2 Maccabees 2:1-18

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jeremiah Hides the Tent, Ark, and Altar

2 One finds in the records that the prophet Jeremiah ordered those who were being deported to take some of the fire, as has been mentioned,^{(A) 2} and that the prophet, after giving them the law, instructed those who were being deported not to forget the commandments of the Lord or to be led astray in their thoughts on seeing the gold and silver statues and their adornment.^{(B) 3} And with other similar words he exhorted them that the law should not depart from their hearts.

⁴ It was also in the same document that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God.^{(C) 5} Jeremiah came and found a cave dwelling, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense; then he sealed up the entrance.^{(D) 6} Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the way but could not find it. ⁷ When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared, “The place shall remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy.^{(E) 8} Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated.”^(F)

⁹ It was also made clear that, being possessed of wisdom, Solomon^[a] offered sacrifice for the dedication and completion of the temple.^{(G) 10} Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices, so also Solomon prayed, and the fire came down and consumed the whole burnt offerings. ¹¹ And Moses said, “They were consumed because the purification offering had not been eaten.”^{(H) 12} Likewise Solomon also kept the eight days.^(I)

¹³ The same things 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 the writings of David and letters of kings about votive offerings.^{(J) 14} In the same way Judas also collected all the books that had been lost on account of the war that had come upon us, and they are in our possession. ¹⁵ So if you have need of them, send people to get them for you.

¹⁶ Since, therefore, we are about to celebrate the purification, we write to you. You will do well if you celebrate these days.^{(K) 17} It is God who has saved all his people and has returned the inheritance to all and the kingship and the priesthood and the consecration,^{(L) 18} as he promised through the law. We have hope in God that he will soon have mercy on us and will gather us from everywhere under heaven into his holy place, for he has rescued us from great evils and has purified the place.^(M)