We begin our review of those books that were considered to be sacred within the first collection of books (cepheriym in the Hebrew) to be gathered by Hebrew scholars. This gathering of this collection occurred because the leader of Egypt, a certain Ptolemy Philadephus, commissioned seventy Rabbis (the Sanhedrin?) who were knowledgeable of both the Greek and Hebrew languages to convert the sacred Hebrew scriptures known to them at that time into the Greek language. The selection of these texts by these scholars would then become the first determination of that which should be considered as sacred scripture.
This collection became known as the Septuagint (meaning the work of the seventy) and is sometimes abbreviated as the LXX. This work was done sometime between 300 and 200 BC in Alexandria, Egypt, which would later become one of the centers of the emerging faith in MASHIACH. It was this collection that was later relied upon and used by the disciples in the propagation of the faith in the first and second centuries, and the majority of citations from what is now considered as the Old Testament were quoted directly from the Septuagint. The Orthodox Church (bearing in mind that the Roman church is break-away from Orthodoxy) even this day continues to rely upon the Septuagint for its Old Testament teachings.
The Septuagint contains the following books:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Joshua, Judges, Samuel (I & II), Kings (I & II), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Chavaquq, Ts'phanyah, Haggai, Z'kharyah, Malakhi
Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Ester, Daniyel, Ezra-N'chemyah, Chronicles (I & II)
Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), the Wisdom of Solomon, First and Second Maccabees, the two Books of Esdras, additions to the Book of Esther, additions to the Book of Daniel, and the Prayer of Manasseh.
None of these books were identified as “apocryphal” or non-inspired at the time of this translation, nor were they delineated in any respect by the writers of the collection that would later become known as the New Testament.
For further reading...
What is Canonization?
Canonicity: The Ethiopic Bible – Part 2
Canonicity: The Synod of Jamnia – Part 3
Canonicity: The Council of Nicea – Part 4
Canonicity: The Council of Laodicea – Part 5
Qs and As on the Cepher Chanoch (Book of Enoch)
The Cepher of Chanoch (Book of Enoch) - its structure
The Cepher of Chanoch (Book of Enoch) - its credibility
Cepher Chanoch: On the veracity of the Book of Enoch
Cepher Chanoch: Understanding the Book of Enoch