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Book of Maccabees 1 & 2

1 Maccabees

Chapter 1

1: After Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king. (He had previously become king of Greece.)
2: He fought many battles, conquered strongholds, and put to death the kings of the earth.
3: He advanced to the ends of the earth, and plundered many nations. When the earth became quiet before him, he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up.
4: He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they became tributary to him.
5: After this he fell sick and perceived that he was dying.
6: So he summoned his most honored officers, who had been brought up with him from youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive.
7: And after Alexander had reigned twelve years, he died.
8: Then his officers began to rule, each in his own place.
9: They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their sons after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth.
10: From them came forth a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king; he had been a hostage in Rome. He began to reign in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.
11: In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying, “Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us.”
12: This proposal pleased them,
13: and some of the people eagerly went to the king. He authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles.
14: So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom,
15: and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil.
16: When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he determined to become king of the land of Egypt, that he might reign over both kingdoms.
17: So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants and cavalry and with a large fleet.
18: He engaged Ptolemy king of Egypt in battle, and Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many were wounded and fell.
19: And they captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and he plundered the land of Egypt.
20: After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred and forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force.
21: He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils.
22: He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off.
23: He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found.
24: Taking them all, he departed to his own land. He committed deeds of murder, and spoke with great arrogance.
25: Israel mourned deeply in every community,
26: rulers and elders groaned, maidens and young men became faint, the beauty of women faded.
27: Every bridegroom took up the lament; she who sat in the bridal chamber was mourning.
28: Even the land shook for its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame.
29: Two years later the king sent to the cities of Judah a chief collector of tribute, and he came to Jerusalem with a large force.
30: Deceitfully he spoke peaceable words to them, and they believed him; but he suddenly fell upon the city, dealt it a severe blow, and destroyed many people of Israel.
31: He plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls.
32: And they took captive the women and children, and seized the cattle.
33: Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.
34: And they stationed there a sinful people, lawless men. These strengthened their position;
35: they stored up arms and food, and collecting the spoils of Jerusalem they stored them there, and became a great snare.
36: It became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary of Israel continually.
37: On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood; they even defiled the sanctuary.
38: Because of them the residents of Jerusalem fled; she became a dwelling of strangers; she became strange to her offspring, and her children forsook her.
39: Her sanctuary became desolate as a desert; her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into a reproach, her honor into contempt.
40: Her dishonor now grew as great as her glory; her exaltation was turned into mourning.
41: Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,
42: and that each should give up his customs.
43: All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.
44: And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land,
45: to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts,
46: to defile the sanctuary and the priests,
47: to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals,
48: and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane,
49: so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances.
50: “And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.”
51: In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. And he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city.
52: Many of the people, every one who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land;
53: they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had.
54: Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah,
55: and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets.
56: The books of the law which they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire.
57: Where the book of the covenant was found in the possession of any one, or if any one adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death.
58: They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities.
59: And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar which was upon the altar of burnt offering.
60: According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised,
61: and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks.
62: But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food.
63: They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die.
64: And very great wrath came upon Israel.

Chapter 2

1: In those days Mattathias the son of John, son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, moved from Jerusalem and settled in Modein.
2: He had five sons, John surnamed Gaddi,
3: Simon called Thassi,
4: Judas called Maccabeus,
5: Eleazar called Avaran, and Jonathan called Apphus.
6: He saw the blasphemies being committed in Judah and Jerusalem,
7: and said, “Alas! Why was I born to see this, the ruin of my people, the ruin of the holy city, and to dwell there when it was given over to the enemy, the sanctuary given over to aliens?
8: Her temple has become like a man without honor;
9: her glorious vessels have been carried into captivity. Her babes have been killed in her streets, her youths by the sword of the foe.
10: What nation has not inherited her palaces and has not seized her spoils?
11: All her adornment has been taken away; no longer free, she has become a slave.
12: And behold, our holy place, our beauty, and our glory have been laid waste; the Gentiles have profaned it.
13: Why should we live any longer?”
14: And Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned greatly.
15: Then the king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to make them offer sacrifice.
16: Many from Israel came to them; and Mattathias and his sons were assembled.
17: Then the king’s officers spoke to Mattathias as follows: “You are a leader, honored and great in this city, and supported by sons and brothers.
18: Now be the first to come and do what the king commands, as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah and those that are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons will be numbered among the friends of the king, and you and your sons will be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.”
19: But Mattathias answered and said in a loud voice: “Even if all the nations that live under the rule of the king obey him, and have chosen to do his commandments, departing each one from the religion of his fathers,
20: yet I and my sons and my brothers will live by the covenant of our fathers.
21: Far be it from us to desert the law and the ordinances.
22: We will not obey the king’s words by turning aside from our religion to the right hand or to the left.”
23: When he had finished speaking these words, a Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice upon the altar in Modein, according to the king’s command.
24: When Mattathias saw it, be burned with zeal and his heart was stirred. He gave vent to righteous anger; he ran and killed him upon the altar.
25: At the same time he killed the king’s officer who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.
26: Thus he burned with zeal for the law, as Phinehas did against Zimri the son of Salu.
27: Then Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: “Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!”
28: And he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the city.
29: Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there,
30: they, their sons, their wives, and their cattle, because evils pressed heavily upon them.
31: And it was reported to the king’s officers, and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David, that men who had rejected the king’s command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness.
32: Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the sabbath day.
33: And they said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live.”
34: But they said, “We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the sabbath day.”
35: Then the enemy hastened to attack them.
36: But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places,
37: for they said, “Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly.”
38: So they attacked them on the sabbath, and they died, with their wives and children and cattle, to the number of a thousand persons.
39: When Mattathias and his friends learned of it, they mourned for them deeply.
40: And each said to his neighbor: “If we all do as our brethren have done and refuse to fight with the Gentiles for our lives and for our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from the earth.”
41: So they made this decision that day: “Let us fight against every man who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our brethren died in their hiding places.”
42: Then there united with them a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, every one who offered himself willingly for the law.
43: And all who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them and reinforced them. 44: They organized an army, and struck down sinners in their anger and lawless men in their wrath; the survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety.
45: And Mattathias and his friends went about and tore down the altars;
46: they forcibly circumcised all the uncircumcised boys that they found within the borders of Israel.
47: They hunted down the arrogant men, and the work prospered in their hands.
48: They rescued the law out of the hands of the Gentiles and kings, and they never let the sinner gain the upper hand.
49: Now the days drew near for Mattathias to die, and he said to his sons: “Arrogance and reproach have now become strong; it is a time of ruin and furious anger.
50: Now, my children, show zeal for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers.
51: “Remember the deeds of the fathers, which they did in their generations; and receive great honor and an everlasting name.
52: Was not Abraham found faithful when tested, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness?
53: Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt.
54: Phinehas our father, because he was deeply zealous, received the covenant of everlasting priesthood.
55: Joshua, because he fulfilled the command, became a judge in Israel.
56: Caleb, because he testified in the assembly, received an inheritance in the land.
57: David, because he was merciful, inherited the throne of the kingdom for ever.
58: Elijah because of great zeal for the law was taken up into heaven.
59: Hannaniah, Azariah, and Mishael believed and were saved from the flame.
60: Daniel because of his innocence was delivered from the mouth of the lions.
61: “And so observe, from generation to generation, that none who put their trust in him will lack strength.
62: Do not fear the words of a sinner, for his splendor will turn into dung and worms.
63: Today he will be exalted, but tomorrow he will not be found, because he has returned to the dust, and his plans will perish.
64: My children, be courageous and grow strong in the law, for by it you will gain honor.
65: “Now behold, I know that Simeon your brother is wise in counsel; always listen to him; he shall be your father.
66: Judas Maccabeus has been a mighty warrior from his youth; he shall command the army for you and fight the battle against the peoples.
67: You shall rally about you all who observe the law, and avenge the wrong done to your people.
68: Pay back the Gentiles in full, and heed what the law commands.”
69: Then he blessed them, and was gathered to his fathers.
70: He died in the one hundred and forty-sixth year and was buried in the tomb of his fathers at Modein. And all Israel mourned for him with great lamentation.

Chapter 3

1: Then Judas his son, who was called Maccabeus, took command in his place.
2: All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him; they gladly fought for Israel.
3: He extended the glory of his people. Like a giant he put on his breastplate; he girded on his armor of war and waged battles, protecting the host by his sword.
4: He was like a lion in his deeds, like a lion’s cub roaring for prey.
5: He searched out and pursued the lawless; he burned those who troubled his people.
6: Lawless men shrank back for fear of him; all the evildoers were confounded; and deliverance prospered by his hand.
7: He embittered many kings, but he made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed for ever.
8: He went through the cities of Judah; he destroyed the ungodly out of the land; thus he turned away wrath from Israel.
9: He was renowned to the ends of the earth; he gathered in those who were perishing.
10: But Apollonius gathered together Gentiles and a large force from Samaria to fight against Israel.
11: When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him, and he defeated and killed him. Many were wounded and fell, and the rest fled.
12: Then they seized their spoils; and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and used it in battle the rest of his life.
13: Now when Seron, the commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had gathered a large company, including a body of faithful men who stayed with him and went out to battle,
14: he said, “I will make a name for myself and win honor in the kingdom. I will make war on Judas and his companions, who scorn the king’s command.”
15: And again a strong army of ungodly men went up with him to help him, to take vengeance on the sons of Israel.
16: When he approached the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a small company.
17: But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, “How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing today.”
18: Judas replied, “It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few.
19: It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven.
20: They come against us in great pride and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us;
21: but we fight for our lives and our laws.
22: He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them.”
23: When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him.
24: They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain; eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.
25: Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell upon the Gentiles round about them.
26: HIS fame reached the king, and the Gentiles talked of the battles of Judas.
27: When king Antiochus heard these reports, he was greatly angered; and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.
28: And he opened his coffers and gave a year’s pay to his forces, and ordered them to be ready for any need.
29: Then he saw that the money in the treasury was exhausted, and that the revenues from the country were small because of the dissension and disaster which he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days.
30: He feared that he might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the gifts which he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings.
31: He was greatly perplexed in mind, and determined to go to Persia and collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund.
32: He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal lineage, in charge of the king’s affairs from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt.
33: Lysias was also to take care of Antiochus his son until he returned.
34: And he turned over to Lysias half of his troops and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wanted done. As for the residents of Judea and Jerusalem,
35: Lysias was to send a force against them to wipe out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem; he was to banish the memory of them from the place,
36: settle aliens in all their territory, and distribute their land.
37: Then the king took the remaining half of his troops and departed from Antioch his capital in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the Euphrates river and went through the upper provinces.
38: Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, mighty men among the friends of the king,
39: and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, as the king had commanded.
40: so they departed with their entire force, and when they arrived they encamped near Emmaus in the plain.
41: When the traders of the region heard what was said to them, they took silver and gold in immense amounts, and fetters, and went to the camp to get the sons of Israel for slaves. And forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines joined with them.
42: Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction.
43: But they said to one another, “Let us repair the destruction of our people, and fight for our people and the sanctuary.”
44: And the congregation assembled to be ready for battle, and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.
45: Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness; not one of her children went in or out. The sanctuary was trampled down, and the sons of aliens held the citadel; it was a lodging place for the Gentiles. Joy was taken from Jacob; the flute and the harp ceased to play.
46: So they assembled and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Israel formerly had a place of prayer in Mizpah.
47: They fasted that day, put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads, and rent their clothes.
48: And they opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the Gentiles were consulting the images of their idols.
49: They also brought the garments of the priesthood and the first fruits and the tithes, and they stirred up the Nazirites who had completed their days;
50: and they cried aloud to Heaven, saying, “What shall we do with these? Where shall we take them?
51: Thy sanctuary is trampled down and profaned, and thy priests mourn in humiliation.
52: And behold, the Gentiles are assembled against us to destroy us; thou knowest what they plot against us.
53: How will we be able to withstand them, if thou dost not help us?”
54: Then they sounded the trumpets and gave a loud shout.
55: After this Judas appointed leaders of the people, in charge of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens.
56: And he said to those who were building houses, or were betrothed, or were planting vineyards, or were fainthearted, that each should return to his home, according to the law.
57: Then the army marched out and encamped to the south of Emmaus.
58: And Judas said, “Gird yourselves and be valiant. Be ready early in the morning to fight with these Gentiles who have assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.
59: It is better for us to die in battle than to see the misfortunes of our nation and of the sanctuary.
60: But as his will in heaven may be, so he will do.”

Chapter 4

1: Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and a thousand picked cavalry, and this division moved out by night
2: to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides.
3: But Judas heard of it, and he and his mighty men moved out to attack the king’s force in Emmaus
4: while the division was still absent from the camp.
5: When Gorgias entered the camp of Judas by night, he found no one there, so he looked for them in the hills, because he said, “These men are fleeing from us.”
6: At daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, but they did not have armor and swords such as they desired.
7: And they saw the camp of the Gentiles, strong and fortified, with cavalry round about it; and these men were trained in war.
8: But Judas said to the men who were with him, “Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge.
9: Remember how our fathers were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them.
10: And now let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favor us and remember his covenant with our fathers and crush this army before us today.
11: Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel.”
12: When the foreigners looked up and saw them coming against them,
13: they went forth from their camp to battle. Then the men with Judas blew their trumpets
14: and engaged in battle. The Gentiles were crushed and fled into the plain,
15: and all those in the rear fell by the sword. They pursued them to Gazara, and to the plains of Idumea, and to Azotus and Jamnia; and three thousand of them fell.
16: Then Judas and his force turned back from pursuing them,
17: and he said to the people, “Do not be greedy for plunder, for there is a battle before us;
18: Gorgias and his force are near us in the hills. But stand now against our enemies and fight them, and afterward seize the plunder boldly.”
19: Just as Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared, coming out of the hills.
20: They saw that their army had been put to flight, and that the Jews were burning the camp, for the smoke that was seen showed what had happened.
21: When they perceived this they were greatly frightened, and when they also saw the army of Judas drawn up in the plain for battle,
22: they all fled into the land of the Philistines.
23: Then Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they seized much gold and silver, and cloth dyed blue and sea purple, and great riches.
24: On their return they sang hymns and praises to Heaven, for he is good, for his mercy endures for ever.
25: Thus Israel had a great deliverance that day.
26: Those of the foreigners who escaped went and reported to Lysias all that had happened.
27: When he heard it, he was perplexed and discouraged, for things had not happened to Israel as he had intended, nor had they turned out as the king had commanded him.
28: But the next year he mustered sixty thousand picked infantrymen and five thousand cavalry to subdue them.
29: They came into Idumea and encamped at Beth-zur, and Judas met them with ten thousand men.
30: When he saw that the army was strong, he prayed, saying, “Blessed art thou, O Savior of Israel, who didst crush the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of thy servant David, and didst give the camp of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan, the son of Saul, and of the man who carried his armor.
31: So do thou hem in this army by the hand of thy people Israel, and let them be ashamed of their troops and their cavalry.
32: Fill them with cowardice; melt the boldness of their strength; let them tremble in their destruction.
33: Strike them down with the sword of those who love thee, and let all who know thy name praise thee with hymns.”
34: Then both sides attacked, and there fell of the army of Lysias five thousand men; they fell in action.
35: And when Lysias saw the rout of his troops and observed the boldness which inspired those of Judas, and how ready they were either to live or to die nobly, he departed to Antioch and enlisted mercenaries, to invade Judea again with an even larger army.
36: Then said Judas and his brothers, “Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.”
37: So all the army assembled and they went up to Mount Zion.
38: And they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins.
39: Then they rent their clothes, and mourned with great lamentation, and sprinkled themselves with ashes.
40: They fell face down on the ground, and sounded the signal on the trumpets, and cried out to Heaven.
41: Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary.
42: He chose blameless priests devoted to the law,
43: and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place.
44: They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned.
45: And they thought it best to tear it down, lest it bring reproach upon them, for the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar,
46: and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until there should come a prophet to tell what to do with them.
47: Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.
48: They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts.
49: They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.
50: Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple.
51: They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
52: Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year,
53: they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built.
54: At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals.
55: All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them.
56: So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise.
57: They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and furnished them with doors.
58: There was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed.
59: Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.
60: At that time they fortified Mount Zion with high walls and strong towers round about, to keep the Gentiles from coming and trampling them down as they had done before.
61: And he stationed a garrison there to hold it. He also fortified Beth-zur, so that the people might have a stronghold that faced Idumea.

