Ahmose pen-Ebana was a major figure in the battles that forged Egypt’s empire during the New Kingdom era, in the late 1500 BC. According to his autobiography, he fought in the Battle of Avaris (circa 1550 BC), when the Theban Dynasty overthrew the Hyksos Dynasty, and then he fought at the Battle of Sharuhen a few years later, in which the last of the Hyksos Dynasty was destroyed. After these battles, the Thebans had gained political control over both Northern Egypt and Canaan, although the level of control exercised in Canaan is unclear. Then he reports fighting in a series of battles in Nubia as the Thebans conquered and enslaved northern Sudan. A canal had been dug through the shallow third cataract during the Middle Kingdom, which the Egyptians re-dug as soon as they took control of the region again during the campaigns of Ahmose I, who campaigned in Nubia between approximately 1540 and 1525 BC. The third cataract appears to also be the farthest south the Egyptians built a fortress during Ahmose pen-Ebana’s lifetime, the fortress at Tombos, which was more likely there to keep the canal clear for trade than to protect Egyptians from the Nubian tribes. Ahmose pen-Ebana then reports campaigns that were likely along the Yellow Nile in Darfur (modern Wadi Howar), and east past the fourth cataract of the Nile, before the Pharaoh Thutmose I declared victory in the south and marched his army as far north as it could go, invading the Mitanni Empire in Syria. His march through Canaan to the Euphrates was described as peaceful, and apparently, the Canaanite princes recognized his authority over the land. This march is believed to have happened in 1503 BC, and was his second peaceful march through Canaan, the first in 1505 BC, shortly after his coronation. Ahmose pen-Ebana does not report being part of that campaign, nor the earlier campaign of Ahmose I into Canaan after conquering Sharuhen, which strongly suggests that he did not take part in these campaigns. His long service in the Egyptian military includes service under three Pharaohs: Ahmose I (circa 1549 to 1524 BC), Amenhotep I (circa 1525 to 1504 BC), and Thutmose I (circa 1506 to 1493 BC), and included many of the most important battles that laid the foundation of the New Kingdom, allowing Egyptologists to understand the order of these battles, as well as the Egyptian view of the battles and their enemies. Ahmose pen-Ebana’s autobiography has survived to the present because it was cut into his tomb walls in El Kab, his hometown. About half of the text carved into the wall was destroyed when Egyptologists broke into the tomb in the 1800s, however, most of his biography seems to have survived. There is some damage to the wall the autobiography was carved on, resulting in short lacunas, however, Egyptologists believe their reconstructions of the missing texts are accurate, given how short the gaps are. In this translation, the Egyptologists’ reconstructions are treated as accurate, and their reconstructions are translated with the rest of the text. This may result in minor translation errors compared to the original text, however, it is better than reading sentences with missing words, especially when the words seem fairly obvious.

