1 Esdras (=3 Esdras in Vulgate)

 

·       in Greek

·       considered Scripture by Orthodox traditions (Greek and Russian)

·       combines material from 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah

·       additional material in 3:1-5:6—Darius asks what is strongest: wine, the king, or women.  Zerubbabel takes women but then goes on to say truth is the answer.  This story appears with some differences in Josephus.

Expansions to Esther and Daniel

 

I.     Esther

·       some composed in a Semitic language; some in Greek

·       moved to the end by Jerome

·       latest additions made before Roman period

·       fills out details (e.g. of the plot against king)

·       “tidies” up theologically sensitive matters like Esther’s relationship with an uncircumcised foreigner and the absence of mention of God in the original book.

 

 

II.            Daniel

A. Susanna

·       exists in 2 versions: Theodotionic and Old Greek

·       Theodotionic is longer, more of a romance, and places the story at the beginning of Daniel as a kind of background to the book.

·       The Old Greek places it at the end as a 14th chapter and is more of a story with a self-contained moral.

 

    B. Prayer of Azariah

·       plea for deliverance in crisis brought on from sin

·       second part a blessing of God by the three Hebrew men

 

    C. Bel and the Dragon

·       First part involves a case of a god supposedly eating food left before its image.

·       Second part involves a dragon Daniel kills thought to be a god; Daniel goes into the lions’ den again and gets food from Habakkuk.