Chapter 5

1: When the Gentiles round about heard that the altar had been built and the sanctuary dedicated as it was before, they became very angry,
2: and they determined to destroy the descendants of Jacob who lived among them. So they began to kill and destroy among the people.
3: But Judas made war on the sons of Esau in Idumea, at Akrabattene, because they kept lying in wait for Israel. He dealt them a heavy blow and humbled them and despoiled them.
4: He also remembered the wickedness of the sons of Baean, who were a trap and a snare to the people and ambushed them on the highways.
5: They were shut up by him in their towers; and he encamped against them, vowed their complete destruction, and burned with fire their towers and all who were in them.
6: Then he crossed over to attack the Ammonites, where he found a strong band and many people with Timothy as their leader.
7: He engaged in many battles with them and they were crushed before him; he struck them down.
8: He also took Jazer and its villages; then he returned to Judea.
9: Now the Gentiles in Gilead gathered together against the Israelites who lived in their territory, and planned to destroy them. But they fled to the stronghold of Dathema,
10: and sent to Judas and his brothers a letter which said, “The Gentiles around us have gathered together against us to destroy us.
11: They are preparing to come and capture the stronghold to which we have fled, and Timothy is leading their forces.
12: Now then come and rescue us from their hands, for many of us have fallen,
13: and all our brethren who were in the land of Tob have been killed; the enemy have captured their wives and children and goods, and have destroyed about a thousand men there.”
14: While the letter was still being read, behold, other messengers, with their garments rent, came from Galilee and made a similar report;
15: they said that against them had gathered together men of Ptolemais and Tyre and Sidon, and all Galilee of the Gentiles, “to annihilate us.”
16: When Judas and the people heard these messages, a great assembly was called to determine what they should do for their brethren who were in distress and were being attacked by enemies.
17: Then Judas said to Simon his brother, “Choose your men and go and rescue your brethren in Galilee; I and Jonathan my brother will go to Gilead.”
18: But he left Joseph, the son of Zechariah, and Azariah, a leader of the people, with the rest of the forces, in Judea to guard it;
19: and he gave them this command, “Take charge of this people, but do not engage in battle with the Gentiles until we return.”
20: Then three thousand men were assigned to Simon to go to Galilee, and eight thousand to Judas for Gilead.
21: so Simon went to Galilee and fought many battles against the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were crushed before him.
22: He pursued them to the gate of Ptolemais, and as many as three thousand of the Gentiles fell, and he despoiled them.
23: Then he took the Jews of Galilee and Arbatta, with their wives and children, and all they possessed, and led them to Judea with great rejoicing.
24: Judas Maccabeus and Jonathan his brother crossed the Jordan and went three days’ journey into the wilderness.
25: They encountered the Nabateans, who met them peaceably and told them all that had happened to their brethren in Gilead:
26: “Many of them have been shut up in Bozrah and Bosor, in Alema and Chaspho, Maked and Carnaim” -- all these cities were strong and large --
27: “and some have been shut up in the other cities of Gilead; the enemy are getting ready to attack the strongholds tomorrow and take and destroy all these men in one day.”
28: Then Judas and his army quickly turned back by the wilderness road to Bozrah; and he took the city, and killed every male by the edge of the sword; then he seized all its spoils and burned it with fire.
29: He departed from there at night, and they went all the way to the stronghold of Dathema.
30: At dawn they looked up, and behold, a large company, that could not be counted, carrying ladders and engines of war to capture the stronghold, and attacking the Jews within.
31: So Judas saw that the battle had begun and that the cry of the city went up to Heaven with trumpets and loud shouts,
32: and he said to the men of his forces, “Fight today for your brethren!”
33: Then he came up behind them in three companies, who sounded their trumpets and cried aloud in prayer.
34: And when the army of Timothy realized that it was Maccabeus, they fled before him, and he dealt them a heavy blow. As many as eight thousand of them fell that day.
35: Next he turned aside to Alema, and fought against it and took it; and he killed every male in it, plundered it, and burned it with fire.
36: From there he marched on and took Chaspho, Maked, and Bosor, and the other cities of Gilead.
37: After these things Timothy gathered another army and encamped opposite Raphon, on the other side of the stream.
38: Judas sent men to spy out the camp, and they reported to him, “All the Gentiles around us have gathered to him; it is a very large force.
39: They also have hired Arabs to help them, and they are encamped across the stream, ready to come and fight against you.” And Judas went to meet them.
40: Now as Judas and his army drew near to the stream of water, Timothy said to the officers of his forces, “If he crosses over to us first, we will not be able to resist him, for he will surely defeat us.
41: But if he shows fear and camps on the other side of the river, we will cross over to him and defeat him.”
42: When Judas approached the stream of water, he stationed the scribes of the people at the stream and gave them this command, “Permit no man to encamp, but make them all enter the battle.”
43: Then he crossed over against them first, and the whole army followed him. All the Gentiles were defeated before him, and they threw away their arms and fled into the sacred precincts at Carnaim.
44: But he took the city and burned the sacred precincts with fire, together with all who were in them. Thus Carnaim was conquered; they could stand before Judas no longer.
45: Then Judas gathered together all the Israelites in Gilead, the small and the great, with their wives and children and goods, a very large company, to go to the land of Judah.
46: So they came to Ephron. This was a large and very strong city on the road, and they could not go round it to the right or to the left; they had to go through it.
47: But the men of the city shut them out and blocked up the gates with stones.
48: And Judas sent them this friendly message, “Let us pass through your land to get to our land. No one will do you harm; we will simply pass by on foot.” But they refused to open to him.
49: Then Judas ordered proclamation to be made to the army that each should encamp where he was.
50: So the men of the forces encamped, and he fought against the city all that day and all the night, and the city was delivered into his hands.
51: He destroyed every male by the edge of the sword, and razed and plundered the city. Then he passed through the city over the slain.
52: And they crossed the Jordan into the large plain before Beth-shan.
53: And Judas kept rallying the laggards and encouraging the people all the way till he came to the land of Judah.
54: So they went up to Mount Zion with gladness and joy, and offered burnt offerings, because not one of them had fallen before they returned in safety.
55: Now while Judas and Jonathan were in Gilead and Simon his brother was in Galilee before Ptolemais,
56: Joseph, the son of Zechariah, and Azariah, the commanders of the forces, heard of their brave deeds and of the heroic war they had fought.
57: So they said, “Let us also make a name for ourselves; let us go and make war on the Gentiles around us.”
58: And they issued orders to the men of the forces that were with them, and they marched against Jamnia.
59: And Gorgias and his men came out of the city to meet them in battle.
60: Then Joseph and Azariah were routed, and were pursued to the borders of Judea; as many as two thousand of the people of Israel fell that day.
61: Thus the people suffered a great rout because, thinking to do a brave deed, they did not listen to Judas and his brothers.
62: But they did not belong to the family of those men through whom deliverance was given to Israel.
63: The man Judas and his brothers were greatly honored in all Israel and among all the Gentiles, wherever their name was heard.
64: Men gathered to them and praised them.
65: Then Judas and his brothers went forth and fought the sons of Esau in the land to the south. He struck Hebron and its villages and tore down its strongholds and burned its towers round about.
66: Then he marched off to go into the land of the Philistines, and passed through Marisa.
67: On that day some priests, who wished to do a brave deed, fell in battle, for they went out to battle unwisely.
68: But Judas turned aside to Azotus in the land of the Philistines; he tore down their altars, and the graven images of their gods he burned with fire; he plundered the cities and returned to the land of Judah.

Chapter 6

1: King Antiochus was going through the upper provinces when he heard that Elymais in Persia was a city famed for its wealth in silver and gold.
2: Its temple was very rich, containing golden shields, breastplates, and weapons left there by Alexander, the son of Philip, the Macedonian king who first reigned over the Greeks.
3: So he came and tried to take the city and plunder it, but he could not, because his plan became known to the men of the city
4: and they withstood him in battle. So he fled and in great grief departed from there to return to Babylon.
5: Then some one came to him in Persia and reported that the armies which had gone into the land of Judah had been routed;
6: that Lysias had gone first with a strong force, but had turned and fled before the Jews; that the Jews had grown strong from the arms, supplies, and abundant spoils which they had taken from the armies they had cut down;
7: that they had torn down the abomination which he had erected upon the altar in Jerusalem; and that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls as before, and also Beth-zur, his city.
8: When the king heard this news, he was astounded and badly shaken. He took to his bed and became sick from grief, because things had not turned out for him as he had planned.
9: He lay there for many days, because deep grief continually gripped him, and he concluded that he was dying.
10: So he called all his friends and said to them, “Sleep departs from my eyes and I am downhearted with worry.
11: I said to myself, ‘To what distress I have come! And into what a great flood I now am plunged! For I was kind and beloved in my power.’
12: But now I remember the evils I did in Jerusalem. I seized all her vessels of silver and gold; and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Judah without good reason.
13: I know that it is because of this that these evils have come upon me; and behold, I am perishing of deep grief in a strange land.”
14: Then he called for Philip, one of his friends, and made him ruler over all his kingdom.
15: He gave him the crown and his robe and the signet, that he might guide Antiochus his son and bring him up to be king.
16: Thus Antiochus the king died there in the one hundred and forty-ninth year.
17: And when Lysias learned that the king was dead, he set up Antiochus the king’s son to reign. Lysias had brought him up as a boy, and he named him Eupator.
18: Now the men in the citadel kept hemming Israel in around the sanctuary. They were trying in every way to harm them and strengthen the Gentiles.
19: So Judas decided to destroy them, and assembled all the people to besiege them.
20: They gathered together and besieged the citadel in the one hundred and fiftieth year; and he built siege towers and other engines of war.
21: But some of the garrison escaped from the siege and some of the ungodly Israelites joined them.
22: They went to the king and said, “How long will you fail to do justice and to avenge our brethren?
23: We were happy to serve your father, to live by what he said and to follow his commands.
24: For this reason the sons of our people besieged the citadel and became hostile to us; moreover, they have put to death as many of us as they have caught, and they have seized our inheritances.
25: And not against us alone have they stretched out their hands, but also against all the lands on their borders.
26: And behold, today they have encamped against the citadel in Jerusalem to take it; they have fortified both the sanctuary and Beth-zur;
27: and unless you quickly prevent them, they will do still greater things, and you will not be able to stop them.”
28: The king was enraged when he heard this. He assembled all his friends, the commanders of his forces and those in authority.
29: And mercenary forces came to him from other kingdoms and from islands of the seas.
30: The number of his forces was a hundred thousand foot soldiers, twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants accustomed to war.
31: They came through Idumea and encamped against Beth-zur, and for many days they fought and built engines of war; but the Jews sallied out and burned these with fire, and fought manfully.
32: Then Judas marched away from the citadel and encamped at Beth-zechariah, opposite the camp of the king.
33: Early in the morning the king rose and took his army by a forced march along the road to Beth-zechariah, and his troops made ready for battle and sounded their trumpets.
34: They showed the elephants the juice of grapes and mulberries, to arouse them for battle.
35: And they distributed the beasts among the phalanxes; with each elephant they stationed a thousand men armed with coats of mail, and with brass helmets on their heads; and five hundred picked horsemen were assigned to each beast.
36: These took their position beforehand wherever the beast was; wherever it went they went with it, and they never left it.
37: And upon the elephants were wooden towers, strong and covered; they were fastened upon each beast by special harness, and upon each were four armed men who fought from there, and also its Indian driver.
38: The rest of the horsemen were stationed on either side, on the two flanks of the army, to harass the enemy while being themselves protected by the phalanxes.
39: When the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the hills were ablaze with them and gleamed like flaming torches.
40: Now a part of the king’s army was spread out on the high hills, and some troops were on the plain, and they advanced steadily and in good order.
41: All who heard the noise made by their multitude, by the marching of the multitude and the clanking of their arms, trembled, for the army was very large and strong.
42: But Judas and his army advanced to the battle, and six hundred men of the king’s army fell.
43: And Eleazar, called Avaran, saw that one of the beasts was equipped with royal armor. It was taller than all the others, and he supposed that the king was upon it.
44: So he gave his life to save his people and to win for himself an everlasting name.
45: He courageously ran into the midst of the phalanx to reach it; he killed men right and left, and they parted before him on both sides.
46: He got under the elephant, stabbed it from beneath, and killed it; but it fell to the ground upon him and he died.
47: And when the Jews saw the royal might and the fierce attack of the forces, they turned away in flight.
48: The soldiers of the king’s army went up to Jerusalem against them, and the king encamped in Judea and at Mount Zion.
49: He made peace with the men of Beth-zur, and they evacuated the city, because they had no provisions there to withstand a siege, since it was a sabbatical year for the land.
50: So the king took Beth-zur and stationed a guard there to hold it.
51: Then he encamped before the sanctuary for many days. He set up siege towers, engines of war to throw fire and stones, machines to shoot arrows, and catapults.
52: The Jews also made engines of war to match theirs, and fought for many days.
53: But they had no food in storage, because it was the seventh year; those who found safety in Judea from the Gentiles had consumed the last of the stores.
54: Few men were left in the sanctuary, because famine had prevailed over the rest and they had been scattered, each to his own place.
55: Then Lysias heard that Philip, whom King Antiochus while still living had appointed to bring up Antiochus his son to be king,
56: had returned from Persia and Media with the forces that had gone with the king, and that he was trying to seize control of the government.
57: So he quickly gave orders to depart, and said to the king, to the commanders of the forces, and to the men, “We daily grow weaker, our food supply is scant, the place against which we are fighting is strong, and the affairs of the kingdom press urgently upon us.
58: Now then let us come to terms with these men, and make peace with them and with all their nation,
59: and agree to let them live by their laws as they did before; for it was on account of their laws which we abolished that they became angry and did all these things.”
60: The speech pleased the king and the commanders, and he sent to the Jews an offer of peace, and they accepted it.
61: So the king and the commanders gave them their oath. On these conditions the Jews evacuated the stronghold.
62: But when the king entered Mount Zion and saw what a strong fortress the place was, he broke the oath he had sworn and gave orders to tear down the wall all around.
63: Then he departed with haste and returned to Antioch. He found Philip in control of the city, but he fought against him, and took the city by force.

Chapter 7

1: In the one hundred and fifty-first year Demetrius the son of Seleucus set forth from Rome, sailed with a few men to a city by the sea, and there began to reign.
2: As he was entering the royal palace of his fathers, the army seized Antiochus and Lysias to bring them to him.
3: But when this act became known to him, he said, “Do not let me see their faces!”
4: So the army killed them, and Demetrius took his seat upon the throne of his kingdom.
5: Then there came to him all the lawless and ungodly men of Israel; they were led by Alcimus, who wanted to be high priest.
6: And they brought to the king this accusation against the people: “Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends, and have driven us out of our land.
7: Now then send a man whom you trust; let him go and see all the ruin which Judas has brought upon us and upon the land of the king, and let him punish them and all who help them.”
8: So the king chose Bacchides, one of the king’s friends, governor of the province Beyond the River; he was a great man in the kingdom and was faithful to the king.
9: And he sent him, and with him the ungodly Alcimus, whom he made high priest; and he commanded him to take vengeance on the sons of Israel.
10: So they marched away and came with a large force into the land of Judah; and he sent messengers to Judas and his brothers with peaceable but treacherous words.
11: But they paid no attention to their words, for they saw that they had come with a large force.
12: Then a group of scribes appeared in a body before Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for just terms.
13: The Hasideans were first among the sons of Israel to seek peace from them,
14: for they said, “A priest of the line of Aaron has come with the army, and he will not harm us.”
15: And he spoke peaceable words to them and swore this oath to them, “We will not seek to injure you or your friends.”
16: So they trusted him; but he seized sixty of them and killed them in one day, in accordance with the word which was written,
17: “The flesh of thy saints and their blood they poured out round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.”
18: Then the fear and dread of them fell upon all the people, for they said, “There is no truth or justice in them, for they have violated the agreement and the oath which they swore.”
19: Then Bacchides departed from Jerusalem and encamped in Beth-zaith. And he sent and seized many of the men who had deserted to him, and some of the people, and killed them and threw them into a great pit.
20: He placed Alcimus in charge of the country and left with him a force to help him; then Bacchides went back to the king.
21: Alcimus strove for the high priesthood,
22: and all who were troubling their people joined him. They gained control of the land of Judah and did great damage in Israel.
23: And Judas saw all the evil that Alcimus and those with him had done among the sons of Israel; it was more than the Gentiles had done.
24: So Judas went out into all the surrounding parts of Judea, and took vengeance on the men who had deserted, and he prevented those in the city from going out into the country.
25: When Alcimus saw that Judas and those with him had grown strong, and realized that he could not withstand them, he returned to the king and brought wicked charges against them.
26: Then the king sent Nicanor, one of his honored princes, who hated and detested Israel, and he commanded him to destroy the people.
27: So Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a large force, and treacherously sent to Judas and his brothers this peaceable message,
28: “Let there be no fighting between me and you; I shall come with a few men to see you face to face in peace.”
29: So he came to Judas, and they greeted one another peaceably. But the enemy were ready to seize Judas.
30: It became known to Judas that Nicanor had come to him with treacherous intent, and he was afraid of him and would not meet him again.
31: When Nicanor learned that his plan had been disclosed, he went out to meet Judas in battle near Caphar-salama.
32: About five hundred men of the army of Nicanor fell, and the rest fled into the city of David.
33: After these events Nicanor went up to Mount Zion. Some of the priests came out of the sanctuary, and some of the elders of the people, to greet him peaceably and to show him the burnt offering that was being offered for the king.
34: But he mocked them and derided them and defiled them and spoke arrogantly,
35: and in anger he swore this oath, “Unless Judas and his army are delivered into my hands this time, then if I return safely I will burn up this house.” And he went out in great anger.
36: Then the priests went in and stood before the altar and the temple, and they wept and said,
37: “Thou didst choose this house to be called by thy name, and to be for thy people a house of prayer and supplication.
38: Take vengeance on this man and on his army, and let them fall by the sword; remember their blasphemies, and let them live no longer.”
39: Now Nicanor went out from Jerusalem and encamped in Beth-horon, and the Syrian army joined him.
40: And Judas encamped in Adasa with three thousand men. Then Judas prayed and said,
41: “When the messengers from the king spoke blasphemy, thy angel went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians.
42: So also crush this army before us today; let the rest learn that Nicanor has spoken wickedly against the sanctuary, and judge him according to this wickedness.”
43: So the armies met in battle on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. The army of Nicanor was crushed, and he himself was the first to fall in the battle.
44: When his army saw that Nicanor had fallen, they threw down their arms and fled.
45: The Jews pursued them a day’s journey, from Adasa as far as Gazara, and as they followed kept sounding the battle call on the trumpets.
46: And men came out of all the villages of Judea round about, and they out-flanked the enemy and drove them back to their pursuers, so that they all fell by the sword; not even one of them was left.
47: Then the Jews seized the spoils and the plunder, and they cut off Nicanor’s head and the right hand which he so arrogantly stretched out, and brought them and displayed them just outside Jerusalem.
48: The people rejoiced greatly and celebrated that day as a day of great gladness.
49: And they decreed that this day should be celebrated each year on the thirteenth day of Adar.
50: So the land of Judah had rest for a few days.

Chapter 8

1: Now Judas heard of the fame of the Romans, that they were very strong and were well-disposed toward all who made an alliance with them, that they pledged friendship to those who came to them,
2: and that they were very strong. Men told him of their wars and of the brave deeds which they were doing among the Gauls, how they had defeated them and forced them to pay tribute,
3: and what they had done in the land of Spain to get control of the silver and gold mines there,
4: and how they had gained control of the whole region by their planning and patience, even though the place was far distant from them. They also subdued the kings who came against them from the ends of the earth, until they crushed them and inflicted great disaster upon them; the rest paid them tribute every year.
5: Philip, and Perseus king of the Macedonians, and the others who rose up against them, they crushed in battle and conquered.
6: They also defeated Antiochus the Great, king of Asia, who went to fight against them with a hundred and twenty elephants and with cavalry and chariots and a very large army. He was crushed by them;
7: they took him alive and decreed that he and those who should reign after him should pay a heavy tribute and give hostages and surrender some of their best provinces,
8: the country of India and Media and Lydia. These they took from him and gave to Eumenes the king.
9: The Greeks planned to come and destroy them,
10: but this became known to them, and they sent a general against the Greeks and attacked them. Many of them were wounded and fell, and the Romans took captive their wives and children; they plundered them, conquered the land, tore down their strongholds, and enslaved them to this day.
11: The remaining kingdoms and islands, as many as ever opposed them, they destroyed and enslaved;
12: but with their friends and those who rely on them they have kept friendship. They have subdued kings far and near, and as many as have heard of their fame have feared them.
13: Those whom they wish to help and to make kings, they make kings, and those whom they wish they depose; and they have been greatly exalted.
14: Yet for all this not one of them has put on a crown or worn purple as a mark of pride,
15: but they have built for themselves a senate chamber, and every day three hundred and twenty senators constantly deliberate concerning the people, to govern them well.
16: They trust one man each year to rule over them and to control all their land; they all heed the one man, and there is no envy or jealousy among them.
17: So Judas chose Eupolemus the son of John, son of Accos, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome to establish friendship and alliance,
18: and to free themselves from the yoke; for they saw that the kingdom of the Greeks was completely enslaving Israel.
19: They went to Rome, a very long journey; and they entered the senate chamber and spoke as follows:
20: “Judas, who is also called Maccabeus, and his brothers and the people of the Jews have sent us to you to establish alliance and peace with you, that we may be enrolled as your allies and friends.”
21: The proposal pleased them,
22: and this is a copy of the letter which they wrote in reply, on bronze tablets, and sent to Jerusalem to remain with them there as a memorial of peace and alliance:
23: “May all go well with the Romans and with the nation of the Jews at sea and on land for ever, and may sword and enemy be far from them.
24: If war comes first to Rome or to any of their allies in all their dominion,
25: the nation of the Jews shall act as their allies wholeheartedly, as the occasion may indicate to them.
26: And to the enemy who makes war they shall not give or supply grain, arms, money, or ships, as Rome has decided; and they shall keep their obligations without receiving any return.
27: In the same way, if war comes first to the nation of the Jews, the Romans shall willingly act as their allies, as the occasion may indicate to them.
28: And to the enemy allies shall be given no grain, arms, money, or ships, as Rome has decided; and they shall keep these obligations and do so without deceit.
29: Thus on these terms the Romans make a treaty with the Jewish people.
30: If after these terms are in effect both parties shall determine to add or delete anything, they shall do so at their discretion, and any addition or deletion that they may make shall be valid.
31: “And concerning the wrongs which King Demetrius is doing to them we have written to him as follows, ‘Why have you made your yoke heavy upon our friends and allies the Jews?
32: If now they appeal again for help against you, we will defend their rights and fight you on sea and on land.’”

