2 Maccabees 2

¹ 'It is on record that the prophet Jeremiah ordered the deportees to take the fire, as we have described,

² and how, having given them the Law, the prophet warned the deportees never to forget the Lord'sprecepts, nor to let their thoughts be tempted by the sight of gold and silver statues or the finery adorning them.

³ Among other similar admonitions, he urged them not to let the Law depart from their hearts.

⁴ 'The same document also describes how the prophet, warned by an oracle, gave orders for the tentand the ark to go with him, when he set out for the mountain which Moses had climbed to survey God's heritage.

⁵ On his arrival, Jeremiah found a cave-dwel ing, into which he put the tent, the ark and the altar ofincense, afterwards blocking up the entrance.

⁶ Some of his companions went back later to mark out the path but were unable to find it.

⁷ When Jeremiah learned this, he reproached them, "The place is to remain unknown", he said, "untilGod gathers his people together again and shows them his mercy.

⁸ Then the Lord wil bring these things once more to light, and the glory of the Lord will be seen, and sowil the cloud, as it was revealed in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the holy place might begloriously hal owed."

⁹ 'It was also recorded how Solomon in his wisdom offered the sacrifice of the dedication and completionof the sanctuary.

¹⁰ As Moses had prayed to the Lord and fire had come down from heaven and burned up the sacrifice,so Solomon also prayed, and the fire from above consumed the burnt offerings.

¹¹ Moses had said, "Because the sacrifice for sin had not been eaten, it was burnt instead."

¹² Solomon similarly observed the eight-day festival.

¹³ 'In addition to the above, it was also recorded, both in these writings and in the Memoirs of Nehemiah, how Nehemiah founded a library and made a col ection of the books dealing with the kings and the prophets, thewritings of David and the letters of the kings on the subject of offerings.

¹⁴ Similarly, Judas made a complete col ection of the books dispersed in the late war, and these we stillhave.

¹⁵ If you need any of them, send someone to fetch them.

¹⁶ 'Since we are about to celebrate the purification, we now write, requesting you to observe the samedays.

¹⁷ God, who has saved his whole people, conferring heritage, kingdom, priesthood and sanctification onal of us,

¹⁸ as he has promised in the Law, will surely, as our hope is in him, be swift to show us mercy andgather us together from everywhere under heaven to the holy place, since he has rescued us from great evilsand has purified it.'

¹⁹ The story of Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, the purification of the great Temple, the dedicationof the altar,

²⁰ together with the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator,

²¹ and the celestial manifestations that came to hearten the brave champions of Judaism, so that, fewthough they were, they pil aged the whole country, routed the barbarian hordes,

²² recovered the sanctuary renowned the whole world over, liberated the city and re-established the lawsby then all but abolished, the Lord showing his favour by al his gracious help to them-

²³ al this, already related in five books by Jason of Cyrene, we shall attempt to condense into a singlework.

²⁴ Considering the spate of figures and the difficulty encountered, because of the mass of material, bythose who wish to immerse themselves in historical records,

²⁵ we have aimed at providing diversion for those who merely want something to read, a saving of labourfor those who enjoy committing things to memory, and profit for each and al .

²⁶ For us who have undertaken the drudgery of this abridgement, it has been no easy task but a matterof sweat and midnight oil,

²⁷ comparable to the exacting task of someone organising a banquet, whose aim is to satisfy a variety oftastes. Nevertheless, for the sake of rendering a general service, we remain glad to endure this drudgery,

²⁸ leaving accuracy of detail to the historian, and concentrating our effort on tracing the outlines in thiscondensed version.

²⁹ Just as the architect of a new house is responsible for the construction as a whole, while the manundertaking the ceramic painting has to take into consideration only the decorative requirements, so, I think, it iswith us.

³⁰ To make the subject his own, to explore its by-ways, to be meticulous about details, is the business ofthe original historian,

³¹ but the person making the adaptation must be al owed to aim at conciseness of expression and toforgo any exhaustive treatment of his subject.

³² So now let us begin our narrative, without adding any more to what has been said above; there wouldbe no sense in expanding the preface to the history and curtailing the history itself.