2 Maccabees 8:8-11
New Catholic Bible
First Victory over Nicanor.[a] 8 When Philip[b] noted that Judas was making steady progress little by little and that his successful excursions were becoming ever more frequent, he wrote to Ptolemy, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, asking for his help in defending the royal interests. 9 Ptolemy immediately appointed Nicanor, the son of Patroclus, one of the king’s Chief Friends, and dispatched him in command of at least twenty thousand troops from various nations to exterminate the entire Jewish race. As his associate he appointed Gorgias, a general of considerable military experience in the skills of war. 10 Nicanor’s intention was to raise the two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans[c] by selling into slavery the Jews who were taken prisoner. 11 Therefore, he immediately notified the coastal cities that he was prepared to sell them Jewish slaves at the rate of ninety slaves for a talent. However, he did not reckon with the judgment from the Almighty that was about to overtake him.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Maccabees 8:8 See 1 Mac 3:38—4:24 for a parallel account of the campaign of Nicanor and Gorgias, with certain differences.
- 2 Maccabees 8:8 Philip: the one who had been left by Antiochus at Jerusalem as superintendent (see 2 Mac 5:22) with the powers of a local governor (see 2 Mac 6:11); Ptolemy was already remembered as the protector of Menelaus in the trial held at Tyre in the presence of Antiochus (2 Mac 4:45-46).
- 2 Maccabees 8:10 Two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans: as a result of the defeat of Antiochus III at Magnesia in 189 B.C., the Seleucids were obligated to pay 15,000 talents in successive payments. In the epoch in which the narrated events took place, the Seleucids were, according to Livius (History 42:6), late in their payments.
