Apocrypha
3 Maccabees
Egypt
7 chapters · read and listen
Reading note
An apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text — outside the canon of the Western churches, yet widely circulated among ancient Jews and Christians. Published here from a public-domain translation, edited for continuous reading.
Chapters
Dossier
Despite the title, it is not about the Maccabees: it tells how the Jews of Egypt escaped being crushed by drunken elephants in a hippodrome in Alexandria.
Where this text comes from
Greek, probably 1st century BC, of Alexandrian Jewish authorship. The title comes from thematic proximity to the other books of Maccabees, not from the content.
Why it is not in the Bible
Canonical in the Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Greek and Armenian. Outside the Catholic and Protestant canons.
What you will find
- The five hundred elephants prepared with wine and incense for a mass execution, and what happens when they are released.
- The king who forgets his own order twice, through what the text describes as divine intervention.
- The prayer of the priest Simon in the Temple, at the start of the book, when Ptolemy tries to enter the Holy of Holies.
Frequently asked questions
- Is 3 Maccabees about the Maccabee brothers?
- No. The events take place in Egypt under Ptolemy IV and have no connection with the Maccabean revolt narrated in 1 and 2 Maccabees.