2 Maccabees 2:4 (WEB)
It was in the writing that the prophet, being warned by God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should follow with him, when he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and saw God’s inheritance.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
2 Maccabees 2:4–8 (KJV)
4 It was also contained in the same writing, that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him, as he went forth into the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage of God. 5 And when Jeremy came thither, he found an hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door. 6 And some of those that followed him came to mark the way, but they could not find it. 7 Which when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them unto mercy. 8 Then shall the Lord shew them these things, and the glory of the Lord shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was shewed under Moses, and as when Solomon desired that the place might be honourably sanctified.
Key words
- ἄγνωστος ὁ τόποςagnōstos ho topos · Greek
- 'the place shall be unknown' (v. 7) — the hiding place of the Ark is sealed until God gathers his people.
- ἡ δόξα τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἡ νεφέληhē doxa tou kyriou kai hē nephelē · Greek
- 'the glory of the Lord and the cloud' (v. 8) — the sign by which the returned Ark will be recognised, as at the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34–35) and the temple (1 Kings 8:10–11).
Why it matters
This is the oldest account of what became of the lost Ark: the prophet Jeremiah, warned by God, hid the tent and the Ark in a cave on the mountain Moses climbed, and declared that the place would stay unknown until God gathers his people, when 'the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear.' Pitre calls it the pivot of the chapter (pp 50–51): first-century Jews expected the Ark's return, and they had a criterion for recognising it — the overshadowing cloud of glory. That is exactly the verb Gabriel uses of Mary (Luke 1:35).