Books the Bible Mentions

In our class at the Library in the Palms Research Center, we are studying the numerous Christian writings that were not placed into our canon of scripture. We have these writings because of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library and the Dead Sea Scrolls. There have also been other discoveries that have given us the ideas and thoughts of the writers of the canon. However, numerous ancient chronicles that are mentioned in the Bible have been lost. As Ezra and his committee in Babylon brought together the ancient stories, many books were not included in the canon. Many of the recorded stories had been transmitted orally from generation to generation by memory rather than by means of clay tablets or leather scrolls. Many holes and gaps in the scriptures would be filled in or completed if these books could be recovered or discovered. We only have brief quotations from some of them in the Old Testament. In most instences only the titles and names are mentioned. For example, the Prophecy of Enoch (Jude 14); the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Numbers 21:14); the Book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13; 2 Samual 1:18); the Book of Iddo the Seer (2Chron. 9:29; 12:15); the Book of Nathan the Prophet and the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chron. 9:29); the Acts of Rehoboam in the Book of Shemaiah (2 Chron. 12:15); and the Book of Jehu the Son of Hanani (2 Chron. 20:34).