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2 Maccabees 7:36-38
New Catholic Bible
2 Maccabees 7:36-38
New Catholic Bible
36 My brothers, after enduring a brief period of suffering, have now drunk of the waters of everlasting life in accordance with his covenant, but you, convicted by the judgment of God, will receive a richly warranted punishment for your arrogance.
37 “I too, like my brothers, surrender my body and my life for the laws of our ancestors. I appeal to God not to delay in showing mercy to our nation and by trials and afflictions to cause you to confess that he alone is God. 38 Through me and my brothers may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty[a] that has justifiably fallen on our entire nation.”
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- 2 Maccabees 7:38 An end to the wrath of the Almighty: this was to be achieved by increasing the suffering of Israel to such an extent that God would be moved to intervene for them (see Deut 32:36; Jdg 2:18). The apocryphal Book of 4 Maccabees, on the other hand, attributes this end to the Maccabees atoning for Israel’s sins by their death: “All people, even the torturers [of the Maccabees], marveled at their courage and endurance, and [the Maccabees] became the cause of the downfall of tyranny over their nation. By their endurance they conquered the tyrant, and thus their native land was cleansed through them” (4 Mac 1:11; see also 17:20-22).