Chapter 9

1: When Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, he sent Bacchides and Alcimus into the land of Judah a second time, and with them the right wing of the army.
2: They went by the road which leads to Gilgal and encamped against Mesaloth in Arbela, and they took it and killed many people.
3: In the first month of the one hundred and fifty-second year they encamped against Jerusalem;
4: then they marched off and went to Berea with twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry.
5: Now Judas was encamped in Elasa, and with him were three thousand picked men.
6: When they saw the huge number of the enemy forces, they were greatly frightened, and many slipped away from the camp, until no more than eight hundred of them were left.
7: When Judas saw that his army had slipped away and the battle was imminent, he was crushed in spirit, for he had no time to assemble them.
8: He became faint, but he said to those who were left, “Let us rise and go up against our enemies. We may be able to fight them.”
9: But they tried to dissuade him, saying, “We are not able. Let us rather save our own lives now, and let us come back with our brethren and fight them; we are too few.”
10: But Judas said, “Far be it from us to do such a thing as to flee from them. If our time has come, let us die bravely for our brethren, and leave no cause to question our honor.”
11: Then the army of Bacchides marched out from the camp and took its stand for the encounter. The cavalry was divided into two companies, and the slingers and the archers went ahead of the army, as did all the chief warriors.
12: Bacchides was on the right wing. Flanked by the two companies, the phalanx advanced to the sound of the trumpets; and the men with Judas also blew their trumpets.
13: The earth was shaken by the noise of the armies, and the battle raged from morning till evening.
14: Judas saw that Bacchides and the strength of his army were on the right; then all the stouthearted men went with him,
15: and they crushed the right wing, and he pursued them as far as Mount Azotus.
16: When those on the left wing saw that the right wing was crushed, they turned and followed close behind Judas and his men.
17: The battle became desperate, and many on both sides were wounded and fell.
18: Judas also fell, and the rest fled.
19: Then Jonathan and Simon took Judas their brother and buried him in the tomb of their fathers at Modein,
20: and wept for him. And all Israel made great lamentation for him; they mourned many days and said,
21: “How is the mighty fallen, the savior of Israel!”
22: Now the rest of the acts of Judas, and his wars and the brave deeds that he did, and his greatness, have not been recorded, for they were very many.
23: After the death of Judas, the lawless emerged in all parts of Israel; all the doers of injustice appeared.
24: In those days a very great famine occurred, and the country deserted with them to the enemy.
25: And Bacchides chose the ungodly and put them in charge of the country.
26: They sought and searched for the friends of Judas, and brought them to Bacchides, and he took vengeance on them and made sport of them.
27: Thus there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them.
28: Then all the friends of Judas assembled and said to Jonathan,
29: “Since the death of your brother Judas there has been no one like him to go against our enemies and Bacchides, and to deal with those of our nation who hate us.
30: So now we have chosen you today to take his place as our ruler and leader, to fight our battle.”
31: And Jonathan at that time accepted the leadership and took the place of Judas his brother.
32: When Bacchides learned of this, he tried to kill him.
33: But Jonathan and Simon his brother and all who were with him heard of it, and they fled into the wilderness of Tekoa and camped by the water of the pool of Asphar.
34: Bacchides found this out on the sabbath day, and he with all his army crossed the Jordan.
35: And Jonathan sent his brother as leader of the multitude and begged the Nabateans, who were his friends, for permission to store with them the great amount of baggage which they had.
36: But the sons of Jambri from Medeba came out and seized John and all that he had, and departed with it.
37: After these things it was reported to Jonathan and Simon his brother, “The sons of Jambri are celebrating a great wedding, and are conducting the bride, a daughter of one of the great nobles of Canaan, from Nadabath with a large escort.”
38: And they remembered the blood of John their brother, and went up and hid under cover of the mountain.
39: They raised their eyes and looked, and saw a tumultuous procession with much baggage; and the bridegroom came out with his friends and his brothers to meet them with tambourines and musicians and many weapons.
40: Then they rushed upon them from the ambush and began killing them. Many were wounded and fell, and the rest fled to the mountain; and they took all their goods.
41: Thus the wedding was turned into mourning and the voice of their musicians into a funeral dirge.
42: And when they had fully avenged the blood of their brother, they returned to the marshes of the Jordan.
43: When Bacchides heard of this, he came with a large force on the sabbath day to the banks of the Jordan.
44: And Jonathan said to those with him, “Let us rise up now and fight for our lives, for today things are not as they were before.
45: For look! the battle is in front of us and behind us; the water of the Jordan is on this side and on that, with marsh and thicket; there is no place to turn.
46: Cry out now to Heaven that you may be delivered from the hands of our enemies.”
47: So the battle began, and Jonathan stretched out his hand to strike Bacchides, but he eluded him and went to the rear.
48: Then Jonathan and the men with him leaped into the Jordan and swam across to the other side, and the enemy did not cross the Jordan to attack them.
49: And about one thousand of Bacchides’ men fell that day.
50: Bacchides then returned to Jerusalem and built strong cities in Judea: the fortress in Jericho, and Emmaus, and Beth-horon, and Bethel, and Timnath, and Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars.
51: And he placed garrisons in them to harass Israel.
52: He also fortified the city of Beth-zur, and Gazara, and the citadel, and in them he put troops and stores of food.
53: And he took the sons of the leading men of the land as hostages and put them under guard in the citadel at Jerusalem.
54: In the one hundred and fifty-third year, in the second month, Alcimus gave orders to tear down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary. He tore down the work of the prophets!
55: But he only began to tear it down, for at that time Alcimus was stricken and his work was hindered; his mouth was stopped and he was paralyzed, so that he could no longer say a word or give commands concerning his house.
56: And Alcimus died at that time in great agony.
57: When Bacchides saw that Alcimus was dead, he returned to the king, and the land of Judah had rest for two years.
58: Then all the lawless plotted and said, “See! Jonathan and his men are living in quiet and confidence. So now let us bring Bacchides back, and he will capture them all in one night.”
59: And they went and consulted with him.
60: He started to come with a large force, and secretly sent letters to all his allies in Judea, telling them to seize Jonathan and his men; but they were unable to do it, because their plan became known.
61: And Jonathan’s men seized about fifty of the men of the country who were leaders in this treachery, and killed them.
62: Then Jonathan with his men, and Simon, withdrew to Bethbasi in the wilderness; he rebuilt the parts of it that had been demolished, and they fortified it.
63: When Bacchides learned of this, he assembled all his forces, and sent orders to the men of Judea.
64: Then he came and encamped against Bethbasi; he fought against it for many days and made machines of war.
65: But Jonathan left Simon his brother in the city, while he went out into the country; and he went with only a few men.
66: He struck down Odomera and his brothers and the sons of Phasiron in their tents.
67: Then he began to attack and went into battle with his forces; and Simon and his men sallied out from the city and set fire to the machines of war.
68: They fought with Bacchides, and he was crushed by them. They distressed him greatly, for his plan and his expedition had been in vain.
69: So he was greatly enraged at the lawless men who had counseled him to come into the country, and he killed many of them. Then he decided to depart to his own land.
70: When Jonathan learned of this, he sent ambassadors to him to make peace with him and obtain release of the captives.
71: He agreed, and did as he said; and he swore to Jonathan that he would not try to harm him as long as he lived.
72: He restored to him the captives whom he had formerly taken from the land of Judah; then he turned and departed to his own land, and came no more into their territory.
73: Thus the sword ceased from Israel. And Jonathan dwelt in Michmash. And Jonathan began to judge the people, and he destroyed the ungodly out of Israel.

Chapter 10

1: In the one hundred and sixtieth year Alexander Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, landed and occupied Ptolemais. They welcomed him, and there he began to reign.
2: When Demetrius the king heard of it, he assembled a very large army and marched out to meet him in battle.
3: And Demetrius sent Jonathan a letter in peaceable words to honor him;
4: for he said, “Let us act first to make peace with him before he makes peace with Alexander against us,
5: for he will remember all the wrongs which we did to him and to his brothers and his nation.”
6: So Demetrius gave him authority to recruit troops, to equip them with arms, and to become his ally; and he commanded that the hostages in the citadel should be released to him.
7: Then Jonathan came to Jerusalem and read the letter in the hearing of all the people and of the men in the citadel.
8: They were greatly alarmed when they heard that the king had given him authority to recruit troops.
9: But the men in the citadel released the hostages to Jonathan, and he returned them to their parents.
10: And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem and began to rebuild and restore the city.
11: He directed those who were doing the work to build the walls and encircle Mount Zion with squared stones, for better fortification; and they did so.
12: Then the foreigners who were in the strongholds that Bacchides had built fled;
13: each left his place and departed to his own land.
14: Only in Beth-zur did some remain who had forsaken the law and the commandments, for it served as a place of refuge.
15: Now Alexander the king heard of all the promises which Demetrius had sent to Jonathan, and men told him of the battles that Jonathan and his brothers had fought, of the brave deeds that they had done, and of the troubles that they had endured.
16: So he said, “Shall we find another such man? Come now, we will make him our friend and ally.”
17: And he wrote a letter and sent it to him, in the following words:
18: “King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greeting.
19: We have heard about you, that you are a mighty warrior and worthy to be our friend.
20: And so we have appointed you today to be the high priest of your nation; you are to be called the king’s friend” (and he sent him a purple robe and a golden crown) “and you are to take our side and keep friendship with us.”
21: So Jonathan put on the holy garments in the seventh month of the one hundred and sixtieth year, at the feast of tabernacles, and he recruited troops and equipped them with arms in abundance.
22: When Demetrius heard of these things he was grieved and said,
23: “What is this that we have done? Alexander has gotten ahead of us in forming a friendship with the Jews to strengthen himself.
24: I also will write them words of encouragement and promise them honor and gifts, that I may have their help.”
25: So he sent a message to them in the following words: “King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greeting.
26: Since you have kept your agreement with us and have continued your friendship with us, and have not sided with our enemies, we have heard of it and rejoiced.
27: And now continue still to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good for what you do for us.
28: We will grant you many immunities and give you gifts.
29: “And now I free you and exempt all the Jews from payment of tribute and salt tax and crown levies,
30: and instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees that I should receive, I release them from this day and henceforth. I will not collect them from the land of Judah or from the three districts added to it from Samaria and Galilee, from this day and for all time.
31: And let Jerusalem and her environs, her tithes and her revenues, be holy and free from tax.
32: I release also my control of the citadel in Jerusalem and give it to the high priest, that he may station in it men of his own choice to guard it.
33: And every one of the Jews taken as a captive from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom, I set free without payment; and let all officials cancel also the taxes on their cattle.
34: “And all the feasts and sabbaths and new moons and appointed days, and the three days before a feast and the three after a feast -- let them all be days of immunity and release for all the Jews who are in my kingdom.
35: No one shall have authority to exact anything from them or annoy any of them about any matter.
36: “Let Jews be enrolled in the king’s forces to the number of thirty thousand men, and let the maintenance be given them that is due to all the forces of the king.
37: Let some of them be stationed in the great strongholds of the king, and let some of them be put in positions of trust in the kingdom. Let their officers and leaders be of their own number, and let them live by their own laws, just as the king has commanded in the land of Judah.
38: “As for the three districts that have been added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be so annexed to Judea that they are considered to be under one ruler and obey no other authority but the high priest.
39: Ptolemais and the land adjoining it I have given as a gift to the sanctuary in Jerusalem, to meet the necessary expenses of the sanctuary.
40: I also grant fifteen thousand shekels of silver yearly out of the king’s revenues from appropriate places.
41: And all the additional funds which the government officials have not paid as they did in the first years, they shall give from now on for the service of the temple.
42: Moreover, the five thousand shekels of silver which my officials have received every year from the income of the services of the temple, this too is canceled, because it belongs to the priests who minister there.
43: And whoever takes refuge at the temple in Jerusalem, or in any of its precincts, because he owes money to the king or has any debt, let him be released and receive back all his property in my kingdom.
44: “Let the cost of rebuilding and restoring the structures of the sanctuary be paid from the revenues of the king.
45: And let the cost of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it round about, and the cost of rebuilding the walls in Judea, also be paid from the revenues of the king.”
46: When Jonathan and the people heard these words, they did not believe or accept them, because they remembered the great wrongs which Demetrius had done in Israel and how he had greatly oppressed them.
47: They favored Alexander, because he had been the first to speak peaceable words to them, and they remained his allies all his days.
48: Now Alexander the king assembled large forces and encamped opposite Demetrius.
49: The two kings met in battle, and the army of Demetrius fled, and Alexander pursued him and defeated them.
50: He pressed the battle strongly until the sun set, and Demetrius fell on that day.
51: Then Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy king of Egypt with the following message:
52: “Since I have returned to my kingdom and have taken my seat on the throne of my fathers, and established my rule -- for I crushed Demetrius and gained control of our country;
53: I met him in battle, and he and his army were crushed by us, and we have taken our seat on the throne of his kingdom --
54: now therefore let us establish friendship with one another; give me now your daughter as my wife, and I will become your son-in-law, and will make gifts to you and to her in keeping with your position.”
55: Ptolemy the king replied and said, “Happy was the day on which you returned to the land of your fathers and took your seat on the throne of their kingdom.
56: And now I will do for you as you wrote, but meet me at Ptolemais, so that we may see one another, and I will become your father-in-law, as you have said.”
57: So Ptolemy set out from Egypt, he and Cleopatra his daughter, and came to Ptolemais in the one hundred and sixty-second year.
58: Alexander the king met him, and Ptolemy gave him Cleopatra his daughter in marriage, and celebrated her wedding at Ptolemais with great pomp, as kings do.
59: Then Alexander the king wrote to Jonathan to come to meet him.
60: So he went with pomp to Ptolemais and met the two kings; he gave them and their friends silver and gold and many gifts, and found favor with them.
61: A group of pestilent men from Israel, lawless men, gathered together against him to accuse him; but the king paid no attention to them.
62: The king gave orders to take off Jonathan’s garments and to clothe him in purple, and they did so.
63: The king also seated him at his side; and he said to his officers, “Go forth with him into the middle of the city and proclaim that no one is to bring charges against him about any matter, and let no one annoy him for any reason.”
64: And when his accusers saw the honor that was paid him, in accordance with the proclamation, and saw him clothed in purple, they all fled.
65: Thus the king honored him and enrolled him among his chief friends, and made him general and governor of the province.
66: And Jonathan returned to Jerusalem in peace and gladness.
67: In the one hundred and sixty-fifth year Demetrius the son of Demetrius came from Crete to the land of his fathers.
68: When Alexander the king heard of it, he was greatly grieved and returned to Antioch.
69: And Demetrius appointed Apollonius the governor of Coelesyria, and he assembled a large force and encamped against Jamnia. Then he sent the following message to Jonathan the high priest:
70: “You are the only one to rise up against us, and I have become a laughingstock and reproach because of you. Why do you assume authority against us in the hill country?
71: If you now have confidence in your forces, come down to the plain to meet us, and let us match strength with each other there, for I have with me the power of the cities.
72: Ask and learn who I am and who the others are that are helping us. Men will tell you that you cannot stand before us, for your fathers were twice put to flight in their own land.
73: And now you will not be able to withstand my cavalry and such an army in the plain, where there is no stone or pebble, or place to flee.”
74: When Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, his spirit was aroused. He chose ten thousand men and set out from Jerusalem, and Simon his brother met him to help him.
75: He encamped before Joppa, but the men of the city closed its gates, for Apollonius had a garrison in Joppa.
76: So they fought against it, and the men of the city became afraid and opened the gates, and Jonathan gained possession of Joppa.
77: When Apollonius heard of it, he mustered three thousand cavalry and a large army, and went to Azotus as though he were going farther. At the same time he advanced into the plain, for he had a large troop of cavalry and put confidence in it.
78: Jonathan pursued him to Azotus, and the armies engaged in battle. 79: Now Apollonius had secretly left a thousand cavalry behind them.
80: Jonathan learned that there was an ambush behind him, for they surrounded his army and shot arrows at his men from early morning till late afternoon.
81: But his men stood fast, as Jonathan commanded, and the enemy’s horses grew tired.
82: Then Simon brought forward his force and engaged the phalanx in battle (for the cavalry was exhausted); they were overwhelmed by him and fled,
83: and the cavalry was dispersed in the plain. They fled to Azotus and entered Beth-dagon, the temple of their idol, for safety.
84: But Jonathan burned Azotus and the surrounding towns and plundered them; and the temple of Dagon, and those who had taken refuge in it he burned with fire.
85: The number of those who fell by the sword, with those burned alive, came to eight thousand men.
86: Then Jonathan departed from there and encamped against Askalon, and the men of the city came out to meet him with great pomp.
87: And Jonathan and those with him returned to Jerusalem with much booty.
88: When Alexander the king heard of these things, he honored Jonathan still more;
89: and he sent to him a golden buckle, such as it is the custom to give to the kinsmen of kings. He also gave him Ekron and all its environs as his possession.

