Chapter 1
1 To their brothers, the Jews who are in Egypt, greetings! To the Jews, their brothers, who are in Jerusalem and in the land of Judah wish a happy peace!
2 May God be good to you and remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants!
3 May he give you all a heart to worship him and to carry out his will willingly and wholeheartedly!
4 May he open your heart to his law and his precepts, and may he make peace in it!
5 May he hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may he not abandon you in times of trouble!
6 And now we are here praying for you.
7 In the reign of Demetrius, in the year one hundred and sixty-nine, we Jews wrote to you when we were in the most extreme distress that had occurred during those years since Jason and his followers had betrayed the cause of the holy land and the kingdom.
8 The door had been burned of the temple and shed innocent blood. So we prayed to the Lord, and we were heard; we offered the sacrifice and the finest flour; we lit the lamps and set out the loaves.
9 Now we are writing to you again so that you may celebrate the days of the Feast of Tabernacles in the month of Casleu.
10 In the year one hundred and eighty-eight.
To those in Jerusalem and Judea, the Senate and Judah, to Aristobulus, advisor to King Ptolemy, of the family of consecrated priests, and to the Jews who are in Egypt, greetings and prosperity!
11 Saved by God from great perils, we give him great thanks, we who are ready to fight against the king.
12 Car God even rejected those who had arrayed themselves for battle against the holy city.
13 Indeed, the chief enemy Having gone to Persia at the head of an army that seemed invincible, they were struck down in the sanctuary of Nanée, thanks to the cunning of the priests of Nanée.
14 Antiochus came to this place with his friends under the pretext of marrying the goddess, with the aim of seizing the treasures as a dowry.
15 The priests of Nanée exposed them, and he himself entered with a small number of his people within the sacred precinct.
16 As soon as Antiochus entered, they closed the temple and, having opened the secret door in the ceiling, they threw stones and knocked the leader unconscious and those who were with him, cut them into pieces and threw their heads to those who were outside.
17 Blessed be our God in all things, who has delivered us to death the godless!
18 Since we are to celebrate the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Casleu, we thought it necessary to inform you, so that you also may celebrate the days of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the day of the fire that was kindled when Nehemiah, after rebuilding the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
19 For when our fathers were taken to Persia, the pious priests of that time took fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry well, and they put it there so securely that the place remained unknown to all.
20 After many years had passed, when it pleased God, Nehemiah was sent away in Judea by the King of Persia, had the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire searched for; but, as they told us that they had not found fire, but thick water,
21 he told them to’in to draw from him, and from him in to bring; then, when one had put on the altar Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the wood and what was on it with this water, as needed for the sacrifice.
22 When this order was carried out, and the moment came when the sun, which had been covered with clouds, shone forth, a great blaze was kindled, so that everyone was filled with wonder.
23 While the victims were being consumed, the priests offered a prayer, and with them all the assistants ; Jonathan began, and the others joined their voices to his.,
24 as well as Nehemiah. This prayer was worded as follows: »Lord, Lord, God, creator of all things, terrible and strong, just and compassionate, who alone are king and good,
25 The only liberal and only just one, all-powerful and eternal, who delivers Israel from all evil, who made our fathers your chosen ones and sanctified them,
26 Receive this sacrifice for all your people Israel; guard your inheritance and sanctify it.
27 Gather those of us who are scattered, deliver those who are slaves among the nations, look with favor on those who are despised and abominable, so that the nations may know that you are our God.
28 Punish those who We oppress and who We They insult with insolence.
29 Settle your people in your holy place, as Moses said.»
30 In addition, the priests sang hymns.
31 When the sacrifice was completed, Nehemiah had the remaining water poured over large stones.
32 When this was done, a flame was kindled in it and the liquid, Having received the rays of light that came from the altar, he was consumed.
33 When word of this event spread, the King of Persia was informed that water had been found at the place where the captive priests had hidden the sacred fire, And that Nehemiah and his people had sanctified the sacrifices through it.
