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22 regaining possession of the temple renowned throughout the world and liberating the city and reestablishing the laws that were in danger of being abolished, as the Lord bestowed his mercy and favor on them. 23 All this, which has been set forth in detail by Jason of Cyrene in five volumes, we shall attempt to condense into a single book.[a]

24 Considering the flood of statistics and the difficulty likely to be encountered by those who begin to wade through the immense amount of material involved in these historical narratives,

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Maccabees 2:23 Cyrene possessed a flourishing Jewish colony that was, however, under the influence of the more important colony at Alexandria. Jason of Cyrene is not mentioned in any ancient sources, and no work of his is extant. The author of Second Maccabees may have had an actual source or he may have used the literary tradition of antiquity of resting one’s work on the authority of a purported source.