NT Allusions to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

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NT Allusions to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Unless otherwise indicated, the allusions are given in NA27.

* indicates my own additions

[UBS4] indicates the equated passages are taken from the UBS GNT4 listing

Sources:

Aland, Barbara, et al., eds. The Greek New Testament. 4th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft/United Bible Societies, 1994.

Aland, Barbara, et al., eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 27th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1993.

Charlesworth, James H., ed. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1983, 1985.

Metzger, Bruce M., ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

3 EZRA

1. 1.5: in accordance with the directions of King David of Israel and the magnificence of his son Solomon. Stand in order in the temple according to the groupings of the ancestral houses of you Levites, who minister before your kindred the people of Israel,

Mt 6.29: yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

2. [UBS4] 1.32: In all Judea they mourned for Josiah. The prophet Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and the principal men, with the women, have made lamentation for him to this day; it was ordained that this should always be done throughout the whole nation of Israel.

Mt 1.11: and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

3. 4.38: But truth endures and is strong forever, and lives and prevails forever and ever.

1Cor 13.13: And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

4 EZRA

1. 3.21-26: For the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him. Thus the disease became permanent; the law was in the hearts of the people along with its evil root; but what was good departed, and the evil remained. So the time passed and the years were completed, and you raised up for yourself a servant, named David. You commanded him to build a city for your name, and there to offer you oblations from what is yours. This was done for many years; but the inhabitants of the city transgressed, in everything doing just as Adam and all his descendants had done, for they also had the evil heart.

Rom 5.12: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned –

*1Cor 15.45: Thus it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

2. 4.8: perhaps you would have said to me, ‘I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into Hades, neither did I ever ascend into heaven.’

Jn 3.13: No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Rom 10.6: But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)

3. 4.35-37: Did not the souls of the righteous in their chambers ask about these matters, saying, ‘How long are we to remain here? And when will the harvest of our reward come?’ And the archangel Jeremiel answered and said, ‘When the number of those like yourselves is completed; for he has weighted the age in the balance, and measured the times by measure, and numbered the times by number; and he will not more or arouse them until that measure is fulfilled.’

Rom 11.25: So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

*Rev 6.9-11: When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.

4. 6.25: It shall be that whoever remains after all that I have foretold to you shall be saved and shall see my salvation and the end of the world.

Mt 10.22: and you will be hared by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Mk 13.13: and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

5. 7.6-14: Another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things; but the entrance to it is narrow and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left. There is only one path lying between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that only one person can walk on the path. If now the city is given to someone as an inheritance, how will the heir receive the inheritance unless by passing through the appointed danger?"
I said, "That is right, lord." He said to me, "So also is Israel's portion. For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what had been made was judged. And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, full of dangers and involved in great hardships. But the entrances of the greater world are broad and safe, and yield the fruit of immortality. Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and futile experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them.

Mt 7.13 (*-14): Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

6. 7.11: For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, what had been made was judged.

Rom 8.19: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.

7. 7.14: Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and futile experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them.

Mt 5.11: Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

8. 7.36: The pit of torment shall appear, and opposite it shall be the place of rest; and the furnace of hell shall be disclosed, and opposite it the paradise of delight.

Lk 16.26: Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.

*Lk 16.23: In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.

9. 7.72: For this reason, therefore, those who live on earth shall be tormented, because though they had understanding, they committed iniquity; and though they received the commandments, they did not keep them; and though they obtained the law, they dealt unfaithfully with what they received.

Rom 7.23: but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

10. 7.75: I answered and said, "If I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, show this also to your servant: whether after death, as soon as everyone of us yields up the soul, we shall be kept in rest until those times come when you will renew the creation, or whether we shall be tormented at once?"

Rom 8.19: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.

11. 7.77: For you have a treasure of works stored up with the Most High, but it will not be shown to you until the last times.

Mt 6.20: but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

12. 7.113: But the day of judgment will be the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal age to come, in which corruption has passed away,

Mt 13.39: and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

13. 7.118-119: O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who are your descendants. For what good is it to us, if an immortal time has been promised to us, but we have done deeds that bring death?

Rom 5.16: And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification.

14. 8.3: Many have been created, but only a few shall be saved.

Mt 22.14: For many are called, but few are chosen.

15. 8.41: For just as the farmer sows many seeds in the ground and plants a multitude of seedlings, and yet not all that have been sown will come up in due season, and not all that were planted will take root; so also those who have been sown in the world will not all be saved.

