1 Maccabees

¹After Alexander the Macedonian, the son of Philip, who came out of the land of Chittim, and struck Darius king of the Persians and Medes, it came to pass, after he had struck him, that he reigned in his place, in former time, over Greece. ²He fought many battles, won many strongholds, killed the kings of the earth, ³went through to the ends of the earth, and took spoils of a multitude of nations. The earth was quiet before him. He was exalted. His heart was lifted up. ⁴He gathered together an exceedingly strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and principalities, and they paid him tribute. ⁵After these things he fell sick, and perceived that he was going to die. ⁶He called his honorable servants, which had been brought up with him from his youth, and he divided to them his kingdom while he was still alive. ⁷Alexander reigned twelve years, then he died. ⁸Then his servants ruled, each one in his place. ⁹They all put crowns upon themselves after he was dead, and so did their sons after them many years; and they multiplied evils in the earth. ¹⁰There came out of them a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome, and he reigned in the one hundred thirty seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks. ¹¹In those days transgressors of the law came out of Israel and persuaded many, saying, “Let’s go make a covenant with the Gentiles around us; for since we were separated from them many evils have befallen us.” ¹²That proposal was good in their eyes. ¹³Some of the people eagerly went to the king, and he authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. ¹⁴So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to the laws of the Gentiles. ¹⁵They made themselves uncircumcised, forsook the holy covenant, joined themselves to the Gentiles, and sold themselves to do evil. ¹⁶The kingdom was established in the sight of Antiochus, and he planned to reign over Egypt, that he might reign over both kingdoms. ¹⁷He entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots, with elephants, with cavalry, and with a great navy. ¹⁸He made war against Ptolemy king of Egypt. Ptolemy was put to shame before him, and fled; and many fell wounded to death. ¹⁹They took possession of the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils of Egypt. ²⁰Antiochus, after he had defeated Egypt, returned in the one hundred forty third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude, ²¹and entered presumptuously into the sanctuary, and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. ²²He took the table of the show bread, the cups for the drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the veil, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple. He peeled it all off. ²³He took the silver, the gold, and the precious vessels. He took the hidden treasures which he found. ²⁴When he had taken all of these, he went away into his own land. He made a great slaughter, and spoke very arrogantly. ²⁵Great mourning came upon Israel, in every place where they were. ²⁶The rulers and elders groaned. The virgins and young men were made feeble. The beauty of the women was changed. ²⁷Every bridegroom took up lamentation. She who sat in the marriage chamber was mourning. ²⁸The land was moved for its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame. ²⁹After two full years, the king sent a chief collector of tribute to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a great multitude. ³⁰He spoke words of peace to them in subtlety, and they believed him. Then he fell upon the city suddenly, struck it very severely, and destroyed many people of Israel. ³¹He took the spoils of the city, set it on fire, and pulled down its houses and its walls on every side. ³²They led captive the women and the children, and seized the livestock. ³³Then they fortified the city of David with a large, strong wall and with strong towers, and it became their citadel. ³⁴They put a sinful nation, transgressors of the law, there, and they strengthened themselves in it. ³⁵They stored up weapons and food, and gathering together the spoils of Jerusalem, they stored them there, and they became a great menace. ³⁶It became a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel continually. ³⁷They shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled the sanctuary. ³⁸The inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them. She became a habitation of foreigners. She became foreign to those who were born in her, and her children forsook her. ³⁹Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, and her honor into contempt. ⁴⁰According to her glory, so was her dishonor multiplied, and her exaltation was turned into mourning. ⁴¹King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, ⁴²and that each should forsake his own laws. All the nations agreed according to the word of the king. ⁴³Many of Israel consented to his worship, sacrificed to the idols, and profaned the Sabbath. ⁴⁴The king sent letters by the hand of messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow laws strange to the land, ⁴⁵and should forbid whole burnt offerings and sacrifice and drink offerings in the sanctuary; and should profane the Sabbaths and feasts, ⁴⁶and pollute the sanctuary and those who were holy; ⁴⁷that they should build altars, and temples, and shrines for idols, and should sacrifice swine’s flesh and unclean animals; ⁴⁸and that they should leave their sons uncircumcised, that they should make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation; ⁴⁹so that they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. ⁵⁰Whoever doesn’t do according to the word of the king, he shall die. ⁵¹He wrote according to all these words to his whole kingdom. He appointed overseers over all the people, and he commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city. ⁵²From the people were gathered together to them many, everyone who had forsaken the law; and they did evil things in the land. ⁵³They made Israel to hide themselves in every place of refuge which they had. ⁵⁴On the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty fifth year, they built an abomination of desolation upon the altar, and in the cities of Judah on every side they built idol altars. ⁵⁵At the doors of the houses and in the streets they burned incense. ⁵⁶They tore the books of the law which they found in pieces and set them on fire. ⁵⁷Anyone who was found with any a book of the covenant, and if any consented to the law, the king’s sentence delivered him to death. ⁵⁸Thus did they in their might to Israel, to those who were found month by month in the cities. ⁵⁹On the twenty-fifth day of the month they sacrificed upon the idol altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering. ⁶⁰They put to death women who had circumcised their children, according to the commandment. ⁶¹They hung their babies around their necks, and their houses, and those who had circumcised them. ⁶²Many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat unclean things. ⁶³They chose to die, that they might not be defiled with the food, and that they might not profane the holy covenant; and they died. ⁶⁴Exceedingly great wrath came upon Israel.

¹In those days Mattathias the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, from Jerusalem rose up; and he lived at Modin. ²And he had five sons: John, who was surnamed Gaddis; ³Simon, who was called Thassi; ⁴Judas, who was called Maccabaeus; ⁵Eleazar, who was called Avaran; and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. ⁶He saw the blasphemies that were committed in Judah and in Jerusalem, ⁷and he said, “Woe is me! Why was I born to see the destruction of my people and the destruction of the holy city, and to dwell there when it was given into the hand of the enemy, the sanctuary into the hand of foreigners? ⁸Her temple has become like a man who was glorious. ⁹Her vessels of glory are carried away into captivity. Her infants are slain in her streets. Her young men are slain with the enemy’s sword. ¹⁰What nation has not inherited her palaces and taken possession of her spoils? ¹¹Her adornment has all been taken away. Instead of a free woman, she has become a slave. ¹²Behold, our holy things, our beauty, and our glory are laid waste. The Gentiles have profaned them. ¹³Why should we live any longer?” ¹⁴Mattathias and his sons tore their clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned exceedingly. ¹⁵And the king’s officers who were enforcing the apostasy came into the city Modin to sacrifice. ¹⁶Many of Israel came to them, and Mattathias and his sons were gathered together. ¹⁷The king’s officers answered and spoke to Mattathias, saying, “You are a ruler and an honorable and great man in this city, and strengthened with sons and kindred. ¹⁸Now therefore come first and do the commandment of the king, as all the nations have done, including the men of Judah and those who remain in Jerusalem. You and your house will be numbered among the king’s friends, and you and your sons will be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.” ¹⁹And Mattathias answered and said with a loud voice, “If all the nations that are in the house of the king’s dominion listen to him, to fall away each one from the worship of his fathers, and have chosen to follow his commandments, ²⁰yet I and my sons and my kindred will walk in the covenant of our fathers. ²¹Far be it from us that we should forsake the law and the ordinances. ²²We will not listen to the king’s words, to turn aside from our worship, to the right hand, or to the left.” ²³When he had finished speaking these words, a Jew came in the sight of all to sacrifice on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king’s commandment. ²⁴Mattathias saw it, so his zeal was kindled, and his guts trembled, and he vented his wrath according to judgment, and ran and killed him upon the altar. ²⁵He killed the king’s officer, who compelled men to sacrifice, at the same time, and pulled down the altar. ²⁶He was zealous for the law, even as Phinehas did to Zimri the son of Salu. ²⁷Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying, “Whoever is zealous for the law and maintains the covenant, let him follow me!” ²⁸He and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that they had in the city. ²⁹Then many who sought justice and judgment went down into the wilderness to live there— ³⁰they, their children, their wives, and their livestock—because evils were multiplied upon them. ³¹It was told to the king’s officers and the forces that were in Jerusalem, the city of David, that certain men who had broken the king’s commandment had gone down into the secret places in the wilderness; ³²and many pursued after them, and having overtaken them, they encamped against them and set the battle in array against them on the Sabbath day. ³³They said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and do according to the word of the king, and you will all live!” ³⁴They said, “We won’t come out. We won’t do the word of the king, to profane the Sabbath day.” ³⁵Then the enemy hurried to attack them. ³⁶They didn’t answer them. They didn’t cast a stone at them, or block their secret places, ³⁷saying, “Let’s all die in our innocence. Heaven and earth testify for us, that you put us to death unjustly.” ³⁸So they attacked them on the Sabbath, and they died—they, their wives, their children, and their livestock—in number a thousand souls of men. ³⁹When Mattathias and his friends found out about it, they mourned over them exceedingly. ⁴⁰One said to another, “If we all do as our kindred have done, and don’t fight against the Gentiles for our lives and our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from off the earth.” ⁴¹So they decided that day, saying, “Whoever comes against us to battle on the Sabbath day, let’s fight against him, and we will in no way all die, as our kindred died in the secret places.” ⁴²Then a company of the Hasidaeans, mighty men of Israel, everyone who offered himself willingly for the law, were gathered together to them. ⁴³All those who fled from the evils were added to them, and supported them. ⁴⁴They mustered an army, and struck sinners in their anger, and lawless men in their wrath. The rest fled to the Gentiles for safety. ⁴⁵And Mattathias and his friends went around and pulled down the altars. ⁴⁶They forcibly circumcised the boys who were uncircumcised, as many as they found in the coasts of Israel. ⁴⁷They pursued the arrogant, and the work prospered in their hand. ⁴⁸They rescued the law out of the hand of the Gentiles and out of the hand of the kings. They never allowed the sinner to triumph. ⁴⁹The days of Mattathias drew near that he should die, and he said to his sons, “Now pride and scorn have gained strength. It is a season of overthrow and indignant wrath. ⁵⁰Now, my children, be zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers. ⁵¹Call to remembrance the deeds of our fathers which they did in their generations; and receive great glory and an everlasting name. ⁵²Wasn’t Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness? ⁵³Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt. ⁵⁴Phinehas our father, because he was exceedingly zealous, obtained the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. ⁵⁵Joshua became a judge in Israel for fulfilling the word. ⁵⁶Caleb obtained a heritage in the land for testifying in the congregation. ⁵⁷David inherited the throne of a kingdom forever and ever for being merciful. ⁵⁸Elijah was taken up into heaven because he was exceedingly zealous for the law. ⁵⁹Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael believed, and were saved out of the flame. ⁶⁰Daniel was delivered from the mouth of lions for his innocence. ⁶¹“Thus consider from generation to generation that no one who put their trust in him will lack for strength. ⁶²Don’t be afraid of the words of a sinful man; for his glory will be dung and worms. ⁶³Today he will be lifted up, and tomorrow he will in no way be found, because he has returned to dust, and his thought has perished. ⁶⁴You, my children, be strong, and show yourselves men on behalf of the law; for in it you will obtain glory. ⁶⁵Behold, Simon your brother, whom I know to be a man of counsel. Always listen to him. He shall be a father to you. ⁶⁶Judas Maccabaeus has been strong and mighty from his youth. He shall be your captain and shall fight the battle of the people. ⁶⁷Rally around all the doers of the law, and avenge the wrong done to your people. ⁶⁸Repay the Gentiles, and obey the commandments of the law.” ⁶⁹He blessed them, and was gathered to his ancestors. ⁷⁰He died in the one hundred forty sixth year, and his sons buried him in the tombs of his ancestors at Modin. All Israel made great lamentation for him.

