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22 Lost books that are mentioned in the Bible | Yuriy and

Inna

“This is part 3 of a series of posts titled “  Relearn the Bible.” These four blog posts are

written to challenge notions of the Bible held by biblically illiterate Christians,

including that the Bible is a magical rule book void of human history, influence, & th

need for careful interpretation.

 _____________________________

As I’ve mentioned in the past, there is a huge amount of Biblical illiteracy found amongprofessing Christians. Stranger still is the large quantity of dogmatic beliefs about  the

Bible by those who hardly read the Bible. One of these big misconceptions that I have

encountered is a gross misappreciation of the human aspect of the holy writings. While

calling the Bible “The Word of God” many forget it was also written by the hand of man

Sometimes people act as though those hands were under a supernatural trance, which

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robbed the writer of his humanity and individuality. Sometimes there is at least an

allusion given to this fact, namely by admitting that God used the local language and

culture of the writer as the “style” of said Biblical book. Yet, even in this the human

writer and culture are often presented as “excuses” for the uniquely human appearance

of the text, rather than as part of the model of a mutual convergence of the human and

the divine.

Some Biblical scholars, like Dr. Peter Enns and Dr. Kenton Sparks have presented

alternative ways of looking at this. Enns famously wrote of the “incarnational model,”

stating that in the same way as Jesus was completely divine and completely human, so

too, is the Word, completely human and completely divine. However, this type of 

thinking is not easily accepted by many fundamentalists and ultra-conservative

evangelicals. Instead the prevailing view is a very strict form of verbal plenary 

inspiration (that in each case God dictated the individual words, not just the ideas;

leaving the human author as a lifeless utensil). There are many things in the text itself 

that seem to challenge the extreme manifestation of this view (see Dr. Spark’s essay 

titled After Inerrancy  for examples).

One example, coming from within the pages of Scripture itself, which challenges the

fundamentalist view of Scripture, is the existence of many Biblical references towards

“lost books.” Many fundamentalist Christians that I grew up with believe that God

dictated each word of the Bible (and the human authors merely wrote down God’s

words) to be a revelatory book for modern Christianity, especially for their own culture

and church. According to them, God would never specifically dictate words into the Bib

that are irrelevant today. They would argue that if something isn’t a command, it is give

for our example or our understanding of the big picture. Yet there are many God

breathed words that seem to be of little or no use for contemporary believers (if you

disagree, try doing your devotionals by reading the two genealogies of Jesus). Some of 

these divine words are used in citing and pointing to “lost books” that can never be read

by us (we can’t even confirm that they exist). These Biblical words that are used to

describe and mention these “lost books” seem to be wasted on us and offer no use for

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our edification (I’d rather see that space be devoted to clearing up the teaching on

politics or evolution ). If someone were to mention a historic event, and merely point

towards some lost ancient text that I can never obtain, it would give me no further

information about the event itself (except that it was written down and lost). Surely if 

God, apart from the humanity and culture of the authors, were writing a universal

declaration to every individual on the planet, He would not include obscure references

lost tribal records? Yet that is what we see: in the divine words, there is an irrevocable

human presence, a prolific Hebrew and Near East influence, even as much as quoting

and linking to local texts from a long lost era. The existence of these “lost books” ought

to make us realize the ‘human aspect’ of the Bible, and that ‘Gods Word’ cannot always

be defined by our simplistic projections (such as a voice from the clouds dictating to a

bearded prophet).

22 Lost Books Referenced in The Bible

Below is a list of the books that the Bible references, or tells us to look at, that are lost

forever. A few have pseudepigraphical (fake copies that claim to be the original)

versions, but none have the original versions. Note that many conservative Bible

scholars would argue that even though these books are referenced or quoted, none of 

them were intended to be a part of the canon of the Bible.

