2 Maccabees 12:38-46

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

³⁸ So Judas having gathered together his army, came into the city Odollam: and when the seventh day came, they purified themselves according to the custom, and kept the sabbath in the place.

³⁹ And the day following Judas came with his company, to take away the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen, in the sepulchres of their fathers.

⁴⁰ And they found under the coats of the slain some of the donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews: so that all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain.

⁴¹ Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had discovered the things that were hidden.

⁴² And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain.

⁴³ And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection,

⁴⁴ (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,)

⁴⁵ And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them.

⁴⁶ It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.