Guide
What Are the Apocrypha?
ca. 3rd Century BCE–1st Century CE
Restricted
The term apocrypha, meaning “hidden things,” refers to Jewish writings, mainly composed between the third century BCE and the first century CE, that are not included in the Jewish canon but are or have been considered scriptural by some communities. Jerome (347–420 CE), translator of the Vulgate, applied the term to books found in the Greek Septuagint that were not, to his knowledge, originally in Hebrew. Today, the term most commonly refers to books that are included in the Catholic and/or Eastern Orthodox canons but not the Protestant canon. These include Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ben Sira, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, additions to the books of Daniel and Esther, Psalm 151, and 2 Esdras.
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The Death of Judah
1 Maccabees 8–9 (selections)
Now Judah heard of the fame of the Romans, that they were very strong and were well-disposed toward all who made an alliance with them, that they pledged friendship to…
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Simon as High Priest and Ethnarch
1 Maccabees 14:47–15:2
So Simon accepted and agreed to be high priest, to be commander and ethnarch of the Jews and priests, and to be protector of them all. A…
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Mention of the Gerousia in Official Letters
1 Maccabees 12:5–6|2 Maccabees 1:10
This is a copy of the letter that Jonathan wrote to the Spartans: “The high priest Jonathan, the senate [gerousia] of the nation, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people to…
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The Gerousia Sends Representatives to Antiochus IV Epiphanes
2 Maccabees 4:44
When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate [gerousia] presented the case before him.
Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.…
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Letter from Antiochus V to the Gerousia and the Jews
2 Maccabees 11:27
To the nation the king’s letter was as follows:
“King Antiochus to the senate [gerousia] of the Jews and to the other Jews, greetings.”
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Hasmoneans Send Emissaries to Rome
1 Maccabees 8:17–32; 12:1–4
So Judah chose Eupolemus son of John son of Accos, and Jason son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome to establish friendship and alliance, and to free themselves from the yoke; for they saw…
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Persian Authorization of the Law
1 Esdras 8:23–24
“And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of God, appoint judges and justices to judge all those who know the law of your God, throughout all Syria and Phoenicia; and you shall teach it to those who…
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Ezra Reads from the Law of Moses
1 Esdras 9:37–47
The priests and the Levites and the Israelites settled in Jerusalem and in the country. On the new moon on the seventh month, when the people of Israel were in their settlements, the whole…
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Hasmonean Champions of Torah
1 Maccabees 1:52–57; 2:19–22
Many of the people, everyone who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; they drove Israel into hiding in every…
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The Praise of Wisdom
Ben Sira 24:1–34
Wisdom praises herself, and tells of her glory in the midst of her people. [ . . . ]“I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.I dwelt in the highest…
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Collectors of Books
2 Maccabees 2:13–14
The same things [Solomon’s sacrificial service] are reported in the records and in the memoirs of Nehemiah, and also that he founded a library and collected the books about the kings and prophets, and…
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Twenty-Four Books
2 Esdras (4 Ezra) 14:19–26, 38–48, 50
Then I answered and said, “Let me speak in your presence, Lord. For I will go, as you have commanded me, and I will reprove the people who are now living; but who will warn those who will be born…
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On the Inadequacy of Translation
Prologue to Ben Sira
Many great teachings have been given to us through the Law and the Prophets and the others that followed them, and for these we should praise Israel for instruction and wisdom. Now, those who read the…
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Ezra as Priestly Scribe
1 Esdras 8:3–7
This Ezra came up from Babylon as a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which was given by the God of Israel; and the king showed him honor, for he found favor before the king in all his requests.