Mt 13.3 (*-8; par Mk 4.3-8)): And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Mk 4.14: The sower sows the word.

Mt 22.14: For many are called, but few are chosen.

16. 8.60: but those who were created have themselves defiled the name of him who made them, and have been ungrateful to him who prepared life for them now.

Rom 1.21: for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.

17. 9.31-37: For I sow my law in you, and it shall bring forth fruit in you, and you shall be glorified through it forever.' But though our ancestors received the law, they did not keep it and did not observe the statutes; yet the fruit of the law did not perish--for it could not, because it was yours. Yet those who received it perished, because they did not keep what had been sown in them. Now this is the general rule that, when the ground has received seed, or the sea a ship, or any dish food or drink, and when it comes about that what was sown or what was launched or what was put in is destroyed,they are destroyed, but the things that held them remain; yet with us it has not been so. For we who have received the law and sinned will perish, as well as our hearts that received it; the law, however, does not perish but survives in its glory.

Mk 4.14: The sower sows the word.

18. 9.37: the law, however, does not perish but survives in its glory.

Rom 7.12: So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

19. 10.9: Now ask the earth, and she will tell you that it is she who ought to mourn over so many who have come into being upon her.

Rom 8.22: We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;

20. 12.42: For of all the prophets you alone are left to us, like a cluster of grapes from the vintage, and like a lamp in a dark place, and like a haven for a ship saved from a storm.

2Pt 1.19: So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

21. 13.30-32: And bewilderment of mind shall come over those who inhabit the earth. They shall plan to make war against one another, city against city, place against place, people against people, and kingdom against kingdom. When these things take place and the signs occur that I showed you before, then my Son will be revealed, whom you saw as a man coming up from the sea.

Mk 13.8: For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

1 MACCABEES

1. 1.54: Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah,

Mt 24.15: "So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),

[UBS4] Mk 13.14: But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains

2. 2.21: Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances.

Mt 16.22: And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you."

3. 2.28: Then he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the town.

Mt 24.16 (*-18): then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat.

4. 2.52: Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness?

Heb 11.17: By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son,

5. 2.60: Daniel, because of his innocence, was delivered from the mouth of the lions.

2Tim 4.17: But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

6. 3.6: Lawbreakers shrank back for fear of him; all the evildoers were confounded; and deliverance prospered by his hand.

Lk 13.27: But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!”

7. [UBS4] 3.45, 51: Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness; not one of her children went in or out. The sanctuary was trampled down, and aliens held the citadel; it was a lodging place for the Gentiles. Joy was taken from Jacob; the flute and the harp ceased to play. .... Your sanctuary is trampled down and profaned, and your priests mourn in humiliation.

Lk 21.24: they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

8. 3.49: They also brought the vestments of the priesthood and the first fruits and the tithes, and they stirred up the nazirites who had completed their days;

Ac 21.26: Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.

9. 3.60: But as his will in heaven may be, so shall he do.

Mt 6.10: Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

10. 4.59: Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.

Jn 10.22: At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,

11. 5.15: they said that the people of Ptolemais and Tyre and Sidon, and all Galilee of the Gentiles, had gathered together against them "to annihilate us."

Mt 4.15: "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

12. [UBS4] 6.7: that they had torn down the abomination that he had erected on the altar in Jerusalem; and that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls as before, and also Beth-zur, his town.

Mt 24.15: So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand)

13. 7.41: When the messengers from the king spoke blasphemy, your angel went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians.

Ac 12.23: And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

14. 8.16: They trust one man each year to rule over them and to control all their land; they all heed the one man, and there is no envy or jealousy among them.

Jas 4.2: You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.

15. 9.39: They looked out and saw a tumultuous procession with a great amount of baggage; and the bridegroom came out with his friends and his brothers to meet them with tambourines and musicians and many weapons.

Jn 3.29: He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.

16. 10.25: So he sent a message to them in the following words: King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings.

Ac 10.22: They answered, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say."

17. 10.29 [-30]: "I now free you and exempt all the Jews from payment of tribute and salt tax and crown levies, and instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees that I should receive, I release them from this day and henceforth. I will not collect them from the land of Judah or from the three districts added to it from Samaria and Galilee, from this day and for all time.

Lk 15.12: The younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them.

18. 11.30, 33, etc.: “...the nation of the Jews....”

Ac 10.22: “...the Jewish nation....”

19. 12.6: The high priest Jonathan, the senate of the nation, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people to their brothers the Spartans, greetings.

