The Apocrypha Master Collection gathers eighteen books that stood in the Bible for centuries and then slipped out of most Protestant editions. Here are the stories of Tobit, Judith and Susanna, the wisdom of Solomon and Sirach, the wars of the Maccabees, the visions of Esdras, and the prayers and psalms that travelled with them: all in one volume, in plain modern English, each book introduced with the history and the theology a reader needs to make sense of it.
This is the book for anyone who has met these titles in a footnote, a sermon or a documentary and wanted to read them at last, without hunting down a Catholic Bible or wading through the prose of 1611. Jeremy Payton has made them readable from the first page to the last.
The eighteen books
The collection follows the order the King James translators gave the Apocrypha.
- Tobit
- Judith
- Greek Esther
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
- Baruch
- Letter of Jeremiah
- Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men
- Susanna
- Bel and the Dragon
- 1, 2, 3 and 4 Maccabees
- 1 and 2 Esdras
- Prayer of Manasseh
- Psalm 151
Together they span four centuries, from the Persian court of Tobit to the Roman rule that 4 Maccabees writes under, and every kind of writing the Bible knows: history, tale, prophecy, proverb, hymn and prayer. Greek-speaking Jews read them in the Septuagint, the early Church quoted them as Scripture, and Catholic and Orthodox Bibles still print them; Luther set them apart, the printers of the nineteenth century dropped them, and that is why so many readers have never held them. If you have wondered where the missing books of the Bible went, this is where you find them.
How the texts are presented
This is an edition made to be read, not a critical apparatus. Each book opens with a short introduction that places it in its time and says what is at stake in it, and the text that follows is rendered in plain, current English rather than in the cadence of the King James. A first-time reader can start on page one and keep going; a reader who already knows the old wording will find the same books said more simply. Illustrations accompany the texts, and the large 8.5 by 11 inch paperback keeps the type comfortable to read.
The edition was corrected and improved in January 2025.
What readers say
The collection holds a 4.5-star average on Amazon across more than five hundred ratings. Two verified purchasers put it plainly:
This book is so clear and inspiring a child could read and understand! 10/10 recommend!
Southern Queen, Amazon, August 2025
A key to unlock culture and history. A good read.
Andrew, Amazon, November 2025
Eighteen books, one volume, and no footnote left unread. Paperback, 8.5 x 11 inches, on Amazon.
Also by Jeremy Payton
The Apocrypha is the first volume of the Apocrypha and Gnostic Gospels Bible Collection. The others take up the books that stood even further from the canon: The Books of Enoch, The Book of Giants, The Gnostic Gospels, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene and The Book of Revelation.