The Lost Books of the Bible

By Dr. Stephen Pidgeon

What books have been identified in scripture that we have not included in the Cephertm? A quick review of even the most redacted versions of the bible will reveal the following list of books which have not been located in modernity.

Book of Wars
(Bemidbar/Numbers 21:14)
Book of Jasher
(Yahusha/Joshua 10:13; Shemu’el Sheniy/2 Samuel 1:18)
Book of the Laws of the Kingdom
(Shemu’el Ri’shon/1 Samuel 10:25)
Book of Songs
(Melekiym Ri’shon/1 Kings 8:12-13)
Book of the Words of Solomon
(Melekiym Ri’shon/1 Kings 11:41)
Book of the Days of King David
(Divrei Hayamiym Ri’shon/1 Chronicles 27:24)
Book of Gad the Beholder
(Divrei Hayamiym Ri’shon/1 Chronicles 29:29)
Book of Nathan
(Divrei Hayamiym Sheniy/2 Chronicles 9:29; 12:15; 13:22)
Book of Achiyahu the Shilomite
(Divrei Hayamiym Sheniy/2 Chronicles 9:29)
Book of Iddo
(Divrei Hayamiym Sheniy/2 Chronicles 9:29; 12:15; 13:22)
Book of Shemyahu
(Divrei Hayamiym Sheniy/2 Chronicles 12:15)
Book of the Revelation of Yesha’yahu
(Divrei Hayamiym Sheniy/2 Chronicles 32:32)
Book of the Kings of Media and Persia
(Ecter/Esther 10:2; Hadaccah/Additions to Esther 10:1)

The Septuagint

The Septuagint is the oldest surviving Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally believed to have been written by 72 Jewish scholars sometime during the 3rd century B.C. However, the evidence supports that only the Septuagint Pentateuch (the first five books of Mosheh (Moses)) was first translated as a unit by a company of scholars in Alexandria about the middle of the 3rd century B.C. and constitutes an independent corpus within the Greek Bible. The remaining texts do not have an historical basis which precedes the Messianic epoch. The only extant text predating the modern epoch is the Rylands Papyrus #458 at the John Rylands Library in Manchester, U.K., which contains only the 23rd to 28th  chapters of Devariym (Deuteronomy).

The greatest evidence for a compilation that would come to be denoted as the Septuagint, comes from Origen’s Hexapla, an edition of the Old Testament which he compiled in Caesarea, Palestine, before A.D. 245. The Hexapla was a sixfold comparison between the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts in six parallel columns, the second column of which was the Septuagint translation. In short, the completed Septuagint is a collection of the 3rd century AD under the supervision of Origen – not a prehistoric text created by 72 elders of the House of Yashar’el (Israel).

Here are the 51 books of the Septuagint:

The Pentateuch
Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers; Deuteronomy

Historical writings
Joshua; Judges; Ruth; 1 Samuel; 2 Samuel; 1 Kings; 2 Kings; 1 Chronicles; 2 Chronicles; Ezra–Nehemiah; Tobit (or Tobias); Judith; Esther (with additions); 1 Maccabees; 2 Maccabees; 3 Maccabees

Wisdom literature
Prayer of Manasseh; Job; Psalms; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs; Wisdom (or Wisdom of Solomon); Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus); Psalms of Solomon

Minor Prophets
Hosea; Amos; Micah; Joel; Obadiah; Jonah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi

Major Prophets
Isaiah; Jeremiah; Baruch; Lamentations; Letter of Jeremiah; Ezekiel; Daniel (with additions)

Appendix
4 Maccabees

Books of Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls)

In 1948, a discovery was made in the caves above the ancient ruin of Qumran (also known in antiquity as Damascus), a small community which at one time bordered the Dead Sea.  In these caves, pottery was discovered which was found to hold ancient manuscripts of sacred scripture on parchment.  Using a methodology that calculated the age of the writings based upon the quality of the script being used, scholars were able to date the writings as being created between the 3rd and 1st centuries B.C.

There are many students of the culture which existed at Qumran, and it is believed that the scribes there were responsible for the selection of the scrolls that would be preserved in the caves.  This constitutes the first collection of scripture that was determined to be worthy of retention, and this selection has the highest credibility of any texts on earth, as it precedes Origen’s Septuagint, precedes the Tanakh as determined by the Council of Jamnia in A.D. 110, precedes the selection of the New Testament in the 6th century A.D., and precedes the canonization of scripture at the Council of Trent in A.D. 1256.  The manuscripts identified at Qumran as found in the caves include (but are not limited to):