Chapter 11

1: Then the king of Egypt gathered great forces, like the sand by the seashore, and many ships; and he tried to get possession of Alexander’s kingdom by trickery and add it to his own kingdom.
2: He set out for Syria with peaceable words, and the people of the cities opened their gates to him and went to meet him, for Alexander the king had commanded them to meet him, since he was Alexander’s father-in-law.
3: But when Ptolemy entered the cities he stationed forces as a garrison in each city.
4: When he approached Azotus, they showed him the temple of Dagon burned down, and Azotus and its suburbs destroyed, and the corpses lying about, and the charred bodies of those whom Jonathan had burned in the war, for they had piled them in heaps along his route.
5: They also told the king what Jonathan had done, to throw blame on him; but the king kept silent.
6: Jonathan met the king at Joppa with pomp, and they greeted one another and spent the night there.
7: And Jonathan went with the king as far as the river called Eleutherus; then he returned to Jerusalem.
8: So King Ptolemy gained control of the coastal cities as far as Seleucia by the sea, and he kept devising evil designs against Alexander.
9: He sent envoys to Demetrius the king, saying, “Come, let us make a covenant with each other, and I will give you in marriage my daughter who was Alexander’s wife, and you shall reign over your father’s kingdom.
10: For I now regret that I gave him my daughter, for he has tried to kill me.”
11: He threw blame on Alexander because he coveted his kingdom.
12: So he took his daughter away from him and gave her to Demetrius. He was estranged from Alexander, and their enmity became manifest.
13: Then Ptolemy entered Antioch and put on the crown of Asia. Thus he put two crowns upon his head, the crown of Egypt and that of Asia.
14: Now Alexander the king was in Cilicia at that time, because the people of that region were in revolt.
15: And Alexander heard of it and came against him in battle. Ptolemy marched out and met him with a strong force, and put him to flight.
16: So Alexander fled into Arabia to find protection there, and King Ptolemy was exalted.
17: And Zabdiel the Arab cut off the head of Alexander and sent it to Ptolemy.
18: But King Ptolemy died three days later, and his troops in the strongholds were killed by the inhabitants of the strongholds.
19: So Demetrius became king in the one hundred and sixty-seventh year.
20: In those days Jonathan assembled the men of Judea to attack the citadel in Jerusalem, and he built many engines of war to use against it.
21: But certain lawless men who hated their nation went to the king and reported to him that Jonathan was besieging the citadel.
22: When he heard this he was angry, and as soon as he heard it he set out and came to Ptolemais; and he wrote Jonathan not to continue the siege, but to meet him for a conference at Ptolemais as quickly as possible.
23: When Jonathan heard this, he gave orders to continue the siege; and he chose some of the elders of Israel and some of the priests, and put himself in danger,
24: for he went to the king at Ptolemais, taking silver and gold and clothing and numerous other gifts. And he won his favor.
25: Although certain lawless men of his nation kept making complaints against him,
26: the king treated him as his predecessors had treated him; he exalted him in the presence of all his friends.
27: He confirmed him in the high priesthood and in as many other honors as he had formerly had, and made him to be regarded as one of his chief friends.
28: Then Jonathan asked the king to free Judea and the three districts of Samaria from tribute, and promised him three hundred talents.
29: The king consented, and wrote a letter to Jonathan about all these things; its contents were as follows:
30: “King Demetrius to Jonathan his brother and to the nation of the Jews, greeting.
31: This copy of the letter which we wrote concerning you to Lasthenes our kinsman we have written to you also, so that you may know what it says.
32: ‘King Demetrius to Lasthenes his father, greeting.
33: To the nation of the Jews, who are our friends and fulfil their obligations to us, we have determined to do good, because of the good will they show toward us.
34: We have confirmed as their possession both the territory of Judea and the three districts of Aphairema and Lydda and Rathamin; the latter, with all the region bordering them, were added to Judea from Samaria. To all those who offer sacrifice in Jerusalem, we have granted release from the royal taxes which the king formerly received from them each year, from the crops of the land and the fruit of the trees.
35: And the other payments henceforth due to us of the tithes, and the taxes due to us, and the salt pits and the crown taxes due to us -- from all these we shall grant them release.
36: And not one of these grants shall be canceled from this time forth for ever.
37: Now therefore take care to make a copy of this, and let it be given to Jonathan and put up in a conspicuous place on the holy mountain.’”
38: Now when Demetrius the king saw that the land was quiet before him and that there was no opposition to him, he dismissed all his troops, each man to his own place, except the foreign troops which he had recruited from the islands of the nations. So all the troops who had served his fathers hated him.
39: Now Trypho had formerly been one of Alexander’s supporters. He saw that all the troops were murmuring against Demetrius. So he went to Imalkue the Arab, who was bringing up Antiochus, the young son of Alexander,
40: and insistently urged him to hand Antiochus over to him, to become king in place of his father. He also reported to Imalkue what Demetrius had done and told of the hatred which the troops of Demetrius had for him; and he stayed there many days.
41: Now Jonathan sent to Demetrius the king the request that he remove the troops of the citadel from Jerusalem, and the troops in the strongholds; for they kept fighting against Israel.
42: And Demetrius sent this message to Jonathan, “Not only will I do these things for you and your nation, but I will confer great honor on you and your nation, if I find an opportunity.
43: Now then you will do well to send me men who will help me, for all my troops have revolted.”
44: So Jonathan sent three thousand stalwart men to him at Antioch, and when they came to the king, the king rejoiced at their arrival.
45: Then the men of the city assembled within the city, to the number of a hundred and twenty thousand, and they wanted to kill the king.
46: But the king fled into the palace. Then the men of the city seized the main streets of the city and began to fight.
47: So the king called the Jews to his aid, and they all rallied about him and then spread out through the city; and they killed on that day as many as a hundred thousand men.
48: They set fire to the city and seized much spoil on that day, and they saved the king.
49: When the men of the city saw that the Jews had gained control of the city as they pleased, their courage failed and they cried out to the king with this entreaty,
50: “Grant us peace, and make the Jews stop fighting against us and our city.”
51: And they threw down their arms and made peace. So the Jews gained glory in the eyes of the king and of all the people in his kingdom, and they returned to Jerusalem with much spoil.
52: So Demetrius the king sat on the throne of his kingdom, and the land was quiet before him.
53: But he broke his word about all that he had promised; and he became estranged from Jonathan and did not repay the favors which Jonathan had done him, but oppressed him greatly.
54: After this Trypho returned, and with him the young boy Antiochus who began to reign and put on the crown.
55: All the troops that Demetrius had cast off gathered around him, and they fought against Demetrius, and he fled and was routed.
56: And Trypho captured the elephants and gained control of Antioch.
57: Then the young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying, “I confirm you in the high priesthood and set you over the four districts and make you one of the friends of the king.”
58: And he sent him gold plate and a table service, and granted him the right to drink from gold cups and dress in purple and wear a gold buckle.
59: Simon his brother he made governor from the Ladder of Tyre to the borders of Egypt.
60: Then Jonathan set forth and traveled beyond the river and among the cities, and all the army of Syria gathered to him as allies. When he came to Askalon, the people of the city met him and paid him honor.
61: From there he departed to Gaza, but the men of Gaza shut him out. So he beseiged it and burned its suburbs with fire and plundered them.
62: Then the people of Gaza pleaded with Jonathan, and he made peace with them, and took the sons of their rulers as hostages and sent them to Jerusalem. And he passed through the country as far as Damascus.
63: Then Jonathan heard that the officers of Demetrius had come to Kadesh in Galilee with a large army, intending to remove him from office.
64: He went to meet them, but left his brother Simon in the country.
65: Simon encamped before Beth-zur and fought against it for many days and hemmed it in.
66: Then they asked him to grant them terms of peace, and he did so. He removed them from there, took possession of the city, and set a garrison over it.
67: Jonathan and his army encamped by the waters of Gennesaret. Early in the morning they marched to the plain of Hazor,
68: and behold, the army of the foreigners met him in the plain; they had set an ambush against him in the mountains, but they themselves met him face to face.
69: Then the men in ambush emerged from their places and joined battle.
70: All the men with Jonathan fled; not one of them was left except Mattathias the son of Absalom and Judas the son of Chalphi, commanders of the forces of the army.
71: Jonathan rent his garments and put dust on his head, and prayed.
72: Then he turned back to the battle against the enemy and routed them, and they fled.
73: When his men who were fleeing saw this, they returned to him and joined him in the pursuit as far as Kadesh, to their camp, and there they encamped.
74: As many as three thousand of the foreigners fell that day. And Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 12

1: Now when Jonathan saw that the time was favorable for him, he chose men and sent them to Rome to confirm and renew the friendship with them.
2: He also sent letters to the same effect to the Spartans and to other places.
3: So they went to Rome and entered the senate chamber and said, “Jonathan the high priest and the Jewish nation have sent us to renew the former friendship and alliance with them.”
4: And the Romans gave them letters to the people in every place, asking them to provide for the envoys safe conduct to the land of Judah.
5: This is a copy of the letter which Jonathan wrote to the Spartans:
6: “Jonathan the high priest, the senate of the nation, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people to their brethren the Spartans, greeting.
7: Already in time past a letter was sent to Onias the high priest from Arius, who was king among you, stating that you are our brethren, as the appended copy shows.
8: Onias welcomed the envoy with honor, and received the letter, which contained a clear declaration of alliance and friendship.
9: Therefore, though we have no need of these things, since we have as encouragement the holy books which are in our hands,
10: we have undertaken to send to renew our brotherhood and friendship with you, so that we may not become estranged from you, for considerable time has passed since you sent your letter to us.
11: We therefore remember you constantly on every occasion, both in our feasts and on other appropriate days, at the sacrifices which we offer and in our prayers, as it is right and proper to remember brethren.
12: And we rejoice in your glory.
13: But as for ourselves, many afflictions and many wars have encircled us; the kings round about us have waged war against us.
14: We were unwilling to annoy you and our other allies and friends with these wars,
15: for we have the help which comes from Heaven for our aid; and we were delivered from our enemies and our enemies were humbled.
16: We therefore have chosen Numenius the son of Antiochus and Antipater the son of Jason, and have sent them to Rome to renew our former friendship and alliance with them.
17: We have commanded them to go also to you and greet you and deliver to you this letter from us concerning the renewal of our brotherhood.
18: And now please send us a reply to this.”
19: This is a copy of the letter which they sent to Onias:
20: “Arius, king of the Spartans, to Onias the high priest, greeting.
21: It has been found in writing concerning the Spartans and the Jews that they are brethren and are of the family of Abraham.
22: And now that we have learned this, please write us concerning your welfare;
23: we on our part write to you that your cattle and your property belong to us, and ours belong to you. We therefore command that our envoys report to you accordingly.”
24: Now Jonathan heard that the commanders of Demetrius had returned, with a larger force than before, to wage war against him.
25: So he marched away from Jerusalem and met them in the region of Hamath, for he gave them no opportunity to invade his own country.
26: He sent spies to their camp, and they returned and reported to him that the enemy were being drawn up in formation to fall upon the Jews by night.
27: So when the sun set, Jonathan commanded his men to be alert and to keep their arms at hand so as to be ready all night for battle, and he stationed outposts around the camp.
28: When the enemy heard that Jonathan and his men were prepared for battle, they were afraid and were terrified at heart; so they kindled fires in their camp and withdrew.
29: But Jonathan and his men did not know it until morning, for they saw the fires burning.
30: Then Jonathan pursued them, but he did not overtake them, for they had crossed the Eleutherus river.
31: So Jonathan turned aside against the Arabs who are called Zabadeans, and he crushed them and plundered them.
32: Then he broke camp and went to Damascus, and marched through all that region.
33: Simon also went forth and marched through the country as far as Askalon and the neighboring strongholds. He turned aside to Joppa and took it by surprise,
34: for he had heard that they were ready to hand over the stronghold to the men whom Demetrius had sent. And he stationed a garrison there to guard it.
35: When Jonathan returned he convened the elders of the people and planned with them to build strongholds in Judea,
36: to build the walls of Jerusalem still higher, and to erect a high barrier between the citadel and the city to separate it from the city, in order to isolate it so that its garrison could neither buy nor sell.
37: So they gathered together to build up the city; part of the wall on the valley to the east had fallen, and he repaired the section called Chaphenatha.
38: And Simon built Adida in the Shephelah; he fortified it and installed gates with bolts.
39: Then Trypho attempted to become king in Asia and put on the crown, and to raise his hand against Antiochus the king.
40: He feared that Jonathan might not permit him to do so, but might make war on him, so he kept seeking to seize and kill him, and he marched forth and came to Beth-shan.
41: Jonathan went out to meet him with forty thousand picked fighting men, and he came to Beth-shan.
42: When Trypho saw that he had come with a large army, he was afraid to raise his hand against him.
43: So he received him with honor and commended him to all his friends, and he gave him gifts and commanded his friends and his troops to obey him as they would himself.
44: Then he said to Jonathan, “Why have you wearied all these people when we are not at war?
45: Dismiss them now to their homes and choose for yourself a few men to stay with you, and come with me to Ptolemais. I will hand it over to you as well as the other strongholds and the remaining troops and all the officials, and will turn round and go home. For that is why I am here.”
46: Jonathan trusted him and did as he said; he sent away the troops, and they returned to the land of Judah.
47: He kept with himself three thousand men, two thousand of whom he left in Galilee, while a thousand accompanied him.
48: But when Jonathan entered Ptolemais, the men of Ptolemais closed the gates and seized him, and all who had entered with him they killed with the sword.
49: Then Trypho sent troops and cavalry into Galilee and the Great Plain to destroy all Jonathan’s soldiers.
50: But they realized that Jonathan had been seized and had perished along with his men, and they encouraged one another and kept marching in close formation, ready for battle.
51: When their pursuers saw that they would fight for their lives, they turned back.
52: So they all reached the land of Judah safely, and they mourned for Jonathan and his companions and were in great fear; and all Israel mourned deeply.
53: And all the nations round about them tried to destroy them, for they said, “They have no leader or helper. Now therefore let us make war on them and blot out the memory of them from among men.”

Chapter 13

1: Simon heard that Trypho had assembled a large army to invade the land of Judah and destroy it,
2: and he saw that the people were trembling and fearful. So he went up to Jerusalem, and gathering the people together
3: he encouraged them, saying to them, “You yourselves know what great things I and my brothers and the house of my father have done for the laws and the sanctuary; you know also the wars and the difficulties which we have seen.
4: By reason of this all my brothers have perished for the sake of Israel, and I alone am left. 5: And now, far be it from me to spare my life in any time of distress, for I am not better than my brothers.
6: But I will avenge my nation and the sanctuary and your wives and children, for all the nations have gathered together out of hatred to destroy us.”
7: The spirit of the people was rekindled when they heard these words,
8: and they answered in a loud voice, “You are our leader in place of Judas and Jonathan your brother.
9: Fight our battles, and all that you say to us we will do.”
10: So he assembled all the warriors and hastened to complete the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it on every side.
11: He sent Jonathan the son of Absalom to Joppa, and with him a considerable army; he drove out its occupants and remained there.
12: Then Trypho departed from Ptolemais with a large army to invade the land of Judah, and Jonathan was with him under guard.
13: And Simon encamped in Adida, facing the plain.
14: Trypho learned that Simon had risen up in place of Jonathan his brother, and that he was about to join battle with him, so he sent envoys to him and said,
15: “It is for the money that Jonathan your brother owed the royal treasury, in connection with the offices he held, that we are detaining him.
16: Send now a hundred talents of silver and two of his sons as hostages, so that when released he will not revolt against us, and we will release him.”
17: Simon knew that they were speaking deceitfully to him, but he sent to get the money and the sons, lest he arouse great hostility among the people, who might say,
18: “Because Simon did not send him the money and the sons, he perished.”
19: So he sent the sons and the hundred talents, but Trypho broke his word and did not release Jonathan.
20: After this Trypho came to invade the country and destroy it, and he circled around by the way to Adora. But Simon and his army kept marching along opposite him to every place he went.
21: Now the men in the citadel kept sending envoys to Trypho urging him to come to them by way of the wilderness and to send them food.
22: So Trypho got all his cavalry ready to go, but that night a very heavy snow fell, and he did not go because of the snow. He marched off and went into the land of Gilead.
23: When he approached Baskama, he killed Jonathan, and he was buried there.
24: Then Trypho turned back and departed to his own land.
25: And Simon sent and took the bones of Jonathan his brother, and buried him in Modein, the city of his fathers.
26: All Israel bewailed him with great lamentation, and mourned for him many days.
27: And Simon built a monument over the tomb of his father and his brothers; he made it high that it might be seen, with polished stone at the front and back.
28: He also erected seven pyramids, opposite one another, for his father and mother and four brothers.
29: And for the pyramids he devised an elaborate setting, erecting about them great columns, and upon the columns he put suits of armor for a permanent memorial, and beside the suits of armor carved ships, so that they could be seen by all who sail the sea.
30: This is the tomb which he built in Modein; it remains to this day.
31: Trypho dealt treacherously with the young king Antiochus; he killed him
32: and became king in his place, putting on the crown of Asia; and he brought great calamity upon the land.
33: But Simon built up the strongholds of Judea and walled them all around, with high towers and great walls and gates and bolts, and he stored food in the strongholds.
34: Simon also chose men and sent them to Demetrius the king with a request to grant relief to the country, for all that Trypho did was to plunder.
35: Demetrius the king sent him a favorable reply to this request, and wrote him a letter as follows,
36: “King Demetrius to Simon, the high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews, greeting.
37: We have received the gold crown and the palm branch which you sent, and we are ready to make a general peace with you and to write to our officials to grant you release from tribute.
38: All the grants that we have made to you remain valid, and let the strongholds that you have built be your possession.
39: We pardon any errors and offenses committed to this day, and cancel the crown tax which you owe; and whatever other tax has been collected in Jerusalem shall be collected no longer.
40: And if any of you are qualified to be enrolled in our bodyguard, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us.”
41: In the one hundred and seventieth year the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel,
42: and the people began to write in their documents and contracts, “In the first year of Simon the great high priest and commander and leader of the Jews.”
43: In those days Simon encamped against Gazara and surrounded it with troops. He made a siege engine, brought it up to the city, and battered and captured one tower.
44: The men in the siege engine leaped out into the city, and a great tumult arose in the city.
45: The men in the city, with their wives and children, went up on the wall with their clothes rent, and they cried out with a loud voice, asking Simon to make peace with them;
46: they said, “Do not treat us according to our wicked acts but according to your mercy.” 47: So Simon reached an agreement with them and stopped fighting against them. But he expelled them from the city and cleansed the houses in which the idols were, and then entered it with hymns and praise.
48: He cast out of it all uncleanness, and settled in it men who observed the law. He also strengthened its fortifications and built in it a house for himself.
49: The men in the citadel at Jerusalem were prevented from going out to the country and back to buy and sell. So they were very hungry, and many of them perished from famine.
50: Then they cried to Simon to make peace with them, and he did so. But he expelled them from there and cleansed the citadel from its pollutions.
51: On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred and seventy-first year, the Jews entered it with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.
52: And Simon decreed that every year they should celebrate this day with rejoicing. He strengthened the fortifications of the temple hill alongside the citadel, and he and his men dwelt there.
53: And Simon saw that John his son had reached manhood, so he made him commander of all the forces, and he dwelt in Gazara.

Chapter 14

1: In the one hundred and seventy-second year Demetrius the king assembled his forces and marched into Media to secure help, so that he could make war against Trypho.
2: When Arsaces the king of Persia and Media heard that Demetrius had invaded his territory, he sent one of his commanders to take him alive.
3: And he went and defeated the army of Demetrius, and seized him and took him to Arsaces, who put him under guard.
4: The land had rest all the days of Simon. He sought the good of his nation; his rule was pleasing to them, as was the honor shown him, all his days.
5: To crown all his honors he took Joppa for a harbor, and opened a way to the isles of the sea.
6: He extended the borders of his nation, and gained full control of the country.
7: He gathered a host of captives; he ruled over Gazara and Beth-zur and the citadel, and he removed its uncleanness from it; and there was none to oppose him.
8: They tilled their land in peace; the ground gave its increase, and the trees of the plains their fruit.
9: Old men sat in the streets; they all talked together of good things; and the youths donned the glories and garments of war.
10: He supplied the cities with food, and furnished them with the means of defense, till his renown spread to the ends of the earth.
11: He established peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy.
12: Each man sat under his vine and his fig tree, and there was none to make them afraid.
13: No one was left in the land to fight them, and the kings were crushed in those days.
14: He strengthened all the humble of his people; he sought out the law, and did away with every lawless and wicked man.
15: He made the sanctuary glorious, and added to the vessels of the sanctuary.
16: It was heard in Rome, and as far away as Sparta, that Jonathan had died, and they were deeply grieved.
17: When they heard that Simon his brother had become high priest in his place, and that he was ruling over the country and the cities in it,
18: they wrote to him on bronze tablets to renew with him the friendship and alliance which they had established with Judas and Jonathan his brothers.
19: And these were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.
20: This is a copy of the letter which the Spartans sent: “The rulers and the city of the Spartans to Simon the high priest and to the elders and the priests and the rest of the Jewish people, our brethren, greeting.
21: The envoys who were sent to our people have told us about your glory and honor, and we rejoiced at their coming.
22: And what they said we have recorded in our public decrees, as follows, ‘Numenius the son of Antiochus and Antipater the son of Jason, envoys of the Jews, have come to us to renew their friendship with us.
23: It has pleased our people to receive these men with honor and to put a copy of their words in the public archives, so that the people of the Spartans may have a record of them. And they have sent a copy of this to Simon the high priest.’”
24: After this Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a large gold shield weighing a thousand minas, to confirm the alliance with the Romans.
25: When the people heard these things they said, “How shall we thank Simon and his sons?
26: For he and his brothers and the house of his father have stood firm; they have fought and repulsed Israel’s enemies and established its freedom.”
27: So they made a record on bronze tablets and put it upon pillars on Mount Zion. This is a copy of what they wrote: “On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the one hundred and seventy-second year, which is the third year of Simon the great high priest,
28: in Asaramel, in the great assembly of the priests and the people and the rulers of the nation and the elders of the country, the following was proclaimed to us:
29: “Since wars often occurred in the country, Simon the son of Mattathias, a priest of the sons of Joarib, and his brothers, exposed themselves to danger and resisted the enemies of their nation, in order that their sanctuary and the law might be perserved; and they brought great glory to their nation.
30: Jonathan rallied the nation, and became their high priest, and was gathered to his people.
31: And when their enemies decided to invade their country and lay hands on their sanctuary, 32: then Simon rose up and fought for his nation. He spent great sums of his own money; he armed the men of his nation’s forces and paid them wages.
33: He fortified the cities of Judea, and Beth-zur on the borders of Judea, where formerly the arms of the enemy had been stored, and he placed there a garrison of Jews.
34: He also fortified Joppa, which is by the sea, and Gazara, which is on the borders of Azotus, where the enemy formerly dwelt. He settled Jews there, and provided in those cities whatever was necessary for their restoration.
35: “The people saw Simon’s faithfulness and the glory which he had resolved to win for his nation, and they made him their leader and high priest, because he had done all these things and because of the justice and loyalty which he had maintained toward his nation. He sought in every way to exalt his people.
36: And in his days things prospered in his hands, so that the Gentiles were put out of the country, as were also the men in the city of David in Jerusalem, who had built themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth and defile the environs of the sanctuary and do great damage to its purity.
37: He settled Jews in it, and fortified it for the safety of the country and of the city, and built the walls of Jerusalem higher.
38: “In view of these things King Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood,
39: and he made him one of the king’s friends and paid him high honors.
40: For he had heard that the Jews were addressed by the Romans as friends and allies and brethren, and that the Romans had received the envoys of Simon with honor.
41: “And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise,
42: and that he should be governor over them and that he should take charge of the sanctuary and appoint men over its tasks and over the country and the weapons and the strongholds, and that he should take charge of the sanctuary,
43: and that he should be obeyed by all, and that all contracts in the country should be written in his name, and that he should be clothed in purple and wear gold.
44: “And none of the people or priests shall be permitted to nullify any of these decisions or to oppose what he says, or to convene an assembly in the country without his permission, or to be clothed in purple or put on a gold buckle.
45: Whoever acts contrary to these decisions or nullifies any of them shall be liable to punishment.”
46: And all the people agreed to grant Simon the right to act in accord with these decisions.
47: So Simon accepted and agreed to be high priest, to be commander and ethnarch of the Jews and priests, and to be protector of them all.
48: And they gave orders to inscribe this decree upon bronze tablets, to put them up in a conspicuous place in the precincts of the sanctuary,
49: and to deposit copies of them in the treasury, so that Simon and his sons might have them.

