If you watched Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony earlier this week, you saw that it started with a prayer offered by Cardinal Timothy Dolan. But did you recognize where in the Bible that prayer came from?
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, CNN: A Catholic Reads the Bible]
The inaugural prayer in this case drew from the Bible, but perhaps not from a passage you know. Here’s how the Common English Bible translates the passage from which Dolan’s prayer is drawn:
God of our ancestors and Lord of mercy, you made everything by your word. You gave shape to humanity through your wisdom so that humans might rule the creatures that you made, so that they might govern the world by holiness and by doing what was right, and so that they might be honest in passing judgment. Give me Wisdom, who sits enthroned beside you. Don’t reject me, out of all your servants. I’m your servant and the son of one of your servants. I’m just a weak human who will live a short life as other humans do. And I’m the least of all humans when it comes to understanding judgment and laws properly. Indeed, even if somebody might be thought of as perfect, this person is nothing without your wisdom.
Send her out to me from your holy heavens. Send her from your glorious throne so that she may labor with me here and that I may learn what is pleasing to you. She knows and understands everything. She’ll guide me wisely in all that I do. Her great honor will guard me.
Do you recognize that passage? If you’re a Protestant, the prayer certainly sounded like something from the Bible, but you may have trouble recalling exactly where in the Bible it’s located. That’s because it isn’t found in most Protestant Bibles—it’s from the book of Wisdom (specifically, Wisdom 9:1-6,10-11), part of the Apocrypha.
What is the Apocrypha?
The Apocrypha is a group of texts (sometimes called deuterocanonical texts) considered to be part of the Bible by some Christian traditions, but not others. These books are included in some Bibles but omitted from others. Some Christians, particularly in the Protestant tradition, do not consider these books to be part of the biblical canon—that is, they don’t consider them to be equal in authority to the other books of the Bible. The deuterocanonical books, thus, does not appear in most Protestant Bibles. Other Christian traditions, notably the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, do consider them canon.
Why are there differences in Bible canon between these Christian traditions? The question of which texts are and aren’t canonical is an old one; since the days of the early Christian church, Christians have discussed and debated which texts merit inclusion in the list of canonical Bible books. You might be surprised to learn that even some of the most well-known books of the Bible—for example, the book of Revelation—were the subject of much debate before they were widely recognized as part of the Bible canon. If you’re interested in exploring that history, DanieL deSilva has written a good overview at Christianity Today.
The Apocryphal books are usually grouped in with the Old Testament, both for thematic and chronological reasons. Several years ago, we created a chart showing how the Old Testament differs across the major Judeo-Christian traditions (click to enlarge image):
How to Read the Apocrypha on Bible Gateway
If you’d like to explore the deuterocanonical books for yourself, you can easily do so here at Bible Gateway. There are two ways to quickly access the Apocrypha.
1. Search the Apocrypha with the Search Box
If you know the specific deuterocanonical passage you want to read, you can look it up with the Bible Gateway search box exactly as you would look up any other Bible passage. You can find the search box near the top of BibleGateway.com:
Just type your desired passage—for example, Wisdom 9—into the search box. But there’s an important step to take before you click or tap Search! Most Bibles on Bible Gateway don’t include the Apocrypha, and if you search for deuterocanonical passages in a Bible that doesn’t contain them, you’ll get no results. You must first make sure that the Bible you’re using contains the Apocrypha.
To do that, use the Bible selection drop-down (just to the right of the search box) to select a Bible that contains the Apocrypha. The Bible selection drop-down looks like this:
There are several such Bibles on Bible Gateway; but if you’re new to the Apocrypha, try one of the following English Bibles, all of which include the Apocrypha:
- Common English Bible: a relatively recent Bible translation that features easily readable modern language; a good choice if you usually read the New International Version or other modern Bibles.
- Douay–Rheims 1899 American Edition: a classic translation of the Latin Vulgate marked by majestic, sometimes archaic language that you’ll appreciate if you like the King James translation.
- New Revised Standard Version: a very popular Bible translation recognized by many churches from different Christian traditions (Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox alike).
Once you’ve entered a passage and selected a Bible that contains the Apocrypha, click or tap Search. Bible Gateway will display your desired text like it does any other Bible passage; and if you’re logged in to a Bible Gateway account, you can take notes, highlight text, and mark favorite verses as you can in any other Bible passage.
2. Browse the Apocrypha by Book and Chapter
The second way you can explore the deutercanonical books is by browsing books and chapters. This is a good option if you aren’t already familiar with the Apocrypha, and mostly want to browse through it. To start, select a Bible that contains the Apocrypha in the Bible selection drop-down at the top of Bible Gateway. See the point above for some suggested Bibles to start with.
Once you’ve selected a Bible, click Bible Book List, which can be found directly below the search box:
This opens a panel listing the contents of the Bible you’ve chosen. If the deuteronomical books are present, they’ll usually be listed under a section labeled Apocrypha, although in a few cases they can be found listed in the Old Testament section (click to enlarge image):
Click or tap the book you’d like to explore. This opens a black bar at the bottom displaying each chapter in that book. Select a chapter number to open that chapter in Bible Gateway:
That’s it! Now you know how to access and read the Apocrypha using the same tools you use to read other Bible passages. If you’d like deuterocanonical results to appear in your Bible searches on Bible Gateway in the future, the key thing to remember is that you must have selected a Bible that contains the Apocrypha. If you’re a Catholic or Orthodox Christian who wants those books included in your Bible reading and searches, we hope this has helped you. If you’re new to the Apocrypha but curious to read it, we hope this has pointed you in the right direction.