¹His son Judas, who was called Maccabaeus, rose up in his place. ²All his kindred helped him, and so did all those who joined with his father, and they fought with gladness the battle of Israel. ³He got his people great glory, and put on a breastplate like a giant, and bound his warlike harness around him, and set battles in array, protecting the army with his sword. ⁴He was like a lion in his deeds, and like a lion’s cub roaring for prey. ⁵He hunted and pursued the lawless, and he burned up those who troubled his people. ⁶The lawless shrunk back for fear of him, and all the workers of lawlessness were very troubled, and deliverance prospered in his hand. ⁷He angered many kings and made Jacob glad with his acts. His memory is blessed forever. ⁸He went through the cities of Judah, destroyed the ungodly out of the land, and turned away wrath from Israel. ⁹He was renowned to the utmost part of the earth. He gathered together those who were ready to perish. ¹⁰Apollonius gathered the Gentiles together with a great army from Samaria to fight against Israel. ¹¹Judas learned of it, and he went out to meet him, struck him, and killed him. Many fell wounded to death, and the rest fled. ¹²They took their spoils, and Judas took Apollonius’ sword, and he fought with it all his days. ¹³Seron, the commander of the army of Syria, heard that Judas had gathered a large company, including a body of faithful men who stayed with him, went out to war. ¹⁴He said, “I will make myself a name and get myself glory in the kingdom. I will fight against Judas and those who are with him, who despise the king’s command. ¹⁵A mighty army of the ungodly went up with him to help him, to take vengeance on the children of Israel. ¹⁶He came near to the ascent of Bethhoron, and Judas went out to meet him with a small company. ¹⁷But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, “What? Shall we be able, being a small company, to fight against so great and strong a multitude? We for our part are faint, having tasted no food this day.” ¹⁸Judas said, “It is an easy thing for many to be hemmed in by the hands of a few. With heaven it is all one, to save by many or by few; ¹⁹for victory in battle stands not in the multitude of an army, but strength is from heaven. ²⁰They come to us in fullness of insolence and lawlessness, to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to plunder us, ²¹but we fight for our lives and our laws. ²²He himself will crush them before our face; but as for you, don’t be afraid of them. ²³Now when he had finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were defeated before him. ²⁴They pursued them down the descent of Bethhoron to the plain, and about eight hundred men of them fell; but the rest fled into the land of the Philistines. ²⁵The fear of Judas and his kindred, and the dread of them, began to fall on the nations around them. ²⁶His fame reached the king, and every nation told of the battles of Judas. ²⁷But when King Antiochus heard these words, he was full of indignation; and he sent and gathered together all the forces of his realm, an exceedingly strong army. ²⁸He opened his treasury and gave his forces pay for a year, and commanded them to be ready for every need. ²⁹He saw that the money was gone from his treasures, and that the tributes of the country were small, because of the dissension and disaster which he had brought upon the land, to the end that he might take away the laws which had been from the first days. ³⁰He was afraid that he wouldn’t have enough as at other times for the charges and the gifts which he used to give with a liberal hand, more abundantly than the kings who were before him. ³¹And he was exceedingly perplexed in his mind, and he determined to go into Persia, and to take the tributes of those countries, and to gather much money. ³²He left Lysias, an honorable man, and one of royal lineage, to be over the affairs of the king from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt, ³³and to bring up his son Antiochus, until he came again. ³⁴He delivered to Lysias half of his forces and the elephants, and gave him charge of all the things that he would have done, and concerning those who lived in Judea and in Jerusalem, ³⁵that he should send an army against them to root out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem, and to take away their memory from the place, ³⁶and that he should make foreigners live in all their territory, and should divide their land to them by lot. ³⁷The king took the half that remained of the forces, and left Antioch, his royal city, in the one hundred forty seventh year; and he passed over the river Euphrates, and went through the upper countries. ³⁸Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, Nicanor, and Gorgias, mighty men of the king’s friends; ³⁹and with them, he sent forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and to destroy it, according to the word of the king. ⁴⁰They set out with all their army, and came and encamped near Emmaus in the plain country. ⁴¹The merchants of the country heard of their fame, and took silver and gold in large quantities, and fetters, and came into the camp to take the children of Israel for slaves. Forces of Syria and of the land of the Philistines joined with them. ⁴²Judas and his kindred saw that evils were multiplied, and that the forces were encamping in their borders. They learned about the king’s words which he had commanded, to destroy the people and make an end of them. ⁴³Then they each said to his neighbor, “Let’s repair the ruins of our people. Let’s fight for our people and the holy place.” ⁴⁴The congregation was gathered together, that they might be ready for battle, and that they might pray and ask for mercy and compassion. ⁴⁵Jerusalem was without inhabitant like a wilderness. There was none of her offspring who went in or went out. The sanctuary was trampled down. Children of foreigners were in the citadel. The Gentiles lived there. Joy was taken away from Jacob, and the pipe and the harp ceased. ⁴⁶They gathered themselves together, and came to Mizpeh, near Jerusalem; for in Mizpeh there used to be a place of prayer for Israel. ⁴⁷They fasted that day, put on sackcloth, put ashes on their heads, tore their clothes, ⁴⁸and opened the book of the law, to learn about the things for which the Gentiles consulted the images of their idols. ⁴⁹They brought the priests’ garments, the first fruits, and the tithes. They stirred up the Nazarites, who had accomplished their days. ⁵⁰They cried aloud toward heaven, saying, “What should we do with these men? Where should we carry them away? ⁵¹Your holy place is trampled down and profaned. Your priests mourn in humiliation. ⁵²Behold, the Gentiles are assembled together against us to destroy us. You know what things they imagine against us. ⁵³How will we be able to stand against them, unless you help us?” ⁵⁴They sounded with the trumpets, and gave a loud shout. ⁵⁵And after this Judas appointed leaders of the people: captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens. ⁵⁶He said to those who were building houses, were betrothing wives, were planting vineyards, and were fearful, that they should return, each man to his own house, according to the law. ⁵⁷The army marched out and encamped upon the south side of Emmaus. ⁵⁸Judas said, “Arm yourselves and be valiant men! Be ready in the morning to fight with these Gentiles who are assembled together against us to destroy us and our holy place. ⁵⁹For it is better for us to die in battle than to see the calamities of our nation and the holy place. ⁶⁰Nevertheless, as may be the will in heaven, so shall he do.

¹Gorgias took five thousand infantry, a thousand chosen cavalry, and the army moved out at night, ²that it might fall upon the army of the Jews and strike them suddenly. The men of the citadel were his guides. ³Judas heard of this, and he and the valiant men moved, that he might strike the king’s army which was at Emmaus ⁴while the forces were still dispersed from the camp. ⁵Gorgias came into the camp of Judas at night and found no man. He sought them in the mountains; for he said, “These men are running away from us.” ⁶As soon as it was day, Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men. However they didn’t have the armor and swords they desired. ⁷They saw the camp of the Gentiles strong and fortified, with cavalry all around it; and these were expert in war. ⁸Judas said to the men who were with him, “Don’t be afraid of their numbers, or when they charge. ⁹Remember how our fathers were saved in the Red sea, when Pharaoh pursued them with an army. ¹⁰Now let’s cry to heaven, if he will have us, and will remember the covenant of our fathers, and destroy this army before our face today. ¹¹Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel. ¹²The foreigners lifted up their eyes, and saw them coming near them. ¹³They went out of the camp to battle. Those who were with Judas sounded their trumpets ¹⁴and joined battle. The Gentiles were defeated, and fled into the plain. ¹⁵But all those in the rear fell by the sword. They pursued them to Gazara, and to the plains of Idumaea, Azotus, and Jamnia. About three thousand of those men fell. ¹⁶Then Judas and his army returned from pursuing them; ¹⁷and he said to the people, “Don’t be greedy for the spoils, because there is a battle before us. ¹⁸Gorgias and his army are near us on the mountain. But stand now against our enemies and fight against them, and afterwards take the spoils with boldness.” ¹⁹While Judas was finishing this speech, a part of them appeared looking out from the mountain. ²⁰They saw that their army had been put to flight, and that the Jews were burning the camp; for the smoke that was seen declared what was done. ²¹But when they perceived these things, they were very afraid. Perceiving also the army of Judas in the plain ready for battle, ²²they all fled into the land of the Philistines. ²³Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they took much gold, silver, blue, sea purple, and great riches. ²⁴Then they returned home, and sang a song of thanksgiving, and gave praise to heaven, because he is good, because his mercy endures forever. ²⁵Israel had a great deliverance that day. ²⁶The foreigners who had escaped came and told Lysias all the things that had happened. ²⁷When he heard of it, he was confounded and discouraged, because the things he desired had not been done to Israel, nor had such things happened as the king commanded him. ²⁸In the next year, he gathered together sixty thousand chosen infantry and five thousand cavalry, that he might subdue them. ²⁹They came into Idumaea and encamped at Bethsura. Judas met them with ten thousand men. ³⁰He saw that the army was strong, and he prayed and said, “Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, who defeated the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of your servant David, and delivered the army of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan the son of Saul, and of his armor bearer. ³¹Hem in this army in the hand of your people Israel, and let them be ashamed for their army and their cavalry. ³²Give them faintness of heart. Cause the boldness of their strength to melt away, and let them quake at their destruction. ³³Strike them down with the sword of those who love you, and let all who know your name praise you with thanksgiving.” ³⁴They joined in battle; and about five thousand men of Lysias’ army fell. They fell down near them. ³⁵But when Lysias saw that his troops were put to flight, and the boldness that had come upon those who were with Judas, and how they were ready either to live or to die nobly, he withdrew to Antioch, and gathered together hired soldiers, that he might come again into Judea with an even greater army. ³⁶But Judas and his kindred said, “Behold, our enemies are defeated. Let’s go up to cleanse the holy place and to rededicate it.” ³⁷All the army was gathered together, and they went up to mount Zion. ³⁸They saw the sanctuary laid desolate, the altar profaned, the gates burned up, shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest or as on one of the mountains, and the priests’ chambers pulled down; ³⁹and they tore their clothes, made great lamentation, put ashes upon their heads, ⁴⁰fell on their faces to the ground, blew with the solemn trumpets, and cried toward heaven. ⁴¹Then Judas appointed certain men to fight against those who were in the citadel until he had cleansed the holy place. ⁴²He chose blameless priests who were devoted to the law; ⁴³and they cleansed the holy place and carried the defiled stones out to an unclean place. ⁴⁴They deliberated what to do with the altar of burnt offerings, which had been profaned. ⁴⁵A good plan came into their mind, that they should pull it down, lest it would be a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it. So they pulled down the altar ⁴⁶and laid up the stones on the temple hill in a convenient place, until a prophet would come to give an answer concerning them. ⁴⁷They took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar like the former. ⁴⁸They built the holy place and the inner parts of the house; and they consecrated the courts. ⁴⁹They made new holy vessels, and they brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. ⁵⁰They burned incense on the altar, and they lit the lamps that were upon the lampstand, and they gave light in the temple. ⁵¹They set loaves upon the table, hung up the curtains, and finished all the work which they had done. ⁵²They rose up early in the morning, on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month Chislev, in the one hundred forty eighth year, ⁵³and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of burnt offerings which they had made. ⁵⁴At the time and day the Gentiles had profaned it, even then it was dedicated with songs, harps, lutes, and with cymbals. ⁵⁵All the people fell on their faces, worshiped, and gave praise toward heaven, which had given them good success. ⁵⁶They celebrated the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness, and sacrificed a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. ⁵⁷They decorated the front of the temple with crowns of gold and small shields. They dedicated the gates and the priests’ chambers, and made doors for them. ⁵⁸There was exceedingly great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was turned away. ⁵⁹Judas and his kindred and the whole congregation of Israel ordained that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their seasons from year to year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev, with gladness and joy. ⁶⁰At that time, they fortified mount Zion with high walls and strong towers around it, lest perhaps the Gentiles might come and trample them down, as they had done before. ⁶¹Judas stationed a garrison to guard it. They fortified Bethsura to keep it, that the people might have a stronghold near Idumaea.

