2 Maccabees 2

1 “It is found in the records that Jeremiah the prophet ordered those who were being carried away to take some of the fire, as has been told, [a] 2 and how the prophet, when he had given them the law, charged those who were carried away not to forget the decrees of the Lord, and not to be led astray in their thinking when they saw images of gold and silver and all the ornament around them. 3 With other words like these he urged them not to let the law leave their hearts.

4 It was in the writing too that the prophet, warned by God, ordered the tent and the ark to go with him — and how he went out to the mountain that Moses had climbed to look on the inheritance of God. [b] 5 When Jeremiah got there he found a cave for a house, and he brought the tent and the ark and the altar of incense inside, and blocked up the doorway. 6 Some of those who had come with him came along to mark the road, and could not find it. 7 When Jeremiah learned of it he found fault with them and said, ‘The place is to stay unknown until God gathers his people together again and is merciful. 8 Then the Lord will show these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen, and the cloud with it, as it was shown in the days of Moses, and as when Solomon asked that the place be greatly made holy.’

9 It was made plain too that he, having wisdom, offered the sacrifice for the dedication and the finishing of the temple. 10 As Moses prayed to the Lord and fire came down out of heaven and used up the things of the sacrifice, so Solomon also prayed, and the fire came down and burned up the whole burnt offerings. 11 And Moses said, ‘It was used up because the offering for sin was not eaten.’ 12 In the same way Solomon also kept the eight days.

13 The same things are told in the records and in the memoirs of Nehemiah — and how, founding a library, he gathered together the books about the kings and the prophets, and the books of David, and letters of kings about things devoted. [c] 14 In the same way Judas gathered together everything that had been scattered by the war that came on us, and it is in our hands. 15 So if you have need of any of it, send men to fetch it for you.

16 Since we are about to keep the purification, we have written to you. You will do well to keep the days. 17 It is God who saved his whole people and gave back the inheritance to them all, and the kingship and the priesthood and the holiness, [d] 18 as he promised through the law. For we hope in God that he will soon have mercy on us and gather us in from everywhere under heaven to the holy place, since he has brought us out of great evils and has cleansed the place.”

19 The story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, and the purification of the greatest temple, and the dedication of the altar, [e] 20 and further the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator, 21 and the appearances that came from heaven to those who fought bravely and with honor for the Jewish way of life — so that, few as they were, they plundered the whole country and chased off the foreign-speaking hordes, [g] 22 and won back the temple that is famous over the whole inhabited world, and set the city free, and put right the laws that were about to be overthrown, the Lord being merciful to them with all kindness — 23 all of this, set out by Jason of Cyrene in five books, we will try to cut down into one work.

24 For when we saw the flood of figures, and how hard it is for anyone who wants to get inside the telling of the history, because of the mass of the material, 25 we took care that those who want to read might enjoy it, that those who like to learn things by heart might have it easy, and that everyone who comes across it might be helped.

26 For us, who have taken on the hard labor of the abridgement, it is not easy — it is a business of sweat and lost sleep, 27 just as it is no light thing for the man who lays on a banquet and looks to the good of others. All the same, for the thanks of many we will gladly bear the hard labor, 28 leaving the exact handling of every particular to the man who wrote the history, and working hard to follow the lines of an abridgement.

29 For as the master builder of a new house has to think about the whole frame of it, while the man who takes on the burning-in and the painting has to look out what is fit for its decoration — so, I think, it is with us. 30 To go deep into the matter, to walk all the way round the arguments, and to be busy with the details, belongs to the one who first set the history down; 31 but to chase after a short way of saying it, and to give up the full working out of the subject, is to be allowed to the man who makes the retelling. 32 So let us begin the story here, adding only this much to what has been said: it is a silly thing to run on and on before the history and then cut the history short.