2 Maccabees 1:13-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
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. 15 When the priests of Nanea’s temple had displayed the treasures and Antiochus with a few attendants had come inside the wall of the temple precincts, the priests locked the temple as soon as he entered.
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- 1:13 Nanea: an oriental goddess comparable to Artemis of the Greeks.
- 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.
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