¹It came to pass, when the Gentiles all around heard that the altar had been rebuilt and the sanctuary dedicated as before, they were exceedingly angry. ²They took counsel to destroy the race of Jacob that was in the midst of them, and they began to kill and destroy among the people. ³Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumaea at Akrabattine, because they besieged Israel. He struck them with a great slaughter, humbled them, and took their spoils. ⁴He remembered the wickedness of the children of Baean, who were a snare and a stumbling block to the people, lying in wait for them on the highways. ⁵They were shut up by him in the towers. He encamped against them, and destroyed them utterly, and burned with fire the towers of the place with all who were in them. ⁶He passed over to the children of Ammon, and found a mighty band and many people, with Timotheus for their leader. ⁷He fought many battles with them, and they were defeated before his face. He struck them, ⁸and took possession of Jazer and its villages, and returned again into Judea. ⁹The Gentiles who were in Gilead gathered themselves together against the Israelites who were on their borders, to destroy them. They fled to the stronghold of Dathema, ¹⁰and sent letters to Judas and his kindred, saying, “The Gentiles who are around us are gathered together against us to destroy us. ¹¹They are preparing to come and get possession of the stronghold where we fled for refuge, and Timotheus is the leader of their army. ¹²Now therefore come and deliver us from their hand, for many of us have fallen. ¹³All our kindred who were in the land of Tubias have been put to death. They have carried their wives, their children, and their stuff into captivity. They destroyed about a thousand men there.” ¹⁴While the letters were still being read, behold, other messengers came from Galilee with their clothes torn, bringing a similar report, ¹⁵saying, “People of Ptolemais, of Tyre, of Sidon, and all Galilee of the Gentiles have gathered together to destroy us.” ¹⁶Now when Judas and the people heard these words, a great congregation assembled together to determine what they should do for their kindred who were in distress and under attack. ¹⁷Judas said to Simon his brother, “Choose men and go deliver your kindred who are in Galilee, but Jonathan my brother and I will go into the land of Gilead.” ¹⁸He left Joseph the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, as leaders of the people, with the remnant of the army, in Judea, to guard it. ¹⁹He commanded them, saying, “Take charge of this people, and fight no battle with the Gentiles until we return.” ²⁰Then three thousand men were assigned to go into Galilee with Simon, but eight thousand men were assigned to Judas to go into the land of Gilead. ²¹Simon went into Galilee and fought many battles with the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were defeated before him. ²²He pursued them to the gate of Ptolemais. About three thousand men of the Gentiles fell, and he took their spoils. ²³They took to them those who were in Galilee and in Arbatta, with their wives, their children, and all that they had, and brought them into Judea with great gladness. ²⁴Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan passed over the Jordan, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness. ²⁵They met with the Nabathaeans, and these met them in a peaceful manner and told them all things that had happened to their kindred in the land of Gilead, ²⁶and how many of them were shut up in Bosora, Bosor, Alema, Casphor, Maked, and Carnaim—all these cities are strong and large— ²⁷and how they were shut up in the rest of the cities of the land of Gilead, and that tomorrow they planned to encamp against the strongholds, and to take them, and to destroy all these men in one day. ²⁸Judas and his army turned suddenly by the way of the wilderness to Bosora; and he took the city, and killed all the males with the edge of the sword, took all their spoils, and burned the city with fire. ²⁹He left there at night, and went until he came to the stronghold. ³⁰When the morning came, they lifted up their eyes and saw many people who couldn’t be counted, bearing ladders and engines of war, to take the stronghold; and they were fighting against them. ³¹Judas saw that the battle had begun, and that the cry of the city went up to heaven, with trumpets and a great sound, ³²and he said to the men of his army, “Fight today for your kindred!” ³³Then he went out behind them in three companies. They sounded with their trumpets and cried out in prayer. ³⁴And the army of Timotheus perceived that it was Maccabaeus, and they fled from before him. He struck them with a great slaughter. About eight thousand men of them fell on that day. ³⁵He turned away to Mizpeh and fought against it, took it, killed all its males, took its spoils, and burned it with fire. ³⁶From there he marched and took Casphor, Maked, Bosor, and the other cities of the land of Gilead. ³⁷Now after these things, Timotheus gathered another army and encamped near Raphon beyond the brook. ³⁸Judas sent men to spy on the army; and they brought him word, saying, “All the Gentiles who are around us are gathered together to them, an exceedingly great army. ³⁹They have hired Arabians to help them, and are encamped beyond the brook, ready to come against you to battle.” So Judas went to meet them. ⁴⁰Timotheus said to the captains of his army when Judas and his army drew near to the brook of water, “If he crosses over to us first, we won’t be able to withstand him, for he will certainly defeat us; ⁴¹but if he is afraid, and encamps beyond the river, we will cross over to him, and defeat him.” ⁴²Now when Judas came near to the water brook, he caused the scribes of the people to remain by the brook, and commanded them, saying, “Allow no man to encamp, but let all come to the battle.” ⁴³Then he crossed over against them first, and all the people after him; and all the Gentiles were defeated before his face, and threw away their weapons, and fled to the temple at Carnaim. ⁴⁴They took the city and burned the temple with fire, together with all who were in it. Carnaim was subdued. They couldn’t stand any longer before the face of Judas. ⁴⁵Judas gathered together all Israel, those who were in the land of Gilead, from the least to the greatest, with their wives, their children, and their stuff, an exceedingly great army, that they might come into the land of Judah. ⁴⁶They came as far as Ephron, and this same city was large and very strong. It was on the road where they were going. They couldn’t turn away from it on the right hand or on the left, but needed to pass through the middle of it. ⁴⁷The people of the city shut them out and blocked the gates with stones. ⁴⁸Judas sent to them with words of peace, saying, “We will pass through your land to go into our own land, and no one will harm you. We will only pass by on our feet.” But they wouldn’t open to him. ⁴⁹Then Judas commanded proclamation to be made in the army, that each man should encamp in the place where he was. ⁵⁰So the men of the army encamped, and fought against the city all that day and all that night, and the city was delivered into his hands. ⁵¹He destroyed all the males with the edge of the sword, razed the city, took its plunder, and passed through the city over those who were slain. ⁵²They went over the Jordan into the great plain near Bethshan. ⁵³And Judas gathered together those who lagged behind and encouraged the people all the way through, until he came into the land of Judah. ⁵⁴They went up to mount Zion with gladness and joy, and offered whole burnt offerings, because not so much as one of them was slain until they returned in peace. ⁵⁵In the days when Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, and Simon his brother in Galilee before Ptolemais, ⁵⁶Joseph the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, rulers of the army, heard of their exploits and of the war, and what things they had done. ⁵⁷They said, “Let’s also get us a name, and let’s go fight against the Gentiles who are around us.” ⁵⁸So they gave orders to the men of the army that was with them, and went toward Jamnia. ⁵⁹Gorgias and his men came out of the city to meet them in battle. ⁶⁰Joseph and Azarias were put to flight, and were pursued to the borders of Judea. About two thousand men of Israel fell on that day. ⁶¹There was a great overthrow among the people, because they didn’t listen to Judas and his kindred, thinking to do some exploit. ⁶²But they were not of the family of those men by whose hand deliverance was given to Israel. ⁶³The man Judas and his kindred were glorified exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and of all the Gentiles, wherever their name was heard of. ⁶⁴Men gathered together to them, acclaiming them. ⁶⁵Judas and his kindred went out and fought against the children of Esau in the land toward the south. He struck Hebron and its villages, pulled down its strongholds, and burned its towers all around. ⁶⁶He marched to go into the land of the Philistines, and he went through Samaria. ⁶⁷In that day certain priests, desiring to do exploits there, were slain in battle, when they went out to battle unadvisedly. ⁶⁸But Judas turned toward Azotus, to the land of the Philistines, pulled down their altars, burned the carved images of their gods with fire, took the plunder of their cities, and returned into the land of Judah.

¹King Antiochus was traveling through the upper countries; and he heard that in Elymais in Persia there was a city renowned for riches, for silver and gold, ²and that the temple which was in it was exceedingly rich, and that in it were golden shields, breastplates, and weapons which Alexander, son of Philip, the Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Greeks, left behind there. ³So he came and tried to take the city and to pillage it; and he was not able, because his plan was known to them of the city, ⁴and they rose up against him in battle. He fled and returned to Babylon with great disappointment. ⁵Then someone came into Persia bringing him news that the armies which went against the land of Judah had been put to flight, ⁶and that Lysias went first with a strong army and was put to shame before them, and that they had grown strong because of weapons, power, and a supply of plunder which they took from the armies that they had cut off, ⁷and that they had pulled down the abomination which he had built upon the altar that was in Jerusalem, and that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls, as before, and also Bethsura, his city. ⁸It came to pass, when the king heard these words, he was astonished and moved exceedingly. He laid himself down on his bed, and fell sick for grief, because it had not turned out for him as he had planned. ⁹He was there many days, because great grief continually gripped him, and he realized that he would die. ¹⁰He called for all his friends, and said to them, “Sleep departs from my eyes, and my heart fails because of worry. ¹¹I said in my heart, ‘To what suffering I have come! How great a flood it is that I’m in, now! For I was gracious and loved in my power.’ ¹²But now I remember the evils which I did at Jerusalem, and that I took all the vessels of silver and gold that were in it, and sent out to destroy the inhabitants of Judah without a cause. ¹³I perceive that it is because of this that these evils have come upon me. Behold, I am perishing through great grief in a strange land.” ¹⁴Then he called for Philip, one of his friends, and set him over all his kingdom. ¹⁵He gave him his crown, his robe, and his signet ring, so that he could guide Antiochus his son, and nourish him up that he might be king. ¹⁶Then King Antiochus died there in the one hundred forty-ninth year. ¹⁷When Lysias learned that the king was dead, he set up Antiochus his son to reign, whom he had nourished up being young, and he called his name Eupator. ¹⁸Those who were in the citadel kept hemming Israel in around the sanctuary, and always sought to harm them and to strengthen the Gentiles. ¹⁹Judas planned to destroy them, and called all the people together to besiege them. ²⁰They were gathered together, and besieged them in the one hundred fiftieth year, and he made mounds to shoot from, and engines of war. ²¹Some of those who were hemmed in came out, and some of the ungodly men of Israel were joined to them. ²²They went to the king, and said, “How long will you not execute judgment, and avenge our kindred? ²³We were willing to serve your father and to live by his words, and to follow his commandments. ²⁴Because of this, the children of our people besieged the citadel and were alienated from us; but as many of us as they could catch, they killed, and plundered our inheritances. ²⁵Not against us only did they stretch out their hand, but also against all their borders. ²⁶Behold, they are encamped this day against the citadel at Jerusalem to take it. They have fortified the sanctuary and Bethsura. ²⁷If you don’t quickly prevent them, they will do greater things than these, and you won’t be able to control them. ²⁸When the king heard this, he was angry, and gathered together all his friends, the rulers of his army, and those who were over the cavalry. ²⁹Bands of hired soldiers came to him from other kingdoms and from islands of the sea. ³⁰The number of his forces was one hundred thousand infantry, and twenty thousand cavalry, and thirty-two elephants trained for war. ³¹They went through Idumaea, and encamped against Bethsura, and fought against it many days, and made engines of war. The Jews came out and burned them with fire, and fought valiantly. ³²Judas marched away from the citadel and encamped at Bethzacharias, near the king’s camp. ³³The king rose early in the morning, and marched his army at full speed along the road to Bethzacharias. His forces made themselves ready to battle and sounded their trumpets. ³⁴They offered the elephants the juice of grapes and mulberries, that they might prepare them for the battle. ³⁵They distributed the animals among the phalanxes. They set by each elephant a thousand men armed with coats of mail and helmets of brass on their heads. Five hundred chosen cavalry were appointed for each elephant. ³⁶These were ready beforehand, wherever the elephant was. Wherever the elephant went, they went with it. They didn’t leave it. ³⁷Strong, covered wooden towers were upon them, one upon each elephant, fastened upon it with secure harnesses. Upon each were four valiant men who fought upon them, beside his Indian driver. ³⁸The rest of the cavalry he set on this side and that side on the two flanks of the army, striking terror into the enemy, and protected by the phalanxes. ³⁹Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the mountains lit up, and blazed like flaming torches. ⁴⁰A part of the king’s army was spread upon the high hills and some on the low ground, and they went on firmly and in order. ⁴¹All who heard the noise of their multitude, the marching of the multitude, and the rattling of the weapons trembled; for the army was exceedingly great and strong. ⁴²Judas and his army drew near for battle, and six hundred men of the king’s army fell. ⁴³Eleazar, who was called Avaran, saw one of the animals armed with royal breastplates, and it was taller than all the animals, and the king seemed to be on it. ⁴⁴He gave his life to deliver his people, and to get himself an everlasting name. ⁴⁵He ran upon him courageously into the midst of the phalanx, and killed on the right hand and on the left, and they parted away from him on this side and on that. ⁴⁶He crept under the elephant, and stabbed it from beneath, and killed it. The elephant fell to the earth upon him, and he died there. ⁴⁷They saw the strength of the kingdom and the fierce attack of the army, and turned away from them. ⁴⁸But the soldiers of the king’s army went up to Jerusalem to meet them, and the king encamped toward Judea and toward mount Zion. ⁴⁹He made peace with the people of Bethsura. He came out of the city because they had no food there to endure the siege, because it was a Sabbath to the land. ⁵⁰The king took Bethsura, and appointed a garrison there to keep it. ⁵¹He encamped against the sanctuary many days; and set there mounds to shoot from, and engines of war, and machines for throwing fire and stones, and weapons to throw darts, and slings. ⁵²The Jews also made engines of war against their engines, and fought for many days. ⁵³But there was no food in the sanctuary, because it was the seventh year, and those who fled for safety into Judea from among the Gentiles had eaten up the rest of the stores. ⁵⁴There were only a few people left in the sanctuary, because the famine prevailed against them, and they were scattered, each man to his own place. ⁵⁵Lysias heard that Philip, whom Antiochus the king, while he was yet alive, appointed to raise his son Antiochus to be king, ⁵⁶had returned from Persia and Media, and with him the forces that went with the king, and that he was seeking to take control of the government. ⁵⁷He made haste, and gave orders to depart. He said to the king and the leaders of the army and to the men, “We get weaker daily, our food is scant, the place where we encamp is strong, and the affairs of the kingdom lie upon us. ⁵⁸Now therefore let’s negotiate with these men, and make peace with them and with all their nation, ⁵⁹and covenant with them, that they may walk after their own laws, as before; for because of their laws which we abolished they were angered, and did all these things.” ⁶⁰The speech pleased the king and the princes, and he sent to them to make peace; and they accepted it. ⁶¹The king and the princes swore to them. On these conditions, they came out from the stronghold. ⁶²Then the king entered into mount Zion. He saw the strength of the place, and broke the oath which he had sworn, and gave orders to pull down the wall all around. ⁶³Then he left in haste and returned to Antioch, and found Philip master of the city. He fought against him, and took the city by force.

