The term means hidden things. Of three applications ofwhat it refers to, Jerome's is the one that is the generally accepted modernusage -- books that are outside the Hebrew canon. With the exception ofone book, the books of the Apocrypha were in the Greek version of the OldTestament made for Greek-speaking Jews in Egypt. The books were acceptedas Biblical by the early Church and quoted as Scripture by many early Christianwriters, for their Bible was the Greek Bible.¹

The rabbis who met near Jerusalem after A.D. 70 acceptedthirty-nine books, which came to be known as the Palestinian Canon. Therabbis in Alexandria accepted those and, in addition, other books -- calledtoday the Apocrypha -- which came to be known as the Alexandrian Canon.It was translated into Greek by Jewish scholars and became the Scripturesof early Christian authors. Today, Jews and most Protestants accept thePalestinian Canon. Catholics follow the Alexandrian Canon.²

1. New English Bible, 1970. Introduction to the Apocrypha.
2. New American Bible, 1987. How the Bible Came About, page xxiv.