Ahmose pen-Nekhbet was a major figure during the early years of the New Kingdom, who, like his contemporary Ahmose pen-Ebana, appears to have been from the city of El Kab, where his tomb was found. His autobiography is much shorter than pen-Ebana’s autobiography, however, is also far more damaged. This translation follows the general reconstruction that most Egyptologists agree on, however, sections of the original text may have been lost entirely before it was rediscovered in the late 1800s. Like pen-Ebana, he served a series of kings, starting with Ahmose I, and continuing through Amenhotep I, Thutmose II, Hatshepsut, and finally Thutmose III, meaning he served for decades longer than Ahmose pen-Ebana. This difference in length of service is likely due to his higher position within Egyptian society, already reportedly the herald of the king at a battle in Djahy, which may have been the Battle of Sharuhen. Ahmose pen-Nekhbet’s autobiography does not mention the Battle of Avaris, which had taken place a few years earlier, implying he became the king’s herald after the Hyksos dynasty lost Avaris. Egyptologists debate what exactly pen-Nekhbet meant by Djahy, and some believe King Ahmose I may have marched his army north from Sharuhen through southern Canaan to restore order in the region, however, there is no corroborating evidence of this known, and there is no reason to assume he wasn’t talking about Sharuhen, as Sharuhen was in Djahy, the ancient Egyptian name for southern Canaan. Ahmose pen-Nekhbet then mentioned serving King Amenhotep I in the campaigns in Kush, where he captured slaves, like Ahmose pen-Ebana. Unlike pen-Ebana, however, pen-Nekhbet only mentioned one campaign in Kush, which implies that he did not partake in most of the campaigns in Nubia unless those stories were lost in the damaged sections. Pen-Nekhbet’s story also includes a reference to a campaign against what appear to be the Berber tribes of the Sahara. He referred to a campaign against the Iamu-Kehek, which includes the name Kehek, a Libyan tribe later mentioned during the reign of Ramesses III, circa 1188 BC. The Thebans are recorded to having occupied the five oases of the western desert during their war against the Hyksos, including the Kharga Oasis, Dakhla Oasis, now dry Farafra depression, Bahariya Oasis, and the Fayyum. This reference to the Iamu-Kehek implies the army of Amenhotep I pushed west through the Sahara desert, likely to Siwa Oasis, where an ancient oracle temple of Amen existed by the 10th century BC.

The Book of Tobit appears to be from an older sect of Judaism, likely the one led by the 'false priest' Tobiah, who was expelled from the temple by Ezra when his genealogy could not be proven in 2ⁿᵈ Ezra. 2ⁿᵈ Ezra was the version of Ezra used by the Pharisee sect which emerged under the Hasmonean Dynasty, while Tobit, along with Enoch, Jubilees, and Job appears to have primarily been used by the Essenes sects. The Book of Tobit is generally viewed as fiction by most scholars for a variety of reasons. One major reason it is viewed as fiction is the presence of Tobit's cousin Ahikar, in both versions of the book, who is the protagonist of the Words of Ahikar, a book set in the same era, which is also considered fiction. It is quite clear from the text of Tobit, that it is the same Ahikar, and not just someone with the same name, as Ahikar's betrayal by his nephew is mentioned, which is part of the early section of Ahikar. Nevertheless, both books, Tobit and Ahikar survive in various forms, meaning that they were edited multiple times before the versions that survive to the present were transcribed. The surviving copies of the Septuagint include two versions of the Book of Tobit, the more common form, found in the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and most other surviving copies of the Septuagint, and the less common version found in the Codex Sinaiticus. The differences between the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus versions of Tobit are too extensive to treat the books as the same book, however, their story is essentially the same. The two books must have had a common source, however, the Sinaiticus's version is over 20% longer than the Vaticanus's version, and appears to be an older version of Tobit. One of the reasons that the Book of Tobit is interpreted as fiction, is the existence of historical errors and anachronisms found in the Vaticanus version, which includes the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and the Persian king Ahasuerus jointly destroying Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh was sacked by Babylonian King Nabopolassar in 612 BC, along with Median and Persian allies, led by the Median King Cyaxares, who then integrated the city into his Median Empire. Nabopolassar's son Nebuchadnezzar, who assumed the throne in 605 BC, finally conquered the remnants of the Assyrian forces in Syria at the Battle of Carchemish that same year, however, he did not attack or destroy Nineveh. Meanwhile, the name Ahasuerus was the Aramaic name of Xerxes, the Persian king who ruled between 486 and 465 BC.

