2 Maccabees 8:20-22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
20 and the time of the battle in Babylonia against the Galatians,[a] when only eight thousand Jews fought along with four thousand Macedonians; yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand, by the help they received from Heaven, destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand and took a great quantity of spoils. 21 (A)With these words he encouraged them and made them ready to die for their laws and their country.
Then Judas divided his army into four, 22 placing his brothers, Simon, Joseph,[b] and Jonathan, each over a division, assigning them fifteen hundred men apiece.(B)
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- 8:20 Galatians: a mercenary force, defeated by Jews and Macedonians in Babylon. Nothing else is known about this battle.
- 8:22 Joseph: called John in 1 Mc 2:2; 9:36, 38. This paragraph interrupts the story of Nicanor’s defeat, which is resumed in v. 34. The purpose of the author apparently is to group together the defeats suffered by the Syrians on various occasions. Battles against Timothy are recounted in 1 Mc 5:37–44 and 2 Mc 12:10–25; against Bacchides, in 1 Mc 7:8–20.
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