While it'll be at least another year or two before I can even think of resuming my self-study of Koine, I am curious about the books that the Catholics seem to have left out, particularly 3-4 Maccabees. Are there anything in those works that would contradict theological positions?

I do plan on buying that Septuagint edition that you recommended to me when my tax refund arrives in a couple of weeks. Might also get a revised Vulgate OT (already have the NT) to use for later comparison.

On a related note, besides Pagels (who I don't exactly trust, for several reasons), are there any good collections of variant apocrypha available in translation?