Ac 5.21: When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

20. 12.9: Therefore, though we have no need of these things, since we have as encouragement the holy books that are in our hands,

Rom 15.4: For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

21. 12.17: We have commanded them to go also to you and greet you and deliver to you this letter from us concerning the renewal of our family ties.

Mt 9.38: therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

22. 13.2: and he saw that the people were trembling with fear. So he went up to Jerusalem, and gathering the people together

Heb 12.21: Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear."

23. 14.41: In the one hundred seventieth year the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel,

Heb 5.6: as he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."

24. 15.21: Therefore if any scoundrels have fled to you from their country, hand them over to the high priest Simon, so that he may punish them according to their law.

Ac 9.2: and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

2 MACCABEES

1. 1.4: May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, and may he bring peace.

Ac 16.14: A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.

2. 1.10: The people of Jerusalem and of Judea and the senate and Judas, To Aristobulus, who is of the family of the anointed priests, teacher of King Ptolemy, and to the Jews in Egypt, Greetings and good health.

3. 1.24, etc.: The prayer was to this effect: O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, you are awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, you alone are king and are kind

1Pt 4.19: Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

4. 1.27: Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look on those who are rejected and despised, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God.

Jas 1.1: James, a servant F1 of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

5. 2.4: It was also in the same document that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God.

Rom 11.4: But what is the divine reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."

6. 2.4-8: It was also in the same document that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. Jeremiah came and found a cave-dwelling, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense; then he sealed up the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the way, but could not find it. When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: "The place shall remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated."

Rev 2.17: Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Rev 11.19: Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

7. 2.7: When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: "The place shall remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy.

2Th 2.1: As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters,

8. 3.11: and also some money of Hyrcanus son of Tobias, a man of very prominent position, and that it totaled in all four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold. To such an extent the impious Simon had misrepresented the facts.

1Tim 2.2: for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.

9. 3.24: But when he arrived at the treasury with his bodyguard, then and there the Sovereign of spirits and of all authority caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him were astounded by the power of God, and became faint with terror.

Heb 12.9: Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

10. 3.24-40: But when he arrived at the treasury with his bodyguard, then and there the Sovereign of spirits and of all authority caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him were astounded by the power of God, and became faint with terror. For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse, with a rider of frightening mien; it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck at him with its front hoofs. Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold. Two young men also appeared to him, remarkably strong, gloriously beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on either side of him and flogged him continuously, inflicting many blows on him. When he suddenly fell to the ground and deep darkness came over him, his men took him up, put him on a stretcher, and carried him away--this man who had just entered the aforesaid treasury with a great retinue and all his bodyguard but was now unable to help himself. They recognized clearly the sovereign power of God.

While he lay prostrate, speechless because of the divine intervention and deprived of any hope of recovery, they praised the Lord who had acted marvelously for his own place. And the temple, which a little while before was full of fear and disturbance, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the Almighty Lord had appeared.
Some of Heliodorus's friends quickly begged Onias to call upon the Most High to grant life to one who was lying quite at his last breath. So the high priest, fearing that the king might get the notion that some foul play had been perpetrated by the Jews with regard to Heliodorus, offered sacrifice for the man's recovery. While the high priest was making an atonement, the same young men appeared again to Heliodorus dressed in the same clothing, and they stood and said, "Be very grateful to the high priest Onias, since for his sake the Lord has granted you your life. And see that you, who have been flogged by heaven, report to all people the majestic power of God." Having said this they vanished.

Then Heliodorus offered sacrifice to the Lord and made very great vows to the Savior of his life, and having bidden Onias farewell, he marched off with his forces to the king. He bore testimony to all concerning the deeds of the supreme God, which he had seen with his own eyes. When the king asked Heliodorus what sort of person would be suitable to send on another mission to Jerusalem, he replied, "If you have any enemy or plotter against your government, send him there, for you will get him back thoroughly flogged, if he survives at all; for there is certainly some power of God about the place. For he who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that place himself and brings it aid, and he strikes and destroys those who come to do it injury." This was the outcome of the episode of Heliodorus and the protection of the treasury.

Ac 9.1-29: Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." All who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?" Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him.

11. 3.25: For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse, with a rider of frightening mien; it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck at him with its front hoofs. Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold.

Rev 19.11: Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

12. 3.26: Two young men also appeared to him, remarkably strong, gloriously beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on either side of him and flogged him continuously, inflicting many blows on him.

Lk 24.4: While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.

Ac 1.10: While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.

