Random Verse from 2 Maccabees
558 verses across 15 chapters, in the Douay-Rheims. One of the seven books the Catholic Bible carries and the Protestant Bible does not.
It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
2 Maccabees 12:46DRC
Drawing from 558 verses
2 Maccabees is not a sequel. It covers part of the same period as 1 Maccabees in a completely different voice, and it says so up front: the author explains that he is condensing a longer work by someone else and admits the job was hard.
Where the first book is a chronicle, this one is a drama. It is interested in the people rather than the campaigns, and above all in those who refused to comply and paid for it. The account in chapter 7 of a mother watching her seven sons die rather than abandon their faith is one of the most harrowing passages in the Old Testament, and one of the earliest clear statements in scripture of belief in resurrection.
That theme runs through the book. Chapter 12 contains the passage about praying for the dead that later became central to Catholic teaching on purgatory, and it is usually the first place that discussion starts.
Fifteen chapters, in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles and not Protestant ones. Read it after 1 Maccabees if you want the events, or on its own if you want the argument, which is really about whether faithfulness makes sense when it costs everything.
Frequently asked questions
- Is 2 Maccabees in the Bible?
- It is in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. Protestant Bibles do not include it. The text here is the Douay-Rheims.
- What is 2 Maccabees 12:46 about?
- It describes offering prayer and sacrifice for people who have died, calling the thought a holy one. It is the passage most often cited in discussions of praying for the dead and of purgatory.
- Does 2 Maccabees teach resurrection?
- It contains some of the clearest statements of it in the Old Testament, particularly in chapter 7, where those facing death say plainly that they expect to be raised.