Cambridge ESV Apocrypha – Review

A closer look at the ESV Apocrypha from Cambridge University Press. ⬇️ Leave a comment below to let me know what you think or ask any questions you have about this edition!

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0:00 Hello Friends!
0:29 Intro & Setup
1:54 Exterior Walkthrough
2:36 Interior Walkthrough
5:13 Maps
6:05 Final Thoughts

[terrysbookandbiblereviews]

Looks great! Everyone should read the Apocrypha at least once.

[philipguzman]

Another great review, Tim. A great thing about this Cambridge product (other than its Cambridge!) is that you get an ESV Apocrypha in a separate volume. For those of us who grew up with parts of the Apocrypha as canonical Scripture, we generally look for bibles that include it. However, this often will make the bible thicker and, certainly, more cumbersome to use (especially if one works with a Study Bible). A separate Apocrypha allows one to work with a smaller bible sans Apocrypha and still have it handy to use in a separate volume. . . My take anyway. . So many different ways to use and read Scripture -- the key being to simply read and soak in the Word as one sees fit. . . P.S. for those who have not spent time in the Apocrypha, it is well worth the read and time spent in meditation . . . There are many blessings contained therein.

[Paladin]

Looks like a great book. I am happy to see some versions of the Apocrypha in something other than the NRSV version.

[yvonnegonzales]

Thanks for the details, ESV Oxford apocrypha for short time then Indian ESV Catholic deutrocanons ongoing

[Tax_Buster]

I got the ESV-Catholic Edition which was released in 2018. Of course, it includes the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals.

[benjamin]

Thanks for this review. I have started utilizing Bibles with the Catholic order of the Deuterocanonicals. I have a couple of ESV-CE Bibles rebound in calfskin and goatskin by Annesi Bindings, a South African binder who specializes in Catholic and Orthodox rebindings, and I really enjoy like Tobit and Wisdom of Solomon and Sirah/Ecclesiasticus. I wouldn't mind if there were more Apocrypha sections in Bibles.

[CarlViola]

I'm not Catholic, but noticed some fun covers for ESV Catholic Editions are being released by Crossway later in the year.

[anonh]

Does the 2 Esdras have the missing verses included?

[nickvasiliades]

Really helping me overcome my apocryphobia! Thanks.

[gleasonparker]

I already HAVE the apocrypha in the purple bible.

[matthewbuttner]

I think Christians would do well to read through it at least once. These apocryphal books were definitely in the heads of the NT writers, so there is benefit to reading for historical-cultural understanding. If anyone is interested in an easier NLT-like experience, the Revised English Bible has an apocrypha edition.

[jacksonconrad]

Haha you crack me up man! I havent spent a whole lot of time in the apocrypha either. Kind of interesting stuff though. Good review Tim!

[RhenishHelm]

I'd be curious to know how similar/different the ESV Apocrypha are from the RSV or NRSV. I currently own three bibles that contain the Apocryphal books: a Folio Society edition of the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible, a Hardcover Cambridge NRSV Reference Bible, and an Orthodox Study Bible I received as a gift from a friend. The study of Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha is a major interest of mine. Charlesworth's two volumes on the OT Pseudepigrapha and Schneemelcher's two volumes on the NT Apocrypha are very good, detailed reads. They don't cover the books of the intertestamental deuterocanon, with the exception of the book known alternatively as "2 Esdras" or "4 Ezra."

2 Esdras is a book with a complicated history: rejected by nearly every major church body (including Catholics and Orthodox, though printed in the Russian Synodal Version, albeit apart from the rest of the OT), it began as an apocalyptic tale of angelic visions from the mid-to-late 1st-century AD, written by an anonymous Jewish author writing from the perspective of the biblical Ezra. At some point in the 2nd century, an anonymous Christian writer discovered the book and converted it for Christian use by penning two introductory chapters, the second borrowing imagery from the book of Revelation. Either this writer or another Christian writer later elected to add two additional concluding chapters. These pairs of bookending chapters are known, respectively, as 5 Ezra and 6 Ezra. In English versions (KJV, NRSV, ESV, etc.), the first two chapters are 5 Ezra, the next twelve are the original 4 Ezra, and the final two are 6 Ezra. Because the writing of this book crossed lines from Jewish apocalypticism to Christian, and its dating to the first two centuries AD, both Charlesworth and Schneemelcher cover the book in their works. It's an odd book, being the only work in the Apocrypha not to have been written during the intertestamental period, but, rather, after the resurrection of Christ.

[chris]

I am not sure though but would this be available in bookstores like Barnes and Noble. It would be nice specially when we travel back there in the US. There are certain books I really hope to find in the bookstores.

[chris]

This would sell specially to others who would like to purchase only the Apocrypha since they already have a bible. And it's in the esv translation! Who would not want an ESV? :) that's a rhetorical question though.

[caomhan]

I've never had a problem spelling apocrypha, but that's probably because the word "apocryphal" has become rather standard usage these days.

[siegfriedderheld]

There’s also a KJV translation—I was surprised because it’s almost never included in KJV Bibles. PS, I can say it, but can’t spell it!