¹In the one hundred fifty first year, Demetrius the son of Seleucus came out of Rome, and went up with a few men to a city by the sea, and reigned there. ²It came to pass, when he would go into the house of the kingdom of his fathers, that the army laid hands on Antiochus and Lysias, to bring them to him. ³The thing became known to him, and he said, “Don’t show me their faces!” ⁴So the army killed them. Then Demetrius sat upon the throne of his kingdom. ⁵All the lawless and ungodly men of Israel came to him. Alcimus was their leader, desiring to be high priest. ⁶They accused the people to the king, saying, “Judas and his kindred have destroyed all your friends, and have scattered us from our own land. ⁷Now therefore send a man whom you trust, and let him go and see all the destruction which he has brought on us and the king’s country, and how he has punished them and all who helped them.” ⁸So the king chose Bacchides, one of the king’s friends, who was ruler in the country beyond the river, and was a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to the king. ⁹He sent him and that ungodly Alcimus, whom he made the high priest; and he commanded him to take vengeance upon the children of Israel. ¹⁰They marched away and came with a great army into the land of Judah. He sent messengers to Judas and his kindred with words of peace deceitfully. ¹¹They paid no attention to their words; for they saw that they had come with a great army. ¹²A group of scribes gathered together to Alcimus and Bacchides to seek just terms. ¹³The Hasidaeans were the first among the children of Israel who sought peace from them, ¹⁴for they said, “One who is a priest of the seed of Aaron has come with the army, and he will do us no wrong.” ¹⁵He spoke with them words of peace, and swore to them, saying, “We won’t seek to harm you or your friends.” ¹⁶They trusted him. Then he seized sixty men of them, and killed them in one day, according to the word which was written, ¹⁷The flesh of your saints and their blood was shed all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. ¹⁸The fear and the dread of them fell upon all the people, for they said, “There is neither truth nor justice in them; for they have broken the covenant and the oath which they swore.” ¹⁹Bacchides withdrew from Jerusalem, and encamped in Bezeth. He sent and seized many of the deserters who were with him, and some of the people, and he killed them, throwing them into a large pit. ²⁰He placed Alcimus in charge of the country and left with him a force to aid him. Then Bacchides went away to the king. ²¹Alcimus struggled to maintain his high priesthood. ²²All those who troubled their people joined him, and they took control of the land of Judah, and did great damage in Israel. ²³Judas saw all the wrongs that Alcimus and his company had done among the children of Israel, even more than the Gentiles. ²⁴He went out into all the borders of Judea and took vengeance on the men who had deserted from him, and they were restrained from going out into the country. ²⁵But when Alcimus saw that Judas and his company had grown strong, and knew that he was not able to withstand them, he returned to the king, and brought evil accusations against them. ²⁶Then the king sent Nicanor, one of his honorable princes, a man who hated Israel and was their enemy, and commanded him to destroy the people. ²⁷Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a great army. He sent to Judas and his kindred deceitfully with words of peace, saying, ²⁸“Let there be no battle between me and you; I will come with a few men, that I may see your faces in peace.” ²⁹He came to Judas, and they saluted one another peaceably. The enemies were ready to seize Judas by violence. ³⁰This was known to Judas, that he came to him with deceit, and he was very afraid of him, and would see his face no more. ³¹Nicanor found out that his plan was disclosed; and he went out to meet Judas in battle beside Capharsalama. ³²About five hundred men of Nicanor’s army fell, and the rest fled into the city of David. ³³After these things, Nicanor went up to mount Zion. Some of the priests came out of the sanctuary, with some of the elders of the people, to salute him peaceably, and to show him the whole burned sacrifice that was being offered for the king. ³⁴He mocked them, laughed at them, derided them shamefully, spoke arrogantly, ³⁵and swore in a rage, saying, “Unless Judas and his army are now delivered into my hands, it shall be that, if I return safely, I will burn up this house!” And he went out in a great rage. ³⁶The priests entered in, and stood before the altar and the temple; and they wept, and said, ³⁷“You chose this house to be called by your name, to be a house of prayer and supplication for your people. ³⁸Take vengeance on this man and his army, and let them fall by the sword. Remember their blasphemies, and don’t allow them to live any longer.” ³⁹Then Nicanor went out from Jerusalem and encamped in Bethhoron, and there the Syrian army met him. ⁴⁰Judas encamped in Adasa with three thousand men. Judas prayed and said, ⁴¹“When those who came from the king blasphemed, your angel went out, and struck among them one hundred eighty-five thousand. ⁴²Even so, crush this army before us today, and let all the rest know that he has spoken wickedly against your sanctuary. Judge him according to his wickedness.” ⁴³On the thirteenth day of the month Adar, the armies met in battle. Nicanor’s army was defeated, and he himself was the first to fall in the battle. ⁴⁴Now when his army saw that Nicanor had fallen, they threw away their weapons and fled. ⁴⁵They pursued them a day’s journey from Adasa until you come to Gazara, and they sounded an alarm after them with the signal trumpets. ⁴⁶Men came out of all the surrounding villages of Judea, and outflanked them. These turned them back on those, and they all fell by the sword. There wasn’t one of them left. ⁴⁷The Jews took the spoils and the booty, and they cut off Nicanor’s head and his right hand, which he had stretched out so arrogantly, and brought them, and hung them up beside Jerusalem. ⁴⁸The people were exceedingly glad, and they kept that day as a day of great gladness. ⁴⁹They ordained to keep this day year by year on the thirteenth day of Adar. ⁵⁰So the land of Judah had rest a few days.

¹Judas heard of the fame of the Romans, that they are valiant men, and have pleasure in all who join themselves to them, and make friends with all who come to them, ²and that they are valiant men. They told him of their wars and exploits which they do among the Gauls, and how they conquered them, and forced them to pay tribute; ³and what things they did in the land of Spain, that they might take control of the silver and gold mines which were there; ⁴and how by their policy and persistence they conquered all the place (and the place was exceedingly far from them), and the kings who came against them from the uttermost part of the earth, until they had defeated them, and struck them severely; and how the rest give them tribute year by year. ⁵Philip, and Perseus, king of Chittim, and those who lifted up themselves against them, they defeated in battle, and conquered them. ⁶Antiochus also, the great king of Asia, came against them to battle, having one hundred twenty elephants, with cavalry, chariots, and an exceedingly great army, and he was defeated by them. ⁷They took him alive, and decreed that both he and those who reigned after him should give them a great tribute, and should give hostages, and a parcel of land from the best of their provinces: ⁸the countries of India, Media, and Lydia. They took them from him, and gave them to King Eumenes. ⁹Judas heard how the Greeks planned to come and destroy them, ¹⁰but this became known to them, and they sent against them a general who fought against them, and many of them fell down wounded to death, and they made captive their wives and their children, and plundered them, and conquered their land, and pulled down their strongholds, and plundered them, and brought them into bondage to this day. ¹¹The remaining kingdoms and islands, as many as rose up against them at any time, they destroyed and made them to be their servants; ¹²but with their friends and those who relied on them they stayed friends. They conquered the kingdoms that were near and those that were far off, and all that heard of their fame were afraid of them. ¹³Moreover, whoever they desired to help and to make kings, these they make kings; and whoever they desired, they depose. They are exalted exceedingly. ¹⁴For all this, none of them ever put on a crown, neither did they clothe themselves with purple, as a display of grandeur. ¹⁵Judas heard how they had made for themselves a senate house, and day by day, three hundred twenty men sat in council, consulting always for the people, to the end they might be well governed, ¹⁶and how they commit their government to one man year by year, that he should rule over them, and control all their country, and all are obedient to that one, and there is neither envy nor emulation among them. ¹⁷So Judas chose Eupolemus the son of John, the son of Accos, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome, to establish friendship and alliance with them, ¹⁸and that they should free the yoke from themselves; for they saw that the kingdom of the Greeks kept Israel in bondage. ¹⁹Then they went to Rome, a very long journey, and they entered into the senate house, and said, ²⁰“Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, and his kindred, and the people of the Jews, have sent us to you, to make an alliance and peace with you, and that we might be registered as your allies and friends.” ²¹This thing was pleasing to them. ²²This is the copy of the writing which they wrote back again on tables of brass, and sent to Jerusalem, that it might be with them there for a memorial of peace and alliance: ²³“Good success be to the Romans, and to the nation of the Jews, by sea and by land forever. May the sword and the enemy be far from them. ²⁴But if war arises for Rome first, or any of their allies in all their dominion, ²⁵the nation of the Jews shall help them as allies, as the occasion shall indicate to them, with all their heart. ²⁶To those who make war upon them, they shall not give supplies, food, weapons, money, or ships, as it has seemed good to Rome, and they shall keep their ordinances without taking anything in return. ²⁷In the same way, moreover, if war comes first upon the nation of the Jews, the Romans shall willingly help them as allies, as the occasion shall indicate to them; ²⁸and to those who are fighting with them, there shall not be given food, weapons, money, or ships, as it has seemed good to Rome. They shall keep these ordinances, and that without deceit. ²⁹According to these terms, the Romans made a treaty with the Jewish people. ³⁰But if hereafter the one party and the other shall determine to add or diminish anything, they shall do it at their pleasure, and whatever they add or take away shall be ratified. ³¹Concerning the evils which King Demetrius is doing to them, we have written to him, saying, ‘Why have you made your yoke heavy on our friends and allies the Jews? ³²If therefore they plead any more against you, we will do them justice, and fight with you on sea and on land.’”