Chapter 15

1: Antiochus, the son of Demetrius the king, sent a letter from the islands of the sea to Simon, the priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to all the nation;
2: its contents were as follows: “King Antiochus to Simon the high priest and ethnarch and to the nation of the Jews, greeting.
3: Whereas certain pestilent men have gained control of the kingdom of our fathers, and I intend to lay claim to the kingdom so that I may restore it as it formerly was, and have recruited a host of mercenary troops and have equipped warships,
4: and intend to make a landing in the country so that I may proceed against those who have destroyed our country and those who have devastated many cities in my kingdom,
5: now therefore I confirm to you all the tax remissions that the kings before me have granted you, and release from all the other payments from which they have released you.
6: I permit you to mint your own coinage as money for your country,
7: and I grant freedom to Jerusalem and the sanctuary. All the weapons which you have prepared and the strongholds which you have built and now hold shall remain yours.
8: Every debt you owe to the royal treasury and any such future debts shall be canceled for you from henceforth and for all time.
9: When we gain control of our kingdom, we will bestow great honor upon you and your nation and the temple, so that your glory will become manifest in all the earth.”
10: In the one hundred and seventy-fourth year Antiochus set out and invaded the land of his fathers. All the troops rallied to him, so that there were few with Trypho.
11: Antiochus pursued him, and he came in his flight to Dor, which is by the sea;
12: for he knew that troubles had converged upon him, and his troops had deserted him.
13: So Antiochus encamped against Dor, and with him were a hundred and twenty thousand warriors and eight thousand cavalry.
14: He surrounded the city, and the ships joined battle from the sea; he pressed the city hard from land and sea, and permitted no one to leave or enter it.
15: Then Numenius and his companions arrived from Rome, with letters to the kings and countries, in which the following was written:
16: “Lucius, consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy, greeting.
17: The envoys of the Jews have come to us as our friends and allies to renew our ancient friendship and alliance. They had been sent by Simon the high priest and by the people of the Jews,
18: and have brought a gold shield weighing a thousand minas.
19: We therefore have decided to write to the kings and countries that they should not seek their harm or make war against them and their cities and their country, or make alliance with those who war against them.
20: And it has seemed good to us to accept the shield from them.
21: Therefore if any pestilent men have fled to you from their country, hand them over to Simon the high priest, that he may punish them according to their law.”
22: The consul wrote the same thing to Demetrius the king and to Attalus and Ariarathes and Arsaces,
23: and to all the countries, and to Sampsames, and to the Spartans, and to Delos, and to Myndos, and to Sicyon, and to Caria, and to Samos, and to Pamphylia, and to Lycia, and to Halicarnassus, and to Rhodes, and to Phaselis, and to Cos, and to Side, and to Aradus and Gortyna and Cnidus and Cyprus and Cyrene.
24: They also sent a copy of these things to Simon the high priest.
25: Antiochus the king besieged Dor anew, continually throwing his forces against it and making engines of war; and he shut Trypho up and kept him from going out or in.
26: And Simon sent to Antiochus two thousand picked men, to fight for him, and silver and gold and much military equipment.
27: But he refused to receive them, and he broke all the agreements he formerly had made with Simon, and became estranged from him.
28: He sent to him Athenobius, one of his friends, to confer with him, saying, “You hold control of Joppa and Gazara and the citadel in Jerusalem; they are cities of my kingdom.
29: You have devastated their territory, you have done great damage in the land, and you have taken possession of many places in my kingdom.
30: Now then, hand over the cities which you have seized and the tribute money of the places which you have conquered outside the borders of Judea;
31: or else give me for them five hundred talents of silver, and for the destruction that you have caused and the tribute money of the cities, five hundred talents more. Otherwise we will come and conquer you.”
32: So Athenobius the friend of the king came to Jerusalem, and when he saw the splendor of Simon, and the sideboard with its gold and silver plate, and his great magnificence, he was amazed. He reported to him the words of the king,
33: but Simon gave him this reply: “We have neither taken foreign land nor seized foreign property, but only the inheritance of our fathers, which at one time had been unjustly taken by our enemies.
34: Now that we have the opportunity, we are firmly holding the inheritance of our fathers.
35: As for Joppa and Gazara, which you demand, they were causing great damage among the people and to our land; for them we will give you a hundred talents.” Athenobius did not answer him a word,
36: but returned in wrath to the king and reported to him these words and the splendor of Simon and all that he had seen. And the king was greatly angered.
37: Now Trypho embarked on a ship and escaped to Orthosia.
38: Then the king made Cendebeus commander-in-chief of the coastal country, and gave him troops of infantry and cavalry.
39: He commanded him to encamp against Judea, and commanded him to build up Kedron and fortify its gates, and to make war on the people; but the king pursued Trypho.
40: So Cendebeus came to Jamnia and began to provoke the people and invade Judea and take the people captive and kill them.
41: He built up Kedron and stationed there horsemen and troops, so that they might go out and make raids along the highways of Judea, as the king had ordered him.

Chapter 16

1: John went up from Gazara and reported to Simon his father what Cendebeus had done.
2: And Simon called in his two older sons Judas and John, and said to them: “I and my brothers and the house of my father have fought the wars of Israel from our youth until this day, and things have prospered in our hands so that we have delivered Israel many times.
3: But now I have grown old, and you by HIS mercy are mature in years. Take my place and my brother’s, and go out and fight for our nation, and may the help which comes from Heaven be with you.”
4: So John chose out of the country twenty thousand warriors and horsemen, and they marched against Cendebeus and camped for the night in Modein.
5: Early in the morning they arose and marched into the plain, and behold, a large force of infantry and horsemen was coming to meet them; and a stream lay between them.
6: Then he and his army lined up against them. And he saw that the soldiers were afraid to cross the stream, so he crossed over first; and when his men saw him, they crossed over after him.
7: Then he divided the army and placed the horsemen in the midst of the infantry, for the cavalry of the enemy were very numerous.
8: And they sounded the trumpets, and Cendebeus and his army were put to flight, and many of them were wounded and fell; the rest fled into the stronghold.
9: At that time Judas the brother of John was wounded, but John pursued them until Cendebeus reached Kedron, which he had built.
10: They also fled into the towers that were in the fields of Azotus, and John burned it with fire, and about two thousand of them fell. And he returned to Judea safely.
11: Now Ptolemy the son of Abubus had been appointed governor over the plain of Jericho, and he had much silver and gold,
12: for he was son-in-law of the high priest.
13: HIS heart was lifted up; he determined to get control of the country, and made treacherous plans against Simon and his sons, to do away with them.
14: Now Simon was visiting the cities of the country and attending to their needs, and he went down to Jericho with Mattathias and Judas his sons, in the one hundred and seventy-seventh year, in the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat.
15: The son of Abubus received them treacherously in the little stronghold called Dok, which he had built; he gave them a great banquet, and hid men there.
16: When Simon and his sons were drunk, Ptolemy and his men rose up, took their weapons, and rushed in against Simon in the banquet hall, and they killed him and his two sons and some of his servants.
17: So he committed an act of great treachery and returned evil for good.
18: Then Ptolemy wrote a report about these things and sent it to the king, asking him to send troops to aid him and to turn over to him the cities and the country.
19: He sent other men to Gazara to do away with John; he sent letters to the captains asking them to come to him so that he might give them silver and gold and gifts;
20: and he sent other men to take possession of Jerusalem and the temple hill.
21: But some one ran ahead and reported to John at Gazara that his father and brothers had perished, and that “he has sent men to kill you also.”
22: When he heard this, he was greatly shocked; and he seized the men who came to destroy him and killed them, for he had found out that they were seeking to destroy him.
23: The rest of the acts of John and his wars and the brave deeds which he did, and the building of the walls which he built, and his achievements,
24: behold, they are written in the chronicles of his high priesthood, from the time that he became high priest after his father.

2 Maccabees

Chapter 1

1 The brethren, the Jews that be at Jerusalem and in the land of Judea, wish unto the brethren, the Jews that are throughout Egypt health and peace:
2 God be gracious unto you, and remember his covenant that he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants;
3 And give you all an heart to serve him, and to do his will, with a good courage and a willing mind;
4 And open your hearts in his law and commandments, and send you peace,
5 And hear your prayers, and be at one with you, and never forsake you in time of trouble.
6 And now we be here praying for you.
7 What time as Demetrius reigned, in the hundred threescore and ninth year, we the Jews wrote unto you in the extremity of trouble that came upon us in those years, from the time that Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and kingdom,
8 And burned the porch, and shed innocent blood: then we prayed unto the Lord, and were heard; we offered also sacrifices and fine flour, and lighted the lamps, and set forth the loaves.
9 And now see that ye keep the feast of tabernacles in the month Casleu.
10 In the hundred fourscore and eighth year, the people that were at Jerusalem and in Judea, and the council, and Judas, sent greeting and health unto Aristobulus, king Ptolemeus’ master, who was of the stock of the anointed priests, and to the Jews that were in Egypt:
11 Insomuch as God hath delivered us from great perils, we thank him highly, as having been in battle against a king.
12 For he cast them out that fought within the holy city.
13 For when the leader was come into Persia, and the army with him that seemed invincible, they were slain in the temple of Nanea by the deceit of Nanea’s priests.
14 For Antiochus, as though he would marry her, came into the place, and his friends that were with him, to receive money in name of a dowry.
15 Which when the priests of Nanea had set forth, and he was entered with a small company into the compass of the temple, they shut the temple as soon as Antiochus was come in:
16 And opening a privy door of the roof, they threw stones like thunderbolts, and struck down the captain, hewed them in pieces, smote off their heads and cast them to those that were without.
17 Blessed be our God in all things, who hath delivered up the ungodly.
18 Therefore whereas we are now purposed to keep the purification of the temple upon the five and twentieth day of the month Casleu, we thought it necessary to certify you thereof, that ye also might keep it, as the feast of the tabernacles, and of the fire, which was given us when Neemias offered sacrifice, after that he had builded the temple and the altar.
19 For when our fathers were led into Persia, the priests that were then devout took the fire of the altar privily, and hid it in an hollow place of a pit without water, where they kept it sure, so that the place was unknown to all men.
20 Now after many years, when it pleased God, Neemias, being sent from the king of Persia, did send of the posterity of those priests that had hid it to the fire: but when they told us they found no fire, but thick water;
21 Then commanded he them to draw it up, and to bring it; and when the sacrifices were laid on, Neemias commanded the priests to sprinkle the wood and the things laid thereupon with the water.
22 When this was done, and the time came that the sun shone, which afore was hid in the cloud, there was a great fire kindled, so that every man marvelled.
23 And the priests made a prayer whilst the sacrifice was consuming, I say, both the priests, and all the rest, Jonathan beginning, and the rest answering thereunto, as Neemias did.
24 And the prayer was after this manner; O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, who art fearful and strong, and righteous, and merciful, and the only and gracious King, 25 The only giver of all things, the only just, almighty, and everlasting, thou that deliverest Israel from all trou- ble, and didst choose the fathers, and sanctify them:
26 Receive the sacrifice for thy whole people Israel, and preserve thine own portion, and sanctify it.
27 Gather those together that are scattered from us, deliver them that serve among the heathen, look upon them that are despised and abhorred, and let the heathen know that thou art our God.
28 Punish them that oppress us, and with pride do us wrong.
29 Plant thy people again in thy holy place, as Moses hath spoken.
30 And the priests sung psalms of thanksgiving.
31 Now when the sacrifice was consumed, Neemias commanded the water that was left to be poured on the great stones.
32 When this was done, there was kindled a flame: but it was consumed by the light that shined from the altar.
33 So when this matter was known, it was told the king of Persia, that in the place, where the priests that were led away had hid the fire, there appeared water, and that Neemias had purified the sacrifices therewith.
34 Then the king, inclosing the place, made it holy, after he had tried the matter.
35 And the king took many gifts, and bestowed thereof on those whom he would gratify.
36 And Neemias called this thing Naphthar, which is as much as to say, a cleansing: but many men call it Nephi.

Chapter 2

1 It is also found in the records, that Jeremy the prophet commanded them that were carried away to take of the fire, as it hath been signified:
2 And how that the prophet, having given them the law, charged them not to forget the commandments of the Lord, and that they should not err in their minds, when they see images of silver and gold, with their ornaments. 3 And with other such speeches exhorted he them, that the law should not depart from their hearts.
4 It was also contained in the same writing, that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded the taberna- cle 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.
9 It was also declared, that he being wise offered the sacrifice of dedication, and of the finishing of the temple.
10 And as when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the sacrifices: even so prayed Solomon also, and the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offerings.
11 And Moses said, Because the sin offering was not to be eaten, it was consumed.
12 So Solomon kept those eight days.
13 The same things also were reported in the writings and commentaries of Neemias; and how he founding a library gathered together the acts of the kings, and the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.
14 In like manner also Judas gathered together all those things that were lost by reason of the war we had, and they remain with us,
15 Wherefore if ye have need thereof, send some to fetch them unto you.
16 Whereas we then are about to celebrate the purifica- tion, we have written unto you, and ye shall do well, if ye keep the same days.
17 We hope also, that the God, that delivered all his people, and gave them all an heritage, and the kingdom, and the priesthood, and the sanctuary,
18 As he promised in the law, will shortly have mercy upon us, and gather us together out of every land under heaven into the holy place: for he hath delivered us out of great troubles, and hath purified the place.
19 Now as concerning Judas Maccabeus, and his brethren, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar,
20 And the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes, and Eupator his son,
21 And the manifest signs that came from heaven unto those that behaved themselves manfully to their honour for Judaism: so that, being but a few, they overcame the whole country, and chased barbarous multitudes,
22 And recovered again the temple renowned all the world over, and freed the city, and upheld the laws which were going down, the Lord being gracious unto them with all favour:
23 All these things, I say, being declared by Jason of Cyrene in five books, we will assay to abridge in one volume.
24 For considering the infinite number, and the diffi- culty which they find that desire to look into the narra- tions of the story, for the variety of the matter,
25 We have been careful, that they that will read may have delight, and that they that are desirous to commit to memory might have ease, and that all into whose hands it comes might have profit.
26 Therefore to us, that have taken upon us this painful labour of abridging, it was not easy, but a matter of sweat and watching;
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 this great pains;
28 Leaving to the author the exact handling of every particular, and labouring to follow the rules of an abridge- ment.
29 For as the master builder of a new house must care for the whole building; but he that undertaketh to set it out, and paint it, must seek out fit things for the adorning thereof: even so I think it is with us.
30 To stand upon every point, and go over things at large, and to be curious in particulars, belongeth to the first author of the story:
31 But to use brevity, and avoid much labouring of the work, is to be granted to him that will make an abridgment.
32 Here then will we begin the story: only adding thus much to that which hath been said, that it is a foolish thing to make a long prologue, and to be short in the story itself.

Chapter 3

1 Now 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,
2 It came to pass that even the kings themselves did honour the place, and magnify the temple with their best gifts;
3 Insomuch that Seleucus of Asia of his own revenues bare all the costs belonging to the service of the sacrifices.
4 But one Simon of the tribe of Benjamin, who was made governor of the temple, fell out with the high priest about disorder in the city.
5 And when he could not overcome Onias, he gat him to Apollonius the son of Thraseas, who then was governor of Celosyria and Phenice,
6 And told him that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of infinite sums of money, so that the multitude of their riches, which did not pertain to the account of the sacrifices, was innumerable, and that it was possible to bring all into the king’s hand.
7 Now when Apollonius came to the king, and had shewed him of the money whereof he was told, the king chose out Heliodorus his treasurer, and sent him with a commandment to bring him the foresaid money.
8 So forthwith Heliodorus took his journey; under a colour of visiting the cities of Celosyria and Phenice, but indeed to fulfil the king’s purpose.
9 And when he was come to Jerusalem, and had been courteously received of the high priest of the city, he told him what intelligence was given of the money, and declared wherefore he came, and asked if these things were so indeed.
10 Then the high priest told him that there was such money laid up for the relief of widows and fatherless children:
11 And that some of it belonged to Hircanus son of Tobias, a man of great dignity, and not as that wicked Simon had misinformed: the sum whereof in all was four hundred talents of silver, and two hundred of gold:
12 And that it was altogether impossible that such wrongs should be done unto them, that had committed it to the holiness of the place, and to the majesty and inviolable sanctity of the temple, honoured over all the world.
13 But Heliodorus, because of the king’s commandment given him, said, That in any wise it must be brought into the king’s treasury.
14 So at the day which he appointed he entered in to order this matter: wherefore there was no small agony throughout the whole city.
15 But the priests, prostrating themselves before the altar in their priests’ vestments, called unto heaven upon him that made a law concerning things given to be kept, that they should safely be preserved for such as had committed them to be kept.
16 Then whoso had looked the high priest in the face, it would have wounded his heart: for his countenance and the changing of his colour declared the inward agony of his mind.
17 For the man was so compassed with fear and horror of the body, that it was manifest to them that looked upon him, what sorrow he had now in his heart.
18 Others ran flocking out of their houses to the general supplication, because the place was like to come into contempt.
19 And the women, girt with sackcloth under their breasts, abounded in the streets, and the virgins that were kept in ran, some to the gates, and some to the walls, and others looked out of the windows.
20 And all, holding their hands toward heaven, made supplication.
21 Then it would have pitied a man to see the falling down of the multitude of all sorts, and the fear of the high priest being in such an agony.
22 They then called upon the Almighty Lord to keep the things committed of trust safe and sure for those that had committed them.
23 Nevertheless Heliodorus executed that which was decreed.
24 Now as he was there present himself with his guard about the treasury, the Lord of spirits, and the Prince of all power, caused a great apparition, so that all that presumed to come in with him were astonished at the power of God, and fainted, and were sore afraid.
25 For there appeared unto them an horse with a terrible rider upon him, and adorned with a very fair covering, and he ran fiercely, and smote at Heliodorus with his forefeet, and it seemed that he that sat upon the horse had complete harness of gold.
26 Moreover two other young men appeared before him, notable in strength, excellent in beauty, and comely in apparel, who stood by him on either side; and scourged him continually, and gave him many sore stripes.
27 And Heliodorus fell suddenly unto the ground, and was compassed with great darkness: but they that were with him took him up, and put him into a litter.
28 Thus him, that lately came with a great train and with all his guard into the said treasury, they carried out, being unable to help himself with his weapons: and manifestly they acknowledged the power of God.
29 For he by the hand of God was cast down, and lay speechless without all hope of life.
30 But they praised the Lord, that had miraculously honoured his own place: for the temple; which a little afore was full of fear and trouble, when the Almighty Lord appeared, was filled with joy and gladness.
31 Then straightways certain of Heliodorus’ friends prayed Onias, that he would call upon the most High to grant him his life, who lay ready to give up the ghost.
32 So the high priest, suspecting lest the king should misconceive that some treachery had been done to He- liodorus by the Jews, offered a sacrifice for the health of the man.
33 Now as the high priest was making an atonement, the same young men in the same clothing appeared and stood beside Heliodorus, saying, Give Onias the high priest great thanks, insomuch as for his sake the Lord hath granted thee life:
34 And seeing that thou hast been scourged from heaven, declare unto all men the mighty power of God. And when they had spoken these words, they appeared no more.
35 So Heliodorus, after he had offered sacrifice unto the Lord, and made great vows unto him that had saved his life, and saluted Onias, returned with his host to the king.
36 Then testified he to all men the works of the great God, which he had seen with his eyes.
37 And when the king asked Heliodorus, who might be a fit man to be sent yet once again to Jerusalem, he said,
38 If thou hast any enemy or traitor, send him thither, and thou shalt receive him well scourged, if he escape with his life: for in that place, no doubt, there is an especial power of God.
39 For he that dwelleth in heaven hath his eye on that place, and defendeth it; and he beateth and destroyeth them that come to hurt it.
40 And the things concerning Heliodorus, and the keeping of the treasury, fell out on this sort.