34 Then the king had the enclosure built this place And THE rendered sacred, certifying Thus the event.
35 And to those who were the object of his favor, he distributed numerous and varied gifts.
36 Now, Nehemiah’s companions called this place NEPHTHAR, that is, purification, but most call it NEPHTHAI.
Chapter 2
1 It is found in the public archives that the prophet Jeremiah ordered those who were being deported to take the sacred fire, as has been said; and how the prophet gave instructions to the deportees,
2 by handing them a copy of the law, so that they do not forget the precepts of the Lord, and that they do not go astray in their thoughts upon seeing idols of gold and silver and the ornaments with which they were adorned.
3 Among other such speeches he gave them, he urged them never to remove the law from their hearts.
4 We read in the same writings how the prophet, on an order received of God, had the tabernacle and the ark brought with him, and so he went to the mountain that Moses climbed and from where he beheld the inheritance of God.
5 Arriving there, Jeremiah found a dwelling like a cave, and he placed the tabernacle and the ark there, as well as the altar of incense, and sealed the entrance.
6 Some of his companions having come Next They were unable to find signs to mark the way.
7 Jeremiah knew this and he rebuked them: "This place," he told them, "must remain hidden until God has gathered his people and shown them mercy.
8 Then the Lord will reveal these sacred objects, The glory of the Lord will appear, as will the cloud, as it appeared in the time of Moses, and when Solomon prayed that the temple might be gloriously sanctified.«
9 It was still being told in these writings that this king, possessing wisdom, offered the sacrifice of dedication and completion of the sanctuary.
10 And as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, so Solomon prayed, and fire came down and consumed the burnt offerings.
11 Moses said, »Because the sin offering was not eaten, it was consumed.«
12 And Solomon likewise celebrated the eight days the dedication.
13 These same things are therefore recorded in the archives, and in the memoirs of Nehemiah; we see and how Nehemiah founded a library and y collected the books concerning the kings and the prophets, those of David, and the letters of the kings of Persia about their present.
14 Likewise, Judas gathered all the books that had been scattered during the war that we had to support, and they are in our hands.
15 So if you need to have copies, Send us messengers who will deliver them to you.
16 That is why, as we are about to celebrate the festival of Regarding the purification, we are addressing this letter to you; you would therefore do well to solemnly observe these days. with us.
17 God, who has redeemed all his people and restored to all the inheritance, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sanctification,
18 As he announced by law, he will soon, we hope, have pity on us and gather us together, from all the regions that are under heaven, in the holy place;
19 For he has rescued us from great evils and has cleansed the temple.
20 The story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, the purification of the august temple and the dedication of the altar;
21, as well as the battles delivered, against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator;
22 the glorious interventions of heaven in favor of those who fought gloriously for the defense of Judaism, so that, despite their small number, they reconquered the entire country and put to flight a multitude of barbarians,
23 recovered the sanctuary famous throughout the world, delivered the city and restored the laws that were being abolished, the Lord having favored them with all his goodness:
24 all these facts Presented by Jason of Cyrene in five books, we will try to summarize them in one.
25 Considering the mass of figures that they contain, and the difficulty that exists for those who wish to follow the historical narratives in detail, due to the abundance of material,
26 we have endeavored to make the task pleasant for those who are content with a simple reading, easy for those who are keen to commit the facts to their memory, and profitable for all without distinction.
27 For us, who have undertaken this work of abbreviation, it is not an easy thing, but a labor demanding sweats and sleepless nights,
28 labor no less difficult than that of the organizer of a feast, who seeks to procure the advantage of others. However, for deserve With the recognition of many, we will gladly take on this heavy task.,
29 leaving to the author the care to treat each thing exactly, to strive to follow the rules of the summary.
30 Now, just as the architect of a new house must embrace in his mind the whole of the construction, while the one who undertakes to decorate it and paint figures on it must concern himself with what pertains to the ornamentation, so, I think, it is for us.
31 To delve deeper into the subject, to account for everything, to take pains over the smallest details, that is the duty of the one who composes a history;
32 but to the one whose whole purpose is to write an abridgment, it must be granted to pursue only brevity in the narratives, without attaching himself to a complete exposition of the facts.
