The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
100–1 BC
2 works
c. 100 BC
Aramaic
1QapGen
Anonymous
Genesis retold in the first person by Lamech, Noah, and Abraham. Lamech suspects his wife of conceiving by a watcher and she swears she did not; Abraham dreams of a cedar and a palm; and the courtiers of Pharaoh describe Sarah's beauty from the hair of her head to her hands.
c. 50–1 BC
Aramaic
4Q246
Anonymous
Two damaged columns in which a figure before a king is said to be called great, to be named Son of God and Son of the Most High, and whose kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. Whether the figure is a messiah or a blasphemous usurper is unresolvable from what survives.
101–200
1 work
c. 100–150; survives in fragments
Aramaic
Anonymous
An Aramaic gospel close to Matthew but not identical, known from Jerome and marginal notes in medieval manuscripts. The rich young ruler scratches his head while his brothers go dressed in filth; the man with the withered hand says he was a mason and begs not to have to eat in shame.
301–400
1 work
2nd century core, redacted c. 3rd–5th century
Aramaic
Attributed to Onqelos
The authorised Aramaic rendering of the Torah, read in synagogue verse by verse after the Hebrew. It translates closely but never quite literally where God is concerned: no hands, no face, no walking, and the Word of the Lord standing in wherever the text would have God present too plainly.
701–800
1 work
c. 7th–8th century; date disputed
Aramaic
Anonymous
An Aramaic Torah that translates and rewrites at once, filling every gap: Cain and Abel argue theology before the murder, the names of Ishmael's wives are given, and a passage on Muhammad's wife and daughter dates the text after the conquests.
5 of 1774 works