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Books of the Apocrypha

This volume follows the ordering of Martin Luther's 1535 Bible — the first time these books were deliberately separated and organized as a distinct canonical unit. Luther's heading: "These are books not held equal to Holy Scripture, yet useful and good to read." Primary source verified at archive.org/details/lutherbibel1535, page 881.
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Ordering & Translation Decisions

The Apocrypha represents the most complex canonical decisions in the entire Codex project. These books appear in the Septuagint — the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures used widely in the first century — and were part of the Christian Bible for over a thousand years before being separated during the Reformation.

While history implies he wasn't the first to view them as secondary or distinct from the Hebrew canon — Jerome's notes in the Vulgate planted that seed over a thousand years earlier — Martin Luther was the first person to deliberately organize these books as a distinct unit, which is why his 1535 ordering was chosen as the authority for this volume. He did it on purpose, thoughtfully, and history has followed his lead. The Additions to Esther and Daniel are broken out as individual books rather than grouped entries, consistent with the formatting approach used throughout the Codex.

Translation sourcing: the NLT Catholic Edition covers Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch. The remaining books draw from the NRSV. Each book's translation source is noted on its opening page.

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