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Second Temple Period

This is an archive of extra-canonical (deuterocanonical) compositions from the period of the Second Temple.

Resources filtered by TAG: “deuterocanonical works” (clear filter)

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Wise Counsel: Selected verses from the Book of ben Sira for a Seliḥot Service by Paltiel Birnbaum

Selected verses from the book of ben Sira for a Seliḥot service

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., Cairo Geniza, Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, Jews of Alexandria, מוסר mussar, wisdom

Contributor(s):

Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 מזמור לבן סירא על זכות אבותינו (פרקים מד-נ)‏ | Paean of Ben Sira on the Merit of the Ancestors (ch. 44-50), vocalized and cantillated with the Poetic Masoretic System by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The poem lauding the ancestors from Chapters 44 to 50 of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) is considered by many scholars to be the original influence for the Yom Kippur Avodah service, and the paean to Shimon the Righteous bears a striking similarity to the beloved piyyut “Mar’eh Khohen.” This passage from Ben Sira, the great paean on the merit of the ancestors, takes the Hebrew text of one of the Cairo Geniza manuscripts — Bodleian MS Heb e62 — and versifies it according to the standard Septuagintal text, along with vocalization and cantillation per the standard Masoretic EMe”T system for poetic books. It could be read on Yom Kippur for the avodah service, or just studied as a fascinating piece of Jewish history.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Yom Kippur

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., Cairo Geniza, Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, Jews of Alexandria, Mar'eh Kohen

Contributor(s):

Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 ילקוט מזמורים לבן סירא פרק נ״א | An Appendix of Psalms of Ben Sira chapter 51, vocalized, cantillated, and translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The end of the scroll of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) reconstructed from Cairo Geniza fragments not contained within the Septuagint.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, Cairo Geniza, Classical Antiquity, Dead Sea Scrolls, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, Jews of Alexandria, reconstructed text

Contributor(s):

Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ | The Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 83-90), with Aramaic Fragments and translations in Ge’ez and English

A mytho-historical chronicle of the story of humanity and Israel up until the Maccabean revolt depicted as a fable through a dream vision of Ḥanokh.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Ḥanukkah Readings

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., anti-predatory, deuterocanonical works, early Judaism, חנוך Ḥanokh (Enoch), mytho-historical chronicles, pre-rabbinic judaism

Contributor(s):

Robert Henry Charles (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

ספר היובלים | መጽሐፈ ኩፋሌ | Sefer haYovelim (the book of Jubilees, in Ge’ez)

We are grateful to Dr. James VanderKam for preparing this critical text of the Book of Jubilees (Sefer Yubalim) in its Ge’ez translation in Ethiopic script. The book of Jubilees is an early Jewish deutero-canonical text originally written in Hebrew and composed during the Second Temple period sometime before the Maccabean struggle (164 BCE).

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Shavuot Readings

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., anti-predatory, deuterocanonical works, early Judaism, Ethiopian Jewry, Mäṣḥäf Ḳədus, mytho-historical chronicles, parabiblical aggadah, pre-rabbinic judaism, יובל Yovel Jubilee

Contributor(s):

Unknown

💬 בן סירא מב:כא-מג:לא | ben Sira 42:21-43:31, a hymn of creation translated by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan

Ecclesiasticus (ben Sira) 42:21-43:31 is presented as “God the Lord of Nature” in The Sabbath Prayer Book of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (The Reconstructionist Foundation 1945), p. 376-372 in the Supplements subsection, “God in Nature.” The text of Ben Sira used here differs in places found in other manuscripts.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Rosh Ḥodesh Readings

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, hymns of creation, Jews of Alexandria, Openers

Contributor(s):

Mordecai Kaplan, Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

Σουσαννα | שׁוֹשַׁנָּה וְהַזְּקֵנִים | Shoshanah & the Elders, according to Theodotion translated and cantillated in Masoretic Hebrew by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The story of Shoshanah & the Elders, according to the text of Theodotion translated into Biblical Hebrew.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Jewish Antiquities, sexual predation

Contributor(s):

Theodotion (translation/Greek), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

Βηλ Και Δρακων | בֵּל וְהַתַּנִּין | Bel & the Dragon, according to Theodotion translated and cantillated in Masoretic Hebrew by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The story of Bel and the Dragon according to the text of Theodotion, translated into biblical Hebrew.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, captive animals, captives, deuterocanonical works, dragons, חבקוק Ḥabaquq, iconoclastic, Jewish Antiquities, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh, the Pit

Contributor(s):

Theodotion (translation/Greek), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 The Martyrdom of Isaiah — the Jewish core of the work, translated into Hebrew with cantillation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The following is a cnatillated Hebrew translation of the Martyrdom of Isaiah, the Jewish core of the work — 1:1—3:12 and 5. Also included is the corresponding Geʽez text, and the preserved fragments of the Greek text when available. When proper names are mentioned in the text attested in Greek, the translation follows the Greek.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Nittel Nacht Readings

Tags:

deuterocanonical works, early Judaism, martyrdom, Mäṣḥäf Ḳədus, mytho-historical chronicles, parabiblical aggadah, pre-rabbinic judaism, Yeshayahu

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown

Βαροὺχ | Sefer Barukh (3:9-5:8), a poem of wisdom in exile and its ultimate liberation

The poetic portion of the deuterocanonical work, Barukh, in Greek with English translation.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, early Judaism, exile, שבת נחמו Shabbat Naḥamu, wisdom