13. 3.30: they praised the Lord who had acted marvelously for his own place. And the temple, which a little while before was full of fear and disturbance, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the Almighty Lord had appeared.

Tt 2.11: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,

14. 3.34: And see that you, who have been flogged by heaven, report to all people the majestic power of God." Having said this they vanished.

Lk 24.31: Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

15. 4.1: The previously mentioned Simon, who had informed about the money against his own country, slandered Onias, saying that it was he who had incited Heliodorus and had been the real cause of the misfortune.

Heb 11.10: For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

16. 4.6: For he saw that without the king's attention public affairs could not again reach a peaceful settlement, and that Simon would not stop his folly.

Ac 24.2: When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: "Your Excellency, because of you we have long enjoyed peace, and reforms have been made for this people because of your foresight.

17. 4.32: But Menelaus, thinking he had obtained a suitable opportunity, stole some of the gold vessels of the temple and gave them to Andronicus; other vessels, as it happened, he had sold to Tyre and the neighboring cities.

Ac 5.2: with his wife's knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles' feet.

18. 6.4: For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the Gentiles, who dallied with prostitutes and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and besides brought in things for sacrifice that were unfit.

Rom 1.28: And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done.

19. 6.18-7.42: Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine's flesh. But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh, as all ought to go who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life. Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing, proper for him to use, and to pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal that had been commanded by the king, so that by doing this he might be saved from death, and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them. But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs that he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God-given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades. "Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life," he said, "for many of the young might suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year had gone over to an alien religion, and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they would be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. Even if for the present I would avoid the punishment of mortals, yet whether I live or die I will not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by bravely giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws." When he had said this, he went at once to the rack. Those who a little before had acted toward him with goodwill now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness. When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: "It is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him." So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.

It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and thongs, to partake of unlawful swine's flesh. One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, "What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors." The king fell into a rage, and gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated. These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, "The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song that bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, 'And he will have compassion on his servants.' " After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, "Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?" He replied in the language of his ancestors and said to them, "No." Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done. And when he was at his last breath, he said, "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws." After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, and said nobly, "I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again." As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man's spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing. After he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. When he was near death, he said, "One cannot but choose to die at the hands of mortals and to cherish the hope God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!" Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him. But he looked at the king, and said, "Because you have authority among mortals, though you also are mortal, you do what you please. But do not think that God has forsaken our people. Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you and your descendants!" After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said, "Do not deceive yourself in vain. For we are suffering these things on our own account, because of our sins against our own God. Therefore astounding things have happened. But do not think that you will go unpunished for having tried to fight against God!" The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors. Filled with a noble spirit, she reinforced her woman's reasoning with a man's courage, and said to them, “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws." Antiochus felt that he was being treated with contempt, and he was suspicious of her reproachful tone. The youngest brother being still alive, Antiochus not only appealed to him in words, but promised with oaths that he would make him rich and enviable if he would turn from the ways of his ancestors, and that he would take him for his Friend and entrust him with public affairs. Since the young man would not listen to him at all, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the youth to save himself. After much urging on his part, she undertook to persuade her son. But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native language as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: "My son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you. I beg you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. And in the same way the human race came into being. Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God's mercy I may get you back again along with your brothers." While she was still speaking, the young man said, "What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king's command, but I obey the command of the law that was given to our ancestors through Moses. But you, who have contrived all sorts of evil against the Hebrews, will certainly not escape the hands of God. For we are suffering because of our own sins. And if our living Lord is angry for a little while, to rebuke and discipline us, he will again be reconciled with his own servants. But you, unholy wretch, you most defiled of all mortals, do not be elated in vain and puffed up by uncertain hopes, when you raise your hand against the children of heaven. You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God. For our brothers after enduring a brief suffering have drunk of ever-flowing life, under God's covenant; but you, by the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your arrogance. I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our ancestors, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by trials and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God, and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation." The king fell into a rage, and handled him worse than the others, being exasperated at his scorn. So he died in his integrity, putting his whole trust in the Lord. Last of all, the mother died, after her sons. Let this be enough, then, about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.

Heb 11.35: Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.

20. 6.23: But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs that he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God-given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades.

Rom 9.4: They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;

21. 7.19: But do not think that you will go unpunished for having tried to fight against God!

Ac 5.39: but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!" They were convinced by him,

22. 8.17: keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage that the Gentiles had committed against the holy place, and the torture of the derided city, and besides, the overthrow of their ancestral way of life.

Mt 24.15: "So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),

23. 9.9: And so the ungodly man's body swarmed with worms, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of the stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay.