33 Let us begin our relationship here, without adding anything to what has just been said; it would be madness to be vague before telling the story, and concise in the story itself.
Chapter 3
1 While the inhabitants of the holy city enjoyed complete peace, and the laws were still strictly observed, thanks to the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of evil,
2. It sometimes happened that the kings themselves honored the saint place and adorned the temple with magnificent gifts,
3 to the point that Seleucus, king of Asia, provided from his income all the necessary expenses for the service of sacrifices.
4 But a certain Simon of the tribe of Benjamin, appointed administrator of the temple, entered into a dispute with the high priest over the administration of the city's marketplace.
5 Since he could not prevail against Onias, he went to Apollonius, son of Thrasea, the military governor at that time of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia.
6 It him reported that the treasure sacred Jerusalem was filled with enormous sums of money, an incalculable amount of wealth, in no way related to the expense necessary for the sacrifices, and it was possible to pass all this treasure into the hands of the king.
7 In an interview with the king, Apollonius him He gave notice of the riches that had been brought to his attention, and he chose Heliodorus, who was in charge of affairs of the State and sent him with orders to carry out the removal of the aforementioned riches.
8 Heliodorus immediately set out, under the pretext of inspecting the cities of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia but in reality to carry out the king's plan.
9 Arriving in Jerusalem, Heliodorus was received amicably by the high priest of the city; then he recounted what he had been taught and explained the purpose of his presence, asking if things were really this way.
10 Then the high priest represented to him that the treasure contained the deposits of widows and orphans;
11 that a part money belonged to Hircan, son of Tobias, a very important man; the situation was not what the impious slanderer, Simon, said, but that all these riches amounted to four hundred talents of silver and two hundred talents of gold;
12 that moreover it was quite impossible to rob those who had entrusted themselves to the sanctity of this place, to the inviolable majesty of a temple venerated throughout the universe.
13 But he, by virtue of the orders he had received from the king, absolutely maintained that this money was to be placed in the royal treasury.
14 So he set a day, and went in to inspect these riches before disposing of them, which caused a great disturbance throughout the whole city.
15 The priests, clothed in their priestly garments, prostrated themselves before the altar, and, turning They turned to heaven and prayed to the One who had made the law on deposits to preserve these goods intact for those who had deposited them.
16 Seeing the face of the High Priest, one felt wounded to the very core of one's soul; for his countenance and the alteration of his complexion attested to the agony of his soul.
17 The consternation painted on his whole person and the shuddering of his body revealed to all eyes the affliction of his heart.
18 The inhabitants rushed out of their houses in droves and prayed all together that the saint the place was not subjected to disgrace.
19 Women, their chests covered with bags, filled the streets; those young girls who were confined, some ran to the doors, others towards the walls; some looked out of the windows;
20 all, with their hands outstretched towards the sky, were doing hear supplications.
21 The dejection of this confused crowd and the anguished waiting of the high priest aroused pity.
22 While the Jews they begged the Almighty Lord to keep the deposits safe and intact for those who had entrusted them,
23 Heliodorus was carrying out his plan. He was already there with his henchmen near the treasury,
24 when the Lord of the spirits, the Ruler of all power, made a great manifestation, so that all those who had dared to come there, struck by the power of God, were struck with powerlessness and terror.
25 In their eyes appeared a horse ridden by a terrible rider, and richly caparisoned; rushing forward impetuously, it shook its forefeet at Heliodorus; the rider appeared to have armor of gold.
26 At the same time, Two other young men appeared to him, full of strength, shining with a bright light and dressed in magnificent clothes; having placed themselves one on one side, the other on the other, they whipped him relentlessly, striking him with a multitude of blows.
27 Heliodorus suddenly fell to the ground, surrounded by deep darkness; he was picked up and placed in a litter;
28 And this man, who had just entered the chamber of the aforementioned treasury with a large retinue of runners and armed satellites, was carried away unable to help himself and having visibly experienced the power of God.