¹Demetrius heard that Nicanor had fallen with his forces in battle, and he sent Bacchides and Alcimus again into the land of Judah a second time, and the right wing of his army with them. ²They went by the way that leads to Gilgal, and encamped against Mesaloth, which is in Arbela, and took possession of it, and killed many people. ³The first month of the one hundred fifty-second year, they encamped against Jerusalem. ⁴Then they marched away and went to Berea with twenty thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry. ⁵Judas was encamped at Elasa with three thousand chosen men. ⁶They saw the multitude of the forces, that they were many, and they were terrified. Many slipped away out of the army. There were not left of them more than eight hundred men. ⁷Judas saw that his army slipped away and that the battle pressed upon him, and he was very troubled in spirit, because he had no time to gather them together, and he became faint. ⁸He said to those who were left, “Let’s arise and go up against our adversaries, if perhaps we may be able to fight with them.” ⁹They tried to dissuade him, saying, “There is no way we are able; but let’s rather save our lives now. Let’s return again with our kindred, and fight against them; but we are too few.” ¹⁰Judas said, “Let it not be so that I should do this thing, to flee from them. If our time has come, let’s die in a manly way for our kindred’s sake, and not leave a cause of reproach against our honor.” ¹¹The army marched out from the camp, and stood to encounter them. The cavalry was divided into two companies, and the slingers and the archers went before the army, and all the mighty men that fought in the front of the battle. ¹²Bacchides was in the right wing. The phalanx advanced on the two parts, and they blew with their trumpets. ¹³The men by Judas’ side sounded with their trumpets, and the earth shook with the shout of the armies, and the battle was joined, and continued from morning until evening. ¹⁴Judas saw that Bacchides and the strength of his army were on the right side, and all that were brave in heart went with him, ¹⁵and the right wing was defeated by them, and he pursued after them to the mount Azotus. ¹⁶Those who were on the left wing saw that the right wing was defeated, and they turned and followed in the footsteps of Judas and of those who were with him. ¹⁷The battle became desperate, and many on both sides fell wounded to death. ¹⁸Judas fell, and the rest fled. ¹⁹Jonathan and Simon took Judas their brother, and buried him in the tomb of his ancestors at Modin. ²⁰They wept for him. All Israel made great lamentation for him, and mourned many days, and said, ²¹“How the mighty has fallen, the savior of Israel!” ²²The rest of the acts of Judas, and his wars, and the valiant deeds which he did, and his greatness, are not written; for they were exceedingly many. ²³It came to pass after the death of Judas, that the lawless emerged within all the borders of Israel. All those who did iniquity rose up. ²⁴In those days there was an exceedingly great famine, and the country went over to their side. ²⁵Bacchides chose the ungodly men and made them rulers of the country. ²⁶They inquired and searched for the friends of Judas, and brought them to Bacchides, and he took vengeance on them and used them spitefully. ²⁷There was great suffering in Israel, such as was not since the time prophets stopped appearing to them. ²⁸All the friends of Judas were gathered together, and they said to Jonathan, ²⁹“Since your brother Judas has died, we have no man like him to go out against our enemies and Bacchides, and among those of our nation who hate us. ³⁰Now therefore we have chosen you this day to be our prince and leader in his place, that you may fight our battles.” ³¹So Jonathan took the governance upon him at that time, and rose up in the place of his brother Judas. ³²When Bacchides found out, he tried to kill him. ³³Jonathan, and Simon his brother, and all who were with him, knew it; and they fled into the wilderness of Tekoah, and encamped by the water of the pool of Asphar. ³⁴Bacchides found this out on the Sabbath day, and came—he and all his army—over the Jordan. ³⁵Jonathan sent his brother, a leader of the multitude, and implored his friends the Nabathaeans, that they might store their baggage, which was much, with them. ³⁶The children of Jambri came out of Medaba, and seized John and all that he had, and went their way with it. ³⁷But after these things, they brought word to Jonathan and Simon his brother that the children of Jambri were celebrating a great wedding, and were bringing the bride, a daughter of one of the great nobles of Canaan, from Nadabath with a large escort. ³⁸They remembered John their brother, and went up, and hid themselves under the cover of the mountain. ³⁹They lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a great procession with much baggage. The bridegroom came out with his friends and his kindred to meet them with timbrels, musicians, and many weapons. ⁴⁰They rose up against them from their ambush and killed them, and many fell wounded to death. The remnant fled into the mountain, and the Jews took all their spoils. ⁴¹So the wedding was turned into mourning, and the voice of their musicians into lamentation. ⁴²They avenged fully the blood of their brother, and turned back to the marshes of the Jordan. ⁴³Bacchides heard it, and he came on the Sabbath day to the banks of the Jordan with a great army. ⁴⁴Jonathan said to his company, “Let’s stand up now and fight for our lives, for things are different today than they were yesterday and the day before. ⁴⁵For, behold, the battle is before us and behind us. Moreover the water of the Jordan is on this side and on that side, and marsh and thicket. There is no place to escape. ⁴⁶Now therefore cry to heaven, that you may be delivered out of the hand of your enemies.” ⁴⁷So the battle was joined, and Jonathan stretched out his hand to strike Bacchides, and he turned away back from him. ⁴⁸Jonathan and those who were with him leapt into the Jordan, and swam over to the other side. The enemy didn’t pass over the Jordan against them. ⁴⁹About a thousand men of Bacchides’ company fell that day; ⁵⁰and he returned to Jerusalem. They built strong cities in Judea, the stronghold that was in Jericho, and Emmaus, Bethhoron, Bethel, Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars. ⁵¹He set garrisons in them to harass Israel. ⁵²He fortified the city Bethsura, Gazara, and the citadel, and put troops and stores of food in them. ⁵³He took the sons of the chief men of the country for hostages, and put them under guard in the citadel at Jerusalem. ⁵⁴And in the one hundred fifty-third year, in the second month, Alcimus gave orders to pull down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary. He also pulled down the works of the prophets. ⁵⁵He began to pull down. At that time was Alcimus stricken, and his works were hindered; and his mouth was stopped, and he was taken with a palsy, and he could no more speak anything and give orders concerning his house. ⁵⁶Alcimus died at that time with great torment. ⁵⁷Bacchides saw that Alcimus was dead, and he returned to the king. Then the land of Judah had rest for two years. ⁵⁸Then all the lawless men took counsel, saying, “Behold, Jonathan and his men are dwelling at ease and in security. Now therefore we will bring Bacchides, and he will capture them all in one night. ⁵⁹They went and consulted with him. ⁶⁰He marched out and came with a great army, and sent letters secretly to all his allies who were in Judea, that they should seize Jonathan and those who were with him; but they couldn’t, because their plan was known to them. ⁶¹Jonathan’s men seized about fifty of the men of the country who were authors of the wickedness, and he killed them. ⁶²Jonathan, Simon, and those who were with him, went away to Bethbasi, which is in the wilderness, and he built up that which had been pulled down, and they made it strong. ⁶³Bacchides found out about it, and he gathered together all his multitude, and sent orders to those who were of Judea. ⁶⁴He went and encamped against Bethbasi and fought against it many days, and made engines of war. ⁶⁵Jonathan left his brother Simon in the city, and went out into the country, and he went with a few men. ⁶⁶He struck Odomera and his kindred, and the children of Phasiron in their tents. ⁶⁷They began to strike them, and to go up with their forces. Then Simon and those who were with him went out of the city, and set the engines of war on fire, ⁶⁸and fought against Bacchides, and he was defeated by them. They afflicted him severely; for his counsel and expedition was in vain. ⁶⁹They were very angry with the lawless men who gave him counsel to come into the country, and they killed many of them. Then he decided to depart into his own land. ⁷⁰Jonathan learned of this and sent ambassadors to him, to the end that they should make peace with him, and that he should restore to them the captives. ⁷¹He accepted the thing, and did according to his words, and swore to him that he would not seek his harm all the days of his life. ⁷²He restored to him the captives which he had taken before out of the land of Judah, and he returned and departed into his own land, and didn’t come any more into their borders. ⁷³Thus the sword ceased from Israel. Jonathan lived at Michmash. Jonathan began to judge the people; and he destroyed the ungodly out of Israel.

¹In the one hundred sixtieth year, Alexander Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, went up and took possession of Ptolemais. They received him, and he reigned there. ²King Demetrius heard about this, and he gathered together exceedingly great forces, and went out to meet him in battle. ³Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan with words of peace, so as to honor him. ⁴For he said, “Let’s go beforehand to make peace with them, before he makes peace with Alexander against us; ⁵for he will remember all the evils that we have done against him, and to his kindred and to his nation.” ⁶So he gave him authority to gather together forces, and to provide weapons, and that he should be his ally. He also commanded that they should release the hostages that were in the citadel to him. ⁷Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letter in the hearing of all the people, and of those who were in the citadel. ⁸They were very afraid when they heard that the king had given him authority to gather together an army. ⁹Those in the citadel released the hostages to Jonathan, and he restored them to their parents. ¹⁰Jonathan lived in Jerusalem and began to build and renew the city. ¹¹He commanded those who did the work to build the walls and encircle Mount Zion with square stones for defense; and they did so. ¹²The foreigners who were in the strongholds which Bacchides had built fled away. ¹³Each man left his place and departed into his own land. ¹⁴Only at Bethsura, there were left some of those who had forsaken the law and the commandments, for it was a place of refuge to them. ¹⁵King Alexander heard all the promises which Demetrius had sent to Jonathan. They told him of the battles and the valiant deeds which he and his kindred had done, and of the troubles which they had endured. ¹⁶So he said, “Could we find another man like him? Now we will make him our friend and ally.” ¹⁷He wrote a letter and sent it to him, in these words, saying, ¹⁸“King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greetings. ¹⁹We have heard of you, that you are a mighty man of valour, and worthy to be our friend. ²⁰Now we have appointed you this day to be high priest of your nation, and to be called the king’s friend, and to take our side, and to keep friendship with us.” He also sent to him a purple robe and a golden crown. ²¹And Jonathan put on the holy garments in the seventh month of the one hundred sixtieth year, at the feast of tabernacles; and he gathered together forces and provided weapons in abundance. ²²When Demetrius heard these things, he was grieved and said, ²³“What is this that we have done, that Alexander has gotten ahead of us in establishing friendship with the Jews to strengthen himself? ²⁴I also will write to them words of encouragement and of honor and of gifts, that they may be with me to aid me.” ²⁵So he sent to them this message: “King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings. ²⁶Since as you have kept your covenants with us, and continued in our friendship, and have not joined yourselves to our enemies, we have heard of this, and are glad. ²⁷Now continue still to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good in return for your dealings with us. ²⁸We will grant you many immunities and give you gifts. ²⁹“Now I free you and release all the Jews from the tributes, from the salt tax, and from the crown levies. ³⁰Instead of the third part of the seed, and instead of half of the fruit of the trees, which falls to me to receive, I release it from this day and henceforth, so that I will not take it from the land of Judah, and from the three districts which are added to it from the country of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth and for all time. ³¹Let Jerusalem be holy and free, with her borders, tithes, and taxes. ³²I yield up also my authority over the citadel which is at Jerusalem, and give it to the high priest, that he may appoint in it men whom he chooses to keep it. ³³Every soul of the Jews who has been carried captive from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom, I set at liberty without payment. Let all officials also cancel the taxes on their livestock. ³⁴“All the feasts, the Sabbaths, new moons, appointed days, three days before a feast, and three days after a feast, let them all be days of immunity and release for all the Jews who are in my kingdom. ³⁵No man shall have authority to exact anything from any of them, or to trouble them concerning any matter. ³⁶“Let there be enrolled among the king’s forces about thirty thousand men of the Jews, and pay shall be given to them, as is due to all the king’s forces. ³⁷Of them, some shall be placed in the king’s great strongholds, and some of them shall be placed over the affairs of the kingdom, which are positions of trust. Let those who are over them and their rulers be of themselves, and let them walk after their own laws, even as the king has commanded in the land of Judah. ³⁸“The three districts that have been added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be annexed to Judea, that they may be reckoned to be under one ruler, that they may not obey any other authority than the high priest’s. ³⁹As for Ptolemais and its land, I have given it as a gift to the sanctuary that is at Jerusalem, for the expenses of the sanctuary. ⁴⁰I also give every year fifteen thousand shekels of silver from the king’s revenues from the places that are appropriate. ⁴¹And all the additional funds which those who manage the king’s affairs didn’t pay as in the first years, they shall give from now on toward the works of the temple. ⁴²Besides this, the five thousand shekels of silver which they received from the uses of the sanctuary from the revenue year by year is also released, because it belongs to the priests who minister there. ⁴³Whoever flees to the temple that is at Jerusalem, and within all of its borders, whether owing money to the king, or any other matter, let them go free, along with all that they have in my kingdom. ⁴⁴For the building and renewing of the structures of the sanctuary, the expense shall also be given out of the king’s revenue. ⁴⁵For the building of the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it all around, the expense shall also be given out of the king’s revenue, also for the building of the walls in Judea.” ⁴⁶Now when Jonathan and the people heard these words, they gave no credence to them, and didn’t accept them, because they remembered the great evil which he had done in Israel, and that he had afflicted them very severely. ⁴⁷They were well pleased with Alexander, because he was the first who spoke words of peace to them, and they were allies with him always. ⁴⁸King Alexander gathered together great forces and encamped near Demetrius. ⁴⁹The two kings joined battle, and the army of Alexander fled; and Demetrius followed after him, and prevailed against them. ⁵⁰He strengthened the battle exceedingly until the sun went down; and Demetrius fell that day. ⁵¹Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy king of Egypt with this message: ⁵²“Since I have returned to my kingdom, and am seated on the throne of my fathers, and have established my dominion, and have overthrown Demetrius, and have taken possession of our country— ⁵³yes, I joined the battle with him, and he and his army were defeated by us, and we sat on the throne of his kingdom— ⁵⁴now also let’s make friends with one another. Give me now your daughter as my wife. I will be joined with you, and will give both you and her gifts worthy of you.” ⁵⁵Ptolemy the king answered, saying, “Happy is the day you returned to the land of your ancestors and sat on the throne of their kingdom. ⁵⁶Now I will do to you as you have written, but meet me at Ptolemais, that we may see one another; and I will join with you, even as you have said.” ⁵⁷So Ptolemy went out of Egypt, himself and Cleopatra his daughter, and came to Ptolemais in the one hundred sixty-second year. ⁵⁸King Alexander met him, and he gave him his daughter Cleopatra, and celebrated her wedding at Ptolemais with great pomp, as kings do. ⁵⁹King Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should come to meet him. ⁶⁰He 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 in their sight. ⁶¹Some malcontents out of Israel, men who were transgressors of the law, gathered together against him to complain against him; but the king paid no attention to them. ⁶²The king commanded that they take off Jonathan’s garments and clothe him in purple, and they did so. ⁶³The king made him sit with him, and said to his princes, “Go out with him into the midst of the city, and proclaim that no man may complain against him of any matter, and let no man trouble him for any reason.” ⁶⁴It came to pass, when those who complained against him saw his honor according to the proclamation, and saw him clothed in purple, they all fled away. ⁶⁵The king gave him honor, and enrolled him among his chief friends, and made him a captain and governor of a province. ⁶⁶Then Jonathan returned to Jerusalem with peace and gladness. ⁶⁷In the one hundred sixty-fifth year, Demetrius, son of Demetrius, came out of Crete into the land of his ancestors. ⁶⁸When King Alexander heard of it, he grieved exceedingly and returned to Antioch. ⁶⁹Demetrius appointed Apollonius, who was over Coelesyria, and he gathered together a great army, and encamped against Jamnia, and sent to Jonathan the high priest, saying, ⁷⁰“You alone lift up yourself against us, but I am ridiculed and in reproach because of you. Why do you assume authority against us in the mountains? ⁷¹Now therefore, if you trust in your forces, come down to us into the plain, and let’s match strength with each other there; for the power of the cities is with me. ⁷²Ask and learn who I am, and the rest who help us. They say, ‘Your foot can’t stand before our face; for your ancestors have been put to flight twice in their own land.’ ⁷³Now you won’t be able to withstand the cavalry and such an army as this in the plain, where there is no stone or pebble, or place to flee.” ⁷⁴Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was moved in his mind, and he chose ten thousand men, and went out from Jerusalem; and Simon his brother met him to help him. ⁷⁵Then he encamped against Joppa. The people of the city shut him out, because Apollonius had a garrison in Joppa. ⁷⁶So they fought against it. The people of the city were afraid, and opened to him; and Jonathan became master of Joppa. ⁷⁷Apollonius heard about that, and he gathered an army of three thousand cavalry, and a great army, and went to Azotus as though he were on a journey, and at the same time advanced onward into the plain, because he had a multitude of cavalry which he trusted. ⁷⁸He pursued him to Azotus, and the armies joined battle. ⁷⁹Apollonius had secretly left a thousand cavalry behind them. ⁸⁰Jonathan learned that there was an ambush behind him. They surrounded his army, and shot their arrows at the people, from morning until evening; ⁸¹but the people stood fast, as Jonathan commanded them; and the enemy’s horses grew tired. ⁸²Then Simon brought forward his army and joined battle with the phalanx (for the cavalry were exhausted), and they were defeated by him and fled. ⁸³The cavalry were scattered in the plain. They fled to Azotus and entered into Beth-dagon, their idol’s temple, to save themselves. ⁸⁴Jonathan burned Azotus and the cities around it and took their spoils. He burned the temple of Dagon and those who fled into it with fire. ⁸⁵Those who had fallen by the sword plus those who were burned were about eight thousand men. ⁸⁶From there, Jonathan left and encamped against Ascalon. The people of the city came out to meet him with great pomp. ⁸⁷Jonathan, with those who were on his side, returned to Jerusalem, having many spoils. ⁸⁸It came to pass, when King Alexander heard these things, he honored Jonathan even more. ⁸⁹He sent him a gold buckle, as the custom is to give to the king’s kindred. He gave him Ekron and all its land for a possession.

