3 Maccabees
3 Maccabees has 7 chapters. Read 3 Maccabees in the Brenton Septuagint Translation, chapter by chapter, free and without an account.
3 Maccabees tells of a threat to the Jews of Egypt under Ptolemy Philopator. After his attempt to enter Jerusalem’s sanctuary is stopped, the king turns against Jewish communities in his kingdom. They are gathered for execution by elephants, but prayer and divine intervention bring deliverance. Celebration, royal protection, and the return home close the account.
3 Maccabees is received in Orthodox Bibles, following the Greek Septuagint, and printed in the Apocrypha of some Protestant Bibles. It is not in the Catholic or Protestant canons or the Jewish Tanakh. See it on the shelf.
3 Maccabees 1 follows Ptolemy Philopator from Raphia to his attempted entry into Jerusalem's sanctuary amid communal prayer.
3 Maccabees 2 tells how Simon's prayer protects the sanctuary before Ptolemy retaliates with discriminatory registration.
3 Maccabees 3 contrasts Jewish loyalty with malicious rumors and Ptolemy's decree ordering persecution throughout Egypt.
3 Maccabees 4 follows Jewish families transported to Alexandria's hippodrome as providence frustrates their registration.
3 Maccabees 5 recounts repeated delays to Ptolemy's elephant attack and the captives' united prayer at the hippodrome.
3 Maccabees 6 tells how Eleazar's prayer and heavenly intervention turn the elephants away and bring freedom and feasting.
3 Maccabees 7 records royal protection, a festival of deliverance, restored possessions, and the Jews' joyful return home.