Chapter 4

1 This Simon now, of whom we spake afore, having been a betrayer of the money, and of his country, slandered Onias, as if he had terrified Heliodorus, and been the worker of these evils.
2 Thus was he bold to call him a traitor, that had deserved well of the city, and tendered his own nation, and was so zealous of the laws.
3 But when their hatred went so far, that by one of Simon’s faction murders were committed,
4 Onias seeing the danger of this contention, and that Apollonius, as being the governor of Celosyria and Phenice, did rage, and increase Simon’s malice,
5 He went to the king, not to be an accuser of his countrymen, but seeking the good of all, both publick and private:
6 For he saw that it was impossible that the state should continue quiet, and Simon leave his folly, unless the king did look thereunto.
7 But after the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, called Epiphanes, took the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias laboured underhand to be high priest,
8 Promising unto the king by intercession three hun- dred and threescore talents of silver, and of another revenue eighty talents:
9 Beside this, he promised to assign an hundred and fifty more, if he might have licence to set him up a place for exercise, and for the training up of youth in the fashions of the heathen, and to write them of Jerusalem by the name of Antiochians.
10 Which when the king had granted, and he had gotten into his hand the rule he forthwith brought his own nation to Greekish fashion.
11 And the royal privileges granted of special favour to the Jews by the means of John the father of Eupolemus, who went ambassador to Rome for amity and aid, he took away; and putting down the governments which were according to the law, he brought up new customs against the law:
12 For he built gladly a place of exercise under the tower itself, and brought the chief young men under his subjection, and made them wear a hat.
13 Now such was the height of Greek fashions, and increase of heathenish manners, through the exceeding profaneness of Jason, that ungodly wretch, and no high priest;
14 That the priests had no courage to serve any more at the altar, but despising the temple, and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the unlawful allowance in the place of exercise, after the game of Discus called them forth;
15 Not setting by the honours of their fathers, but liking the glory of the Grecians best of all.
16 By reason whereof sore calamity came upon them: for they had them to be their enemies and avengers, whose custom they followed so earnestly, and unto whom they desired to be like in all things.
17 For it is not a light thing to do wickedly against the laws of God: but the time following shall declare these things.
18 Now when the game that was used every fifth year was kept at Tyrus, the king being present,
19 This ungracious Jason sent special messengers from Jerusalem, who were Antiochians, to carry three hundred drachms of silver to the sacrifice of Hercules, which even the bearers thereof thought fit not to bestow upon the sacrifice, because it was not convenient, but to be reserved for other charges.
20 This money then, in regard of the sender, was ap- pointed to Hercules’ sacrifice; but because of the bearers thereof, it was employed to the making of gallies.
21 Now when Apollonius the son of Menestheus was sent into Egypt for the coronation of king Ptolemeus Philometor, Antiochus, understanding him not to be well affected to his affairs, provided for his own safety: where- upon he came to Joppa, and from thence to Jerusalem:
22 Where he was honourably received of Jason, and of the city, and was brought in with torch alight, and with great shoutings: and so afterward went with his host unto Phenice.
23 Three years afterward Jason sent Menelaus, the aforesaid Simon’s brother, to bear the money unto the king, and to put him in mind of certain necessary matters.
24 But he being brought to the presence of the king, when he had magnified him for the glorious appearance of his power, got the priesthood to himself, offering more than Jason by three hundred talents of silver.
25 So he came with the king’s mandate, bringing noth- ing worthy the high priesthood, but having the fury of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast.
26 Then Jason, who had undermined his own brother, being undermined by another, was compelled to flee into the country of the Ammonites.
27 So Menelaus got the principality: but as for the money that he had promised unto the king, he took no good order for it, albeit Sostratis the ruler of the castle required it:
28 For unto him appertained the gathering of the cus- toms. Wherefore they were both called before the king.
29 Now Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus in his stead in the priesthood; and Sostratus left Crates, who was governor of the Cyprians.
30 While those things were in doing, they of Tarsus and Mallos made insurrection, because they were given to the king’s concubine, called Antiochus.
31 Then came the king in all haste to appease matters, leaving Andronicus, a man in authority, for his deputy.
32 Now Menelaus, supposing that he had gotten a convenient time, stole certain vessels of gold out of the temple, and gave some of them to Andronicus, and some he sold into Tyrus and the cities round about.
33 Which when Onias knew of a surety, he reproved him, and withdrew himself into a sanctuary at Daphne, that lieth by Antiochia.
34 Wherefore Menelaus, taking Andronicus apart, prayed, him to get Onias into his hands; who being persuaded thereunto, and coming to Onias in deceit, gave him his right hand with oaths; and though he were suspected by him, yet persuaded he him to come forth of the sanctuary: whom forthwith he shut up without regard of justice.
35 For the which cause not only the Jews, but many also of other nations, took great indignation, and were much grieved for the unjust murder of the man.
36 And when the king was come again from the places about Cilicia, the Jews that were in the city, and certain of the Greeks that abhorred the fact also, complained because Onias was slain without cause.
37 Therefore Antiochus was heartily sorry, and moved to pity, and wept, because of the sober and modest behaviour of him that was dead.
38 And being kindled with anger, forthwith he took away Andronicus his purple, and rent off his clothes, and leading him through the whole city unto that very place, where he had committed impiety against Onias, there slew he the cursed murderer. Thus the Lord rewarded him his punishment, as he had deserved.
39 Now when many sacrileges had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the consent of Menelaus, and the fruit thereof was spread abroad, the multitude gathered themselves together against Lysimachus, many vessels of gold being already carried away.
40 Whereupon the common people rising, and being filled with rage, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men, and began first to offer violence; one Auranus being the leader, a man far gone in years, and no less in folly.
41 They then seeing the attempt of Lysimachus, some of them caught stones, some clubs, others taking handfuls of dust, that was next at hand, cast them all together upon Lysimachus, and those that set upon them.
42 Thus many of them they wounded, and some they struck to the ground, and all of them they forced to flee: but as for the churchrobber himself, him they killed beside the treasury.
43 Of these matters therefore there was an accusation laid against Menelaus.
44 Now when the king came to Tyrus, three men that were sent from the senate pleaded the cause before him:
45 But Menelaus, being now convicted, promised Ptole- mee the son of Dorymenes to give him much money, if he would pacify the king toward him.
46 Whereupon Ptolemee taking the king aside into a certain gallery, as it were to take the air, brought him to be of another mind:
47 Insomuch that he discharged Menelaus from the accusations, who notwithstanding was cause of all the mischief: and those poor men, who, if they had told their cause, yea, before the Scythians, should have been judged innocent, them he condemned to death.
48 Thus they that followed the matter for the city, and for the people, and for the holy vessels, did soon suffer unjust punishment.
49 Wherefore even they of Tyrus, moved with hatred of that wicked deed, caused them to be honourably buried.
50 And so through the covetousness of them that were of power Menelaus remained still in authority, increasing in malice, and being a great traitor to the citizens.

Chapter 5

1 About the same time Antiochus prepared his second voyage into Egypt:
2 And then it happened, that through all the city, for the space almost of forty days, there were seen horsemen running in the air, in cloth of gold, and armed with lances, like a band of soldiers,
3 And troops of horsemen in array, encountering and running one against another, with shaking of shields, and multitude of pikes, and drawing of swords, and casting of darts, and glittering of golden ornaments, and harness of all sorts.
4 Wherefore every man prayed that that apparition might turn to good.
5 Now when there was gone forth a false rumour, as though Antiochus had been dead, Jason took at the least a thousand men, and suddenly made an assault upon the city; and they that were upon the walls being put back, and the city at length taken, Menelaus fled into the castle:
6 But Jason slew his own citizens without mercy, not considering that to get the day of them of his own nation would be a most unhappy day for him; but thinking they had been his enemies, and not his countrymen, whom he conquered.
7 Howbeit for all this he obtained not the principality, but at the last received shame for the reward of his trea- son, and fled again into the country of the Ammonites.
8 In the end therefore he had an unhappy return, being accused before Aretas the king of the Arabians, fleeing from city to city, pursued of all men, hated as a forsaker of the laws, and being had in abomination as an open enemy of his country and countrymen, he was cast out into Egypt.
9 Thus he that had driven many out of their country perished in a strange land, retiring to the Lacedemonians, and thinking there to find succour by reason of his kindred:
10 And he that had cast out many unburied had none to mourn for him, nor any solemn funerals at all, nor sepulchre with his fathers.
11 Now when this that was done came to the king’s ear, he thought that Judea had revolted: whereupon removing out of Egypt in a furious mind, he took the city by force of arms,
12 And commanded his men of war not to spare such as they met, and to slay such as went up upon the houses.
13 Thus there was killing of young and old, making away of men, women, and children, slaying of virgins and infants.
14 And there were destroyed within the space of three whole days fourscore thousand, whereof forty thousand were slain in the conflict; and no fewer sold than slain.
15 Yet was he not content with this, but presumed to go into the most holy temple of all the world; Menelaus, that traitor to the laws, and to his own country, being his guide:
16 And taking the holy vessels with polluted hands, and with profane hands pulling down the things that were dedicated by other kings to the augmentation and glory and honour of the place, he gave them away.
17 And so haughty was Antiochus in mind, that he considered not that the Lord was angry for a while for the sins of them that dwelt in the city, and therefore his eye was not upon the place.
18 For had they not been formerly wrapped in many sins, this man, as soon as he had come, had forthwith been scourged, and put back from his presumption, as Heliodorus was, whom Seleucus the king sent to view the treasury.
19 Nevertheless God did not choose the people for the place’s sake, but the place for the people’s sake.
20 And therefore the place itself, that was partaker with them of the adversity that happened to the nation, did afterward communicate in the benefits sent from the Lord: and as it was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty, so again, the great Lord being reconciled, it was set up with all glory.
21 So when Antiochus had carried out of the temple a thousand and eight hundred talents, he departed in all haste unto Antiochia, weening in his pride to make the land navigable, and the sea passable by foot: such was the haughtiness of his mind.
22 And he left governors to vex the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, for his country a Phrygian, and for manners more barbarous than he that set him there;
23 And at Garizim, Andronicus; and besides, Menelaus, who worse than all the rest bare an heavy hand over the citizens, having a malicious mind against his countrymen the Jews.
24 He sent also that detestable ringleader Apollonius with an army of two and twenty thousand, commanding him to slay all those that were in their best age, and to sell the women and the younger sort:
25 Who coming to Jerusalem, and pretending peace, did forbear till the holy day of the sabbath, when taking the Jews keeping holy day, he commanded his men to arm themselves.
26 And so he slew all them that were gone to the celebrating of the sabbath, and running through the city with weapons slew great multitudes.
27 But Judas Maccabeus with nine others, or thereabout, withdrew himself into the wilderness, and lived in the mountains after the manner of beasts, with his company, who fed on herbs continually, lest they should be partak- ers of the pollution.

Chapter 6

1 Not long after this the king sent 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:
2 And to pollute also the temple in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympius; and that in Garizim, of Jupiter the Defender of strangers, as they did desire that dwelt in the place.
3 The coming in of this mischief was sore and grievous to the people:
4 For the temple was filled with riot and revelling by the Gentiles, who dallied with harlots, and had to do with women within the circuit of the holy places, and besides that brought in things that were not lawful.
5 The altar also was filled with profane things, which the law forbiddeth.
6 Neither was it lawful for a man to keep sabbath days or ancient fasts, or to profess himself at all to be a Jew.
7 And in the day of the king’s birth every month they were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the fast of Bacchus was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Bacchus, carrying ivy.
8 Moreover there went out a decree to the neighbour cities of the heathen, by the suggestion of Ptolemee, against the Jews, that they should observe the same fashions, and be partakers of their sacrifices:
9 And whoso would not conform themselves to the manners of the Gentiles should be put to death. Then might a man have seen the present misery.
10 For there were two women brought, who had cir- cumcised their children; whom when they had openly led round about the city, the babes hanging at their breasts, they cast them down headlong from the wall.
11 And others, that had run together into caves near by, to keep the sabbath day secretly, being discovered by Philip, were all burnt together, because they made a conscience to help themselves for the honour of the most sacred day.
12 Now I beseech those that read this book, that they be not discouraged for these calamities, but that they judge those punishments not to be for destruction, but for a chastening of our nation.
13 For it is a token of his great goodness, when wicked doers are not suffered any long time, but forthwith punished.
14 For not as with other nations, whom the Lord pa- tiently forbeareth to punish, till they be come to the fulness of their sins, so dealeth he with us,
15 Lest that, being come to the height of sin, afterwards he should take vengeance of us.
16 And therefore he never withdraweth his mercy from us: and though he punish with adversity, yet doth he never forsake his people.
17 But let this that we have spoken be for a warning unto us. And now will we come to the declaring of the matter in a few words.
18 Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, an aged man, and of a well favoured countenance, was constrained to open his mouth, and to eat swine’s flesh.
19 But he, choosing rather to die gloriously, than to live stained with such an abomination, spit it forth, and came of his own accord to the torment,
20 As it behoved them to come, that are resolute to stand out against such things, as are not lawful for love of life to be tasted.
21 But they that had the charge of that wicked feast, for the old acquaintance they had with the man, taking him aside, besought him to bring flesh of his own provision, such as was lawful for him to use, and make as if he did eat of the flesh taken from the sacrifice commanded by the king;
22 That in so doing he might be delivered from death, and for the old friendship with them find favour.
23 But he began to consider discreetly, and as became his age, and the excellency of his ancient years, and the honour of his gray head, whereon was come, and his most honest education from a child, or rather the holy law made and given by God: therefore he answered accordingly, and willed them straightways to send him to the grave.
24 For it becometh not our age, said he, in any wise to dissemble, whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar, being fourscore years old and ten, were now gone to a strange religion;
25 And so they through mine hypocrisy, and desire to live a little time and a moment longer, should be deceived by me, and I get a stain to mine old age, and make it abominable.
26 For though for the present time I should be delivered from the punishment of men: yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive, nor dead.
27 Wherefore now, manfully changing this life, I will shew myself such an one as mine age requireth,
28 And leave a notable example to such as be young to die willingly and courageously for the honourable and holy laws. And when he had said these words, immediately he went to the torment:
29 They that led him changing the good will they bare him a little before into hatred, because the foresaid speeches proceeded, as they thought, from a desperate mind.
30 But when he was ready to die with stripes, he groaned, and said, It is manifest unto the Lord, that hath the holy knowledge, that whereas I might have been delivered from death, I now endure sore pains in body by being beaten: but in soul am well content to suffer these things, because I fear him.
31 And thus this man died, leaving his death for an example of a noble courage, and a memorial of virtue, not only unto young men, but unto all his nation.

Chapter 7

1 It came to pass also, that seven brethren with their mother were taken, and compelled by the king against the law to taste swine’s flesh, and were tormented with scourges and whips.
2 But one of them that spake first said thus, What wouldest thou ask or learn of us? we are ready to die, rather than to transgress the laws of our fathers.
3 Then the king, being in a rage, commanded pans and caldrons to be made hot:
4 Which forthwith being heated, he commanded to cut out the tongue of him that spake first, and to cut off the utmost parts of his body, the rest of his brethren and his mother looking on.
5 Now when he was thus maimed in all his members, he commanded him being yet alive to be brought to the fire, and to be fried in the pan: and as the vapour of the pan was for a good space dispersed, they exhorted one another with the mother to die manfully, saying thus,
6 The Lord God looketh upon us, and in truth hath comfort in us, as Moses in his song, which witnessed to their faces, declared, saying, And he shall be comforted in his servants.
7 So when the first was dead after this manner, they brought the second to make him a mocking stock: and when they had pulled off the skin of his head with the hair, they asked him, Wilt thou eat, before thou be punished throughout every member of thy body?
8 But he answered in his own language, and said, No. Wherefore he also received the next torment in order, as the former did.
9 And when he was at the last gasp, he said, Thou like a fury takest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, who have died for his laws, unto everlasting life.
10 After him was the third made a mocking stock: and when he was required, he put out his tongue, and that right soon, holding forth his hands manfully.
11 And said courageously, These I had from heaven; and for his laws I despise them; and from him I hope to receive them again.
12 Insomuch that the king, and they that were with him, marvelled at the young man’s courage, for that he nothing regarded the pains.
13 Now when this man was dead also, they tormented and mangled the fourth in like manner.
14 So when he was ready to die he said thus, It is good, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God to be raised up again by him: as for thee, thou shalt have no resurrection to life.
15 Afterward they brought the fifth also, and mangled him.
16 Then looked he unto the king, and said, Thou hast power over men, thou art corruptible, thou doest what thou wilt; yet think not that our nation is forsaken of God;
17 But abide a while, and behold his great power, how he will torment thee and thy seed.
18 After him also they brought the sixth, who being ready to die said, Be not deceived without cause: for we suffer these things for ourselves, having sinned against our God: therefore marvellous things are done unto us.
19 But think not thou, that takest in hand to strive against God, that thou shalt escape unpunished.
20 But the mother was marvellous above all, and worthy of honourable memory: for when she saw her seven sons slain within the space of one day, she bare it with a good courage, because of the hope that she had in the Lord.
21 Yea, she exhorted every one of them in her own language, filled with courageous spirits; and stirring up her womanish thoughts with a manly stomach, she said unto them,
22 I cannot tell how ye came into my womb: for I neither gave you breath nor life, neither was it I that formed the members of every one of you;
23 But doubtless the Creator of the world, who formed the generation of man, and found out the beginning of all things, will also of his own mercy give you breath and life again, as ye now regard not your own selves for his laws’ sake.
24 Now Antiochus, thinking himself despised, and sus- pecting it to be a reproachful speech, whilst the youngest was yet alive, did not only exhort him by words, but also assured him with oaths, that he would make him both a rich and a happy man, if he would turn from the laws of his fathers; and that also he would take him for his friend, and trust him with affairs.
25 But when the young man would in no case hearken unto him, the king called his mother, and exhorted her that she would counsel the young man to save his life.
26 And when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised him that she would counsel her son.
27 But she bowing herself toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country language on this manner; O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education.
28 I beseech thee, my son, look upon the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, and consider that God made them of things that were not; and so was mankind made likewise.
29 Fear not this tormentor, but, being worthy of thy brethren, take thy death that I may receive thee again in mercy with thy brethren.
30 Whiles she was yet speaking these words, the young man said, Whom wait ye for? I will not obey the king’s commandment: but I will obey the commandment of the law that was given unto our fathers by Moses.
31 And thou, that hast been the author of all mischief against the Hebrews, shalt not escape the hands of God.
32 For we suffer because of our sins.
33 And though the living Lord be angry with us a little while for our chastening and correction, yet shall he be at one again with his servants.
34 But thou, O godless man, and of all other most wicked, be not lifted up without a cause, nor puffed up with uncertain hopes, lifting up thy hand against the servants of God:
35 For thou hast not yet escaped the judgment of Almighty God, who seeth all things.
36 For our brethren, who now have suffered a short pain, are dead under God’s covenant of everlasting life: but thou, through the judgment of God, shalt receive just punishment for thy pride.
37 But I, as my brethren, offer up my body and life for the laws of our fathers, beseeching God that he would speedily be merciful unto our nation; and that thou by torments and plagues mayest confess, that he alone is God;
38 And that in me and my brethren the wrath of the Almighty, which is justly brought upon our nation, may cease.
39 Then the king being in a rage, handed him worse than all the rest, and took it grievously that he was mocked.
40 So this man died undefiled, and put his whole trust in the Lord.
41 Last of all after the sons the mother died.
42 Let this be enough now to have spoken concerning the idolatrous feasts, and the extreme tortures.

