Updated · each edition is described in its publisher’s own words, checked against the listing
3 in-print translations and 2 audiobooks, compared by who made them, when, and what each one is actually trying to do — Anonymous (Septuagint).
Start with Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright (eds.) (2007, Oxford University Press). The longer answer. No single edition of The Septuagint Apocrypha is best for everyone, because the editions are optimised for different things: for study, the editions with the fullest apparatus are Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright (eds.), Michael D. Coogan (ed.), NRSV; on audio the choice is mostly which translation is being read and whether it is one narrator or a full cast.
Every claim below is the publisher’s or translator’s own description, shown next to it, so you can judge rather than take our word. And you can read the whole thing free on this site first.
Scriptorium Press publishes a complete new plain-English translation of The Septuagint Apocrypha, free, with a complete free audiobook. No account, no paywall — 102 works in this volume.
Start reading free → Free audiobook → Whole book on one page →Older translations, out of copyright, hosted free by Project Gutenberg, Wikisource. Not our work and not affiliate links — they are here because they are genuinely useful.
| Translator | Year | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|
| King James Version (1611) | 1611 | the classic English, book by book | Wikisource → |
| Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision) | 1899 | the Catholic English Bible, which keeps these books in the canon | Project Gutenberg → |
Sorted as the research file records them. The note on each row is that edition’s own published description.
| Translator | Year | Publisher | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright (eds.) | 2007 | Oxford University Press | A New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS): the scholarly standard, translated from the Greek rather than the Hebrew | Find it |
| Michael D. Coogan (ed.), NRSV | 2010 | Oxford University Press | The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha: the NRSV text with introductions and study notes, the usual classroom edition | Find it |
| Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton | 1986 | Hendrickson Publishers | the 1851 Victorian translation kept in print, Greek and English in parallel columns | Find it |
Those are affiliate links. They cost you nothing extra and pay a small commission to the people who publish these editions, and to us.
The thing that most changes an audiobook of The Septuagint Apocrypha is which translation is being read — a scholarly text and a colloquial one are different listening experiences before the narrator says a word.
| Narrator | Translation read | Publisher | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Glyn | the wisdom books: Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremy and the Prayer of Manasses | Listen | |||
| Mel Jackson | Fifth Estate | The Apocrypha including books from the Ethiopic Bible, edited by Joseph B. Lumpkin, unabridged | Listen |
Affiliate links, including the Audible ones. They cost you nothing extra. Our own audiobook of The Septuagint Apocrypha stays free either way.
The most frequently recommended are Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright (eds.) (2007). "Most recommended" is not the same as "best for you": a scholarly standard and an easy first read are different books, and the table on this page shows which is which.
There are 2 commercial recordings. A complete free audiobook of our own translation is also on this site.
Yes. Scriptorium Press publishes a complete new plain-English translation of The Septuagint Apocrypha free to read, with a complete free audiobook, no account and no paywall - 102 works in this volume.