World English Bible

2 Maccabees 5:18-20 World English Bible (WEB)

18. But had it not so been that they were already holden by many sins, this man, even as Heliodorus who was sent by Seleucus the king to view the treasury, would, so soon as he pressed forward, have been scourged and turned back from his daring deed.

19. Howbeit the Lord did not choose the nation for the place’s sake, but the place for the nation’s sake.

20. Wherefore also the place itself, having partaken in the calamities that befell the nation, did afterward share in its benefits; and the place which was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was, at the reconciliation of the great Sovereign, restored again with all glory.