Apocrypha, a pok'ri fah, a term applied in the earliest churches to various sacred or professedly inspired writings. The term is specially applied to the following books, which were written during the two centuries preceding the birth of Christ: The first and second books of Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the rest of the book of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, Baruch the Prophet, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna and the Elders, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses and the first and second books of Maccabees.