The Orthodox Tewahedo Churches of Ethiopian and Eritrean have maintained many deuterocanonical books that are not included in the Bibles of various other Christian churches. Some of these books are shared with the Beta Israel community, the ancient Israelites of the Ethiopian highlands who are also sometimes referred to as “Ethiopian Jews.” Most of these texts were translated into Ge'ez, the classical language of Axum, sometime between the 5ᵗʰ and 10ᵗʰ centuries AD. Axum was the kingdom that ruled Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in the 1ˢᵗ through 9ᵗʰ centuries AD. At its peak in the 3ʳᵈ through 6ᵗʰ centuries, Axum also controlled Yemen and was considered by some to be one of the four great powers in the world, alongside Rome, Persia, and China. One of the unique collections of texts found in the Orthodox Tewahedo Churches and Beta Israel community is the Ge'ez books of the Maccabees. These books are different from the books of the Maccabees used by the Orthodox churches across Eurasia. Within Greek biblical manuscripts, there are four books named Maccabees, all of which were translated into Syriac, and are part of the Syriac churches’ bible. The Syriac bible also includes a fifth book of Maccabees, which is a translation of part of Josephus's writing from the 1ˢᵗ century AD, and the Syriac tradition churches have maintained additional Maccabean literature, but none of it parallels the Ge'ez Maccabean literature. Medieval Hebrew and Arabic books of Maccabees also exist, however, they do not include any of the same content as the Ge'ez literature. Western scholarship regarding the texts is sparse, and they are generally dismissed as Axumite in origin. There are a number of reasons for this, the biggest one being that if they are ancient, they challenge a lot of common assumptions about the origin of Christianity. This bias against the Ge'ez books runs so deep that many Christian scholars refuse to recognize them as Maccabean literature, and simply refer to them as Meqabyan books, a direct transliteration of “Maccabean” from the Ge'ez script to the Latin script. Nevertheless, the books contain many linguistic relics that support an ancient origin. Based on linguistics, the content of Ge'ez 1ˢᵗ Maccabees must have existed in 4 forms before finally being translated into Ge'ez. The final translation would have been directly into Classical Ge'ez, not the older South Arabian script, and likely took place sometime between the 5ᵗʰ and 10ᵗʰ centuries. The Ge'ez translator added a curious scribal note in chapter 36 that explains that manna was similar to injera, a flatbread commonly eaten in East Africa. This suggests the book was translated by a Christian, and before the books of Moses were commonly used by the churches in the region. A member of the Beta Israelite community would have been familiar with manna and therefore would have not needed the explanation.

The story of the Voyage of Wenamen, also called the Report of Wenamen, or the Misadventures of Wenamen, is considered one of the earliest surviving adventure tales. Unlike many of their neighboring cultures, the Egyptians did not write historical narratives, the text must have started as an autobiography of Wenamen circa 1065 BC. The one partially surviving copy appears to have been excerpted from the original autobiography, copied for one of the Meshwesh (Berber) Pharaohs that ruled the late 21ˢᵗ Dynasty after Osorkon the Elder seized the throne in 992 BC. It appears as if only the sections about Canaan were copied, which suggests the Pharaoh in question was looking for information on Canaan, likely as a prelude to an invasion. The surviving text includes the beginning of Wenamen's voyage, but not the beginning of his biography, which would have included his titles and honors and the story of how he became a priest of Amen. The surviving text covers Wenamen's voyage from his departure from Thebes, through his stops in the Egyptian capital of Tanis, and the coastal Canaanite cities of Dor, Tyre, and Byblos, before his ship was blown off course to Cyprus, and the story abruptly ends. The section that covers the stop in Tyre is in the damaged section, in the middle of the story, and only survives in fragments. The abrupt ending of the story is clearly not the end of Wenamen's Biography as it does not include his return to Egypt, which must have taken place or his story would never have been known to the Egyptians.

