OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

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Stefan Kristensen
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OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by Stefan Kristensen »

Can anyone help me here: Are there any quotations in the NT from the OT apocrypha?
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Ken Olson
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Re: OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by Ken Olson »

The Epistle of Jude quotes 1 Enoch 1.9:
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14-15).
If you include possible allusions as well as actual quotations, a great many have been suggested: 1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Tobit, Sirach. Jannes & Jambres, and likely others.
Stefan Kristensen
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Re: OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by Stefan Kristensen »

Thanks Ken Olson. As far as I know as well there are only allusions, but I don't know where to look tbh.
1 Enoch is a pseudepigraphon and not an apocryphon.
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DCHindley
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Re: OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by DCHindley »

Stefan Kristensen wrote: Sat Feb 24, 2018 10:59 pm Thanks Ken Olson. As far as I know as well there are only allusions, but I don't know where to look tbh.
1 Enoch is a pseudepigraphon and not an apocryphon.
If you don't mind dusting off scholarly tomes electronically, search for a 2 volume set by R. H. Charles called Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (often abbreviated APOT, vol 1 = Apocrypha; vol 2 = Pseudepigrapha). The introductions to the individual books include all NT quotations and allusions to them.

Also, if you were to buy a copy of the latest United Bible Society Greek text, or Nestle/Aland Greek text, all likely quotes are in boldface or marked off by symbols, with name of the work cited or alluded to in the footnotes.

There has to be web sites where these are summarized, though.

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Stefan Kristensen
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Re: OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by Stefan Kristensen »

Thanks very much, DCHindley!
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Re: OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by Secret Alias »

ALL Biblical texts are pseudepigiphal. ALL of them. No one who is claimed to have written them wrote them and those that were written by historical personages (Paul) had their names changed IMHO. Perhaps there is a core text somewhere lurking in Isaiah or the letters of Paul but the editor(s) is/are now the real authors of the overall text.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Stuart
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Re: OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by Stuart »

Secret Alias wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 8:57 am ALL Biblical texts are pseudepigiphal. ALL of them. No one who is claimed to have written them wrote them and those that were written by historical personages (Paul) had their names changed IMHO. Perhaps there is a core text somewhere lurking in Isaiah or the letters of Paul but the editor(s) is/are now the real authors of the overall text.
I would just add the caveat, that the editor may have been editors (plural), and the versions we the nth iteration, where n > 1, some cases could be n > 5 (!).

The Western order of the Gospels, which may have been an earlier form based on what they believed was the compositional order, put those named after Apostles (Matthew and John) first, and those named after second generation disciples of the big name Apostles (Luke for Paul, and Mark for Peter).

Good grief, am I agreeing with Stephen Huller? I need to hit the liquor cabinet and get some medication fast.

To the OP, Jude is the only clear reference to an Apocryphal, meaning not Canonical, book. But there are hints of Canonical phrases that may have entered Apocrypha, such 4 Ezra 13:29-32 (Vulgate 2 Esdras, no Greek exists) which matches closely the mini-Apocyplyse

29 ecce dies veniunt, quando incipiet Altissimus liberare eos qui super terram sunt.
30 et veniet excessus mentis super eos qui inhabitant terram.
31 et in alisalio cogitabunt bellare, civitates civitatem et locus locum et gens ad gentem et regnum adversus regnum.
32 et erit cum fient haec et contingent signa quae ante ostendi tibi, et tunc revelabitur Filius meus quem vidisti virum ascendentem.

29 Behold, the days are coming when the Most High will deliver those who are on the earth.
30 And bewilderment of mind shall come over those who dwell on the earth.
31 And they shall plan to make war against one another, city against city, place against place, people against people, and kingdom against kingdom.
32 And when these things come to pass and the signs occur which I showed you before, then my Son will be revealed, whom you saw as a man coming up from the sea.

Compare the elements in the various mini-apocalypses (note "Peoples" and "Nations" are interchangeable; gens ad/contra gentem = ἔθνος ἐπ᾽ ἔθνος).

It's debatable which came first Gospels or 4 Ezras. If the Apocrypha came first then most of the debate about which 1st/2nd century conflict is represented in the mini-Apocalypse in another thread is probably completely moot, as the verse would have been derived from preformed concepts present in the Apocrypha, representing an earlier pre-Gospel form of Christianity. While I think the 4 Esra is later most likely late 2nd century, maybe not until the 3rd or even 4th century for the complete version, but that is speculation and neither here nor there -- Clement knows of the Apocalypse of Ezra upon which it's based, which would put a terminus of early 3rd century when Clement likely wrote; But no manuscripts until the 9th/10th and 12th centuries. Linguistic study (forget who, need a reference) suggested the original languages were Greek and Hebrew, which were lost, indicating the book might be considerably older than the Gospels. If that is so, it may have been a source for the mini-Apocalypse.

There are other interesting pieces of stray text such as a saying from Epimenides in Titus 1:12:
"Cretans are always liars, evil beast, lazy gluttons"
Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί.

He drew the first three word from Hymn to Zeus by Callimachus. Presumably this saying relate to the Cretans claim that Jupiter was buried there, as they would show you his tomb.

Acts 17:28 also quotes from a Epimenides and Aratus's poem Phainomena, 5, and even calling them poets
as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'
ὡς καὶ τινες τῶν καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ποιητῶν εἰρήκασιν, Τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν.

Then there is 1 Corinthians 15:33 quoting Menander's comedy Thais
Bad company corrupts good morals.
Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί.

There is also an unattributed saying of Luke 7:32/Matthew 11:17 for which nobody is sure what Greek poem or other source it came form
We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not weep.
Ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε· ἐθρηνήσαμεν καὶ οὐκ ἐκλαύσατε (MT ἐκόψασθε).

There are no doubt some others where the Greek poems were lost long long ago or never recognized. None is given Canonical weight.

I don't put much weight on earliness or lateness based on having Apocrypha quotes. Some sects accepted literature which others did not. So to me it merely points to certain sects for authorship rather than to any particular date.
“’That was excellently observed’, say I, when I read a passage in an author, where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken.” - Jonathan Swift
Stefan Kristensen
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Re: OT apocrypha quotations in the NT?

Post by Stefan Kristensen »

Thanks, Stuart. I'm doing a lecture on the OT apocrypha, which is not really within my main area of expertise, and in this connection "apocrypha" is defined by the eleven works which Luther made into an appendix to the OT:
Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, Additions to Daniel, Widsom, Sirach, 1 Macc, 2 Macc, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah & Prayer of Manasseh.
So I thought I'd just mention in the lecture if these were quoted in the NT.
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