¹Then the king of Egypt gathered together great forces, as the sand which is by the sea shore, and many ships, and sought to make himself master of Alexander’s kingdom by deceit, and to add it to his own kingdom. ²He went out into Syria with words of peace, and the people of the cities opened their gates to him and met him; for King Alexander’s command was that they should meet him, because he was his father-in-law. ³Now as he entered into the cities of Ptolemais, he set his forces for a garrison in each city. ⁴But when he came near to Azotus, they showed him the temple of Dagon burned with fire, and Azotus and its pasture lands destroyed, and the bodies cast out, and those who had been burned, whom he burned in the war, for they had made heaps of them in his way. ⁵They told the king what Jonathan had done, that they might cast blame on him; but the king kept silent. ⁶Jonathan met the king with pomp at Joppa, and they greeted one another, and they slept there. ⁷Jonathan went with the king as far as the river that is called Eleutherus, then returned to Jerusalem. ⁸But King Ptolemy took control of the cities along the sea coast, to Selucia which is by the sea, and he devised evil plans concerning Alexander. ⁹He sent ambassadors to King Demetrius, saying, “Come! Let’s make a covenant with one another, and I will give you my daughter whom Alexander has, and you shall reign over your father’s kingdom; ¹⁰for I regret that I gave my daughter to him, for he tried to kill me. ¹¹He accused him, because he coveted his kingdom. ¹²Taking his daughter from him, he gave her to Demetrius, and was estranged from Alexander, and their enmity was openly seen. ¹³Ptolemy entered into Antioch, and put on himself the crown of Asia. He put two crowns upon his head, the crown of Egypt and that of Asia. ¹⁴But King Alexander was in Cilicia at that time, because the people of that region were in revolt. ¹⁵When Alexander heard of it, he came against him in war. Ptolemy marched out and met him with a strong force, and put him to flight. ¹⁶Alexander fled into Arabia, that he might be sheltered there; but King Ptolemy was triumphant. ¹⁷Zabdiel the Arabian took off Alexander’s head, and sent it to Ptolemy. ¹⁸King Ptolemy died the third day after, and those who were in his strongholds were slain by the inhabitants of the strongholds. ¹⁹Demetrius became king in the one hundred sixty-seventh year. ²⁰In those days Jonathan gathered together the Judeans to take the citadel that was at Jerusalem. He made many engines of war to use against it. ²¹Some lawless men who hated their own nation went to the king and reported to him that Jonathan was besieging the citadel. ²²He heard, and was angry, but when he heard it, he set out immediately, and came to Ptolemais, and wrote to Jonathan, that he should not besiege it, and that he should meet him and speak with him at Ptolemais with all speed. ²³But when Jonathan heard this, he gave orders to continue the siege. He chose some of the elders of Israel and of the priests, and put himself in peril ²⁴by taking silver, gold, clothing, and various other presents, and went to Ptolemais to the king. Then he found favor in his sight. ²⁵Some lawless men of those who were of the nation made complaints against him, ²⁶and the king did to him even as his predecessors had done to him, and exalted him in the sight of all his friends, ²⁷and confirmed to him the high priesthood, and all the other honors that he had before, and gave him preeminence among his chief friends. ²⁸And Jonathan requested of the king that he would make Judea free from tribute, along with the three provinces and the country of Samaria, and promised him three hundred talents. ²⁹The king consented, and wrote letters to Jonathan concerning all these things as follows: ³⁰“King Demetrius to his brother Jonathan, and to the nation of the Jews, greetings. ³¹The copy of the letter which we wrote to Lasthenes our kinsman concerning you, we have written also to you, that you may see it. ³²‘King Demetrius to Lasthenes his father, greetings. ³³We have determined to do good to the nation of the Jews, who are our friends, and observe what is just toward us, because of their good will toward us. ³⁴We have confirmed therefore to them the borders of Judea, and also the three governments of Aphaerema, Lydda, and Ramathaim (these were added to Judea from the country of Samaria), and all their territory to them, for all who do sacrifice in Jerusalem, instead of the king’s dues which the king received of them yearly before from the produce of the earth and the fruits of trees. ³⁵As for the other payments to us from henceforth, of the tithes and the taxes that pertain to us, and the salt pits, and the crown taxes due to us, all these we will give back to them. ³⁶Not one of these grants shall be annulled from this time forth and forever. ³⁷Now therefore be careful to make a copy of these things, and let it be given to Jonathan, and let it be set up on the holy mountain in a suitable and conspicuous place.’” ³⁸When King Demetrius saw that the land was quiet before him, and that no resistance was made to him, he sent away all his troops, each man to his own place, except the foreign troops, which he had raised from the islands of the Gentiles. So all the troops of his fathers hated him. ³⁹Now Tryphon was one of those who previously had been on Alexander’s side, and he saw that all the forces murmured against Demetrius. So he went to Imalcue the Arabian, who was raising up Antiochus the young child of Alexander, ⁴⁰and urgently insisted to him that he should deliver him to him, that he might reign in his father’s place. He told him all that Demetrius had done, and the hatred with which his forces hated him; and he stayed there many days. ⁴¹Now Jonathan sent to King Demetrius, that he should remove the troops of the citadel from Jerusalem, and the troops who were in the strongholds; for they fought against Israel continually. ⁴²Demetrius sent to Jonathan, saying, “I will not only do this for you and your nation, but I will greatly honor you and your nation, if I find an opportunity. ⁴³Now therefore you shall do well if you send me men who will fight for me; for all my forces have revolted.” ⁴⁴So Jonathan sent him three thousand valiant men to Antioch. They came to the king, and the king was glad at their coming. ⁴⁵The people of the city gathered themselves together into the midst of the city, to the number of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and they wanted to kill the king. ⁴⁶The king fled into the court of the palace, and the people of the city seized the main streets of the city and began to fight. ⁴⁷The king called the Jews to help him, and they were gathered together to him all at once, and they dispersed themselves in the city, and killed that day about one hundred thousand. ⁴⁸They set the city on fire, and seized many spoils that day, and saved the king. ⁴⁹The people of the city saw that the Jews had taken control of the city as they pleased, and they became faint in their hearts, and they cried out to the king with supplication, saying, ⁵⁰“Give us your right hand, and let the Jews cease from fighting against us and the city.” ⁵¹They threw away their weapons and made peace. The Jews were glorified in the sight of the king, and before all who were in his kingdom. Then they returned to Jerusalem, having much plunder. ⁵²So King Demetrius sat on the throne of his kingdom, and the land was quiet before him. ⁵³He lied in all that he spoke, and estranged himself from Jonathan, and didn’t repay him according to the benefits with which he had repaid him, and treated him very harshly. ⁵⁴Now after this, Tryphon returned, and with him the young child Antiochus, who reigned and put on a crown. ⁵⁵All the forces which Demetrius had sent away with disgrace were gathered to him, and they fought against him, and he fled and was routed. ⁵⁶Tryphon took the elephants, and took control of Antioch. ⁵⁷The young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying, “I confirm to you the high priesthood, and appoint you over the four districts, and to be one of the king’s friends.” ⁵⁸He sent to him golden vessels and furniture for the table, and gave him permission to drink in golden vessels, and to be clothed in purple, and to have a golden buckle. ⁵⁹He made his brother Simon governor from the Ladder of Tyre to the borders of Egypt. ⁶⁰Jonathan went out and took his journey beyond the river and through the cities. All the forces of Syria gathered themselves to him to be his allies. He came to Ascalon, and the people of the city met him honorably. ⁶¹He departed from there to Gaza, and the people of Gaza shut him out. So he besieged it and burned its pasture lands with fire, and plundered them. ⁶²The people of Gaza pleaded with Jonathan, and he gave them his right hand, and took the sons of their princes for hostages, and sent them away to Jerusalem. Then he passed through the country as far as Damascus. ⁶³Then Jonathan heard that Demetrius’ princes had come to Kedesh, which is in Galilee, with a great army, intending to remove him from his office. ⁶⁴He went to meet them, but he left Simon his brother in the country. ⁶⁵Simon encamped against Bethsura, and fought against it many days, and hemmed it in. ⁶⁶They asked him to give them his right hand, and he gave it to them. He removed them from there, took possession of the city, and set a garrison over it. ⁶⁷Jonathan and his army encamped at the water of Gennesareth, and early in the morning they marched to the plain of Hazor. ⁶⁸Behold, an army of foreigners met him in the plain. They laid an ambush for him in the mountains, but they themselves met him face to face. ⁶⁹But those who lay in ambush rose out of their places and joined battle. All those who were on Jonathan’s side fled. ⁷⁰Not one of them was left, except Mattathias the son of Absalom, and Judas the son of Chalphi, captains of the forces. ⁷¹Jonathan tore his clothes, put dirt on his head, and prayed. ⁷²He turned again to them in battle, and routed them, and they fled. ⁷³When the men on his side who had fled saw this, they returned to him and pursued with him to Kedesh to their camp, and they encamped there. ⁷⁴About three thousand men of the foreigners fell on that day. Then Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.

