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Apocrypha: Old Testament
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One important aspect of the expanded collection of the Apocrypha has to do with the canon itself. Centuries after it was determined which books were to be included in the Bible, people began to believe and teach that the Bible was both complete (containing all that God had given through ancient prophets and apostles) and infallible (having been transmitted without any errors). Joseph Smith received correctives to both ideas, being given additional scripture originally written by ancient prophets and being inspired to make corrections in the texts of the Bible. Among the ancient writings he restored are the book of Abraham and the writings of Moses (canonized as the Book of Moses, itself including a restoration to Moses of an older Enoch writing; see Moses 6- 7); quotations from ancient biblical prophets in the Book of Mormon (such as Joseph of Egypt and four otherwise unknown writers named Zenos, Zenock, Neum, and Ezias); and writings from the New Testament apostle John (see D&C 7 and 9 3). Corrections to the biblical text include an expanded version of Matthew 24 and alternate readings in Isaiah.
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Like the Old Testament itself the Apocrypha is rather a library than a single book. As in the older library so in the later the unifying theme is the relations between God and Israel. The actual working out of the theme in politics and war is described in the historical books of Esdras and Maccabees. Instruction and encouragement in the proper attitude to the relationship is provided in the Wisdom of Solomon and in the additions and annexes to Esther, Daniel, and Jeremiah. Edifying examples of the proper relationship are offered in Judith and Tobit, and Ecclesiasticus shows how awareness of the relationship can ensure a reasonable practical life.
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[T]he term Apocrypha often refers to a much wider selection of books, than merely those that are in the Roman Catholic Bible. Some people today use the term "Apocrypha", when all they mean is books that sound religious but were never a part of the Bible. (Publishers like to do this, because they can sell more books). All apocryphal books were rejected because they were in doctrinal contradiction to the 66 books, and because they have either internal inconsistencies, or because they are known to contradict history. Apocryphal books were ... rejected because the Jews refuse to recognize any books outside of the 39 books of the Old Testament (for inclusion into their Old Testament), and also because Jesus Christ never quoted nor used ANY apocryphal book.
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The King James Version, Apocrypha consists of 15 books added to the Old Testament by the Catholic church that Protestants say are not canonical. The term "Apocrypha" means "hidden or concealed" from the Greek word apokruphos. In the fourth century, St. Jerome was the first to call the group of literature "Apocrypha", and part of his translation of the Latin Vulgate.
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The narratives of the Apocrypha are partly historical records, and partly allegorical. The religious poetry is to a large extent a paraphrase upon the Poetical and Prophetical Books of the Hebrew Canon. In the paraphrases upon the latter there is often a new approach to New Testament teaching, especially upon God's care for the heathen world.
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Apocrypha, Old Testament, a group of books or parts of books not part of the Jewish canon of the Hebrew Scriptures but found in early Christian versions of the OT. ‘Apocrypha’ is from the Greek for ‘concealed’ or ‘hidden’ (cf. 2 Esd. 12:37-38; 14:45-46), although in current Christian usage it has the sense of ‘set aside’ or ‘withdrawn’ from full canonical status as Scripture. The Christian scholar Jerome (ca. 331-420) labeled most of these books as apocryphal and did not include them in his translation of the Bible, the Vulgate (Vg).
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Old Testament