A Question Someone Asked Me
A while back, someone came up to me after a teaching and asked a question I've heard many times before. They said: "Pastor, why do some Bibles have books that mine doesn't have?"
They had been visiting a Catholic friend and noticed the friend's Bible was thicker. They started flipping through and found books with names like Tobit, Judith, Sirach, Baruch, and — the one that caught their attention the most — the Book of Wisdom. They came to me genuinely confused: "If this is God's Word, why isn't it in my Bible?"
That is a great question. And today I'm going to answer it — thoroughly, honestly, and with the kind of depth this question deserves.
What Is the Book of Wisdom?
The Book of Wisdom — also known as the Wisdom of Solomon — is a book of ancient Jewish wisdom literature. It was written in Greek, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime between the first century BC and the first century AD. Though it is traditionally attributed to King Solomon, scholars today agree it was written much later, likely by a devout Jewish author writing in Solomon's voice — a common literary practice at the time.
The book is traditionally divided into three main sections. The first section (chapters 1–5) contrasts the destiny of the righteous with the destiny of the wicked, building a powerful argument that righteousness leads to immortality while wickedness leads to destruction. The second section (chapters 6–9) is a praise of Wisdom itself — what it is, where it comes from, and why seeking it is the most important thing a human being can do. The third section (chapters 10–19) walks through Israel's history, showing how Wisdom guided God's people from Adam through the Exodus.
"For Wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me. For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle."
— Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-23
Where Did It Come From?
To understand where the Book of Wisdom came from, you have to understand a little bit about Alexandria, Egypt. In the centuries before Jesus was born, Alexandria was home to one of the largest Jewish communities outside of Israel. These Jewish families had lived in Greek-speaking Egypt for generations. They were faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — but they spoke Greek, not Hebrew. They hadn't read the Scriptures in Hebrew in centuries.
So around 250 BC, a group of Jewish scholars in Alexandria undertook a massive project: translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. This translation became known as the Septuagint (from the Latin word for "seventy," based on the tradition that seventy-two scholars worked on it). The Septuagint became the Bible of the Greek-speaking Jewish world — and later, the Bible of the early Christian church.
The Book of Wisdom was one of several books included in the Septuagint that were not part of the traditional Hebrew canon. These books — along with Tobit, Judith, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees — are what we now call the deuterocanonical books (meaning "second canon") or, in some Protestant circles, the Apocrypha (meaning "hidden").
Why Isn't It in My Bible?
This is the question that brings most people to this topic. And the answer has two parts — one historical, one theological.
The Historical Reason:
By the time of Jesus, there were really two canons of Scripture operating in the Jewish world. The Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora used the Septuagint, which included the Book of Wisdom and the other deuterocanonical books. The Hebrew-speaking Jewish leadership in Jerusalem used the Hebrew canon — the Tanakh — which did not include them. After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, the surviving Jewish leadership formalized the Hebrew canon, and the Greek additions were excluded.
The Theological Reason:
During the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, reformers like Martin Luther made a decision: they would base their Old Testament canon on the Hebrew canon rather than the Septuagint. This meant removing the deuterocanonical books from the main body of Scripture. Luther placed them in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments, calling them "Apocrypha — books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read."
Over time, most Protestant Bibles dropped the Apocrypha entirely — largely to save printing costs. So the Book of Wisdom disappeared from most Protestant Bibles not because anyone decided it was heretical or dangerous, but because of a series of historical and theological decisions about what constitutes the canon.
So... Should You Read It?
Here's my answer — and I want you to hear it in the spirit I'm saying it. The Book of Wisdom is not Scripture in the same sense that Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, or the Gospels are Scripture. It was not part of the Hebrew canon that Jesus would have read in the synagogue. But it is a valuable and historically significant piece of Jewish wisdom literature that the early church read, preserved, and learned from.
Think of it like this: The Book of Wisdom is like sitting down with a wise, devout Jewish elder from two thousand years ago and listening to him reflect on righteousness, immortality, and the pursuit of Wisdom. He's going to say things that are beautiful, profound, and true. He's also going to reflect the assumptions and limitations of his time. Your job as a reader is to filter everything through the lens of the full canon of Scripture — to hold onto what aligns with God's revealed Word and to recognize what doesn't.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." — 2 Timothy 3:16
Paul's words remind us that the core canon is sufficient for our faith and practice. But that doesn't mean other ancient writings can't enrich our understanding of the world the Bible was written in. The early church fathers — Clement of Rome, Origen, Augustine — quoted from the Book of Wisdom extensively. They found it spiritually nourishing, even as they distinguished it from the inspired canon.
What Makes the Book of Wisdom Special
Even if you don't consider it canonical Scripture, the Book of Wisdom contains some of the most beautiful reflections on righteousness, immortality, and divine Wisdom found anywhere in ancient literature. Here are a few things that make it remarkable:
- •The promise of immortality for the righteous. The author argues that God created humanity for incorruption — that death entered the world through envy, not through God's design. This is a powerful theological insight that resonates deeply with Paul's teachings in the New Testament.
- •The personification of Wisdom as a divine attribute. Chapter 7's description of Wisdom — as "the fashioner of all things," "a breath of the power of God," "a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty" — is breathtaking. It shaped how the early church understood the relationship between God the Father and Christ the Word.
- •The critique of idolatry (chapters 13–15). The author's analysis of why people worship created things rather than the Creator is sharp, witty, and devastatingly accurate — it reads like something Paul could have written in Romans 1.
How I Use the Book of Wisdom
I want to be transparent with you about how I personally engage with this book. When I read the Book of Wisdom, I approach it the way I approach a trusted commentary or a devotional work — with respect, with curiosity, and with discernment. I never build doctrine on it alone. But I do let it inform my understanding of how devout Jewish people in the centuries before Jesus understood righteousness, Wisdom, and the hope of immortality.
Here's what I recommend: Read it. Read it slowly. Take notes. Compare what you find to the canonical Scriptures. Let it stretch your understanding of the world Jesus was born into. Let it deepen your appreciation for the richness of the Jewish wisdom tradition. But keep your anchor in the sixty-six books of the canon. Let them be your measure.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." — Proverbs 9:10
A Final Word
Here's what I want you to take away from this: The fact that there are books out there you haven't read yet is not a threat to your faith. It's an invitation. The Bible is the inspired Word of God — settled, sufficient, and trustworthy. But the conversation around the Bible — the history of how it was formed, the ancient literature that surrounds it, the traditions that preserved it — is rich and worth exploring.
The Book of Wisdom is not in your Bible. But understanding why it isn't — and what it actually says — will make you a more thoughtful, more informed, and more confident reader of the Scriptures you do have.
So go read it. Learn from it. And let it drive you deeper into the Word of God — not away from it.
A Prayer for Wisdom
Father, I thank You for Your Word — settled, sufficient, and sure.
Give me wisdom as I study. Help me to discern truth from error, gold from clay, what is inspired from what is merely informative. Let my anchor always be the Scriptures You have preserved for Your people, and let every other book I read drive me back to them.
Fill me with Your Spirit of Wisdom — the Spirit that is intelligent, holy, pure, and altogether subtle. Teach me to love what You love and to seek what You value.
In Jesus's name, Amen.
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