; viii. 15 ; xi. 4 ; xiii. 24 ; xiv. 15, 18 ; xv. 26 ; xvii. 5).
4. Canonicity and Importance of the Book. Among the Jews this book is hardly known, and though some of the Fathers were acquainted with it, and Gregory of Nazianzum, Augustine, Jerome, etc., quoted with respect its description of the Macca bean martyrs, yet it was never regarded as canoni cal or sacred. Still the book is of great importance, inasmuch as it illustrates the history, doctrines, and moral philosophy of the Jewish people prior to the advent of Christ. It shows that the Jews believed that human reason, in its natural state, has no power to subdue the passions of the heart, and that it is only able to do it when sanctified by the religion of the Bible (v. 21, 23 ; vi. 17 ; X. 18) ; that the souls of all men continue to live after the death of the body ; that all will rise, both righteous and wicked, to receive their judgment for the deeds done in the body (v. 35 ; ix. 8 ; xii. 13, 14 ; xvi. 22 ; xvii. 17, 18) ; that this is taught in the Pentateuch (xvii. 18 with Deut. xxxiii. 3) ; and that the death of the righteous is a vicarious atonement (vi. 29). Allu sion seems also to be made in the N. T. to some passages of this book : comp. vii. 18 with Luke xx. 37 ; Matt. xxii. 32 ; Mark xis. 26 ; Rom. vi.
to ; xiv. 8 ; Gal. xi. 19 : 4 Maccab. xii. I I with Acts xvii. 26 ; 4 Maccab. xiii. 14 with Luke xvi. 22, 23 ; 4 Maccab. xvi. 22 with Luke xx. 37.
5. Versions and Exegetical Helps.-The book was translated into Syriac, the MS. of which is in the Ambrosian Library of Milan ; into Latin, but loosely, by Erasmus ; and again, greatly improved, by Combefis, Bib/it'll:am Gracorum patrum aucto rium novissimum, Pars i., Paris 1672. This ver sion is in the edition of Josephus by Havercamp, Oberthiir, and Dindorf. Both a Latin and French version are given by Calmet, Commentaire literal in Scripturam V. et N. T., iii. p. 702, ff. ; a very loose English version was first published by L'Es trange in his Translation of 7osephus, London 1702 ; and an improved translation is given by Cotton, The Five Books of Maccabees, Oxford 1832. Of exegetical helps are to be mentioned Reutlinger, These d'exegese sur le iv. livre des Mac cabees, Strasburg 1826 ; Gfrorer, Philo u. d. A lex. Theosophie, ii. 175, ff. ; DHhne, Philos., ii. soo, ff. ; Ewald, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iv. 554, ff. ; the very elaborate and masterly commentary of Grimm, Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handb. z. d. Apar. d. A. T., part iv., Leipzig 1857, p. 285, ff. ; Keil, in d. A. T., 1859, p. 69 b, ff.-C. D. G.