29 While he lay there, under the power of God, speechless, without hope or help,
30 the Jews blessed the Lord who had glorified his saint place, and the temple, which a moment before had been full of terror and turmoil, was, thanks to the manifestation of the Almighty Lord, filled with joy and gladness.
31 Immediately some of Heliodorus' companions asked Onias to pray to the Most High and grant life to the one who lay with only a breath left.
32 And the high priest, fearing that the king might imagine that an attack had been committed by the Jews against Heliodorus, offered a sacrifice for the life of this man.
33 While the high priest was offering the sin offering, the same young men appeared again to Heliodorus, dressed in the same clothes, and standing up, said to him: "Give great thanks to the high priest Onias, for it is because of him that the Lord gives you life.
34 »As for you, being thus punished by him, proclaim to all the great power of God.” Having said this, they disappeared.
35 Heliodorus offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made great vows to the One who had granted him life; then, having assured Onias of his friendship, he returned with his troops to the king.
36 And he bore witness to all the works of the great God which he had seen with his own eyes.
37 The king having asked Heliodorus which man he thought suitable to be sent back to Jerusalem, this one replied:
38 "If you have any enemy or adversary of your government, send him there, and he will return to you torn with blows, if indeed he survives, for there is truly a divine power in that place.
39 He who dwells in heaven watches over this place and protects it; those who come there with evil intentions, he strikes and destroys.«
40 This is how things turned out concerning Heliodorus and the preservation of the sacred treasure.
Chapter 4
1 This Simon, this informer of the treasury and of his country, spoke ill of Onias: it is he, he said, who had aroused Heliodorus and who was the author of all the evil.
2 The benefactor of the city, the defender of his fellow citizens and the faithful observer of the laws, he dared to portray him as an adversary of the State.
3 This hatred went so far that murders were committed by one of Simon's henchmen.
4 Then Onias, considering the danger of these divisions and the outbursts of Apollonius, the military governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, who was encouraging Simon's wickedness, went to see the king,
5 not to accuse his fellow citizens, but having in mind the general and particular interest of all her people.
6 For he clearly saw that, without the king's intervention, it was impossible to pacify the situation, and that Simon would not renounce his criminal enterprises.
7 But, after the death of Seleucus, Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes having succeeded him, Jason, brother of Onias, undertook to usurp the sovereign pontificate.
8 In an interview with the king, he promised him three hundred and sixty talents of silver and eighty talents taken from other income.
9 He further promised to commit himself in writing to one hundred and fifty other talents, if he were allowed to establish, on his own authority and according to his views, a gymnasium with an ephebe, and to register the inhabitants of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch.
10 The king agreed to everything. As soon as Jason Having obtained power, he began to introduce Greek customs among his fellow citizens.
11 He abolished the privileges that the kings, out of humanity, had granted to the Jews thanks to the company of John, father of Eupolemus, who was sent as an ambassador to to conclude a treaty’alliance and d’friendship with the Romans, and, destroying legitimate institutions, he established customs contrary to the law.
12 He took pleasure in founding a gymnasium at the very foot of the Acropolis, and he educated the noblest children by putting them under the hat.
13 Hellenism then grew to such a point, and such a drive towards foreign customs was seen, as a result of the excessive perversity of Jason, an impious man and by no means a high priest,
14 that the priests no longer showed any zeal for the service of the altar and that, despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to take part, in the gymnasium, in the exercises proscribed by the law, from that the call to launch the disk had made himself heard.
15 Disregarding the honorary functions of their country, they held the distinctions of the Greeks in high esteem.
16 Therefore, grave calamities befell them, and in those whose way of life they imitated and whom they wanted to resemble in everything, they found enemies and oppressors.
17 For one does not violate divine laws with impunity; but this will be demonstrated by the course of events.
18 While the quinquennial games were being celebrated in Tyre, which the king attended,
19 The criminal Jason sent spectators from Jerusalem, who were citizens of Antioch, carrying three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice of Hercules; but those who carried them asked that this money be used, not for sacrifices, which was not appropriate, but to cover other expenses.
