3 Maccabees

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3 Maccabees is an ancient Jewish text, preserved in the Septuagint and accepted in the Eastern Orthodox biblical canon, that recounts the persecution and miraculous deliverance of Jews under the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf ancient Jewish text
biblical book
deuterocanonical book
pseudepigraphal work
approximateDateOfComposition Hellenistic era
likely between 2nd and 1st century BCE
associatedRuler Ptolemaic king of Egypt
Ptolemy IV Philopator
audience Greek-speaking Jewish diaspora
Hellenistic Jews
canonicalStatus accepted in Eastern Orthodox biblical canon
non-canonical in Jewish Tanakh
non-canonical in Roman Catholic Bible
non-canonical in most Protestant Bibles
genre diaspora Jewish literature
historical narrative
martyrdom literature
historicalContext Hellenistic period
keyEvent miraculous thwarting of the elephants
planned massacre using intoxicated elephants
royal order to register and brand Jews
subsequent favor granted to Jews by the king
language Koine Greek
literaryPurpose affirmation of God’s sovereignty over foreign rulers
encouragement to persecuted Jewish communities
mainTheme Jewish identity in the diaspora
divine protection
faithfulness under oppression
miraculous deliverance
persecution of Jews
motif angelic or divine intervention
prayer and fasting
reversal of royal edicts
narrativeFocus attempted destruction of Jews in Egypt
deliverance of Jews from royal decree
partOf Septuagint
preservation preserved in Greek manuscripts of the Septuagint
relatedWork 1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
4 Maccabees
religiousTradition Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Judaism
scripturalCategory Old Testament apocrypha
scripturalUse read in Eastern Orthodox liturgical tradition
settingLocation Alexandria, Egypt
surface form: Alexandria

Egypt
titleRelation not directly about the Maccabean revolt
shares thematic links with 1 and 2 Maccabees

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Books of the Maccabees hasPart 3 Maccabees
Hellenistic Jews notableWork 3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees relatedWork 3 Maccabees