The book of Ruth appears to be part of a Samaritan story designed to splice the Moabites into the royal genealogy. The Book of Deuteronomy, which was likely written in Samaria, uses Moabite names of locations instead of Judahite names, indicating that a Moabite priesthood was active in Samaria before the kingdom fell to the Assyrians. The Book of Judges refers to King Abimelech as the bastard son of Gideon by a prostitute, which speaks volumes about his memory, however, he was an Ephrathite, as was the Abimelech in the Book of Ruth, indicating that he could not have been viewed that badly a century after his death, when Ruth’s father in law would have been born. Ruth, the step-daughter of Abimelech in the Book of Ruth, ultimately became an ancestor of King David, meaning it is possible that some Israelites were connecting the two Abimelechs in the Second Temple era, claiming that David was a descendant of King Abimelech. The setting of the Ruth is the lands of Judah and Moab in the early-1000s BC, when the Book of Judges claimed there was no king. The last judge under the Pelesets in the books of Judges was Samson's father Manoah, who ruled until 1090 BC when the Peleset Kingdom apparently collapsed. This was just over a decade before the collapse of the Egyptian New Kingdom in 1077 BC, which began the Third Intermediate Period, when Egyptian records became sparse. This collapse of civilization in Canaan and Egypt was mirrored by collapses across the Mediterranean, sparking what the Greeks would later call the Dark Age. This Dark Age is not in doubt, however, is poorly understood due to the sparse records from the era. The story would have taken place around the same era as the Benjaminite genocide in the Book of Judges, which is likely the reason the book of Ruth was placed directly behind the book of Judges in the Septuagint. It is not clear when the Book of Ruth was written, however, it is not generally considered to date back to the era it is set in. Based on the connection between the Book of Ruth and King David, it seems likely that the book was written no earlier than the era of King David, however, the book is generally dated to the time of Ezra the Scribe circa 350 BC. It is generally interpreted as an attempt to bridge the older books of Joshua and Judges with the newer books of the Kingdoms (Masoretic Samuel and Kings), which are generally accepted as having been compiled during the time of Ezra the scribe.

The life of Harkhuf is one of the better-documented lives from the era of the Old Kingdom era of Egyptian history. Harkhuf lived during the reigns of kings Merenre I and Pepi II of the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty, at the same time as the more famous Weni, whom he may have mentioned in his autobiography. Like Weni, he is primarily known from the inscriptions on his tomb, however, unlike Weni, he only seems to have had one tomb. On the front of his tomb were carved two inscriptions, one promising to intercede in the afterlife for those who prayed for him at his tomb, and the other was his autobiography, telling of his three expeditions into Nubia for King Merenre I. This appears to have been the original design of the tomb, as the front of the tomb was completely covered in the two inscriptions, however, like Weni, he later had more to add. Unlike Weni, Harkhuf did not build a second tomb, instead, he had one side of the tomb smoothed off so a letter to him from King Pepi II could be inscribed there, providing more information about the world he lived in. Harkhuf lived during the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, which would have been at the peak of the Old Kingdom’s international reach, but after the major pyramid-building feats of the 5ᵗʰ Dynasty were completed. Egypt had already built the tallest building in the world around a century before Harkhuf’s expeditions into Nubia, which would continue to be the tallest building in the world for thousands of years, until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. As Merenre I is only believed to have ruled for around 9 years, Harkhuf and Weni had to be active in Nubia at the same time. Weni’s Autobiography includes two lists of Nubian tribes, first a list of five tribes that fought in Canaan with the Egyptian army, and later a list of four tribes when he went to Nubia to dig five canals to open the region to trade via Egyptian barges. Nubia was the land to the south of Egypt, was Aswan and Elephantine at the First Cataract of the Nile. Elephantine, under its older Egyptian name Abu was mentioned as one of the mines that Weni visited, however, was considered Egyptian during the Old Kingdom, and marked the boundary between the two cultures. As only four of the five Nubian tribes that Weni mentioned are mentioned by Harkhuf, it allows both their routes through Nubia to be compared and tracked, establishing where the Nubian settlements were probably located.