20 Thus the three hundred drachmas were indeed intended by the one who sent them for the sacrifice in honor of Hercules; but they served, according the desire to those who brought them, to the construction of triremes.
21 Apollonius, son of Menestheus, having been sent to Egypt on the occasion of the king's enthronement Ptolemy Philometor, Antiochus learned that this king was ill-disposed towards him and, wanting to protect himself from him, he went to Joppa, then to Jerusalem.
22 Received magnificently by Jason and by all he entered the city by torchlight and amidst acclamations; then he similarly led his army into Phoenicia.
23 Three years having passed, Jason sent Menelaus, brother of Simon mentioned above, to take the money to the king and pay the registration fees for important matters.
24 But Menelaus he commended himself to the king, paid him homage with the appearance of a high-ranking man, and had the sovereign pontificate awarded to himself, offering three hundred talents of silver more than Jason had done.
25 Having received his letters of investiture from the king, he returned in Jerusalem, having nothing worthy of the priesthood and bringing only the instincts of a cruel tyrant and the fury of a wild beast.
26 Thus Jason, who had deceived his own brother, who was in turn deceived by another, had to flee to the land of the Ammonites.
27 As for Menelaus, he obtained power; but, as he did not fulfill his promise to the king regarding the sum he pledged, despite the demands of Sostratus, commander of the Acropolis,
28 who had in his duties regarding tax collection, both were summoned to the king.
29 Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus and Sostratus to replace him as high priest left as a replacement Crates, governor of Cyprus.
30 Meanwhile, it happened that the inhabitants of Tarsus and Mallas revolted, because these two cities had been given as a gift to Antiochide, the king's concubine.
31 The king therefore left in haste to appease the sedition, having left as his lieutenant Andronique, one of the great dignitaries.
32 Menelaus, judging the circumstances favorable, removed some gold vases from the temple and gave them to Andronicus, and he managed to sell others in Tyre and the neighboring cities.
33 When Onias had known for certain this new crime of Menelaus, he addressed reproaches to her, after having withdrawn to a place of asylum, at Daphne, near Antioch.
34 That is why Menelaus, taking Andronicus aside, urged him to put Onias to death. Andronic He then went to find Onias and, using cunning, presented his right hand to him with an oath; then, although he was suspected, he persuaded him to leave his sanctuary and immediately put him to death, without regard for justice.
35 Therefore, not only the Jews, but many from other nations were indignant and grieved at the unjust murder of this man.
36 And when the king returned from Cilicia, the Jews of Antioch, as well as Greeks who were also enemies of violence, came to him concerning the unjust murder of Onias.
37 Antiochus was deeply saddened and moved with compassion for Onias, He shed tears at the memory of the moderation and wise conduct of the deceased.
38 Red with anger, he immediately had Andronicus's purple garments removed, tore his clothes, and, having led him through the whole city, he degraded this scoundrel in the very place where he had carried out his impious attack on Onias, the Lord thus striking him with just punishment.
39 Now, a great number of sacrilegious thefts having been committed in the city by Lysimachus, in agreement with Menelaus, and the rumor having spread, the people rioted against Lysimachus, when already many gold vessels had been scattered.
40 Seeing the multitude raised and the spirits Enraged, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men and began to commit acts of violence, under the command of a certain Tyrant, a man advanced in age and no less in perversity.
41 But when they learned of Lysimachus' attack, some seizing stones, others large sticks, some gathering ashes that were there, hurled tumultuously the whole on the supporters of Lysimachus.
42 In this way they wounded a great number of his people, killed several of them, and put all the others fleeing and massacred the sacrilege himself near the treasure of the temple.
43 Then an investigation against Menelaus began based on these facts.
44 When the king came to Tyre, the three men sent by the Elders explained to him the justice of their cause.
45 Seeing himself convinced, Menelaus promised Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, a large sum of money so that he him made the king favorable.
