2MA

2 Maccabees 7 - Summary

Summary

Read 2 Maccabees Chapter 7 Summary

Seven brothers and their mother are taken and ordered to eat swine's flesh. They are tortured one after another: tongue cut out, scalp torn off, body fried in a pan. Each answers in faith: the second says that 'the King of the world shall raise us up' to everlasting life, the third holds out his hands hoping to receive them again, the fourth tells the king he shall have 'no resurrection to life'. Urged to save her youngest, the mother bids him look at heaven and earth, which God made 'of things that were not', and accept death. He offers his life for his nation, and she dies last.

Original

Characters in This Chapter

Jeremiah
Jeremiah

Prophet remembered for hiding the tabernacle and the ark, who appears in Judas's dream praying for the people and giving him a golden sword

Nehemiah
Nehemiah

Leader who, in the opening letter, rekindles the hidden altar fire and founds a library of the sacred books

Judas Maccabeus
Judas Maccabeus

Hero of the book, who cleanses the Temple, prays for the fallen and defeats Nicanor after his dream of Jeremiah

Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Antiochus IV Epiphanes

King who plunders the Temple and persecutes the faithful, then dies of a plague after his flight from Persepolis

Moses
Moses

Prophet and Lawgiver

Places in This Chapter

Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Holy city at the centre of the story: plundered by Antiochus, freed by Judas, and the place where Nicanor's head is hung up

View on Map
The Temple
The Temple

Sanctuary defended against Heliodorus, profaned and dedicated to Jupiter, cleansed on the twenty-fifth of Casleu, then threatened by Nicanor

View on Map
Egypt
Egypt

Home of the Jews to whom the opening letters are written, and the land of Antiochus's campaigns

View on Map
Antioch (Syria)
Antioch (Syria)

Seleucid capital, near which Onias is murdered at Daphne, and to which Nicanor flees after his first defeat

View on Map
Persia
Persia

Land where the priests hid the altar fire at the exile, and from which Antiochus returns in disgrace before his death

View on Map
Mount Nebo
Mount Nebo

The mountain from which Moses saw the heritage of God, where Jeremiah is said to have hidden the tabernacle and the ark in a cave

View on Map

Need words for what you are living?

Describe it and receive a prayer written for you, with verses to hold on to.

Write a prayer

Position in Book

Letters to the Jews of EgyptChapters 1-2
Heliodorus and the Temple TreasuryChapters 3
Corrupt High Priests and the Sack of JerusalemChapters 4-5
Persecution and the MartyrsChapters 6-7

The temple is given to Jupiter and the law forbidden; Eleazar and the seven brothers with their mother die rather than eat swine's flesh, confessing the resurrection.

Judas's Rising and the Tyrant's EndChapters 8-9
The Temple Cleansed and the Wars under EupatorChapters 10-13
Nicanor, Razis and the Last VictoryChapters 14-15