In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. It is generally accepted that there were several versions of the ancient Hebrew and Samaritan scriptures before the translation of the Septuagint. The two books of Ezra were translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint before 200 BC when a large number of refugees fled the ongoing wars in Judea and settled in Egypt. The two books of Ezra were two different versions of the same basic story, one likely a Sadducee version, and the other a Pharisee text. 2ⁿᵈ Ezra became in the Masoretic Texts' version of Ezra, and by the year 100 AD, the Apocalypse of Ezra was in circulation as 3ʳᵈ Ezra. This has created some confusion among Biblical Translators throughout the centuries. This version of Ezra is called 1ˢᵗ Esdras (1ˢᵗ Ezra) in Orthodox Bibles and Protestant Bibles that include the Apocrypha, 3 Esdras in Catholic Bibles that include the Apocrypha, and Greek Ezra in the Ethiopian Bible. The Septuagint's 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra are thematically similar, telling the generally same story, however from two different points of view. They tell the story of the fall of Jerusalem, first to the Egyptians, and then the Babylonians, followed by Babylon's fall to the Persians, following which the Judahites returned to Judah and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. 1ˢᵗ Ezra was clearly written from a non-spiritual viewpoint, common among the Sadducees, and repeatedly makes it clear that the author, Ezra, and various kings, viewed the Lord as the Judahite version of other gods, including the Egyptian creator and Sun-god Atum, and the Zoroastrian 'god of truth' and 'King of the Sky' Ahura Mazda. These views are inconsistent with the view of the Pharisees, which developed under the rule of the Hasmonean dynasty after Judea broke free from the rule of the Greeks, and the Lord became a separate god from all others. Both the Greek translations of 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra, and the Hebrew translation of Ezra-Nehemiah (2ⁿᵈ Ezra), contain relics of an Aramaic source-text, unfortunately, the Aramaic Book of Ezra is lost. The difference in the surviving Aramaic words within the Greek 1ˢᵗ Ezra, and Hebrew Ezra-Nehemiah, it appears that the two versions of Ezra already existed in the Aramaic versions. 1ˢᵗ Ezra, the less spiritual of the two, clearly dates to the Persian era, as it treats the Judahite Lord of the Temple in Jerusalem as another version of Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian God. Several Zoroastrian titles of Ahura Mazda are applied to the Judahite Lord, including King of Truth, and King of the Sky. Letters from the Persian Kings Cyrus II, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II, as included in the book, all of which were closely associated with Zoroastrianism, yet, referred to the Judahite Lord using titles generally associated with Ahura Mazda. In the Greek 1ˢᵗ Ezra and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra, and the Hebrew Ezra-Nehemiah, the temple is described as being a Zoroastrian fire-temple, containing an eternal fire, which Nehemiah even referred to as burning naphtha, like the other fire-temples across the Persian Empire.

1ˢᵗ Maccabees tells the story of the Maccabean Revolt against the rule of the Seleucid Empire in the 2ⁿᵈ century BC. The content of 1ˢᵗ Maccabees appears to be a Sadducee text, as it gives all credit to the self-declared high priests that led the rebellion against the Greeks, occasionally mentioning the sky-god Shamayim or the earth-goddess Eretz. It also omits the names of the other gods that 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees and 3ʳᵈ Maccabees mention the Judeans worshiping, such as Dionysus, which supports its authorship in the Hasmonean Dynasty, when the other gods were no longer tolerated. Four books of Maccabees were ultimately added to the Septuagint, three in the 1ˢᵗ century BC, and the 4ᵗʰ as an appendix in the 1ˢᵗ century AD. No trace of these books has been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they are generally thought to have been written in Greek. 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees do include several Aramaic loanwords that support an Aramaic source text. The Syriac Bibles also include a 5ᵗʰ Maccabees, which is a translation of book 6 of Josephus’ The Judean War. The Judean War is considered extended canon in the Ethiopic Bibles, however, the Ethiopic Bibles also include three books of Maccabees, which are not based on the Greek books, or Josephus. An Arabic book of Maccabees also exists, which is often mislabeled as 5ᵗʰ Maccabees in English language literature, because it was initially misidentified as being the same book as Syriac 5ᵗʰ Maccabees. The Arabic book is a translation of a Palestinian Aramaic book from circa 525 AD, which itself appears to be based on the Hebrew book of Maccabees, which surfaced much later. The Hebrew version of Maccabees was collected with other Hebrew language manuscripts from various eras in a Yiddish compilation in the 1300s. The Hebrew translation of Maccabees was likely composed in Iberia earlier than 500 AD and was probably based on an Aramaic text, along with an Iberian tale about Hannibal. The Aramaic text that was used is closely related to the text found in the Josippon, which is believed to have been composed in southern Italy in the 900s. The Josippon claims to be a copy of the book of Joseph ben Gurion, one of the leaders of the Judean Revolt of 66 AD. Joseph died in 68 AD, and Josephus, who survived the war, did not report that Joseph was a writer, however, it stands to reason his faction must have had some form of propaganda, likely based on the Maccabean Revolt. These Josippon-related versions of Maccabees are of very little historic value, as they are replete with historical errors. Their original function appears to have been to serve as inspiration rather than to educate.

