{"id":4231,"date":"2024-08-26T07:07:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T11:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/learn\/?p=4231"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:12:26","slug":"lost-books-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/learn\/bible-101\/about-the-bible\/lost-books-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Are There Books Missing from the Bible? The Truth About the ‘Lost Books’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I wrote in a recent post<\/a> that most questions about the Bible have complicated answers. Well, here\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t: of course<\/em> there are books missing from the Bible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we know? The Bible itself mentions them, for one thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s where it does get more complicated. Because when people ask this question, there are a number of things they might mean. Sometimes they\u2019re simply looking for the Apocrypha, which is easy \u2014 those aren\u2019t missing at all. Other times they\u2019re curious about the so-called \u201cGnostic gospels,\u201d which is another matter entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on which type of \u201cmissing\u201d book you\u2019re talking about, the real questions are why<\/em> certain books were \u201cleft out\u201d of the Bible, how close they came to being included, and ultimately how we ended up with the canonical list of 66 that make up today\u2019s Protestant Bibles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of Books Missing From the Bible <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although there are many kinds of texts that are related to \u2014 but not included in \u2014 Biblical canon, the major categories include the Apocrypha, the Antilegomena, works mentioned or alluded to in the Bible, and \u201crediscovered\u201d extra-Biblical books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apocryphal\/Deuterocanonical Books <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is an easy one: these books aren\u2019t lost or missing at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Apocrypha<\/a>, also called the Deuterocanonical books, are a collection of writings from the Intertestamental Period \u2014 that is, the period between the finalizing of the Hebrew Old Testament and the New Testament. They were mostly written in Greek or Aramaic<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Trusted<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Deuterocanonical books are included in Catholic Bibles (which adds seven whole books and some additional sections to others) and Orthodox Bibles (which add another three or four beyond that). But they are not in Jewish Bibles or Protestant Bibles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments use the Septuagint<\/a> \u2014 a Greek translation<\/a> of the Old Testament from a few hundred years before Christ. Jewish and Protestant Bibles, however, use the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament, which contains only the earlier Hebrew books (and a few Aramaic passages). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antilegomena: Disputed Books <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Antilegomena <\/em>is a Greek word meaning \u201cdisputed\u201d (literally, \u201cspoken against\u201d). These are books that were hotly debated in the early church, before New Testament canon was finalized in the late 4th century AD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some antilegomena were ultimately included<\/a> in the Bible. These include the Epistles of James, Jude, and 2 Peter, and the book of Revelation. These books were ultimately deemed authentic revelation from God. Even today, though, some ambivalence remains: the Orthodox Church still does not permit Revelation to be used liturgically, and Martin Luther famously despised the book (and several others).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other books were deemed inauthentic<\/a> \u2014 though some of them were still considered spiritually edifying and worth reading outside of a church context<\/em>. These include the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Acts of Paul, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Old Testament, disputed books that narrowly made it into the canon include Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Esther, while books that were considered but rejected include the book of Enoch and the Apocryphal books mentioned above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost Books Mentioned in the Bible <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a great many books mentioned, referenced, or otherwise alluded to in the Bible that are not included in the canon, either because they have been lost to the sands of time, or because, even though they were highly influential, they were ultimately determined not to have been divinely inspired (or both). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these books in the Old Testament include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n