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source. The Jewish Encyclopedia (NY: Funk and Wagnall, 1905), XII:588-9; The Universal Jewish
Encyclopedia (NY:Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Co., 1942), 6:41.

The Cepher Yashar is a set of annals which appear to have been handed down through a series of authors.
Nowhere is there any implication that it was all one big revelation given to a prophet in the manner that
Genesis was given to Mosheh. Shemu’el, the translator of the 1840 edition maintained that this book is
indeed the book mentioned in the Old Testament. He concludes that "the book is, with the exception of
some doubtful parts, a venerable monument of antiquity; and that, notwithstanding that some few
additions may have been made to it in comparatively modern times, it still retains sufficient authenticity
to prove it a copy of the book referred to in Yahusha 10 and Shemu’el Sheniy 1." These are the two places
where Yashar is quoted in the Old Testament.

The Cepheriym of Ezra are also necessarily included in order to consider the initial realization of the
famous prophecy set forth in Daniy’el 9, where reference is made to the additional Books of Ezra (Esdras).
Although not belonging to the Canon, Ezra Sheliyshiy (3 Ezra) is made up almost entirely from materials
existing in canonical books. Ezra Sheliyshiy (3 Ezra) provides a history of the Temple from the time of
Yo’shiyahu (Josiah) down to Nechemyah (Nehemiah) and was freely quoted by the early fathers, and
included in Origen's Hexapla.

The Cepher Ezra Reviy’iy (4 Ezra) (also reckoned as 2 Esdras) is often called the Apocalypse of Ezra. This
remarkable work has not been preserved in the original Greek text; but has been found in Latin, Syriac,
Arabic (two independent versions), Ethiopian, and Armenian translations. The body of the book, the
unity of which appears to be unquestionable, is made up of seven visions which Ezra is to have seen at
Babel, the thirtieth year after the destruction of Yerushalayim at the hands of the the people of Babel.
Cepher Ezra Reviy’iy (4 Ezra) is reckoned among the most beautiful productions of Hebraic literature.
Widely known in the early Christian ages and frequently quoted by the fathers, it may be said to have
framed the popular belief of the Middle Ages concerning the end times.
Another cepher referenced herein is Baruk Ri’shon (1 Baruk), also known as "the Prophecy of Baruk."
Baruk Ri’shon presents a certain unity in point of subject-matter, so that most of those who maintain that
the whole work was written in Ivriyt (Hebrew) admit also its unity of composition. Contemporary critics
believe that the work was a compilatory process, and that its unity is due to the final editor, who put
together the various documents which centered upon the Jewish exile. This method of composition does
not necessarily conflict with the traditional authorship of the Cepher Baruk Ri’shon. Many of the sacred
writers of what is commonly considered “the Bible” were compilers, and Baruk may be numbered among
them.

While the Prophecies of Baruk are important to this book, the Apocalypse of Baruk, also known as Baruk
Sheniy (2 Baruk) stands out as vital. A. F. J. Klijn writes: "Until recently the Apocalypse of Baruk was only
known from a Syriac manuscript dating from the sixth or seventh century AD. Since the beginning of this
century two fragments have come to light in Greek (12:1-13:2 and 13:11-14:3) from the fourth or fifth
century. Small fragments of the text, again in Syriac, have been discovered in lectionaries of the Jacobite
Church. However, no fewer than thirty-six manuscripts are known because it once belonged to the canon
of Scriptures in the Syriac-speaking church”.

In this text, there are other changes of substance in the Brit Chadashah (the New Testament) as well.
One change is made in Mattithyahu 23:1. Originally, the text read as follows:

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