Contributor(s):

Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Septuagint/ⅬⅩⅩ (translation), Barukh ben Neriyah and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

ספר ברוך | Sefer Barukh (1:1-3:8), from the Reconstructed Hebrew Vorlage by Prof. Emmanuel Tov, vocalized and cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The book of Barukh (also, Baruch and Barouch) in its reconstructed Hebrew vorlage from verse 1:1 till 3:8.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, early Judaism

Contributor(s):

Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Emmanuel Tov (Hebrew reconstruction), Septuagint/ⅬⅩⅩ (translation), Barukh ben Neriyah, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 קִינַת שְׁאֵלָה בַּת יִפְתָּח | The Lamentation of Sh’élah bat Yiftaḥ — as found in Pseudo-Philo’s “Biblical Antiquities” and the Divrei Yeraḥmiel

The story of Yiftaḥ, or Jephthah, is read as the haftara for Parashat Ḥuqqat. However, in most practices the end of the story is not read. This is probably because it is horrific — because of Yiftaḥ’s foolish vow, he sacrifices his own daughter! Unlike the story of Isaac, there is no angel, no last-minute salvation. The knife falls, the girl dies. That would be bad enough, but the daughter of Yiftaḥ isn’t even named in the text! The text of Biblical Antiquities, traditionally albeit incorrectly attributed to Philo of Alexandria, is one of the more interesting and under-studied deuterocanonical works. Almost certainly written in Hebrew but preserved in its entirety only in Latin, it is an example of the genre of “rewritten Bible,” a proto-midrashic genre also found in texts such as Jubilees. It is the earliest source for a substantial number of legends that became part of the midrashic canon — from Abraham’s casting into the furnace to Dinah’s marriage to Job. And it has a unique tendency to elaborate on the stories of women in the Bible. In the case of Yiftaḥ’s daughter, Biblical Antiquities gives her three things she deserves: agency, a song, and a name. Agency, because she is a willing participant in the process of sacrifice, encouraging her father to go through with it and leaving the sages speechless. A song, because she laments the fact she will die a virgin. And a name — in the Latin text, Seila. In the Hebrew, Sheila, “asked for.”

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Parashat Ḥuqat

Tags:

1st century CE, 39th century AM, Antiquity, Biblical Women, Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, dreams, Jewish Women's Prayers, martyrdom, mytho-historical chronicles, parabiblical aggadah, polyglot, pre-rabbinic judaism, self-sacrifice

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo and Unknown

💬 דָּנִיֵּאל וְהַתַּנִּין | Daniel vs. the Dragon, according to the Judeo-Aramaic text found in Divrei Yeraḥmiel, vocalized and cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Daniel’s battle with the Dragon, one of the apocryphal Additions to Daniel, is affixed to the end of the book in the Septuagint. The editor has here included a new vocalized and cantillated edition of the Aramaic text preserved in the 12th century Divrei Yeraḥmiel (Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11 transcribed by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster). The language of this passage is an odd synthesis of Targumic, pseudo-Biblical Aramaic, and even some Syriac forms, so the editor’s vocalization is aiming for a happy medium of all the possibilities. (In several locations Divrei Yeraḥmiel uses incorrect Hebrew-specific forms, probably due to scribal error. These are here marked as a qere-ketiv split.)

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, Aramaic, captive animals, captives, deuterocanonical works, dragons, חבקוק Ḥabaquq, iconoclastic, Jewish Antiquities, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh, the Pit

Contributor(s):

Moses Gaster, Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

דָּנִיֵּאל וְהַתַּנִּין | Daniel vs. the Dragon, according to the Aramaic text of Divrei Yeraḥmiel (ca. 12th c.)

The story of Daniel and the dragon held captive by the neo-Babylonians found in Aramaic in the Divrei Yeraḥmiel (the Chronicles of Jeraḥmeel, Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11).

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, Aramaic, captive animals, captives, deuterocanonical works, dragons, חבקוק Ḥabaquq, iconoclastic, Jewish Antiquities, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh, the Pit

Contributor(s):

Moses Gaster, Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Holy Children, according to the Judeo-Aramaic text found in Divrei Yeraḥmiel, vocalized and cantillated, with a new English translation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Holy Children, one of the apocryphal Additions to Daniel, is an interpolation into the third chapter of the book of Daniel. The editor has here included a new vocalized and cantillated edition of the Aramaic text preserved in the 12th century Divrei Yeraḥmiel (Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11 transcribed by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster). The language of this passage is an odd synthesis of Targumic, pseudo-Biblical Aramaic, and even some Syriac forms, so the editor’s vocalization is aiming for a happy medium of all the possibilities.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

Aramaic, Daniel, deuterocanonical works, martyrdom

Contributor(s):

Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

תפילת עזריה חנניה ומישאל בתוך הכבשן | The Prayer of Azaryah, Ḥananyah, and Mishael from within the Furnace, according to the Aramaic text of Divrei Yeraḥmiel (ca. 12th c.)

The prayer of Azaryah and his song of praise with Ḥananyah, and Mishael from within the Furnace (also known as “the song of the three holy children”) found in Aramaic in the Divrei Yeraḥmiel (the Chronicles of Jeraḥmeel, Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11).

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

Aramaic, Daniel, deuterocanonical works, martyrdom

Contributor(s):

Moses Gaster, Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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Dirk van Santen and the Keur Bible New Insights into Jacob Judah (Arye) Leon Templo's Model Temple, p. 9

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

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