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Judges
Samuel
1 Kings
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Amos
Micah
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Daniel
Genesis Apocryphon
Book of Noah
Words of Moses
Apocryphon of Moses
Words of the Book of Michael
Apocryphal Prophecy
Book of Giants
Enoch
Great Isaiah Scroll
Community Rule
Milhamah or War Scroll
The Book of War
Testament of Levi
Instruction
Book of Mysteries
Rule of the Congregation
Rule of the Blessing or Rule of the Benedictions
Liturgy of the Three Tongues of Fire
Liturgical Prayers or Festival Prayers
Hodayot or Thanksgiving Hymns
Hymns
Wisdom of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus
Jubilees
Apocryphon of David
Juridical Text
Testament of Judah
Angel of Peace
Sectarian text
The Copper Scroll
Phylactery
Toponyms
Apocryphon of Malachi
Damascus Document
Calendrical Document
Allegory of the Vine
Letter of Jeremiah
Epistle of Jeremiah
Ostracon
Paleo-Leviticus
Great Psalms Scroll
Apocryphal Psalms
Melchizedek
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
New Jerusalem Scroll
Temple Scroll

The Nag Hammadi Scrolls

c. A.D. 350-400

According to the Gnostic Society, a collection of thirteen ancient books (called "codices") which contained over fifty texts, was discovered in the Nag Hammadi region in upper Egypt in 1945, including a collection of primary "gnostic gospels" – texts once thought to have been entirely destroyed during the early Christian struggle to define "orthodoxy" – such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Truth, and so forth. The writings are believed to have been created in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. and are therefore pseudepigraphal in nature.  The Nag Hammadi collection includes the following: 

The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
Allogenes – The Foreigner
The Apocalypse (Revelation) of Adam
The (First) Apocalypse (Revelation) of James
The (Second) Apocalypse (Revelation) of James
The Apocalypse (Revelation) of Paul
The Apocalypse (Revelation) of Peter
The Apocryphon (Secret Book) of James
The Apocryphon (Secret Book) of John
Asclepius
The Book of Thomas the Contender
The Concept of Our Great Power
The Dialogue of the Savior
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
Eugnostos the Blessed
The Exegesis on the Soul
The Gospel of the Egyptians
The Gospel of Philip
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Truth
The Hypostasis of the Archons – The Reality of the Rulers
Hypsiphrone
The Interpretation of Knowledge
The Letter of Peter to Philip
Marsanes
Melchizedek
On the Anointing
On the Baptism
On the Eucharist
On the Origin of the World
The Paraphrase of Shem
Plato
Republic
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
The Prayer of Thanksgiving
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
The Sentences of Sextus
The Sophia of Jesus Christ
The Teachings of Silvanus
The Testimony of Truth
The Thought of Norea
The Three Steles of Seth
The Thunder
Perfect Mind
The Treatise on the Resurrection
Trimorphic Protennoia
Three Forms of First Thought
The Tripartite Tractate
A Valentinian Exposition
Soriano’s

In addition to these works, there are other ancient texts which were not mentioned in the redacted 66 book version of the bible, such as The Apocalypse of Moses; The Testament of Moses; The Apocalypse of Abraham; The First Book of Adam and Eve; The Second Book of Adam and Eve; Yoceph v’Acenath; The Aleph-beyt of Ben Sirach; The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs; Second Baruch; Third Baruch; and the Ascension of Isaiah. These books and others can be found in the Cepher publications called Bere’shiyth and Shamayim.

There are other works written which were also considered for the New Testament, but over the years, their acceptance was never gained; books such as the Didache, the Gospel of Mary; the Gospel of James; the Gospel of Nicodemus (also called the Acts of Pontius Pilate); the Gospel of Peter; the Epistle of Barnabas; the Visions of Hermas; the Commands of Hermas; the Similitudes of Hermas; First Clement to Corinthians; Second Clement to Corinthians; the Martyrdom of Polycarp; Ignatius to the Ephesians; Ignatius to the Magnesians; Ignatius to the Trallians; Ignatius to the Romans; Ignatius to Philadelphians; Ignatius to Smyrnaeans; Ignatius to Polycarp; the Ascents of James and the Apocalypse of Peter. All of these can be found in the Cepher publication called Ha’avoth.

And before we leave this discussion, another manuscript mentioned in the Cepher Yovheliym (the book of Jubilees) is none other than the Cepher of Noach (the book of Noah). 

And one of us he commanded that we should teach Noach all their medicines; for he knew that they would not walk in uprightness, nor strive in righteousness. 11 And we did according to all his words: all the malignant evil ones we bound in the place of condemnation and a tenth part of them we left that they might be subject before Satan on the earth. 12 And we explained to Noach all the medicines of their diseases, together with their seductions, how he might heal them with herbs of the earth. 13 And Noach wrote down all things in a cepher as we instructed him concerning every kind of medicine. Thus the evil ruachoth were precluded from hurting the sons of Noach. 14 And he gave all that he had written to Shem, his eldest son; for he loved him exceedingly above all his sons.

Yovheliym (Jubilees) 13:10-14

 

And eat its meat on that day and on the second day, and let not the sun on the second day go down upon it till it is eaten, and let nothing be left over for the third day; for it is not acceptable for it is not approved and let it no longer be eaten, and all who eat thereof will bring sin upon themselves; for thus I have found it written in the cepheriym of my forefathers, and in the words of Chanoch, and in the words of Noach.

Yovheliym (Jubilees) 21:10