What are the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha?

Pseudepigrapha are false writings.

Pseudepigrapha means ‘false writings.’ The title is given to ancient manuscripts and books that claim to have been written by someone, but were not. For example, the Apocalypse of Elijah wasn’t written by Elijah… someone else wrote it and put Elijah’s name on it. The goal, generally speaking, was to give a document more credibility by attributing it to someone famous.

Old Testament pseudepigrapha falsely attribute writings to people found in the Old Testament, and New Testament pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed to New Testament people.

There is no single list of Old Testament pseudepigrapha, and new manuscripts and discoveries add to existing lists. Here is a list of major pseudepigraphal writings commonly recognized by scholars.

Apocalyptic and Related Works

1 Enoch (Ethiopic)
2 Enoch (Slavonic)
3 Enoch (Hebrew)
Apocalypse of Abraham
Apocalypse of Adam
Apocalypse of Elijah
Apocalypse of Zephaniah
4 Ezra (Latin Apocalypse of Ezra)
Greek Apocalypse of Ezra
2 Apocalypse of Baruch (Syriac)
3 Apocalypse of Baruch (Greek)
Ascension of Isaiah
Assumption of Moses
Sibylline Oracles
Treatise of Shem
Apocryphon of Ezekiel
Apocalypse of Sedrach

Testaments of the Patriarchs

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs are individual testaments attributed to the twelve sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin.