biblical literature

The Letter of Jeremiah

The Letter of Jeremiah, like the book of Baruch, was conserved—together with the Greek translation of the Book of Jeremiah—in the Septuagint. The oldest witness of the letter is a fragment of a Greek papyrus, written about 160 bce and found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumrān. Whether the letter was originally written in Greek or is a translation from Hebrew or Aramaic is difficult to decide. The letter attacks the folly of idolatry as did Jeremiah’s letter “to those who were to be taken to Babylon as captives.” Though, according to some experts, the idolatry described in the book fits Babylonian cults, the only clear indication of its date is that of the Qumrān fragment.

Prayer of Manasseh

In some manuscripts of the Septuagint and in two later Christian writings, a pseudepigraphic Prayer of Manasseh is contained. This prayer was composed with reference to II Chron. 33:11–18, according to which the wicked Judaean king Manasseh repented and prayed. In the present form the prayer is Greek in origin, but it may have existed in a Hebrew version, of which the Greek is a free adaptation. The prayer was probably composed (or translated) in the 1st century bce.

The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men

The first addition to Daniel (in Greek and Latin translations Dan. 3:24–68) contains the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men. These are the prayers of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three young men who praised God after they had been placed in the midst of the fiery furnace during a persecution of Jews in Babylon, as told in the Book of Daniel. The first prayer is said by Azariah alone; the second, a thanksgiving prayer, is said by all three after having been saved by God. The two poems are not found in the original Daniel and were never a part of it. They were translated from Hebrew originals or adapted from them. A passage from the second, a liturgical hymn of praise, is a poetic expansion of the doxology that was sung in the Temple when the holy name of God was pronounced. Like the other additions to Daniel, the two prayers were probably composed before 100 bce.

Susanna

The second addition to Daniel, the story of Susanna, and the third one, Bel and the Dragon, are preserved in two Greek versions. In both stories the hero is the wise Daniel. Susanna was the pious and beautiful wife of Joakim, a wealthy Jew in Babylon. Two aged judges became inflamed with love for her. They tried to force her to yield to their lust, and, when she refused, they accused her of committing adultery with a young man, who escaped. She was condemned to death, but when Daniel cross-examined the two elders separately, the first stated that Susanna had been surprised under a mastic tree, the other under a holm tree. Susanna was thus saved and the two false witnesses executed.

The short story, perhaps invented even before the extant Book of Daniel was composed, could very well be added to Daniel (whose name means God is my Judge). The story was written in its present form in Greek, since it contains two Greek puns, but a written Semitic prototype may have existed.

Bel and the Dragon

The third Greek addition to the Book of Daniel is the story of Bel and the Dragon. The Babylonians worshipped the idol of the god Bel and daily provided him with much food, but Daniel proved to the King that the food was in reality eaten by the priests. The priests were punished by death and Bel’s temple destroyed. The Babylonians also worshipped a dragon, but Daniel declined to worship him. To destroy the beast, Daniel boiled pitch, fat, and hair together: the dragon ate it and burst asunder. After Daniel’s sacrilege of slaying the dragon, the King was forced to cast Daniel into the lions’ den, but nothing happened to him. Indeed, he was given a dinner by the prophet Habakkuk, who was brought there by the hair of his head by an angel. On the seventh day the King found Daniel sitting in the den; so he led Daniel out and cast his enemies into the den, where they were devoured.

The two stories are an attack against idolatry. As the addition ends with the story about Daniel in the lions’ den, which is also narrated in the canonical Book of Daniel with another motivation, it is probable that this short treatise originated in a tradition that was parallel to the canonical Book of Daniel and that the two stories were translated from a Hebrew or Aramaic original.