Chapter 8

1 Then Judas Maccabeus, and they that were with him, went privily into the towns, and called their kinsfolks together, and took unto them all such as continued in the Jews’ religion, and assembled about six thousand men.
2 And they called upon the Lord, that he would look upon the people that was trodden down of all; and also pity the temple profaned of ungodly men;
3 And that he would have compassion upon the city, sore defaced, and ready to be made even with the ground; and hear the blood that cried unto him,
4 And remember the wicked slaughter of harmless in- fants, and the blasphemies committed against his name; and that he would shew his hatred against the wicked.
5 Now when Maccabeus had his company about him, he could not be withstood by the heathen: for the wrath of the Lord was turned into mercy.
6 Therefore he came at unawares, and burnt up towns and cities, and got into his hands the most commodious places, and overcame and put to flight no small number of his enemies.
7 But specially took he advantage of the night for such privy attempts, insomuch that the fruit of his holiness was spread every where.
8 So when Philip saw that this man increased by little and little, and that things prospered with him still more and more, he wrote unto Ptolemeus, the governor of Celosyria and Phenice, to yield more aid to the king’s affairs.
9 Then forthwith choosing Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of his special friends, he sent him with no fewer than twenty thousand of all nations under him, to root out the whole generation of the Jews; and with him he joined also Gorgias a captain, who in matters of war had great experience.
10 So Nicanor undertook to make so much money of the captive Jews, as should defray the tribute of two thousand talents, which the king was to pay to the Romans.
11 Wherefore immediately he sent to the cities upon the sea coast, proclaiming a sale of the captive Jews, and promising that they should have fourscore and ten bodies for one talent, not expecting the vengeance that was to follow upon him from the Almighty God.
12 Now when word was brought unto Judas of Nicanor’s coming, and he had imparted unto those that were with him that the army was at hand,
13 They that were fearful, and distrusted the justice of God, fled, and conveyed themselves away.
14 Others sold all that they had left, and withal besought the Lord to deliver them, sold by the wicked Nicanor before they met together:
15 And if not for their own sakes, yet for the covenants he had made with their fathers, and for his holy and glorious name’s sake, by which they were called.
16 So Maccabeus called his men together unto the number of six thousand, and exhorted them not to be stricken with terror of the enemy, nor to fear the great multitude of the heathen, who came wrongly against them; but to fight manfully,
17 And to set before their eyes the injury that they had unjustly done to the holy place, and the cruel handling of the city, whereof they made a mockery, and also the taking away of the government of their forefathers:
18 For they, said he, trust in their weapons and boldness; but our confidence is in the Almighty who at a beck can cast down both them that come against us, and also all the world.
19 Moreover, he recounted unto them what helps their forefathers had found, and how they were delivered, when under Sennacherib an hundred fourscore and five thousand perished.
20 And he told them of the battle that they had in Babylon with the Galatians, how they came but eight thousand in all to the business, with four thousand Macedonians, and that the Macedonians being perplexed, the eight thousand destroyed an hundred and twenty thousand because of the help that they had from heaven, and so received a great booty.
21 Thus when he had made them bold with these words, and ready to die for the law and the country, he divided his army into four parts;
22 And joined with himself his own brethren, leaders of each band, to wit Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathan, giving each one fifteen hundred men.
23 Also he appointed Eleazar to read the holy book: and when he had given them this watchword, The help of God; himself leading the first band,
24 And by the help of the Almighty they slew above nine thousand of their enemies, and wounded and maimed the most part of Nicanor’s host, and so put all to flight;
25 And took their money that came to buy them, and pursued them far: but lacking time they returned:
26 For it was the day before the sabbath, and therefore they would no longer pursue them.
27 So when they had gathered their armour together, and spoiled their enemies, they occupied themselves about the sabbath, yielding exceeding praise and thanks to the Lord, who had preserved them unto that day, which was the beginning of mercy distilling upon them.
28 And after the sabbath, when they had given part of the spoils to the maimed, and the widows, and orphans, the residue they divided among themselves and their servants.
29 When this was done, and they had made a common supplication, they besought the merciful Lord to be rec- onciled with his servants for ever.
30 Moreover of those that were with Timotheus and Bacchides, who fought against them, they slew above twenty thousand, and very easily got high and strong holds, and divided among themselves many spoils more, and made the maimed, orphans, widows, yea, and the aged also, equal in spoils with themselves.
31 And when they had gathered their armour together, they laid them up all carefully in convenient places, and the remnant of the spoils they brought to Jerusalem.
32 They slew also Philarches, that wicked person, who was with Timotheus, and had annoyed the Jews many ways.
33 Furthermore at such time as they kept the feast for the victory in their country they burnt Callisthenes, that had set fire upon the holy gates, who had fled into a little house; and so he received a reward meet for his wickedness.
34 As for that most ungracious Nicanor, who had brought a thousand merchants to buy the Jews,
35 He was through the help of the Lord brought down by them, of whom he made least account; and putting off his glorious apparel, and discharging his company, he came like a fugitive servant through the midland unto Antioch having very great dishonour, for that his host was destroyed.
36 Thus he, that took upon him to make good to the Romans their tribute by means of captives in Jerusalem, told abroad, that the Jews had God to fight for them, and therefore they could not be hurt, because they followed the laws that he gave them.

Chapter 9

1 About that time came Antiochus with dishonour out of the country of Persia
2 For he had entered the city called Persepolis, and went about to rob the temple, and to hold the city; whereupon the multitude running to defend themselves with their weapons put them to flight; and so it happened, that Antiochus being put to flight of the inhabitants returned with shame.
3 Now when he came to Ecbatane, news was brought him what had happened unto Nicanor and Timotheus.
4 Then swelling with anger. he thought to avenge upon the Jews the disgrace done unto him by those that made him flee. Therefore commanded he his chariotman to drive without ceasing, and to dispatch the journey, the judgment of God now following him. For he had spoken proudly in this sort, That he would come to Jerusalem and make it a common burying place of the Jews.
5 But the Lord Almighty, the God of Isreal, smote him with an incurable and invisible plague: for as soon as he had spoken these words, a pain of the bowels that was remediless came upon him, and sore torments of the inner parts;
6 And that most justly: for he had tormented other men’s bowels with many and strange torments.
7 Howbeit he nothing at all ceased from his bragging, but still was filled with pride, breathing out fire in his rage against the Jews, and commanding to haste the journey: but it came to pass that he fell down from his chariot, carried violently; so that having a sore fall, all the members of his body were much pained.
8 And thus he that a little afore thought he might command the waves of the sea, (so proud was he beyond the condition of man) and weigh the high mountains in a balance, was now cast on the ground, and carried in an horselitter, shewing forth unto all the manifest power of God.
9 So that the worms rose up out of the body of this wicked man, and whiles he lived in sorrow and pain, his flesh fell away, and the filthiness of his smell was noisome to all his army.
10 And the man, that thought a little afore he could reach to the stars of heaven, no man could endure to carry for his intolerable stink.
11 Here therefore, being plagued, he began to leave off his great pride, and to come to the knowledge of himself by the scourge of God, his pain increasing every moment.
12 And when he himself could not abide his own smell, he said these words, It is meet to be subject unto God, and that a man that is mortal should not proudly think of himself, as if he were God.
13 This wicked person vowed also unto the Lord, who now no more would have mercy upon him, saying thus,
14 That the holy city (to the which he was going in haste to lay it even with the ground, and to make it a common buryingplace,) he would set at liberty:
15 And as touching the Jews, whom he had judged not worthy so much as to be buried, but to be cast out with their children to be devoured of the fowls and wild beasts, he would make them all equals to the citizens of Athens:
16 And the holy temple, which before he had spoiled, he would garnish with goodly gifts, and restore all the holy vessels with many more, and out of his own revenue defray the charges belonging to the sacrifices:
17 Yea, and that also he would become a Jew himself, and go through all the world that was inhabited, and declare the power of God.
18 But for all this his pains would not cease: for the just judgment of God was come upon him: therefore despairing of his health, he wrote unto the Jews the letter underwritten, containing the form of a supplication, after this manner:
19 Antiochus, king and governor, to the good Jews his citizens wisheth much joy, health, and prosperity:
20 If ye and your children fare well, and your affairs be to your contentment, I give very great thanks to God, having my hope in heaven.
21 As for me, I was weak, or else I would have remem- bered kindly your honour and good will returning out of Persia, and being taken with a grievous disease, I thought it necessary to care for the common safety of all:
22 Not distrusting mine health, but having great hope to escape this sickness.
23 But considering that even my father, at what time he led an army into the high countries, appointed a successor,
24 To the end that, if any thing fell out contrary to expectation, or if any tidings were brought that were grievous, they of the land, knowing to whom the state was left, might not be troubled:
25 Again, considering how that the princes that are borderers and neighbours unto my kingdom wait for opportunities, and expect what shall be the event, I have appointed my son Antiochus king, whom I often committed and commended unto many of you, when I went up into the high provinces; to whom I have written as followeth:
26 Therefore I pray and request you to remember the benefits that I have done unto you generally, and in special, and that every man will be still faithful to me and my son.
27 For I am persuaded that he understanding my mind will favourably and graciously yield to your desires.
28 Thus the murderer and blasphemer having suffered most grievously, as he entreated other men, so died he a miserable death in a strange country in the mountains.
29 And Philip, that was brought up with him, carried away his body, who also fearing the son of Antiochus went into Egypt to Ptolemeus Philometor.

Chapter 10

1 Now Maccabeus and his company, the Lord guiding them, recovered the temple and the city:
2 But the altars which the heathen had built in the open street, and also the chapels, they pulled down.
3 And having cleansed the temple they made another altar, and striking stones they took fire out of them, and offered a sacrifice after two years, and set forth incense, and lights, and shewbread.
4 When that was done, they fell flat down, and be- sought the Lord that they might come no more into such troubles; but if they sinned any more against him, that he himself would chasten them with mercy, and that they might not be delivered unto the blasphemous and barbarous nations.
5 Now upon the same day that the strangers profaned the temple, on the very same day it was cleansed again, even the five and twentieth day of the same month, which is Casleu.
6 And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.
7 Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.
8 They ordained also by a common statute and decree, That every year those days should be kept of the whole nation of the Jews.
9 And this was the end of Antiochus, called Epiphanes.
10 Now will we declare the acts of Antiochus Eupator, who was the son of this wicked man, gathering briefly the calamities of the wars.
11 So when he was come to the crown, he set one Lysias over the affairs of his realm, and appointed him his chief governor of Celosyria and Phenice.
12 For Ptolemeus, that was called Macron, choosing rather to do justice unto the Jews for the wrong that had been done unto them, endeavoured to continue peace with them.
13 Whereupon being accused of the king’s friends be- fore Eupator, and called traitor at every word because he had left Cyprus, that Philometor had committed unto him, and departed to Antiochus Epiphanes, and seeing that he was in no honourable place, he was so discour- aged, that he poisoned himself and died.
14 But when Gorgias was governor of the holds, he hired soldiers, and nourished war continually with the Jews:
15 And therewithall the Idumeans, having gotten into their hands the most commodious holds, kept the Jews occupied, and receiving those that were banished from Jerusalem, they went about to nourish war.
16 Then they that were with Maccabeus made suppli- cation, and besought God that he would be their helper; and so they ran with violence upon the strong holds of the Idumeans,
17 And assaulting them strongly, they won the holds, and kept off all that fought upon the wall, and slew all that fell into their hands, and killed no fewer than twenty thousand.
18 And because certain, who were no less than nine thousand, were fled together into two very strong castles, having all manner of things convenient to sustain the siege,
19 Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, and Zaccheus also, and them that were with him, who were enough to besiege them, and departed himself unto those places which more needed his help.
20 Now they that were with Simon, being led with cov- etousness, were persuaded for money through certain of those that were in the castle, and took seventy thousand drachms, and let some of them escape.
21 But when it was told Maccabeus what was done, he called the governors of the people together, and accused those men, that they had sold their brethren for money, and set their enemies free to fight against them.
22 So he slew those that were found traitors, and immediately took the two castles.
23 And having good success with his weapons in all things he took in hand, he slew in the two holds more than twenty thousand.
24 Now Timotheus, whom the Jews had overcome be- fore, when he had gathered a great multitude of foreign forces, and horses out of Asia not a few, came as though he would take Jewry by force of arms.
25 But when he drew near, they that were with Mac- cabeus turned themselves to pray unto God, and sprin- kled earth upon their heads, and girded their loins with sackcloth,
26 And fell down at the foot of the altar, and besought him to be merciful to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to their adversaries, as the law declareth.
27 So after the prayer they took their weapons, and went on further from the city: and when they drew near to their enemies, they kept by themselves.
28 Now the sun being newly risen, they joined both together; the one part having together with their virtue their refuge also unto the Lord for a pledge of their success and victory: the other side making their rage leader of their battle.
29 But when the battle waxed strong, there appeared unto the enemies from heaven five comely men upon horses, with bridles of gold, and two of them led the Jews,
30 And took Maccabeus betwixt them, and covered him on every side with their weapons, and kept him safe, but shot arrows and lightnings against the enemies: so that being confounded with blindness, and full of trouble, they were killed.
31 And there were slain of footmen twenty thousand and five hundred, and six hundred horsemen.
32 As for Timotheus himself, he fled into a very strong hold, called Gawra, where Chereas was governor.
33 But they that were with Maccabeus laid siege against the fortress courageously four days.
34 And they that were within, trusting to the strength of the place, blasphemed exceedingly, and uttered wicked words.
35 Nevertheless upon the fifth day early twenty young men of Maccabeus’ company, inflamed with anger be- cause of the blasphemies, assaulted the wall manly, and with a fierce courage killed all that they met withal.
36 Others likewise ascending after them, whiles they were busied with them that were within, burnt the tow- ers, and kindling fires burnt the blasphemers alive; and others broke open the gates, and, having received in the rest of the army, took the city,
37 And killed Timotheus, that was hid in a certain pit, and Chereas his brother, with Apollophanes.
38 When this was done, they praised the Lord with psalms and thanksgiving, who had done so great things for Israel, and given them the victory.

Chapter 11

1 Not long after this, Lysias the king’s protector and cousin, who also managed the affairs, took sore displea- sure for the things that were done.
2 And when he had gathered about fourscore thousand with all the horsemen, he came against the Jews, thinking to make the city an habitation of the Gentiles,
3 And to make a gain of the temple, as of the other chapels of the heathen, and to set the high priesthood to sale every year:
4 Not at all considering the power of God but puffed up with his ten thousands of footmen, and his thousands of horsemen, and his fourscore elephants.
5 So he came to Judea, and drew near to Bethsura, which was a strong town, but distant from Jerusalem about five furlongs, and he laid sore siege unto it.
6 Now when they that were with Maccabeus heard that he besieged the holds, they and all the people with lamentation and tears besought the Lord that he would send a good angel to deliver Israel.
7 Then Maccabeus himself first of all took weapons, exhorting the other that they would jeopard themselves together with him to help their brethren: so they went forth together with a willing mind.
8 And as they were at Jerusalem, there appeared before them on horseback one in white clothing, shaking his armour of gold.
9 Then they praised the merciful God all together, and took heart, insomuch that they were ready not only to fight with men, but with most cruel beasts, and to pierce through walls of iron.
10 Thus they marched forward in their armour, having an helper from heaven: for the Lord was merciful unto them.
11 And giving a charge upon their enemies like lions, they slew eleven thousand footmen, and sixteen hundred horsemen, and put all the other to flight.
12 Many of them also being wounded escaped naked; and Lysias himself fled away shamefully, and so escaped.
13 Who, as he was a man of understanding, casting with himself what loss he had had, and considering that the Hebrews could not be overcome, because the Almighty God helped them, he sent unto them,
14 And persuaded them to agree to all reasonable condi- tions, and promised that he would persuade the king that he must needs be a friend unto them.
15 Then Maccabeus consented to all that Lysias desired, being careful of the common good; and whatsoever Mac- cabeus wrote unto Lysias concerning the Jews, the king granted it.
16 For there were letters written unto the Jews from Lysias to this effect: Lysias unto the people of the Jews sendeth greeting:
17 John and Absolom, who were sent from you, deliv- ered me the petition subscribed, and made request for the performance of the contents thereof.
18 Therefore what things soever were meet to be re- ported to the king, I have declared them, and he hath granted as much as might be.
19 And if then ye will keep yourselves loyal to the state, hereafter also will I endeavour to be a means of your good.
20 But of the particulars I have given order both to these and the other that came from me, to commune with you.
21 Fare ye well. The hundred and eight and for- tieth year, the four and twentieth day of the month Dioscorinthius.
22 Now the king’s letter contained these words: King Antiochus unto his brother Lysias sendeth greeting:
23 Since our father is translated unto the gods, our will is, that they that are in our realm live quietly, that every one may attend upon his own affairs.
24 We understand also that the Jews would not consent to our father, for to be brought unto the custom of the Gentiles, but had rather keep their own manner of living: for the which cause they require of us, that we should suffer them to live after their own laws.
25 Wherefore our mind is, that this nation shall be in rest, and we have determined to restore them their temple, that they may live according to the customs of their forefathers.
26 Thou shalt do well therefore to send unto them, and grant them peace, that when they are certified of our mind, they may be of good comfort, and ever go cheerfully about their own affairs.
27 And the letter of the king unto the nation of the Jews was after this manner: King Antiochus sendeth greeting unto the council, and the rest of the Jews:
28 If ye fare well, we have our desire; we are also in good health.
29 Menelaus declared unto us, that your desire was to return home, and to follow your own business:
30 Wherefore they that will depart shall have safe conduct till the thirtieth day of Xanthicus with security.
31 And the Jews shall use their own kind of meats and laws, as before; and none of them any manner of ways shall be molested for things ignorantly done.
32 I have sent also Menelaus, that he may comfort you.
33 Fare ye well. In the hundred forty and eighth year, and the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus.
34 The Romans also sent unto them a letter containing these words: Quintus Memmius and Titus Manlius, am- bassadors of the Romans, send greeting unto the people of the Jews.
35 Whatsoever Lysias the king’s cousin hath granted, therewith we also are well pleased.
36 But touching such things as he judged to be referred to the king, after ye have advised thereof, send one forthwith, that we may declare as it is convenient for you: for we are now going to Antioch.
37 Therefore send some with speed, that we may know what is your mind.
38 Farewell. This hundred and eight and fortieth year, the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus.