Book of the Wars of the Lord – “Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the

LORD, “Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon, and the slope of the valleys

that extends to the seat of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab” (  Num 21:14-15  )

Book of Jasher – “And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation too

vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar?” (  Joshua 10:13 )Also referenced in 2 Samuel 1:18.

Manner of the Kingdom – “Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of th

kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel 

sent all the people away, each one to his home” ( 1 Samuel 10:25  )

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Acts of Solomon – “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his

wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?” ( 1 Kings 11:41 )

Chronicles of the Kings of Israel – “ And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he

warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the Chronicles of 

the kings of Israel.“  ( 1 Kings 14:19 ). This book is also referenced in 1 Kings 16:14, 1

Kings 16:20, 2 Kings 1:18, 2 Kings 14:28

Chronicles of the Kings of Judah – “Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all

that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?” (

Kings 14:29 )

Book of the Kings of Israel – “ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first tlast, are written in the chronicles of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are recorded in the

Book of the Kings of Israel. ( 2 Chronicles 20:34 ). This is mentioned on many occasions

though under a more expanded name, as the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel, see

 2 Chronicles 16:11, 2 Chronicles 27:7, 2 Chronicles 32:32, and etc.

Annals of King David – “Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but did not finish.

Yet wrath came upon Israel for this, and the number was not entered in the Chronicle

of King David.” (1Chronicles 27:24).

Book of Nathan the Prophet, Book of Gad the Seer – “Now the acts of King

David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the

Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer.” ( 1 Chronicles

29:29 ). In this case, it appears as though these three books are all written by real

prophets, bringing up interesting questions. One apologist has hypothesized that

perhaps these three separate books were at one point composed into our contemporary

books of Samuel, this is plausible but there is no way to confirm this.

History of Nathan the Prophet – “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first t

last, are they not written in the History of Nathan the prophet, and in the Prophecy of

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Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the Visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son

Nebat?” ( 2 Chronicles 9:29 ).

Prophecy of Ahijah – “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are th

not written in the History of Nathan the prophet, and in the Prophecy of Ahijah the

Shilonite, and in the Visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat?” 

( 2 Chronicles 9:29 ). The question here is whether Ahijah was a real prophet, and if so,

why his books are lost, if not, why they are referenced in Scripture.

Visions of Iddo the Seer – “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last,

are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahija

the Shilonite, and in the Visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of 

Nebat?” ( 2 Chronicles 9:29 ). This is also mentioned in 2 Chronicles 9:29. Also the samquestion as above can be posed, if Iddo was a real prophet, then why are his books lost,

not, why they are referenced in Scripture.

Iddo Genealogies – “Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not 

written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, according to

genealogical enrollment?” ( 2 Chronicles 12:15  )

Story of the Prophet Iddo – “The rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways and his sayings

are written in the Story of the prophet Iddo.” (2 Chronicles 13:22)

Book of Shemaiah the Prophet – “Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, ar

they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, accordin

to genealogical enrollment?” ( 2 Chronicles 12:15  ).

Book of Jehu – “Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, arewritten in the Chronicles of Jehu the son of Hanani, which are recorded in the Book of

the Kings of Israel. ( 2 Chronicles 20:34 ).

Story of the Book of Kings – “Accounts of his sons and of the many oracles agains

him and of the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the Story of the Book of th

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Kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his place. “( 2 Chronicles 24:27  )

Acts of Uziah – “Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, Isaiah the

prophet the son of Amoz wrote.” ( 2 Chronicles 26:22 ). This appears to be a lost book

written by Isaiah the prophet.

Acts of the Kings of Israel – “Now the rest of the Acts of Manasseh, and his prayer

to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the

God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.“ ( 2 Chronicles

33:18 )

Sayings of the Seers – “And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty,

and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and setup the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in

the Chronicles of the Seers” ( 2 Chronicles 33:19 ). In most Hebrew manuscripts “Seers”

is replaced by the name “Hozai.” 

Laments for Josiah – “ Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the

singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day.

They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in The Laments.”  ( 2

Chronicles 35:25  )