2 Maccabees 1:9-11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
9 We are now reminding you to celebrate the feast of Booths in the month of Kislev.[a] 10 Dated in the one hundred and eighty-eighth year.[b]
Letter 2: 164 B.C. The people of Jerusalem and Judea, the senate, and Judas send greetings and good wishes to Aristobulus, teacher of King Ptolemy and member of the family of the anointed priests, and to the Jews in Egypt. 11 Since we have been saved by God from grave dangers, we give him great thanks as befits those who fought against the king;[c]
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- 1:9 Feast of Booths in the month of Kislev: really the feast of the Dedication of the Temple, Hanukkah (2 Mc 10:1–8), celebrated on the twenty-fifth of Kislev (Nov.–Dec.). Its solemnity resembles that of the actual feast of Booths (Lv 23:33–43), celebrated on the fifteenth of Tishri (Sept.–Oct.); cf. 2 Mc 1:18.
- 1:10 The one hundred and eighty-eighth year: 124 B.C. The date pertains to the preceding, not the following letter. Senate: the council of Jewish elders of Jerusalem; cf. 1 Mc 12:6. King Ptolemy: Ptolemy VI Philometor, ruler of Egypt from 180 to 145 B.C.; he is mentioned also in 1 Mc 1:18; 10:51–59.
- 1:11–12 The king: Antiochus IV of Syria, the bitter persecutor of the Jews, who, as leader of the Syrian army that invaded Persia, perished there in 164 B.C.
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