of Azariah; the three men in the fiery furnace.

All the texts have been preserved in the Christian transmission of the Septuagint, while not handed down in rabbinic tradition. As additions to the Greek book of Daniel, the two edifying narratives, the lament and the hymn, show with what freedom they were initially handed down.¹⁴ Whether these haggadic pieces go back to Semitic originals can no longer be determined.

The story of the rescue of Susanna by Daniel is transmitted only in the two versions of the Greek book of Daniel. It tells of how a beautiful and godly woman is sexually harassed by two Jewish elders, and then falsely accused of adultery and sentenced to death. Young Daniel, imbued by the spirit of God, saves her by convicting the miscreants in skillful interrogation. The narrative is extant in an older version (SusLXX) and a younger one (SusTh). In SusLXX (ca. 125–75 BCE) it is found after ch. 12 in the »appendix« to the book of Daniel, while in SusTh (origin ca. 25 BCE—25 CE) it comes before Dan 1–12.

The Susanna story is a »haggadic midrash« on Dan 1:1–6, which gives an account of Daniel’s and his friends’ education at the Babylonian court. Numerous factual and chronological difficulties are clarified in this expansion of the Daniel material. The didactic, parenetic narrative also contains motifs from popular tradition. The story takes place within a Jewish community with its own administration and jurisdiction. Unlike in Dan 1–12, here it is not foreign rulers that prove unlawful and ungodly, but the Jews’ own authorities. Discernible in the text of SusLXX is implied criticism of the governance and behavior of the ruling Hasmonean dynasty.

The placing of the younger version of the Susanna narrative before Dan 1–12 in SusTh gives the narrative the character of a »childhood story.« The expansion of SusTh 1–6 situates the characters in a remote location and a back in the past. The new version SusTh reflects Palestinian Judaism’s changed historical situation vis-à-vis the origins of SusLXX, since the country came under direct Roman administration. In this period, neither politics nor jurisdiction was still in Jewish hands. The older authority-critical narrative in SusLXX is presented in SusTh as an edifying example story, the aim of which is to teach virtue and emphasize Daniel’s prophetic gift.

The narrative of Daniel and Bel and the Dragon/Serpent is found only in the Greek Daniel. The text consists of three parts, the first of which has Daniel uncover the deceit of the priests of Bel (BelDr 1–22), while the second depicts his victorious fight against the dragon in Babylon (BelDr 23–27), and the third deals with his miraculous deliverance from the lions’ den (BelDr 28–42). BelDr is extant in two versions (LXX and Th). The fact that the non-Jewish ruler is portrayed positively suggests that the narrative emerged before the crisis under Antiochus IV (175–164 BCE).

In the first two episodes, Daniel demonstrates the deficiencies of the divinity worshiped by the Babylonians. Indigenous cults are ridiculed. The image of Bel (i.e. Marduk) proves lifeless and powerless and is ultimately destroyed. The dragon can consume food but having eaten, it, too, dies.

Foodstuffs and the ability to distinguish between beneficial and unhealthy foods also plays an important role on the narrative margin of the confrontation stories: the priests who secretly eat the gifts for Bel are judged and found guilty by Daniel. The lions that are supposed to devour Daniel spare him. Daniel is saved from starvation by the prophet Habakkuk and is presented as a model of faith, keeping Jewish food laws even in a non-Jewish environment under the continued pressures of assimilation. The narrative of BelDr illustrates the identity-forming significance of individual piety even in the Babylonian exile.

In Dan 3, the prayers of Azariah and his friends are inserted between vv. 23 and 24 (MT) together with a short narrative about their miraculous fortunes in the fiery furnace. The 66-verse text, absent from the Hebrew and Aramaic book of Daniel, consists of an introductory remark about the praise of God by the three men (vv. 24f.) and a communal lament (vv. 24–45). The Prayer of Azariah interrupts the narrative context of the Aramaic text; the men suffer there precisely because of their uncompromising faith and therefore have no need of repentance and confession of sin. After a narrative transition (vv. 46–51) canticle of praise by the three men follows (vv. 52–90)—a hymn to the Creator God.