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An Ideal Scribe
Ben Sira 39:1–11
He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients,
and is concerned with prophecies;
he preserves the sayings of the famous…
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Eleazar, Scribe and Martyr
2 Maccabees 6:18–23
Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh. But he, welcoming death with honor rather…
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Scribes Slain by Seleucids
1 Maccabees 7:5–17
Then there came to him [Demetrius son of Seleucus] all the renegade and godless men of Israel; they were led by Alcimus, who wanted to be high priest. They brought to the king this accusation…
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A Pilgrimage of Thanksgiving following Military Victory
Judith 16:18–20
When they arrived at Jerusalem, they worshiped God. As soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts. Judith also dedicated to God…
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The Service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur
Ben Sira 50:1, 5–21
The leader of his brothers and the pride of his people
was the high priest, Simeon son of Onias,
who in his life repaired…
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The Struggle between Jason and Onias III
2 Maccabees 4:7–10
When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption, promising the king at an interview three…
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The Hasmoneans Claim the High Priesthood
1 Maccabees 14:25–48
When the people heard these things they said, “How shall we thank Simon and his sons? For he and his brothers and the house of his father have stood firm; they have fought and repulsed Israel’s…
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Agony and Comfort
2 Esdras (4 Ezra ) 3–10 (selections)
In the thirtieth year after the destruction of the city, I was in Babylon—I, Salathiel, who am also called Ezra. I was troubled as I lay on…
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Ben Sira’s Hymn of Thanksgiving
Ben Sira 51:1–12
I give you thanks, O Lord and King,
and praise you, O God my Savior.
I give thanks…
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Tobit’s Hymn of Thanksgiving
Tobit 12:22–13:17
They kept blessing God and singing his praises, and they acknowledged God for these marvelous deeds of his, when an angel of God had…
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Judith’s Hymn of Thanksgiving
Judith 15:12–16:17
All the women of Israel gathered to see her, and blessed her, and some of them performed a dance in her honor. She took ivy-wreathed wands…
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Judith’s Prayer for Success against Holofernes
Judith 9:1–14
Then Judith prostrated herself, put ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing. At the very time when the evening incense was being offered in the house of God in Jerusalem…
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Judah’s Prayer for Victory
1 Maccabees 4:30–33
When he saw that their army was strong, he prayed, saying, “Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, who crushed the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of your servant David, and gave the camp of…
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Prayer Salutation in Letter
2 Maccabees 1:1–6
The Jews in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea,
To their Jewish kindred in Egypt,
Greetings and true peace.…
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Priestly Prayer for Israel’s Restoration
2 Maccabees 1:23–29
And while the sacrifice was being consumed, the priests offered prayer—the priests and everyone. Jonathan led, and the rest responded, as did Nehemiah. The prayer was to this effect:…
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Prayer of Simon the High Priest for Israel’s Deliverance
3 Maccabees 2:1–20
Then the high priest Simon, facing the sanctuary, bending his knees and extending his hands with calm dignity, prayed as follows: “Lord, Lord, king of the heavens, and sovereign of all creation…
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Eleazar’s Prayer for Israel’s Deliverance and Victory
3 Maccabees 6:1–15
Then a certain Eleazar, famous among the priests of the country, who had attained a ripe old age and throughout his life had been adorned with every virtue, directed the elders around him to stop…
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Ben Sira’s Prayer for the Salvation of Israel
Ben Sira 36:1–22
Have mercy upon us, O God of all,
and put all the nations in fear of you.
Lift up your hand against foreign nations…
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Manasseh’s Prayer for Forgiveness
Prayer of Manasseh
O Lord Almighty,
God of our ancestors,
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and of their righteous offspring…
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Tobit’s Prayer of Confession
Tobit 3:1–6
Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning began to pray:
“You are righteous, O Lord,and all your deeds are just;all your ways are mercy and truth;you judge the world.And…
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Preexistent Wisdom as Torah
Ben Sira 24:1–12, 23, 28–29
Wisdom praises herself,
and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.
In the assembly of the Most High she opens her…
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Afterlife of the Righteous
Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they…
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The Origins of Idolatry
Wisdom of Solomon 14:12–21
For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication,
and the invention of them was the corruption of life;
for…
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Mastering the Emotions
4 Maccabees 2:15–24
It is evident that reason rules even the more violent emotions: lust for power, vainglory, boasting, arrogance, and malice. For the temperate mind repels all these malicious emotions, just as it…
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The Martyrdom of a Mother and Her Seven Sons
2 Maccabees 7:1–41
It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and thongs, to partake of unlawful swine’s flesh. One of them…
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The Martyrdom of the Eldest Son
4 Maccabees 9:10–25
When they had said these things, the tyrant was not only indignant, as at those who are disobedient, but also infuriated, as at those who are ungrateful. Then at his command the guards brought…
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Physical Labor Is Divine
Ben Sira 7:15
Do not hate hard labor or farm work, which was created by the Most High.
Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.
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Wisdom versus Labor
Ben Sira 38:25
How can one become wise who handles the plow,
and who glories in the shaft of a goad,
who drives oxen and is occupied with…
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Scribes and Craftsmen
Ben Sira 38:24–34
The wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure;
only the one who has little business can become wise.
H…
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Commerce Breeds Sin
Ben Sira 26:29–27:3
A merchant can hardly keep from wrongdoing,nor is a tradesman innocent of sin.
Many have committed sin for gain,and those who seek to get rich will avert their eyes.As a stake…
Many have committed sin for gain,and those who seek to get rich will avert their eyes.As a stake…
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Fighting on the Sabbath
1 Maccabees 2:29–41
At that time many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to live there, they, their sons, their wives, and their livestock, because troubles pressed heavily upon…
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Mordecai’s Day and Nicanor’s Day
2 Maccabees 15:30–36
Then the man who was ever in body and soul the defender of his people, the man who maintained his youthful goodwill toward his compatriots, ordered them to cut off Nicanor’s head and arm and carry…
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Antiochus’ Prohibition of Circumcision
1 Maccabees 1:44–50
And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in…
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Enjoy This Life
Ben Sira 14:11–19
My child, treat yourself well, according to your means,
and present worthy offerings to the Lord.
Remember that death…
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The Messianic Kingdom
2 Esdras (4 Ezra) 7:26–44
“For indeed the time will come, when the signs that I have foretold to you will come to pass, that the city that now is not seen shall appear, and the land that now is hidden shall be disclosed. E…
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Resurrection as Reward for the Righteous
2 Maccabees 7:9–14
And when he was at his last breath, he said, “You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we…
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Loving Wisdom and Keeping Laws
Wisdom of Solomon 6:18–20; 8:13–19
[A]nd love of her is the keeping of her laws,
and giving heed to her laws is…
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Immortality Is the Reward for Martyrdom
4 Maccabees 17:11–16
Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine, for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life. Eleazar was the…
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Seeing God and Becoming Stars
2 Esdras (4 Ezra) 7:88–99
“Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal body. During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the…
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Torments of the Soul after Death
2 Esdras (4 Ezra) 7:75–87
I answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, show this also to your servant: whether after death, as soon as everyone of us yields up the soul, we shall be kept in rest until…
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Curing Blindness
Tobit 2–11 (selections)
That same night I [Tobit] washed myself and went into my courtyard and slept by the wall of the courtyard; and my face was uncovered because…
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The Physician
Ben Sira 38:1–15
Honor physicians for their services,
for the Lord created them;
for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,…
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Daniel, the Serpent, and the Lion’s Den
Bel and the Serpent 1–42 (Additions to Daniel)
When King Astyages was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom. Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his Friends.…
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Hymn of the Three Youths
Azariah and the Three Youths 26–68 (Additions to Daniel)
But the angel of the Lord came down into the furnace to be with Azariah and his companions, and drove the fiery flame out of the furnace, and made the inside of the furnace as though a moist wind…
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David’s Song of Praise
Psalm 151
151A (Psalms Scroll 28:3–12)A Hallelujah of David the Son of JesseI was the smallest among my brothers,and the youngest among the sons of my father; and he made me shepherd of his flocks,and the…
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Confessional Prayer for Judean Restoration
Baruch 1:15–3:8
And you shall say: The Lord our God is in the right, but there is open shame on us today, on the people of Judah, on the…
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Mordecai’s Prayer for Fortitude and Deliverance
Additions to Esther 13:8–18
Then Mordecai prayed to the Lord, calling to remembrance all the works of the Lord.
