2 Maccabees 2:26

26 Therefore for us who have taken upon us this painful labor of abridging, it was not easy but a matter of sweat and sleeplessness,

2 Maccabees 2:26 In-Context

24 For considering the infinite number and the difficulty which those find who desire to look into the narrations of the story because of the variety of the matter,

25 we have taken care that those who will read might have delight, and that those who are desirous to commit to memory might have ease, and that all into whose hands it comes might have profit.

26 Therefore for us who have taken upon us this painful labor of abridging, it was not easy but a matter of sweat and sleeplessness,

27 even as it is no ease unto him that prepareth a banquet and seeketh the benefit of others. Yet for the pleasuring of many we will undertake gladly these great pains,

28 leaving to the author the exact handling of every particular, and laboring to follow the rules of an abridgment.