The religious persecution under Antiochus IV is the assumed background to the Prayer of Azariah. The sacking of the city and the desecration of the Temple are interpreted as a just punishment. It is not the iniquities of foreign rulers that cause the suffering of the pious but the sins of the people of Israel itself, its failure to honor the covenant and its disregard for the Torah. All that is left for the pious, in the face of the impending calamity, is to seek refuge with the God of Israel, to hope in his saving covenant promise, and to pray to him continually.

The Paraleipomena Jeremiou (The Things Omitted from Jeremiah = 4Bar)¹⁵ is an interpretive sequel to the book of Jeremiah which utilizes the promises in the history and proclamation of the prophet Jeremiah in interpreting and coping with their own experiences.

The text, originally written in Greek and handed down only within the tradition of the Eastern churches, is preserved in one long and two short versions. The terminus a quo is the retrospect on the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE reflected in the account of the events of 587 BCE. The probable date of the work, which is addressed to a Jewish readership, is the first third of the second century CE. A Palestinian origin is likely in view of the work’s frequent Septuagintisms, the author’s exact knowledge of the topography of Jerusalem (cf. 3:10,15; 4:1; 5:9; 6:16), and his special interest in the Samaritans (8:1–9).

The events narrated begin on the night of the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE. In a vision, God informs the prophet Jeremiah of the imminent destruction of Jerusalem because of the sins of its inhabitants, giving him time to bury the temple objects and save his servant Abimelech (cf. Jer 38:7). The Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and Jeremiah follows a contingent of the people into exile, while his scribe Baruch remains in Jerusalem. Abimelech falls into a 66-year sleep. He and Baruch then meet again and try to communicate with Jeremiah in Babylon. The latter promises a return for the exiles, while calling on them to separate themselves from their non-Jewish environment. Finally, the Israelites return home to Jerusalem. The text ends with a description of the death of Jeremiah that shows evidence of major Christian revision (with use of christological expressions; cf. 9:13f.).

In the Paraleipomena Jeremiou, the disaster of the destruction of the Temple is interpreted retrospectively as a judgment which the people brought upon themselves. On the other hand, the basic religious sentiment of the book is marked by unbroken trust in the present and future mercy and goodness of God. The history of the liberation of the people of Israel from captivity becomes a paradigm of the bodily resurrection in the Eschaton (6:3).

The Vitae Prophetarum (Lives of the Prophets)¹⁶ contains legendary short biographies of the four major prophets, the twelve prophets of the so-called Minor Prophets, as well as seven prophets from the historical books (Nathan; Ahijah the Shilonite; Joad; Azariah; Elijah; Elisha; Zechariah ben Jehoiada). Manuscripts of the text are preserved only in Christian revisions and translations.

If the collection of vitae is not to be regarded as genuinely Christian¹⁷ but based on an underlying—Semitic or Greek—Jewish writing, then the composition of this foundation of a Jewish »hagiography«¹⁸ probably came into being by the second century CE at the latest, as some of the traditions collected in the Vitae are also to be found in the extrabiblical Jewish writings of this period. These texts also display agreements with the short biographies popular in the Hellenistic-Roman sphere from the third century BCE onward. A witness to the reception of the biblical prophets in ancient Judaism, the Vitae prophetarum provides details of Palestinian geography not found in the biblical tradition. From this we may conclude that the author was a Palestinian Jew, possibly even an inhabitant of Jerusalem.

Framed by a title and a concluding statement, the 23 short biographies of the biblical prophets generally follow a stereotypical structure. An indication of the name, origin, and home of the prophet is followed by details of the location of his grave, of the miracles and signs he performed, of his violent death, and of his announcement of the signs of the end-times. Such a contemporizing interpretation of the prophetic literature of revelation is notable because it views the biblical writing prophets no longer as bringing a socio-critical message relating to the present or the immediate future, but as announcing events far ahead. Their messages serve as predictions of eschatological processes and events planned by God in accordance with his salvation-historical purpose.