From Cyrus to Titus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodian Monumentality, and the Roman Matrix
Comprehensive historical and archaeological consensus on the political, religious, and social landscape between the return from Babylonian Exile under Cyrus (538 BC) and the Roman destruction of the Second Temple (70 AD).
Interactive 3D Architectural Model • Luke 2, John 2 & Acts 3
Reconstruction of the expanded Second Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem during the life and ministry of Jesus and the early Church—featuring the towering white-stone and gold Sanctuary facade, the Court of the Women, Court of the Gentiles, Solomon's Portico , the Royal Stoa, and the Antonia Fortress.
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 5 (27 verses)
Now about this time Antiochus made his second inroad into Egypt . And it so befell that throughout all the city, for the space of almost forty days, there appeared in the midst of the sky horsemen in swift motion, wearing robes inwrought with gold and carrying spears, equipped i... Mentions: Ammonites , Judas , Egypt , Antioch 1 , Jerusalem .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 7 (42 verses)
And it came to pass that seven brethren also with their mother were at the king’s command taken and shamefully handled with scourges and cords, to compel them to taste of the abominable swine’s flesh. But one of them made himself the spokesman and said, What would you ask and lea... Mentions: Moses .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 8 (36 verses)
But Judas , who is also called Maccabaeus, and they that were with him, making their way privily into the villages, called to them their kinsfolk; and taking to them such as had continued in the Jews’ religion, gathered together as many as six thousand. And they called upon the L... Mentions: Judas , Simon , Joseph , Jonathan , Phoenicia , Babylon , Jerusalem , Antioch 1 .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 4 (50 verses)
But the aforesaid Simon , he who had given information of the money, and had betrayed his country, slandered Onias, saying that it was he who had incited Heliodorus, and made himself the author of these evils. And him that was the benefactor of the city, and the guardian of his ... Mentions: Simon , Ammonites , Jacob/Israel , Phoenicia , Jerusalem , Antioch 1 , Tyre , Egypt .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 3 (40 verses)
WHEN the holy city was inhabited with all peace, and the laws were kept very well, because of the godliness of Onias the high priest , and his hatred of wickedness, it came to pass that even the kings themselves did honor the place, and glorify the temple with the noblest presents... Mentions: Simon , Benjamin , Asia , Phoenicia , Jerusalem .
Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical • 15 Chapters
The Second Book of the Maccabees ( Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical , 15 chapters). Key figures: Abram/Abraham , Isaac , Jacob/Israel , Judas , Jonathan , Moses . Key places: Jerusalem , Egypt , Persia , Cyrene , Asia , Phoenicia . Opens with: "THE brethren, the Jews that are in Jerusalem and they that are in the country of Judaea, send greeting to the brethren, the Jews that are th..."
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 2 (32 verses)
It is also found in the records, that Jeremiah the prophet commanded them that were carried away to take of the fire, as has been signified above: and how that the prophet charged them that were carried away, having given them the law, that they should not forget the statutes of ... Mentions: Moses , Solomon , David , Judas , Cyrene .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 9 (29 verses)
Now about that time it befell that Antiochus had returned in disorder from the region of Persia . For he had entered into the city called Persepolis, and he assayed to rob a temple and to hold down the city. Whereupon there was an onset of the multitudes, and Antiochus and his ... Mentions: Jacob/Israel , Persia , Ecbatana , Jerusalem , Athens , Egypt .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 11 (38 verses)
Now after a very little time Lysias, the king’s guardian and kinsman and chancellor, being sore displeased for the things that had come to pass, collected about fourscore thousand footmen and all his horsemen and came against the Jews, thinking to make the city a place for Greek... Mentions: Jacob/Israel , Jerusalem , Antioch 1 .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 1 (36 verses)
THE brethren, the Jews that are in Jerusalem and they that are in the country of Judaea, send greeting to the brethren, the Jews that are throughout Egypt , and wish them good peace: and may God do good to you, and remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob , his faith... Mentions: Abram/Abraham , Isaac , Jacob/Israel , Judas , Jonathan , Jerusalem , Egypt , Persia .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 6 (31 verses)
And not long after this the king sent forth an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers, and not to live after the laws of God; and also to pollute the sanctuary in Jerusalem , and to call it by the name of Jupiter Olympius, and to call the ... Mentions: Eleazar , Athens , Jerusalem .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 13 (26 verses)
In the hundred forty and ninth year tidings were brought to Judas and his company that Antiochus Eupator was coming with great multitudes against Judaea, and with him Lysias his guardian and chancellor, each having a Greek force, a hundred and ten thousand footmen, and five tho... Mentions: Judas , Antioch 1 , Ptolemais .
The Essene Community, 1QS, 1QM, 4QMMT, and Messianic Matrix of the New Testament
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Khirbet Qumran (1947–1956) revolutionized understanding of the Hebrew Bible text, sectarian Jewish theology, messianism, and the historical matrix out of which Christianity emerged.
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 10 (38 verses)
And Maccabaeus and they that were with him, the Lord leading them on, recovered the temple and the city; and they pulled down the altars that had been built in the marketplace by the aliens, and also the walls of sacred inclosures. And having cleansed the sanctuary they made ano... Mentions: Simon , Joseph , Jacob/Israel , Phoenicia , Cyprus , Jerusalem , Asia .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 14 (46 verses)
Now after a space of three years tidings were brought to Judas and his company that Demetrius the son of Seleucus, having sailed into the haven of Tripolis with a mighty host and a fleet, had gotten possession of the country, having made away with Antiochus and Lysias his guardi... Mentions: Judas , Simon , Mattathias , Jerusalem , Antioch 1 .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 12 (45 verses)
So when these covenants had been made, Lysias departed to the king, and the Jews went about their husbandry. But certain of the governors of districts, Timotheus and Apollonius the son of Gennaeus, and Hieronymus also and Demophon, and beside them Nicanor the governor of Cyprus ... Mentions: Judas , Joshua , Cyprus , Joppa , Jerusalem , Jericho , Ephron 1 .
The Second Book of the Maccabees • Chapter 15 (39 verses)
But Nicanor, hearing that Judas and his company were in the region of Samaria , resolved to set upon them with all security on the day of rest. And when the Jews that were compelled to follow him said, O destroy not so savagely and barbarously, but give due glory to the day which ... Mentions: Judas , Hezekiah , Samaria , Jerusalem .
Wiki Article • Prophets & Wisdom
Preserved in the World English Bible (WEB), King James Version (KJV), and Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV), the eighteen Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha books bridge the intertestamental period between the return from Babylon and the New Testament era.
Interactive 3D Manuscript & Jar Reconstruction • Isaiah 40 & Psalms
Second Temple period biblical manuscripts written on parchment and papyrus and sealed inside cylindrical terracotta storage jars in the eleven caves above Khirbet Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea—including the complete Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ).
Interactive 3D Assyrian Monument • 2 Kings 9–10
Four-sided black limestone monument erected at Nimrud (biblical Calah ) in 825 BC by King Shalmaneser III of Assyria . Its second register preserves the earliest surviving visual depiction of a biblical figure: King Jehu of Israel ('Jehu, son of Omri') bowing to present tribute in 841 BC.
Hebrews • Chapter 9 (28 verses)
Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which... Mentions: Aaron , Yeshua the Messiah , Moses .