Ac 12.23: And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

24. 10.3: They purified the sanctuary, and made another altar of sacrifice; then, striking fire out of flint, they offered sacrifices, after a lapse of two years, and they offered incense and lighted lamps and set out the bread of the Presence.

Mt 12.4: He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests.

25. 10.7: Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place.

Rev 7.9: After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

*Jn 12.13: So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!"

26. 11.8: And there, while they were still near Jerusalem, a horseman appeared at their head, clothed in white and brandishing weapons of gold.

Ac 10.30: Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this very hour, at three o'clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me.

Rev 19.11: Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

27. 12.15: But Judas and his men, calling upon the great Sovereign of the world, who without battering rams or engines of war overthrew Jericho in the days of Joshua, rushed furiously upon the walls.

1Tim 6.15: which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

28. 12.43-45: He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin.

1Cor 15.29: Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

29. 13.4: But the King of kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel; and when Lysias informed him that this man was to blame for all the trouble, he ordered them to take him to Beroea and to put him to death by the method that is customary in that place.

1Tim 6.15: which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Rev 17.14: they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

30. 13.14: So, committing the decision to the Creator of the world and exhorting his troops to fight bravely to the death for the laws, temple, city, country, and commonwealth, he pitched his camp near Modein.

Heb 12.4: In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Rev 2.10: Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

3 MACCABEES

1. 2.3: For you, the creator of all things and the governor of all, are a just Ruler, and you judge those who have done anything in insolence and arrogance.

Eph 3.9: and to make everyone see F15 what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in F16 God who created all things;

Rev 4.11: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

2. [UBS4] 2.5: You consumed with fire and sulfur the people of Sodom who acted arrogantly, who were notorious for their vices; and you made them an example to those who should come afterward.

Rev 14.10: they will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Rev 20.10: And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Rev 21.8: But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

3. 2.13: see now, O holy King, that because of our many and great sins we are crushed with suffering, subjected to our enemies, and overtaken by helplessness.

2Pt 2.7: and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless

4. 2.29: those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status."

Gal 6.17: From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.

5. 4.16: The king was greatly and continually filled with joy, organizing feasts in honor of all his idols, with a mind alienated from truth and with a profane mouth, praising speechless things that are not able even to communicate or to come to one's help, and uttering improper words against the supreme God.

Rom 1.28: And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done.

1Cor 12.2: You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.

6. 4.17: But after the previously mentioned interval of time the scribes declared to the king that they were no longer able to take the census of the Jews because of their immense number

Ac 5.7: After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

7. 5.35: Then the Jews, on hearing what the king had said, praised the manifest Lord God, King of kings, since this also was his aid that they had received.

1Tim 6.15: which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Rev 17.14: they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

[UBS4] Rev 19.16: On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

8. 6.9: And now, you who hate insolence, all-merciful and protector of all, reveal yourself quickly to those of the nation of Israel--who are being outrageously treated by the abominable and lawless Gentiles.

Tt 2.11: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all

4 MACCABEES

1. 1.11: All people, even their torturers, marveled at their courage and endurance, and they became the cause of the downfall of tyranny over their nation. By their endurance they conquered the tyrant, and thus their native land was purified through them.

Jas 1.3: because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance

2. 1.26: In the soul it is boastfulness, covetousness, thirst for honor, rivalry, and malice;

Rom 1.29-31: They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

3. 2.5-6: Thus the law says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or anything that is your neighbor's." In fact, since the law has told us not to covet, I could prove to you all the more that reason is able to control desires. Just so it is with the emotions that hinder one from justice.

Rom 7.7: What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."

4. 2.6: In fact, since the law has told us not to covet, I could prove to you all the more that reason is able to control desires. Just so it is with the emotions that hinder one from justice.

Rom 13.9: The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

5. 2.15: It is evident that reason rules even the more violent emotions: lust for power, vainglory, boasting, arrogance, and malice.

6. 3.13-19: Eluding the sentinels at the gates, they went searching throughout the enemy camp and found the spring, and from it boldly brought the king a drink. But David, though he was burning with thirst, considered it an altogether fearful danger to his soul to drink what was regarded as equivalent to blood. Therefore, opposing reason to desire, he poured out the drink as an offering to God. For the temperate mind can conquer the drives of the emotions and quench the flames of frenzied desires; it can overthrow bodily agonies even when they are extreme, and by nobility of reason spurn all domination by the emotions.

The present occasion now invites us to a narrative demonstration of temperate reason.