¹Jonathan saw that the time was favorable for him, so he chose men and sent them to Rome to confirm and renew the friendship that they had with them. ²He also sent similar letters to the Spartans, and to other places. ³They went to Rome, entered into the senate house, and said, “Jonathan the high priest and the nation of the Jews have sent us to renew for them the friendship and the alliance, as in former time.” ⁴They gave them letters to the men in every place, that they should provide safe conduct for them on their way to the land of Judah. ⁵This is the copy of the letters which Jonathan wrote to the Spartans: ⁶“Jonathan the high priest, and the senate of the nation, and the priests, and the rest of the people of the Jews, to their kindred the Spartans, greetings. ⁷Even before this time letters were sent to Onias the high priest from Arius, who was reigning among you, to signify that you are our kindred, as the copy written below shows. ⁸Onias welcomed honorably the man who was sent and received the letters, wherein declaration was made of alliance and friendship. ⁹Therefore we also, even though we need none of these things, having for our encouragement the holy books which are in our hands, ¹⁰have undertaken to send that we might renew our brotherhood and friendship with you, to the end that we should not become estranged from you altogether; for a long time has passed since you sent your letter to us. ¹¹We therefore at all times without ceasing, both in our feasts, and on the other convenient days, remember you in the sacrifices which we offer, and in our prayers, as it is right and proper to be mindful of kindred. ¹²Moreover, we are glad for your glory. ¹³But as for ourselves, many afflictions and many wars have encompassed us, and the kings who are around us have fought against us. ¹⁴We were unwilling to be troublesome to you, and to the rest of our allies and friends, in these wars; ¹⁵for we have the help which is from heaven to help us, and we have been delivered from our enemies, and our enemies have been humbled. ¹⁶We chose therefore Numenius the son of Antiochus and Antipater the son of Jason, and have sent them to the Romans, to renew the friendship that we had with them, and the former alliance. ¹⁷We commanded them therefore to go also to you, and to salute you, and to deliver you our letters concerning the renewing of friendship and our brotherhood. ¹⁸And now you will do well if you give us a reply.” ¹⁹And this is the copy of the letters which they sent to Onias: ²⁰“Arius king of the Spartans to Onias the chief priest, greetings. ²¹It has been found in writing, concerning the Spartans and the Jews, that they are kindred, and that they are of the descendants of Abraham. ²²Now, since this has come to our knowledge, you will do well to write to us of your prosperity. ²³We moreover write on our part to you, that your livestock and goods are ours, and ours are yours. We do command therefore that they make report to you accordingly.” ²⁴Now Jonathan heard that Demetrius’ princes had returned to fight against him with a greater army than before, ²⁵so he marched away from Jerusalem, and met them in the country of Hamath; for he gave them no opportunity to set foot in his country. ²⁶He sent spies into his camp, and they came again, and reported to him that they were preparing to attack them at night. ²⁷But as soon as the sun was down, Jonathan commanded his men to watch, and to be armed, that all the night long they might be ready for battle. He stationed sentinels around the camp. ²⁸The adversaries heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for battle, and they feared, and trembled in their hearts, and they kindled fires in their camp then withdrew. ²⁹But Jonathan and his men didn’t know it until the morning; for they saw the fires burning. ³⁰Jonathan pursued after them, but didn’t overtake them; for they had gone over the river Eleutherus. ³¹Then Jonathan turned toward the Arabians, who are called Zabadaeans, and struck them, and took their spoils. ³²He came out from there, and came to Damascus, and took his journey through all the country. ³³Simon went out, and took his journey as far as Ascalon, and the strongholds that were near it. Then he turned toward Joppa and took possession of it; ³⁴for he had heard that they were planning to hand over the stronghold to Demetrius’ men. He set a garrison there to guard it. ³⁵Then Jonathan returned and called the elders of the people together. He planned with them to build strongholds in Judea, ³⁶and to make the walls of Jerusalem higher, and to raise a great mound between the citadel and the city, to separate it from the city, that so it might be isolated, that its garrison might neither buy nor sell. ³⁷They were gathered together to build the city. Part of the wall of the brook that is on the east side had fallen down, and he repaired the section called Chaphenatha. ³⁸Simon also built Adida in the plain country, made it strong, and set up gates and bars. ³⁹And Tryphon sought to reign over Asia and to crown himself, and to stretch out his hand against Antiochus the king. ⁴⁰He was afraid that Jonathan wouldn’t allow him, and that he would fight against him; and he sought a way to seize him, that he might destroy him. So he marched out and came to Bethshan. ⁴¹Jonathan came out to meet him with forty thousand men chosen for battle, and came to Bethshan. ⁴²Tryphon saw that he came with a great army, and he was afraid to stretch out his hand against him. ⁴³He received him honorably, and commended him to all his friends, and gave him gifts, and commanded his forces to be obedient to him, as to himself. ⁴⁴He said to Jonathan, “Why have you put all these people to so much trouble, seeing there is no war between us? ⁴⁵Now send them away to their homes, but choose for yourself a few men who shall be with you, and come with me to Ptolemais, and I will give it to you, and the rest of the strongholds and the rest of the forces, and all the king’s officers. Then I will turn around and depart; for this is why I came.” ⁴⁶He put his trust in him, and did even as he said, and sent away his forces, and they departed into the land of Judah. ⁴⁷But he reserved to himself three thousand men, of whom he left two thousand in Galilee, but one thousand went with him. ⁴⁸Now as soon as Jonathan entered into Ptolemais, the people of Ptolemais shut the gates and seized him. They killed all those who came in with him with the sword. ⁴⁹Tryphon sent troops and cavalry into Galilee, and into the Great Plain, to destroy all Jonathan’s men. ⁵⁰They perceived that he had been seized and had perished, along with those who were with him. They encouraged one another and went on their way close together, prepared to fight. ⁵¹Those who followed them saw that they were ready to fight for their lives, and turned back again. ⁵²They all came in peace into the land of Judah, and they mourned for Jonathan and those who were with him, and they were very afraid. All Israel mourned with a great mourning. ⁵³And all the Gentiles who were around them sought to destroy them utterly; for they said, “They have no ruler nor anyone to help them. Now therefore let’s fight against them, and take away their memory from among men.”

¹Simon heard that Tryphon had gathered together a mighty army to come into the land of Judah and destroy it utterly. ²He saw that the people were trembling in great fear. So he went up to Jerusalem and gathered the people together. ³He encouraged them, and said to them, “You yourselves know all the things that I, my kindred, and my father’s house have done for the laws and the sanctuary, and the battles and the distresses which we have seen. ⁴Because of this, all my brothers have perished for Israel’s sake, and I am left alone. ⁵Now be it far from me, that I should spare my own life in any time of affliction, for I am not better than my kindred. ⁶However, I will take vengeance for my nation, for the sanctuary, and for our wives and children, because all the Gentiles have gathered out of hatred to destroy us.” ⁷The spirit of the people revived as soon as they heard these words. ⁸They answered with a loud voice, saying, “You are our leader in the place of Judas and Jonathan your brothers. ⁹Fight our battles, and we will do all that you tell us to do.” ¹⁰He gathered together all the men of war, and hurried to finish the walls of Jerusalem. He fortified it all around. ¹¹He sent Jonathan the son of Absalom, and with him a great army, to Joppa. He threw out those who were in it, and lived there. ¹²Tryphon left Ptolemais with a mighty army to enter into the land of Judah, and Jonathan was with him under guard. ¹³But Simon encamped at Adida, near the plain. ¹⁴Tryphon knew that Simon had risen up in the place of his brother Jonathan, and meant to join battle with him, so he sent ambassadors to him, saying, ¹⁵“It is for money which Jonathan your brother owed to the king’s treasury, by reason of the offices which he had, that we are detaining him. ¹⁶Now send one hundred talents of silver and two of his sons for hostages, so that when he is released he may not revolt against us, and we will release him.” ¹⁷Simon knew that they spoke to him deceitfully, but he sent to get the money and the children, lest perhaps he would arouse great hostility among the people, ¹⁸who might say, “Because I didn’t send him the money and the children, he perished.” ¹⁹So he sent the children and the hundred talents, but Tryphon lied, and didn’t release Jonathan. ²⁰After this, Tryphon came to invade the land and destroy it, and he went around by the way that leads to Adora. Simon and his army marched near him to every place, wherever he went. ²¹Now the people of the citadel sent to Tryphon ambassadors, urging him to come to them through the wilderness, and to send them food. ²²So Tryphon prepared all his cavalry to come, but on that night a very heavy snow fell, and he didn’t come because of the snow. He marched off and went into the land of Gilead. ²³When he came near to Bascama, he killed Jonathan, and he was buried there. ²⁴Then Tryphon turned back, and went away into his own land. ²⁵Simon sent, and took the bones of Jonathan his brother, and buried him at Modin, the city of his fathers. ²⁶All Israel made great lamentation over him, and mourned for him many days. ²⁷Simon built a monument on the tomb of his father and his kindred, and raised it high so that it could be seen, with polished stone on the front and back. ²⁸He also set up seven pyramids, one near another, for his father, his mother, and his four brothers. ²⁹For these, he made an elaborate setting, erecting great pillars around them, and upon the pillars he made suits of armor for a perpetual memorial, and beside the suits of armor, he carved ships, so that they could be seen by all who sail on the sea. ³⁰This is the tomb which he made at Modin. It remains to this day. ³¹Now Tryphon deceived the young King Antiochus and killed him, ³²and reigned in his place. He put on himself the crown of Asia and brought a great calamity upon the land. ³³Simon built up the strongholds of Judea, and walled them all around with high towers, great walls, gates, and bars; and he stored food in the strongholds. ³⁴Simon chose men, and sent to King Demetrius with a request that he grant the country an immunity, because all that Tryphon did was to plunder. ³⁵King Demetrius sent to him according to these words, and answered him, and wrote a letter to him, as follows: ³⁶“King Demetrius to Simon the high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews, greetings. ³⁷The golden crown and the palm branch, which you sent, we have received. We are ready to make a steadfast peace with you, yes, and to write to our officers to release you from tribute. ³⁸Whatever things we confirmed to you, they are confirmed. The strongholds, which you have built, let them be your own. ³⁹As for any oversights and faults committed to this day, we forgive them, and the crown tax which you owed us. If there were any other tax collected in Jerusalem, let it be collected no longer. ⁴⁰If any among you are qualified to be enrolled in our court, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us.” ⁴¹In the one hundred seventieth year, the yoke of the Gentiles was taken away from Israel. ⁴²The people began to write in their instruments and contracts, “In the first year of Simon, the great high priest and captain and leader of the Jews.” ⁴³In those days Simon encamped against Gazara, and surrounded it with troops. He made a siege engine, and brought it up to the city, and struck a tower, and captured it. ⁴⁴Those who were in the engine leaped out into the city; and there was a great uproar in the city. ⁴⁵The people of the city tore their clothes, and went up on the walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, asking Simon to give them his right hand. ⁴⁶They said, “Don’t deal with us according to our wickednesses, but according to your mercy.” ⁴⁷So Simon was reconciled to them, and didn’t fight against them; but he expelled them from the city and cleansed the houses where the idols were, and then entered into it with singing and giving praise. ⁴⁸He removed all uncleanness out of it, and placed in it men who would keep the law, and made it stronger than it was before, and built a dwelling place for himself in it. ⁴⁹But the people of the citadel in Jerusalem were hindered from going out and from going into the country, and from buying and selling. So they were very hungry, and a great number of them perished from famine. ⁵⁰Then they cried out to Simon, that he should give them his right hand; and he gave it to them; but he expelled them from there, and he cleansed the citadel from its pollutions. ⁵¹He entered into it on the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, with praise and palm branches, with harps, with cymbals, and with stringed instruments, with hymns, and with songs, because a great enemy had been destroyed out of Israel. ⁵²Simon ordained that they should keep that day every year with gladness. He made the hill of the temple that was by the citadel stronger than before, and he lived there with his men. ⁵³Simon saw that his son John was a man, so he made him leader of all his forces; and he lived in Gazara.