46 Ptolemy, having therefore taken the king under the peristyle, as if to take the air, made him change his mind.
47 The king declared Menelaus innocent of the accusations brought against him, although he was guilty of all crimes, and he condemned to death unfortunate people who, if they had pleaded their cause even before the Scythians, they would have been sent away innocent;
48 and men who had defended the city, the people, and the sacred objects, suffered without delay this unjust punishment.
49 The Tyrians themselves were outraged, and they gave the victims magnificent funerals.
50 As for Menelaus, thanks to the greed of the powerful, he maintained his dignity, growing in malice and a cruel scourge of his fellow citizens.
Chapter 5
1 Around this time, Antiochus organized his second expedition to Egypt.
2 Now it came to pass that throughout the whole city, for about forty days, there appeared horsemen running through the air, wearing garments of gold and armed with lances in the manner of cohorts,
3 as well as squadrons of horses drawn up in battle order, attacks and charges from both sides, the waving of shields and a multitude of pikes, swords drawn from sheaths, arrows launched, a vivid display of gold armor and breastplates of all kinds.
4 That is why everyone prayed that these apparitions their were favorable.
5 When a false rumor of Antiochus' death spread, Jason took no less than a thousand men and came to attack the city unexpectedly. Citizens They ran to the walls, but the city was eventually taken, and Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.
6 Jason mercilessly slaughtered his own countrymen, not reflecting that a day gained from fellow countrymen is the most sadly lost day, but imagining he was winning trophies from enemies, not from people of the same nation.
7 On the one hand, he did not succeed in seizing power, and, on the other hand, his intrigues resulted in his confusion; he had to return as a fugitive to the land of the Ammonites.
8. As an end to his criminal life, we saw it closely pursued by Aretas, king of the Arabs, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all, hated as a transgressor of the laws, execrated as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, ignominiously driven out to Egypt.
9 He who had banished so many people from their homeland, he perished on the earth foreign, after having gone to Lacedaemon in the hope of finding refuge there, in consideration of their common origin.
10 He who had cast down so many men on the floor Without burial, no one mourned him or paid him any last respects; he was not buried in the tomb of his fathers.
11 When these events came to the king's attention, he believed that Judea was defecting. So he left Egypt, furious like a wild beast, and seized the city by force of arms.
12 He ordered the soldiers to kill without mercy those who fell into their hands, and to slaughter those who climbed onto the roofs of houses.
13 Thus young men and old men were killed; thus mature men, women, and children perished; thus young girls and infants were slaughtered.
14 The number of victims during these three days was eighty thousand, of whom forty thousand were massacred and as many were sold as slaves.
15 Not content with these atrocities, he dared to enter the holiest temple on earth, guided by Menelaus, a traitor to the laws and to his country.
16 And taking from his defiled hands the sacred objects, and tearing away the offerings deposited by other kings to enhance the glory and dignity of this place, he handed them over to profane hands.
17 Antiochus became proud in his mind, not considering that the Lord was angry for a short time because of the sins of the inhabitants of the city, and that was why he turned his eyes away from that place.
18 Otherwise, if they had not been guilty of a great many sins, he too, like Heliodorus, sent by King Seleucus to inspect the treasury, would have been flogged and repressed in his audacity upon his arrival.
19 But God did not choose the people because of This place; he chose This place because of the people.
20 This is why this place shared in the misfortunes of the people, just as it was later associated with their blessings. of the Lord ; Forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty, he was restored when the sovereign Lord was reconciled. with his people, fully restored its glory.
21 Antiochus, having thus removed eighteen hundred talents from the temple, returned in haste to Antioch, imagining in his pride, because of the intoxication of his heart, that he could make the land navigable and the sea viable.
22 But he left officials to torment the people: in Jerusalem, Philip, from Phrygia, even more cruel than the one who L'’had established;
23 to Gerizim, Andronicus; and, besides these, Menelaus who, with more wickedness than the others, insolently raised himself above his fellow citizens
24 and harbored feelings of hatred against the Jewish patriots. Moreover, Antiochus sent the infamous Apollonius at the head of an army of twenty-two thousand men, with orders to put to death all men in the prime of life and to sell women and the children.
