2 Maccabees 1:18-2:19
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
18 [a]Since we shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev,(A) we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple[b] and the altar, offered sacrifices. 19 For when our ancestors were being led into captivity in Persia,[c] devout priests at the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry cistern, making sure that the place would be unknown to anyone. 20 Many years later, when it so pleased God, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to look for it. 21 When they informed us that they could not find any fire, but only a thick liquid, he ordered them to scoop some out and bring it. After the material for the sacrifices had been prepared, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the wood and what lay on it with the liquid. 22 This was done, and when at length the sun, which had been clouded over, began to shine, a great fire blazed up, so that everyone marveled. 23 While the sacrifice was being burned, the priests recited a prayer, and all present joined in with them. Jonathan led and the rest responded with Nehemiah.
24 The prayer was as follows: “Lord, Lord God, creator of all things, awesome and strong, just and merciful, the only king and benefactor, 25 who alone are gracious, just, almighty, and eternal, Israel’s savior from all evil, who chose our ancestors and sanctified them: 26 accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and guard and sanctify your portion. 27 Gather together our scattered people, free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look kindly on those who are despised and detested, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God. 28 Punish those who lord it over us and in their arrogance oppress us. 29 Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses said.”(B)
30 Then the priests sang hymns. 31 After the sacrifice was consumed, Nehemiah ordered the rest of the liquid to be poured upon large stones. 32 As soon as this was done, a flame blazed up, but its light was lost in the brilliance coming from the altar. 33 When the event became known and the king of the Persians was told that, in the very place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, a liquid was found with which Nehemiah and his people had burned the sacrifices, 34 the king, after verifying the fact, fenced the place off and declared it sacred. 35 To those whom the king favored, he distributed many benefits he received. 36 Nehemiah and his companions called the liquid nephthar, meaning purification, but most people named it naphtha.[d](C)
Chapter 2
1 In the records it will be found that Jeremiah the prophet ordered the deportees to take some of the fire with them as indicated, 2 and that the prophet, in giving them the law, directed the deportees not to forget the commandments of the Lord or be led astray in their thoughts, when seeing the gold and silver idols and their adornments.(D) 3 With other similar words he exhorted them that the law should not depart from their hearts.
4 [e]The same document also tells how the prophet, in virtue of an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him, and how he went to the very mountain that Moses climbed to behold God’s inheritance.(E) 5 When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a chamber in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he sealed the entrance. 6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. 7 When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: “The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy. 8 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will be seen, just as they appeared in the time of Moses and of Solomon when he prayed that the place[f] might be greatly sanctified.”(F)
9 It is also related how Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice for the dedication and the completion of the temple. 10 Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire descended from the sky and consumed the sacrifices, so also Solomon prayed and fire came down and consumed the burnt offerings.(G) 11 [g]Moses had said, “Because it had not been eaten, the purification offering was consumed.”(H) 12 Solomon also celebrated the feast in the same way for eight days.
13 These same things are also told in the records and in Nehemiah’s memoirs,[h] as well as how he founded a library and collected the books about the kings and the prophets, the books of David, and the royal letters about votive offerings. 14 In like manner Judas also collected for us all the books that had been scattered because of the war, and we now have them in our possession.(I) 15 If you need them, send messengers to get them for you.
16 As we are about to celebrate the purification, we are writing: you should celebrate the feast days. 17 It is God who has saved all his people and has restored to all of them their inheritance, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sacred rites, 18 as he promised through the law. For we hope in God, that he will soon have mercy on us and gather us together from everywhere under the heavens to his holy place, for he has rescued us from great perils and has purified the place.(J)
II. Compiler’s Preface
19 This is the story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, of the purification of the great temple, the dedication of the altar,
Footnotes
- 1:18–36 This legendary account of Nehemiah’s miraculous fire is incorporated in the letter because of its connection with the Temple and its rededication. Booths: see note on v. 9.
- 1:18 Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple: he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, but the Temple had been rebuilt by Zerubbabel almost a century before.
- 1:19 Persia: actually Babylonia, which later became part of the Persian empire.
- 1:36 By a play on words, the Greek term naphtha (petroleum) is assimilated to some Semitic word, perhaps nephthar, meaning “loosened.”
- 2:4–5 This legendary account is given for the purpose of explaining why the postexilic Temple was the legitimate place of worship even without these sacred objects. The very mountain: Nebo; cf. Dt 32:49; 34:1.
- 2:8 The place: the Temple of Jerusalem.
- 2:11 The statement attributed here to Moses seems to be based on Lv 10:16–20.
- 2:13 Nehemiah’s memoirs: a lost apocryphal work, or perhaps Neh 1–7, 11–13.
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