He said, “O Lord, Lord, you rule as King over all things, for the universe is in your…
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Azariah’s Prayer in the Furnace
Azariah and the Three Youths 1–22 (Additions to Daniel)
They walked around in the midst of the flames, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. Then Azariah stood still in the fire and prayed aloud:
“Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our ancestors, and…
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Ezra’s Prayer for Israel’s Forgiveness
2 Esdras (4 Ezra) 8:15–36
“And now I will speak out: About all humankind you know best; but I will speak out about your people, for whom I am grieved, and about your inheritance, from whom I lament, and about Israel, for…
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Esther’s Prayer before Going to the King
Additions to Esther 14:1–19
Then Queen Esther, seized with deadly anxiety, fled to the Lord. She took off her splendid apparel and put on the garments of distress and mourning, and instead of costly perfumes she covered her…
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Judith
Judith 8–15 (selections)
Now in those days Judith heard about these things. [ . . . ] Her husband Manasseh, who belonged to her tribe and family, had died during the barley harvest. [ . . . ] Judith remained as a…
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Susanna
Susanna 1–64 (Additions to Daniel)
There was a man living in Babylon whose name was Joakim. He married the daughter of Hilkiah, named Susanna, a very beautiful woman and one who feared the Lord. Her parents were righteous, and had…
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Sarah of Ecbatana
Tobit 3–11 (selections)
On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was reproached by one of her father’s maids. For she had been married to seven husbands, and the…
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The Greek Way of Life
1 Maccabees 1:10–15|2 Maccabees 4:7–17
From them [the successors of Alexander the Great] came forth a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus; he had been a hostage in Rome. He…
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Seleucus Tries to Confiscate the Temple Treasure
2 Maccabees 3:13–40
But Heliodoros, because of the orders he had from the king, said that this money must in any case be confiscated for the king’s treasury. So he set a day and went in to direct the inspection of…
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Rival High Priests Leave Jerusalem Vulnerable
2 Maccabees 5:11–6:16
When news of what had happened [i.e., infighting between Jason and Menelaus] reached the king, he took it to mean that Judaea was…
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Mattathias’s Uprising according to 1 Maccabees
1 Maccabees 2:1–4:35
In those days Mattathias son of John son of Simeon, a priest of the family of Joarib, moved from Jerusalem and settled in Modiin. He had five sons, John surnamed…
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Hasmonean Military Exploits
1 Maccabees 9–10 (selections)
After the death of Judah, the renegades emerged in all parts of Israel; all the wrongdoers reappeared. In those days a very great famine occurred, and the country…
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Simon's Leadership according to 1 Maccabees
1 Maccabees 13–14 (selections)
Simon heard that Trypho had assembled a large army to invade the land of Judah and destroy it, and he saw that the people were trembling with fear. So he went up to Jerusalem, and…
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Jerusalemites Become Citizens of Antioch
2 Maccabees 4:7–10
When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption, promising the king at an interview three…
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Our Friends and Allies, the Jews
1 Maccabees 15:15–23
Then Numenius and his companions arrived from Rome, with letters to the kings and countries, in which the following was written: “Lucius, consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy, greetings. The…
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Ben Sira’s Tripartite Division of Scripture
Prologue to Ben Sira
Many great teachings have been given to us through the Law and the Prophets and the others that followed them, and for these we should praise Israel for instruction and wisdom.
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Tobit Brings Firstfruits to Jerusalem
Tobit 1:6–7
But I alone went often to Jerusalem for the festivals, as it is prescribed for all Israel by an everlasting decree. I would hurry off to Jerusalem with the first fruits of the crops and the…
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A Pause in Fighting to Observe Shavuot
2 Maccabees 12:29, 31–32
In this passage, Judah Maccabee and his forces go to Jerusalem to observe Shavuot before heading to battle in Idumea.
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The Establishment of Hanukkah
1 Maccabees 4:36–59|2 Maccabees 1–10 (selections)
Then Judah [Maccabee] and his brothers said, “See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.” So all the army assembled and went up to…