Both the Greek translations of 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra, and the Hebrew translation of Ezra (2ⁿᵈ Ezra), contain relics of an Aramaic source-text, unfortunately, the Aramaic Book of Ezra-Nehemiah is lost. The difference in the surviving Aramaic words within the Greek 1ˢᵗ Ezra, and Hebrew Ezra (Greek 2ⁿᵈ Ezra), it appears that the two versions of Ezra already existed in the Aramaic versions. The differences between 2ⁿᵈ Ezra and Masoretic Ezra are minimal, and could be accounted for as scribal notes, and the redaction of Simon the Zealot, who added the name Yahweh extensively to the ancient texts when he translated them into Hebrew. 1ˢᵗ Ezra, the less spiritual of the two versions of the Septuagint's Ezra, clearly dates to the Persian era, as it treats the Judahite Lord of the Temple in Jerusalem as another version of Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian God. Several Zoroastrian titles of Ahura Mazda are applied to the Judahite Lord, including King of Truth, and King of the Sky. Letters from the Persian Kings Cyrus II, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II, as included in the book, all of which were closely associated with Zoroastrianism, yet, referred to the Judahite Lord using titles generally associated with Ahura Mazda. In the Greek 1ˢᵗ Ezra and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra, as well as the Hebrew Ezra, the temple is described as being a Zoroastrian fire-temple, containing an eternal fire, which Nehemiah even referred to as burning naphtha, like the other fire-temples across the Persian Empire. As the books of Ezra includes a Letter from Cyrus dated to the first year of his rule over Babylon, this letter would date to 539 BC, however, the rest of the kings aren't always easy to distinguish from each other, as the Persian Empire had three kings named Darius, and four named Artaxerxes. The books of Ezra also describe several different groups of Judahites returning from Babylon, and in 2ⁿᵈ Ezra and Masoretic Ezra the stories repeat with different details, as once there must have been separate Aramaic books of Ezra and Nehemiah that contained different details. The first group of Judahites to return from Babylon, were sent by Cyrus II after he conquered Babylon in 539 BC. They were led by Zerubabbel ben Shealtiel, and the priest Jesus ben Jehozadak, although Sheshbazzar was listed as the 'chief of Judah.' Sheshbazzar is a Persian name that translates as 'fire-worshiper,' and so he could not have been an Israelite, and was likely the Persian military governor dispatched to Jerusalem to secure it for the Persian Empire. After they defeated the Babylonians, most regions of the Babylonian Empire attempted to become independent states, and Cyrus II spend the nine years after Babylon fell consolidating his empire, before dying in battle, without ever sending an expedition into Egypt, which had been part of the Babylonian Empire, and which he had theoretically conquered. Cyrus II's heir, Cambyses II did conquer Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica, however, was assassinated before he could launch his planned invasion of Carthage. The books of Ezra all include a letter sent by Tattannu, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, which inquired about the temple that Zerubbabel and the returned Judahites were building in Jerusalem, along with a replying letter from King Darius confirming that Cyrus authorized the temple's construction, and Darius further ordering the governor of Syria and Phoenicia to assist. This letter is sent during the era of Zerubbabel, who had been sent by Cyrus II, and therefore the king in question had to be Darius I, who ruled between 522 and 486. The beginning of his rule was only 17 years after King Cyrus II had sent Zerubbabel to Jerusalem, while Darius II would not assume the throne for another century.