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2 Maccabees 11:1-3
New Catholic Bible
2 Maccabees 11:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 11
Lysias Must Deal with the Jews.[a] 1 Very soon after that, Lysias, the guardian and kinsman of the king, who was in charge of the government, became greatly angered at what had occurred. 2 He mustered about eighty thousand foot soldiers and all of his cavalry and advanced against the Jews. His intent was to make Jerusalem a settlement for Greeks, 3 to levy a tax[b] on the temple as he did on the shrines of other nations, and to put the office of high priest up for sale every year.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Maccabees 11:1 Once again, the author confuses the date and exaggerates the numbers. In his accounts of war, a heavenly apparition symbolizes the help that Judas and his men receive from God. Lysias’s flight evokes that of Nicanor (2 Mac 8:35). These ways of proceeding are deliberate.
- 2 Maccabees 11:3 Levy a tax: all temples were subjected to taxes, but the temple of Jerusalem had been exempted by Antiochus III.
