Key Verse Spotlight
2 Maccabees 8:20 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" and in the land of Babylon, in the battle that was fought against the Gauls, how they came to the battle with eight thousand in all, with four thousand Macedonians, and how, the Macedonians being hard pressed, the six thousand destroyed the hundred and twenty thousand because of the help which they had from heaven, and took a great deal of plunder. "
2 Maccabees 8:20
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
18 “For they,” he said, “trust their weapons and daring deeds, but we trust in the almighty God, since he is able at a nod to cast down those who are coming against us, and even the whole world.”
19 Moreover, he recounted to them the help given from time to time in the days of their ancestors, both in the days of Sennacherib, when one hundred eighty-five thousand perished,
20 and in the land of Babylon, in the battle that was fought against the Gauls, how they came to the battle with eight thousand in all, with four thousand Macedonians, and how, the Macedonians being hard pressed, the six thousand destroyed the hundred and twenty thousand because of the help which they had from heaven, and took a great deal of plunder.
21 And when he had with these words filled them with courage and made them ready to die for the laws and their country, he divided his army into four parts.
22 He appointed his brothers, Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan, to be leaders of the divisions with him, giving each the command of one thousand five hundred men.
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2 Maccabees 8:1
"But Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, and those who were with him, making their way secretly into the villages, called together their kindred. Enlisting those who had continued in the Jews’ religion, they gathered together about six thousand."
2 Maccabees 8:2
"They called upon the Lord to look at the people who were oppressed by all, and to have compassion on the sanctuary that had been profaned by the ungodly men,"
2 Maccabees 8:3
"and to have pity on the city that was suffering ruin and ready to be leveled to the ground, and to listen to the blood that cried out to him,"
2 Maccabees 8:4
"and to remember the lawless destruction of the innocent infants, and concerning the blasphemies that had been committed against his name, and to show his hatred of wickedness."
2 Maccabees 8:5
"When Maccabaeus had trained his men for service, the heathen at once found him irresistible, for the wrath of the Lord was turned into mercy."
2 Maccabees 8:6
"Coming without warning, he set fire to cities and villages. And in winning back the most important positions, putting to flight no small number of the enemies,"
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