1 Maccabees 3:46-48
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
46 [a]Thus they assembled and went to Mizpah near Jerusalem, because formerly at Mizpah there was a place of prayer for Israel.(A) 47 That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their garments. 48 They unrolled the scroll of the law, to learn about the things for which the Gentiles consulted the images of their idols.[b]
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- 3:46 Mizpah…a place of prayer for Israel: a holy place of great antiquity eight miles north and slightly west of Jerusalem. It was here that Samuel began to judge the Israelites (1 Sm 7:5–11; 10:17).
- 3:48 To learn…idols: favorable omens for the coming battle. A contrast is intended between the idol worship of the pagans and the consultation of the word of God by the Jews; cf. 2 Mc 8:23.
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