 Means “hidden”  Books not part of the original Old Testament  First found in an Greek copy of Old Testament called the Septuagint  Found in Catholic bibles today and in the appendix of some other bibles

 Story of the Jews fight against their Greek ruler Antiochus (Judah Maccabee and his family led revolt against Antiochus)  Antiochus wanted to make the Jews like the Greeks  Put a statue of Zeus in their temple and sacrificed pigs in the temple  Killed Hannah and her seven sons because they refused to eat pork

 Jews rededicated temple after victory of Antiochus  Only had enough oil to light the sacred temple flame for one day (need eight days to make more oil)  Oil lasted for eight days

 The Maccabee books are the first time these ideas are mentioned 1. Resurrection of the dead 2. Punishment or reward after death 3. Creation of the world out of nothing 4. Saying prayers for the dead

 Three stories in one book 1. Tobit- a pious Jew who suffers many hardships in his life 2. Sarah- a woman who is married several times but whose husband is always killed on her wedding night by a demon 3. Tobias- son of Tobit, led on a journey by the angel Raphael to help his father, meets Sarah, marries her and kills the demon

 Story of a Jewish woman living during a time of Assyrian oppression  Judith seduces the king of Assyria, gets him drunk, and cuts off his head

 Three chapters added to the book of Daniel  Tells the story of Susanna  Daniel saves the life of Susanna by exposing the lies of two men about her