2 Macabees 12:42-46
Turning
to supplication, they prayed that the sinful
deed
might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned
the
soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they
had
seen with their own eyes what had happened
because
of the sin of those who had fallen. He then
took
up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting
to
two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to
Jerusalem
to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing
this
he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch
as
he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he
were
not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would
have
been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.
But
if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that
awaits
those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a
holy
and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for
the
dead that they might be freed from this sin.