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12 (A)for it was God who drove out those who fought against the holy city. 13 When their leader arrived in Persia with his seemingly irresistible army, they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea[a] through a deceitful stratagem employed by Nanea’s priests. 14 [b]On the pretext of marrying the goddess, Antiochus with his Friends had come to the place to get its great treasures as a dowry.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:13 Nanea: an oriental goddess comparable to Artemis of the Greeks.
  2. 1:14–17 Differing accounts of the death of Antiochus IV are found in 2 Mc 9:1–29 and in 1 Mc 6:1–16 (see also Dn 11:40–45). The writer of this letter had probably heard a distorted rumor of the king’s death. This and other indications suggest that the letter was written very soon after Antiochus IV died, perhaps in 164 B.C.