The Peshitta includes Syriac translations of the four books of the Maccabees found in the Septuagint, along with a 5th book of Maccabees, which is also labeled as The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem. This book is a Syriac translation of the 6th book of Josephus' The Judean War. General Josephus had started on the Judean side of the rebellion, however, was captured by the Romans, and survived the war. During the fall of Jerusalem, he was part of Caesar Titus' entourage who tried to negotiate with the Judean rebels in Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus was given some of the surviving archives and wrote Antiquities of the Judeans, as well as The Judean War. These books survive in Greek, however, it is generally agreed that Josephus wrote these books in Aramaic, and then translated them into Greek. The Syrian churches have traditionally claimed that the Peshitta's 5th Maccabees is a Syriac transliteration of Josephus' original Aramaic text.

The Peshitta's 5th Maccabees is often confused with the Arabic book of Maccabees in English literature due to a misidentification by the Anglican historian Henry Cotton in 1832. Josphus' writing is also part of the Ge'ez language extended canon of the Ethiopian bible, however, the Ge'ez translations are longer, and it is debated if they were made from the old Aramaic versions or an Arabic translation.

5th Maccabees seems to have been added to the Peshitta in order to create a conclusion to the history of the kingdom of Judea, as it is just the section of The Judean War which covers the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Josephus' intent was to accurately record the fall of Judea and is generally considered a reliable source. Not all of the 1st century historians agreed with Josephus' view of what happened.