Judeo-Christian Legends
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3 Enoch

3 Enoch, also called Hebrew Enoch, The Revelation of Metatron, or The Book of the Palaces, was likely written in the 1st or 2nd century AD by either Ishmael ben Elisha ha-Kohen or Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha. Its Jewish author has an otherworldly experience where he ascends into the heavens and beholds the glorified Enoch (Metatron). Metatron has become the heavenly scribe and among the highest-ranking angels.




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Epistle of Aristeas

The Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates, herein called the Epistle of Aristeas, is a Hellenistic work from the 3rd or early 2nd century BC, thought by some biblical scholars to be pseudepigraphical. Josephus ascribes it to Aristeas of Marmora and suggests it was written to a certain Philocrates. The letter describes the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible by seventy-two interpreters sent into Egypt from Jerusalem at the request of the librarian of Alexandria, resulting in the Septuagint translation (LXX). Some have argued that its story of the creation of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible is fictitious, although its ancient date provides an important counterargument. The letter is a vital resource for understanding the Hellenistic Judaism of Jesus’ day and is the earliest text to mention the Great Library of Alexandria, which has been lost to history.




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Apocryphon of Ezekiel

The Apocryphon of Ezekiel, also called 2 Ezekiel, was likely composed in the 1st century BC or 1st century AD, with later Christian interpolations. It is quoted in a number of early works. Fragment 1 comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls and was quoted in the letter of Bar-Naba and the Revelation of Peter. Fragment 2 is identified from a quotation of the Apocryphon found in 1 Clement chapter 8. Fragment 3 was identified with Ezekiel by Tertullian. Fragment 4 was attributed to Jesus by Justin Martyr, and sourced from the Apocryphon by other early writers. Fragment 5 is found in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, among others. Fragment 6 was attributed to Ezekiel by Epiphanius but is dissimilar to the other fragments.




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Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres

The Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres, also known as the Book of Jannes and Jambres, is a likely pseudepigraphal work composed in the 1st or 2nd-century AD, narrating the undertakings of the two legendary magicians in Pharaoh’s court who opposed Moses and Aaron. Only scattered fragments survive.




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4 Baruch

4 Baruch, also called the Paralipomena of Jeremiah (meaning “things left out of Jeremiah”), appears as the title in several Ancient Greek manuscripts of the work. It is part of a larger Ethiopian Orthodox book that includes Lamentations and additions to Lamentations. 4 Baruch is usually dated to the first half of the 2nd century AD.




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3 Baruch

3 Baruch, or the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, is a visionary, likely pseudepigraphic text written some time between the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the 3rd century. Scholars disagree as to Jewish or Christian authorship, or even if a clear distinction can be made in this era. It is self-attributed to Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch ben Neriah, and does not form part of any biblical canon. It is extant in certain Greek and Old Slavonic manuscripts.




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2 Baruch

2 Baruch is a Jewish text, likely pseudepigraphical, thought to have been written in the 1st or 2nd century AD. It is also known as the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (used to distinguish it from the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch—3 Baruch). The Apocalypse proper occupies the first 77 chapters of the book. Chapters 78–87 are usually referred to as the “Letter of Baruch to the Nine and a Half Tribes.”




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Ascension of Isaiah

The Ascension of Isaiah was probably composed sometime in the 1st or 2nd centuries AD and consists of three key parts: “The Martyrdom of Isaiah” (chs. 1–5), “The Testament of Hezekiah” (an insertion in chs. 3–4), and “The Vision of Isaiah” (chs. 6–11). The text revolves around an account of Isaiah’s martyrdom in which he was sawn in two. It also includes prophetic material and a “vision” in which Isaiah is transported through the seven dimensions (or levels) of the heavens.




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Lives of the Prophets

Lives of the Prophets is a record of the lives and deaths of the significant Old Testament-era prophets. At least some of the material is very ancient, from the 1st century AD or earlier. The Apostle Paul may have been familiar with some of these accounts as reflected in the Pauline epistles.




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Testament of Solomon

The Testament of Solomon is the account of his receiving a ring of great power from the archangel Michael that enables him to systematically overcome and enslave a series of demons. He then forces these demons to help build the First Temple in Jerusalem. It is thought by most that the text was developed and organized in the medieval period, but at least some of the core material likely dates from the 1st century AD or earlier because of early citations and even an early reference to the title.




