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Polyglot Bible: 2 Macabees: 2 Macabees 14

Book of ActsGreek New TestamentPolyglot Bible

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This is a passage from 2 Maccabees, a deuterocanonical Jewish text (part of the Septuagint tradition), presented here in parallel English and Greek columns. The narrative covers a pivotal episode in the Maccabean revolt: the renegade former high priest Alcimus travels to the Seleucid king Demetrius to denounce Judas Maccabeus and the Hasideans as rebels, triggering the dispatch of the general Nicanor to destroy them. Distinctively, the story complicates the typical enemy-versus-hero structure by depicting Nicanor developing genuine personal affection for Judas — urging him to marry, live peacefully, and even potentially naming him as successor — before Alcimus's treachery forces the relationship to collapse. When Nicanor is ordered to arrest Judas and fails, he threatens to raze the Temple and erect one to Bacchus, a moment of sacrilege that the narrative frames as the supreme religious offense. The passage closes with the graphic martyrdom of Razis, an elder who chooses spectacular self-destruction — sword, leaping from walls, and finally casting out his own entrails while praying for resurrection — over capture by Nicanor's forces. This closing scene exemplifies 2 Maccabees' characteristic theological emphasis on bodily resurrection and the honor of dying for one's ancestral religion rather than submitting to Hellenistic domination.

Polyglot Bible: 2 Macabees: 2 Macabees 14

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