¹In the one hundred seventy-second year, King Demetrius gathered his forces together, and went into Media to get help, that he might fight against Tryphon. ²When Arsaces, the king of Persia and Media, heard that Demetrius had come into his borders, he sent one of his princes to take him alive. ³He went and struck the army of Demetrius, and seized him and brought him to Arsaces, who put him under guard. ⁴The land had rest all the days of Simon. He sought the good of his nation. His authority and his honor was pleasing to them all his days. ⁵Amid all his honors, he took Joppa for a harbor, and made it an entrance for the islands of the sea. ⁶He enlarged the borders of his nation and took possession of the country. ⁷He gathered together a great number of captives, and took control of Gazara, Bethsura, and the citadel, and he removed its uncleannesses from it. There was no one who resisted him. ⁸They tilled their land in peace, and the land gave her increase, and the trees of the plains gave their fruit. ⁹The old men sat in the streets; they all conversed together about good things. The young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. ¹⁰He provided food for the cities and furnished them with means of defense, until the glory of his name was known to the end of the earth. ¹¹He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy. ¹²Each man sat under his vine and his fig tree, and there was no one to make them afraid. ¹³No one was left in the land who fought against them. The kings were defeated in those days. ¹⁴He strengthened all those of his people who were humble. He searched out the law, and every lawless and wicked person he took away. ¹⁵He glorified the sanctuary, and added to the vessels of the temple. ¹⁶It was heard at Rome that Jonathan was dead, and even in Sparta, and they were exceedingly grieved. ¹⁷But as soon as they heard that his brother Simon was made high priest in his place, and ruled the country and the cities in it, ¹⁸they wrote to him on brass tablets to renew with him the friendship and the alliance which they had confirmed with his brothers Judas and Jonathan. ¹⁹These were read before the congregation at Jerusalem. ²⁰This is the copy of the letter which the Spartans sent: “The rulers and the city of the Spartans, to Simon the high priest, to the elders, the priests, and the rest of the people of the Jews, our kindred, greetings. ²¹The ambassadors who were sent to our people reported to us about your glory and honor. We were glad for their coming, ²²and we registered the things that were spoken by them in the public records as follows: ‘Numenius son of Antiochus, and Antipater son of Jason, the Jews’ ambassadors, came to us to renew the friendship they had with us. ²³It pleased the people to entertain the men honorably, and to put the copy of their words in the public records, to the end that the people of the Spartans might have a record of them. Moreover they wrote a copy of these things to Simon the high priest.’” ²⁴After this, Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a great shield of gold weighing one thousand minas, in order to confirm the alliance with them. ²⁵But when the people heard these things, they said, “What thanks shall we give to Simon and his sons? ²⁶For he and his brothers and the house of his father have made themselves strong, and have fought and chased away Israel’s enemies, and confirmed liberty to Israel.” ²⁷So they wrote on tablets of brass, and set them on pillars on mount Zion. This is the copy of the writing: “On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the one hundred seventy-second year, which is the third year of Simon the high priest, ²⁸in Asaramel, in a great congregation of priests and people and princes of the nation, and of the elders of the country, it was proclaimed to us: ²⁹‘Since wars often occurred in the country, Simon the son of Mattathias, the son of the sons of Joarib, and his brothers, put themselves in jeopardy and withstood the enemies of their nation, that their sanctuary and the law might be established, and glorified their nation with great glory. ³⁰Jonathan rallied the nation, became their high priest, and was gathered to his people. ³¹Their enemies planned to invade their country, that they might destroy their country utterly, and stretch out their hands against their sanctuary. ³²Then Simon rose up and fought for his nation. He spent much of his own money to arm the valiant men of his nation and give them wages. ³³He fortified the cities of Judea and Bethsura that lies on the borders of Judea, where the weapons of the enemies had been stored, and there he placed a garrison of Jews. ³⁴He fortified Joppa which is upon the sea, and Gazara which is upon the borders of Azotus, where the enemies used to live, and placed Jews there, and set in there all things necessary for their restoration. ³⁵The people saw Simon’s faith, and the glory which he resolved to bring to his nation, and they made him their leader and high priest, because he had done all these things, and for the justice and the faith which he kept to his nation, and because he sought by all means to exalt his people. ³⁶In his days, things prospered in his hands, so that the Gentiles were taken away out of their country, and they also who were in the city of David, those who were in Jerusalem, who had made themselves a citadel, out of which they used to go, and polluted everything around the sanctuary, and did great damage to its purity. ³⁷He placed Jews in it and fortified it for the safety of the country and the city, and made high the walls of Jerusalem. ³⁸King Demetrius confirmed to him the high priesthood according to these things, ³⁹and made him one of his friends, and honored him with great honor; ⁴⁰for he had heard that the Jews had been called by the Romans friends, allies, and kindred, and that they had met the ambassadors of Simon honorably; ⁴¹and that the Jews and the priests were well pleased that Simon should be their leader and high priest forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet; ⁴²and that he should be governor over them, and should take charge of the sanctuary, to set them over their works, and over the country, and over the weapons, and over the strongholds; and that he should take charge of the sanctuary, ⁴³and 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; ⁴⁴and that it should not be lawful for any of the people or of the priests to nullify any of these things, or to oppose the words that he should speak, or to gather an assembly in the country without him, or to be clothed in purple, or wear a buckle of gold; ⁴⁵but whoever should do otherwise, or nullify any of these things, he will be liable to punishment.’” ⁴⁶All the people consented to ordain for Simon that he should do according to these words. ⁴⁷So Simon accepted this, and consented to be high priest, and to be captain and governor of the Jews and of the priests, and to be protector of all. ⁴⁸They commanded to put this writing on tablets of brass, and to set them up within the precinct of the sanctuary in a conspicuous place, ⁴⁹and moreover to put copies of them in the treasury, so that Simon and his sons might have them.

¹Antiochus son of Demetrius the king sent a letter from the islands of the sea to Simon the priest and governor of the Jews, and to all the nation. ²Its contents follow: “King Antiochus to Simon the chief priest and governor, and to the nation of the Jews, greetings. ³Whereas certain troublemakers have made themselves masters of the kingdom of our fathers, but my purpose is to claim the kingdom, that I may restore it as it was before; and moreover I have raised a multitude of foreign soldiers, and have prepared warships; ⁴moreover I plan to land in the country, that I may punish those who have destroyed our country, and those who have made many cities in the kingdom desolate; ⁵now therefore I confirm to you all the tax remissions which the kings who were before me remitted to you, and whatever gifts besides they remitted to you, ⁶and I permit you to coin money for your country with your own stamp, ⁷but that Jerusalem and the sanctuary should be free. All the weapons that you have prepared, and the strongholds that you have built, which you have in your possession, let them remain yours. ⁸Every debt owed to the king, and the things that will be owed to the king from henceforth and for evermore, let them be remitted to you. ⁹Moreover, when we have established our kingdom, we will glorify you and your nation and the temple with great glory, so that your glory will be made manifest in all the earth. ¹⁰In the one hundred seventy-fourth year, Antiochus went into the land of his fathers; and all the forces came together to him, so that there were few men with Tryphon. ¹¹King Antiochus pursued him, and he came, as he fled, to Dor, which is by the sea; ¹²for he knew that troubles had come upon him all at once, and that his forces had deserted him. ¹³Antiochus encamped against Dor, and with him one hundred twenty thousand men of war and eight thousand cavalry. ¹⁴He surrounded the city, and the ships joined in the attack from the sea. He harassed the city by land and sea, and permitted no one to go out or in. ¹⁵Numenius and his company came from Rome, having letters to the kings and to the countries, in which were written these things: ¹⁶“Lucius, consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy, greetings. ¹⁷The Jews’ ambassadors came to us as our friends and allies, to renew the old friendship and alliance, being sent from Simon the high priest, and from the people of the Jews. ¹⁸Moreover they brought a shield of gold weighing one thousand minas. ¹⁹It pleased us therefore to write to the kings and to the countries, that they should not seek their harm or fight against them, their cities, and their country, or be allies with those who fight against them. ²⁰Moreover, it seemed good to us to receive the shield from them. ²¹If therefore any troublemakers have fled from their country to you, deliver them to Simon the high priest, that he may take vengeance on them according to their law.” ²²He wrote the same things to King Demetrius, to Attalus, to Arathes, to Arsaces, ²³to all the countries, to Sampsames, to the Spartans, to Delos, to Myndos, to Sicyon, to Caria, to Samos, to Pamphylia, to Lycia, to Halicarnassus, to Rhodes, to Phaselis, to Cos, to Side, to Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus, and Cyrene. ²⁴They also wrote this copy to Simon the high priest. ²⁵But King Antiochus encamped against Dor the second day, bringing his forces up to it continually, and making engines of war; and he shut up Tryphon from going in or out. ²⁶Simon sent him two thousand chosen men to fight on his side, with silver, gold, and instruments of war in abundance. ²⁷He would not receive them, but nullified all the covenants which he had made with him before, and was estranged from him. ²⁸He sent to him Athenobius, one of his friends, to confer with him, saying, “You hold possession of Joppa, Gazara, and the citadel that is in Jerusalem, cities of my kingdom. ²⁹You have devastated their territory, and done great harm in the land, and control many places in my kingdom. ³⁰Now therefore hand over the cities which you have taken, and the tributes of the places which you have taken control of outside of the borders of Judea; ³¹or else give me for them five hundred talents of silver; and for the harm that you have done, and the tributes of the cities, another five hundred talents. Otherwise we will come and subdue you.” ³²Athenobius, the king’s friend, came to Jerusalem. When he saw the glory of Simon, the cupboard of gold and silver vessels, and his great attendance, he was amazed. He reported to him the king’s words. ³³Simon answered, and said to him, “We have not taken other men’s land nor do we have possession of that which belongs to others, but of the inheritance of our fathers. However, it had been in possession of our enemies wrongfully for a while. ³⁴But we, having opportunity, firmly hold the inheritance of our fathers. ³⁵As for Joppa and Gazara, which you demand, they did great harm among the people throughout our country. We will give one hundred talents for them.” Athenobius didn’t answer even one word, ³⁶but returned in a rage to the king, and reported to him these words, and the glory of Simon, and all that he had seen; and the king was exceedingly angry. ³⁷Meanwhile, Tryphon embarked on board a ship, and fled to Orthosia. ³⁸The king appointed Cendebaeus chief captain of the sea coast, and gave him troops of infantry and cavalry. ³⁹He commanded him to encamp against Judea, and he commanded him to build up Kidron, and to fortify the gates, and that he should fight against the people; but the king pursued Tryphon. ⁴⁰So Cendebaeus came to Jamnia and began to provoke the people, and to invade Judea, and to take the people captive and kill them. ⁴¹He built Kidron and stationed cavalry and infantry there, to the end that going out they might make raids on the highways of Judea, as the king had commanded him.

¹John went up from Gazara and told Simon his father what Cendebaeus was doing. ²Simon called his two oldest sons, Judas and John, and said to them, “I and my brothers and my father’s house have fought the battles of Israel from our youth, even to this day; and things have prospered in our hands, so that we have often delivered Israel. ³But now I am old, and you moreover, by his mercy, are of a sufficient age. Take the place of me and my brother, and go out and fight for our nation; and let the help which is from heaven be with you. ⁴He chose out of the country twenty thousand men of war and cavalry, and they went against Cendebaeus, and slept at Modin. ⁵Rising up in the morning, they went into the plain, and, behold, a great army of infantry and cavalry came to meet them. There was a brook between them. ⁶He encamped near them, he and his people. He saw that the people were afraid to pass over the brook, and he passed over first. When the men saw him, they passed over after him. ⁷He divided the people, and placed the cavalry in the midst of the infantry; but the enemies’ cavalry were exceedingly many. ⁸They sounded the trumpets; and Cendebaeus and his army were put to flight, and many of them fell wounded to death, but those who were left fled to the stronghold. ⁹At that time Judas, John’s brother, was wounded; but John pursued after them until he came to Kidron, which Cendebaeus had built. ¹⁰They fled to the towers that are in the fields of Azotus; and he burned them with fire. About two thousand men of them fell. Then he returned into Judea in peace. ¹¹Ptolemy the son of Abubus had been appointed governor over the plain of Jericho, and he had much silver and gold; ¹²for he was the high priest’s son-in-law. ¹³His heart was lifted up, and he planned to make himself master of the country, and he made deceitful plans against Simon and his sons, to do away with them. ¹⁴Now Simon was visiting the cities that were in the country, and attending to their needs. He went down to Jericho—himself with Mattathias and Judas his sons—in the one hundred seventy-seventh year, in the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat. ¹⁵The son of Abubus received them deceitfully into the little stronghold that is called Dok, which he had built, and made them a great banquet, and hid men there. ¹⁶When Simon and his sons had drunk freely, Ptolemy and his men rose up, took their weapons, rushed in against Simon in the banqueting place, and killed him, his two sons, and some of his servants. ¹⁷He committed a great iniquity, and repaid evil for good. ¹⁸Ptolemy wrote these things and sent to the king, that he should send him forces to aid him, and should deliver him their country and the cities. ¹⁹He sent others to Gazara to do away with John. To the captains of thousands, he sent letters to come to him, that he might give them silver, gold, and gifts. ²⁰He sent others to take possession of Jerusalem and the temple hill. ²¹One ran before to Gazara, and told John that his father and kindred had perished, and that he has sent to kill you also. ²²When he heard, he was greatly shocked. He seized the men who came to destroy him and killed them; for he perceived that they were seeking to destroy him. ²³And the rest of the acts of John and of his wars and of his valiant deeds which he did, and of the building of the walls which he built, and of his achievements, ²⁴behold, they are written in the chronicles of his high priesthood, from the time that he was made high priest after his father.