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Testament of Moses

The Testament of Moses, also called the Assumption of Moses, is thought to have been composed in the 1st century BC or 1st century AD, in Hebrew or a similar Semitic language, and then translated into Koine. The surviving manuscript is actually a 6th century Latin translation of the Greek. There is speculation that a missing portion of the work includes the dispute between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses, which is also found in Jude 1:9. The book is backward and forward-looking, and apocalyptic in nature, dealing with Moses’ handoff to Joshua prior to death.




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Testament of Job

The Testament of Job is a book likely written in the 1st century BC or the 1st century AD (thus part of a tradition often called “intertestamental literature” by Christian scholars). The earliest surviving manuscript is in Coptic of the 5th century; other early surviving manuscripts are in Greek and Old Slavonic. Similar to other apocryphal testaments, it is an account of the last events and words of the protagonist (here, Job).




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Joseph and Asenath

Joseph and Asenath is an embellished account of Joseph’s relationship with Asenath, the daughter of the Egyptian priest of Heliopolis. Joseph’s marriage to Asenath, given only a brief mention in Genesis 41:45–50 and 46:20, is herein turned into a sweeping narrative describing Asenath’s conversion to faith in YHWH, her subsequent marriage to Joseph, the birth of Ephraim and Manasseh, and a fanciful plot by Pharaoh’s son, along with Dan and Gad, to kill Joseph. The story is thought to have been written sometime between 200 BC and AD 200, either as a Jewish midrash with later Christian interpolations, or as a Judeo-Christian work from the onset.




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Ladder of Jacob

The Ladder of Jacob, composed in the 2nd century AD at the latest, has been preserved only in Slavonic, which is itself clearly a translation from a now lost Greek version. The book is an expansion of the biblical account of Jacob’s dream found in Genesis 28:11–19. Chapter 7 (7–8 here) is thought by some to be a later Christian development of the text.




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Testament of Jacob

The Testament of Jacob is the tale of Jacob’s visitation by the archangel Michael who tells him of his impending death. Jacob is then taken on a visit to Heaven, where he sees the torment of the sinful dead, and then meets his deceased grandfather Abraham. In this Testament it is the angels that Jacob meets who deliver most of the sermonizing material. It was probably written in the 2nd or 3rd century AD.




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Testament of Isaac

Likely from the 2nd century, the Testament of Isaac begins with Isaac being told of his impending death by an angel, and his message to his son in response. Isaac foretells both the 12 tribes of Israel and Christ.




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Testament of Abraham

The Testament of Abraham was probably composed sometime in the 1st or 2nd century AD and is extant in Greek in two recensions (one long, the other short). The long recension is included here. The Testament of Abraham is often humorous in tone, indicating the text might actually be an entertaining fiction extrapolating on the life of the patriarch—even in the first verse we see Abraham’s enormously exaggerated age. Though not necessarily composed by the same author, the Testaments (of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, respectively) are closely related works and are often grouped together.




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Life of Adam and Eve

The Life of Adam and Eve, also known in its Greek version as the Apocalypse of Moses, is a Jewish apocryphal group of writings. It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve from after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden to their deaths. It provides more detail about the Fall of Man, including Eve’s version of the story. Satan explains that he rebelled when God commanded him to bow down to Adam. After Adam dies, he and all his descendants are promised a resurrection. The extant version comes from the 1st to 5th centuries AD, but there is widespread consensus that the original work was composed in the 1st century or earlier.




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Book of Giants

Once thought to be nothing more than a 3rd-century Manichaean corruption of biblical and Jewish legends, a primordial Aramaic form was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This much older Book of Giants was composed hundreds of years before Christ’s first advent—at the latest—and shares Enochian similarities. In the popular LSV reconstruction of the DSS Book of Giants, instead of presenting each fragmentary section, the narrative is pieced together in a plausible chronological order by chapter, so some fragments are grouped together. The fragment identifiers are listed before each set of verses belonging to that fragment.




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2 Enoch (a.k.a. Secrets of Enoch)

2 Enoch, also called Slavonic Enoch or the Secrets of Enoch, is thought to have been written between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. It deals with Enoch’s rapture and ascent through the ten heavenly dimensions.




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