Chapter 12

1 When these covenants were made, Lysias went unto the king, and the Jews were about their husbandry.
2 But of the governours of several places, Timotheus, and Apollonius the son of Genneus, also Hieronymus, and Demophon, and beside them Nicanor the governor of Cyprus, would not suffer them to be quiet and live in peace.
3 The men of Joppa also did such an ungodly deed: they prayed the Jews that dwelt among them to go with their wives and children into the boats which they had prepared, as though they had meant them no hurt.
4 Who accepted of it according to the common decree of the city, as being desirous to live in peace, and suspecting nothing: but when they were gone forth into the deep, they drowned no less than two hundred of them.
5 When Judas heard of this cruelty done unto his countrymen, he commanded those that were with him to make them ready.
6 And calling upon God the righteous Judge, he came against those murderers of his brethren, and burnt the haven by night, and set the boats on fire, and those that fled thither he slew.
7 And when the town was shut up, he went backward, as if he would return to root out all them of the city of Joppa.
8 But when he heard that the Jamnites were minded to do in like manner unto the Jews that dwelt among them,
9 He came upon the Jamnites also by night, and set fire on the haven and the navy, so that the light of the fire was seen at Jerusalem two hundred and forty furlongs off.
10 Now when they were gone from thence nine furlongs in their journey toward Timotheus, no fewer than five thousand men on foot and five hundred horsemen of the Arabians set upon him.
11 Whereupon there was a very sore battle; but Judas’ side by the help of God got the victory; so that the Nomades of Arabia, being overcome, besought Judas for peace, promising both to give him cattle, and to pleasure him otherwise.
12 Then Judas, thinking indeed that they would be prof- itable in many things, granted them peace: whereupon they shook hands, and so they departed to their tents.
13 He went also about to make a bridge to a certain strong city, which was fenced about with walls, and inhabited by people of divers countries; and the name of it was Caspis.
14 But they that were within it put such trust in the strength of the walls and provision of victuals, that they behaved themselves rudely toward them that were with Judas, railing and blaspheming, and uttering such words as were not to be spoken.
15 Wherefore Judas with his company, calling upon the great Lord of the world, who without rams or engines of war did cast down Jericho in the time of Joshua, gave a fierce assault against the walls,
16 And took the city by the will of God, and made un- speakable slaughters, insomuch that a lake two furlongs broad near adjoining thereunto, being filled full, was seen running with blood.
17 Then departed they from thence seven hundred and fifty furlongs, and came to Characa unto the Jews that are called Tubieni.
18 But as for Timotheus, they found him not in the places: for before he had dispatched any thing, he de- parted from thence, having left a very strong garrison in a certain hold.
19 Howbeit Dositheus and Sosipater, who were of Mac- cabeus’ captains, went forth, and slew those that Timo- theus had left in the fortress, above ten thousand men.
20 And Maccabeus ranged his army by bands, and set them over the bands, and went against Timotheus, who had about him an hundred and twenty thousand men of foot, and two thousand and five hundred horsemen.
21 Now when Timotheus had knowledge of Judas’ com- ing, he sent the women and children and the other baggage unto a fortress called Carnion: for the town was hard to besiege, and uneasy to come unto, by reason of the straitness of all the places.
22 But when Judas his first band came in sight, the enemies, being smitten with fear and terror through the appearing of him who seeth all things, fled amain, one running into this way, another that way, so as that they were often hurt of their own men, and wounded with the points of their own swords.
23 Judas also was very earnest in pursuing them, killing those wicked wretches, of whom he slew about thirty thousand men.
24 Moreover Timotheus himself fell into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater, whom he besought with much craft to let him go with his life, because he had many of the Jews’ parents, and the brethren of some of them, who, if they put him to death, should not be regarded.
25 So when he had assured them with many words that he would restore them without hurt, according to the agreement, they let him go for the saving of their brethren.
26 Then Maccabeus marched forth to Carnion, and to the temple of Atargatis, and there he slew five and twenty thousand persons.
27 And after he had put to flight and destroyed them, Judas removed the host toward Ephron, a strong city, wherein Lysias abode, and a great multitude of divers nations, and the strong young men kept the walls, and de- fended them mightily: wherein also was great provision of engines and darts.
28 But when Judas and his company had called upon Almighty God, who with his power breaketh the strength of his enemies, they won the city, and slew twenty and five thousand of them that were within,
29 From thence they departed to Scythopolis, which lieth six hundred furlongs from Jerusalem,
30 But when the Jews that dwelt there had testified that the Scythopolitans dealt lovingly with them, and entreated them kindly in the time of their adversity;
31 They gave them thanks, desiring them to be friendly still unto them: and so they came to Jerusalem, the feast of the weeks approaching.
32 And after the feast, called Pentecost, they went forth against Gorgias the governor of Idumea,
33 Who came out with three thousand men of foot and four hundred horsemen.
34 And it happened that in their fighting together a few of the Jews were slain.
35 At which time Dositheus, one of Bacenor’s company, who was on horseback, and a strong man, was still upon Gorgias, and taking hold of his coat drew him by force; and when he would have taken that cursed man alive, a horseman of Thracia coming upon him smote off his shoulder, so that Gorgias fled unto Marisa.
36 Now when they that were with Gorgias had fought long, and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord, that he would shew himself to be their helper and leader of the battle.
37 And with that he began in his own language, and sung psalms with a loud voice, and rushing unawares upon Gorgias’ men, he put them to flight.
38 So Judas gathered his host, and came into the city of Odollam, And when the seventh day came, they purified themselves, as the custom was, and kept the sabbath in the same place.
39 And upon the day following, as the use had been, Judas and his company came to take up the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen in their fathers’ graves.
40 Now under the coats of every one that was slain they found things consecrated to the idols of the Jamnites, which is forbidden the Jews by the law. Then every man saw that this was the cause wherefore they were slain.
41 All men therefore praising the Lord, the righteous Judge, who had opened the things that were hid,
42 Betook themselves unto prayer, and besought him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance. Besides, that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forsomuch as they saw before their eyes the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain.
43 And when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of two thousand drachms of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering, doing therein very well and honestly, in that he was mindful of the resurrection:
44 For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead.
45 And also in that he perceived that there was great favour laid up for those that died godly, it was an holy and good thought. Whereupon he made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.

Chapter 13

1 In the hundred forty and ninth year it was told Judas, that Antiochus Eupator was coming with a great power into Judea,
2 And with him Lysias his protector, and ruler of his affairs, having either of them a Grecian power of footmen, an hundred and ten thousand, and horsemen five thousand and three hundred, and elephants two and twenty, and three hundred chariots armed with hooks.
3 Menelaus also joined himself with them, and with great dissimulation encouraged Antiochus, not for the safeguard of the country, but because he thought to have been made governor.
4 But the King of kings moved Antiochus’ mind against this wicked wretch, and Lysias informed the king that this man was the cause of all mischief, so that the king commanded to bring him unto Berea, and to put him to death, as the manner is in that place.
5 Now there was in that place a tower of fifty cubits high, full of ashes, and it had a round instrument which on every side hanged down into the ashes.
6 And whosoever was condemned of sacrilege, or had committed any other grievous crime, there did all men thrust him unto death.
7 Such a death it happened that wicked man to die, not having so much as burial in the earth; and that most justly:
8 For inasmuch as he had committed many sins about the altar, whose fire and ashes were holy, he received his death in ashes.
9 Now the king came with a barbarous and haughty mind to do far worse to the Jews, than had been done in his father’s time.
10 Which things when Judas perceived, he commanded the multitude to call upon the Lord night and day, that if ever at any other time, he would now also help them, being at the point to be put from their law, from their country, and from the holy temple:
11 And that he would not suffer the people, that had even now been but a little refreshed, to be in subjection to the blasphemous nations.
12 So when they had all done this together, and be- sought the merciful Lord with weeping and fasting, and lying flat upon the ground three days long, Judas, having exhorted them, commanded they should be in a readi- ness.
13 And Judas, being apart with the elders, determined, before the king’s host should enter into Judea, and get the city, to go forth and try the matter in fight by the help of the Lord.
14 So when he had committed all to the Creator of the world, and exhorted his soldiers to fight manfully, even unto death, for the laws, the temple, the city, the country, and the commonwealth, he camped by Modin:
15 And having given the watchword to them that were about him, Victory is of God; with the most valiant and choice young men he went in into the king’s tent by night, and slew in the camp about four thousand men, and the chiefest of the elephants, with all that were upon him.
16 And at last they filled the camp with fear and tumult, and departed with good success.
17 This was done in the break of the day, because the protection of the Lord did help him.
18 Now when the king had taken a taste of the manliness of the Jews, he went about to take the holds by policy,
19 And marched toward Bethsura, which was a strong hold of the Jews: but he was put to flight, failed, and lost of his men:
20 For Judas had conveyed unto them that were in it such things as were necessary.
21 But Rhodocus, who was in the Jews’ host, disclosed the secrets to the enemies; therefore he was sought out, and when they had gotten him, they put him in prison.
22 The king treated with them in Bethsura the second time, gave his hand, took their’s, departed, fought with Judas, was overcome;
23 Heard that Philip, who was left over the affairs in Antioch, was desperately bent, confounded, intreated the Jews, submitted himself, and sware to all equal condi- tions, agreed with them, and offered sacrifice, honoured the temple, and dealt kindly with the place,
24 And accepted well of Maccabeus, made him principal governor from Ptolemais unto the Gerrhenians;
25 Came to Ptolemais: the people there were grieved for the covenants; for they stormed, because they would make their covenants void:
26 Lysias went up to the judgment seat, said as much as could be in defence of the cause, persuaded, pacified, made them well affected, returned to Antioch. Thus it went touching the king’s coming and departing.

Chapter 14

1 After three years was Judas informed, that Demetrius the son of Seleucus, having entered by the haven of Tripolis with a great power and navy,
2 Had taken the country, and killed Antiochus, and Lysias his protector.
3 Now one Alcimus, who had been high priest, and had defiled himself wilfully in the times of their mingling with the Gentiles, seeing that by no means he could save himself, nor have any more access to the holy altar,
4 Came to king Demetrius in the hundred and one and fiftieth year, presenting unto him a crown of gold, and a palm, and also of the boughs which were used solemnly in the temple: and so that day he held his peace.
5 Howbeit having gotten opportunity to further his foolish enterprize, and being called into counsel by Demetrius, and asked how the Jews stood affected, and what they intended, he answered thereunto:
6 Those of the Jews that he called Assideans, whose cap- tain is Judas Maccabeus, nourish war and are seditious, and will not let the rest be in peace.
7 Therefore I, being deprived of mine ancestors’ hon- our, I mean the high priesthood, am now come hither:
8 First, verily for the unfeigned care I have of things per- taining to the king; and secondly, even for that I intend the good of mine own countrymen: for all our nation is in no small misery through the unadvised dealing of them aforersaid.
9 Wherefore, O king, seeing thou knowest all these things, be careful for the country, and our nation, which is pressed on every side, according to the clemency that thou readily shewest unto all.
10 For as long as Judas liveth, it is not possible that the state should be quiet.
11 This was no sooner spoken of him, but others of the king’s friends, being maliciously set against Judas, did more incense Demetrius.
12 And forthwith calling Nicanor, who had been master of the elephants, and making him governor over Judea, he sent him forth,
13 Commanding him to slay Judas, and to scatter them that were with him, and to make Alcimus high priest of the great temple.
14 Then the heathen, that had fled out of Judea from Judas, came to Nicanor by flocks, thinking the harm and calamities of the Jews to be their welfare.
15 Now when the Jews heard of Nicanor’s coming, and that the heathen were up against them, they cast earth upon their heads, and made supplication to him that had established his people for ever, and who always helpeth his portion with manifestation of his presence.
16 So at the commandment of the captain they removed straightways from thence, and came near unto them at the town of Dessau.
17 Now Simon, Judas’ brother, had joined battle with Nicanor, but was somewhat discomfited through the sudden silence of his enemies.
18 Nevertheless Nicanor, hearing of the manliness of them that were with Judas, and the courageousness that they had to fight for their country, durst not try the matter by the sword.
19 Wherefore he sent Posidonius, and Theodotus, and Mattathias, to make peace.
20 So when they had taken long advisement thereupon, and the captain had made the multitude acquainted therewith, and it appeared that they were all of one mind, they consented to the covenants,
21 And appointed a day to meet in together by them- selves: and when the day came, and stools were set for either of them,
22 Judas placed armed men ready in convenient places, lest some treachery should be suddenly practised by the enemies: so they made a peaceable conference.
23 Now Nicanor abode in Jerusalem, and did no hurt, but sent away the people that came flocking unto him.
24 And he would not willingly have Judas out of his sight: for he loved the man from his heart.
25 He prayed him also to take a wife, and to beget children: so he married, was quiet, and took part of this life.
26 But Alcimus, perceiving the love that was betwixt them, and considering the covenants that were made, came to Demetrius, and told him that Nicanor was not well affected toward the state; for that he had ordained Judas, a traitor to his realm, to be the king’s successor.
27 Then the king being in a rage, and provoked with the accusations of the most wicked man, wrote to Nicanor, signifying that he was much displeased with the covenants, and commanding him that he should send Maccabeus prisoner in all haste unto Antioch.
28 When this came to Nicanor’s hearing, he was much confounded in himself, and took it grievously that he should make void the articles which were agreed upon, the man being in no fault.
29 But because there was no dealing against the king, he watched his time to accomplish this thing by policy.
30 Notwithstanding, when Maccabeus saw that Nicanor began to be churlish unto him, and that he entreated him more roughly than he was wont, perceiving that such sour behaviour came not of good, he gathered together not a few of his men, and withdrew himself from Nicanor.
31 But the other, knowing that he was notably pre- vented by Judas’ policy, came into the great and holy temple, and commanded the priests, that were offering their usual sacrifices, to deliver him the man.
32 And when they sware that they could not tell where the man was whom he sought,
33 He stretched out his right hand toward the temple, and made an oath in this manner: If ye will not deliver me Judas as a prisoner, I will lay this temple of God even with the ground, and I will break down the altar, and erect a notable temple unto Bacchus.
34 After these words he departed. Then the priests lifted up their hands toward heaven, and besought him that was ever a defender of their nation, saying in this manner;
35 Thou, O Lord of all things, who hast need of nothing, wast pleased that the temple of thine habitation should be among us:
36 Therefore now, O holy Lord of all holiness, keep this house ever undefiled, which lately was cleansed, and stop every unrighteous mouth.
37 Now was there accused unto Nicanor one Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, a lover of his countrymen, and a man of very good report, who for his kindness was called a father of the Jews.
38 For in the former times, when they mingled not themselves with the Gentiles, he had been accused of Judaism, and did boldly jeopard his body and life with all vehemency for the religion of the Jews.
39 So Nicanor, willing to declare the hate that he bare unto the Jews, sent above five hundred men of war to take him:
40 For he thought by taking him to do the Jews much hurt.
41 Now when the multitude would have taken the tower, and violently broken into the outer door, and bade that fire should be brought to burn it, he being ready to be taken on every side fell upon his sword;
42 Choosing rather to die manfully, than to come into the hands of the wicked, to be abused otherwise than beseemed his noble birth:
43 But missing his stroke through haste, the multitude also rushing within the doors, he ran boldly up to the wall, and cast himself down manfully among the thickest of them.
44 But they quickly giving back, and a space being made, he fell down into the midst of the void place.
45 Nevertheless, while there was yet breath within him, being inflamed with anger, he rose up; and though his blood gushed out like spouts of water, and his wounds were grievous, yet he ran through the midst of the throng; and standing upon a steep rock,
46 When as his blood was now quite gone, he plucked out his bowels, and taking them in both his hands, he cast them upon the throng, and calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to restore him those again, he thus died.

Chapter 15

1 But Nicanor, hearing that Judas and his company were in the strong places about Samaria, resolved without any danger to set upon them on the sabbath day.
2 Nevertheless the Jews that were compelled to go with him said, O destroy not so cruelly and barbarously, but give honour to that day, which he, that seeth all things, hath honoured with holiness above all other days.
3 Then the most ungracious wretch demanded, if there were a Mighty one in heaven, that had commanded the sabbath day to be kept.
4 And when they said, There is in heaven a living Lord, and mighty, who commanded the seventh day to be kept:
5 Then said the other, And I also am mighty upon earth, and I command to take arms, and to do the king’s business. Yet he obtained not to have his wicked will done.
6 So Nicanor in exceeding pride and haughtiness deter- mined to set up a publick monument of his victory over Judas and them that were with him.
7 But Maccabeus had ever sure confidence that the Lord would help him:
8 Wherefore he exhorted his people not to fear the coming of the heathen against them, but to remember the help which in former times they had received from heaven, and now to expect the victory and aid, which should come unto them from the Almighty.
9 And so comforting them out of the law and the prophets, and withal putting them in mind of the battles that they won afore, he made them more cheerful.
10 And when he had stirred up their minds, he gave them their charge, shewing them therewithall the false- hood of the heathen, and the breach of oaths.
11 Thus he armed every one of them, not so much with defence of shields and spears, as with comfortable and good words: and beside that, he told them a dream worthy to be believed, as if it had been so indeed, which did not a little rejoice them.
12 And this was his vision: That Onias, who had been high priest, a virtuous and a good man, reverend in conversation, gentle in condition, well spoken also, and exercised from a child in all points of virtue, holding up his hands prayed for the whole body of the Jews.
13 This done, in like manner there appeared a man with gray hairs, and exceeding glorious, who was of a wonderful and excellent majesty.
14 Then Onias answered, saying, This is a lover of the brethren, who prayeth much for the people, and for the holy city, to wit, Jeremias the prophet of God.
15 Whereupon Jeremias holding forth his right hand gave to Judas a sword of gold, and in giving it spake thus,
16 Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with the which thou shalt wound the adversaries.
17 Thus being well comforted by the words of Judas, which were very good, and able to stir them up to valour, and to encourage the hearts of the young men, they determined not to pitch camp, but courageously to set upon them, and manfully to try the matter by conflict, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger.
18 For the care that they took for their wives, and their children, their brethren, and folks, was in least account with them: but the greatest and principal fear was for the holy temple.
19 Also they that were in the city took not the least care, being troubled for the conflict abroad.
20 And now, when as all looked what should be the trial, and the enemies were already come near, and the army was set in array, and the beasts conveniently placed, and the horsemen set in wings,
21 Maccabeus seeing the coming of the multitude, and the divers preparations of armour, and the fierceness of the beasts, stretched out his hands toward heaven, and called upon the Lord that worketh wonders, knowing that victory cometh not by arms, but even as it seemeth good to him, he giveth it to such as are worthy:
22 Therefore in his prayer he said after this manner; O Lord, thou didst send thine angel in the time of Ezekias king of Judea, and didst slay in the host of Sennacherib an hundred fourscore and five thousand:
23 Wherefore now also, O Lord of heaven, send a good angel before us for a fear and dread unto them;
24 And through the might of thine arm let those be stricken with terror, that come against thy holy people to blaspheme. And he ended thus.
25 Then Nicanor and they that were with him came forward with trumpets and songs.
26 But Judas and his company encountered the enemies with invocation and prayer.
27 So that fighting with their hands, and praying unto God with their hearts, they slew no less than thirty and five thousand men: for through the appearance of God they were greatly cheered.
28 Now when the battle was done, returning again with joy, they knew that Nicanor lay dead in his harness.
29 Then they made a great shout and a noise, praising the Almighty in their own language.
30 And Judas, who was ever the chief defender of the citizens both in body and mind, and who continued his love toward his countrymen all his life, commanded to strike off Nicanor’s head, and his hand with his shoulder, and bring them to Jerusalem.
31 So when he was there, and called them of his nation together, and set the priests before the altar, he sent for them that were of the tower,
32 And shewed them vile Nicanor’s head, and the hand of that blasphemer, which with proud brags he had stretched out against the holy temple of the Almighty.
33 And when he had cut out the tongue of that ungodly Nicanor, he commanded that they should give it by pieces unto the fowls, and hang up the reward of his madness before the temple.
34 So every man praised toward the heaven the glorious Lord, saying, Blessed be he that hath kept his own place undefiled.
35 He hanged also Nicanor’s head upon the tower, an evident and manifest sign unto all of the help of the Lord. 36 And they ordained all with a common decree in no case to let that day pass without solemnity, but to cele- brate the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, which in the Syrian tongue is called Adar, the day before Mardocheus’ day.
37 Thus went it with Nicanor: and from that time forth the Hebrews had the city in their power. And here will I make an end.
38 And if I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired: but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto.
39 For as it is hurtful to drink wine or water alone; and as wine mingled with water is pleasant, and delighteth the taste: even so speech finely framed delighteth the ears of them that read the story. And here shall be an end.