25 Arriving in Jerusalem, Apollonius, feigning peaceful intentions, he remained quiet until the holy Sabbath day and, when he saw the Jews celebrating it, he ordered his troops to take up arms.
26 And all those who had gone out for the spectacle, he had massacred, and, passing through the city with his soldiers, he put a multitude of people to death.
27 Now Judas Maccabeus, the tenth, withdrew into the desert, living like wild beasts on the mountains, with his companions, never eating anything but herbs, so as not to defile himself.
Chapter 6
1 Shortly afterwards, the king sent an old man from Athens to force the Jews to abandon the worship of their fathers and prevent them from living according to God's laws,
2 and to desecrate the temple of Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Jupiter, and that of Gerizim to Hospitaller Jupiter, in accordance with the character of the inhabitants of the place.
3 The invasion of these evils was, even for the masses of the people, very painful and difficult to bear;
4 For the temple was filled with revelry and debauchery by dissolute Gentiles and prostitutes, men having relations with women in the holy courts and bringing forbidden things into the temple.
5 The altar itself was covered with unclean sacrifices which the law forbade.
6 It was no longer possible to celebrate Sabbaths or Father's Day, or even simply to confess that one was Jewish.
7 A bitter necessity brought the Jews to the sacrifices which were made every month on the day of the king's birth; at the Bacchanalia festivals, they were forced to walk through the streets crowned with ivy in honor of Bacchus.
8 An edict was issued, at the instigation of Ptolemy, that the same measures should be taken against the Jews in the neighboring Greek cities and that sacrifices should be made,
9 in order to put to death those who refused to adopt Greek customs. Scenes of desolation were therefore everywhere before our eyes.
10 So two women were brought in for having circumcised their children; their children were hung by their breasts, they were dragged publicly through the city, and they were thrown down from the top of the walls.
11 Others, having gone together to nearby caves to celebrate the Sabbath day in secret, were denounced to Philip, and they were all burned without daring to defend themselves, out of respect for the sanctity of the day.
12 I beg those into whose hands this book falls not to be disconcerted because of these calamities, and to believe that these persecutions took place, not for the ruin, but for the punishment of our race.
13 When God does not leave long the fishermen that they go unpunished, but that he brings swift punishment upon them, is a sign of great kindness.
14 Indeed, the sovereign Master, in order to punish other nations, patiently waits until they have fulfilled the measure of their iniquities; this is not how he has seen fit to deal with us,
15 so that he would not have to execute his vengeance on us when our sins had reached their full measure.
16 Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us; in chastising us with adversity, he does not abandon his people.
17 Let it suffice for us to have recalled this truth; after these few words, we must return to our story.
Chapter 7
1 It also happened that seven brothers were taken with their mother, and the king wanted to force them, by tearing them with whips and ox sinews, to eat pork, which was forbidden by law.
2 One of them, speaking on behalf of them all, said, »What do you want, and what do you want to learn from us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the law of our fathers.«
3 The king, furious, ordered stoves and cauldrons to be placed on the fire. As soon as they were burning hot,
4 he ordered that the tongue of the one who had spoken on behalf of all be cut out, and that the skin of his head be removed and his extremities cut off, in the sight of his other brothers and their mother.
5 When he had been completely mutilated in this way, he ordered that he, still breathing, be brought near the fire and roasted in the pan. While the steam from the pan spread far and wide, his brothers and their mothers urged each other to die bravely:
6 »The Lord God sees,” they said, “and he truly has compassion on us, just as Moses foretold in the song that protests to our faces against Israel, saying: He will have mercy on his servants.«
7 The first man having died in this way, they brought the second man to be tortured, and after tearing off the skin of his head with his hair, they asked him if he wanted to eat pork before being tortured in every part of his body.
8 He answered in the language of his fathers, »No!» Therefore he too suffered the same torments as the first.
9 As he breathed his last, he said: »You wicked man, you take away our present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to eternal life, we who die to be faithful to his laws.«
10 After him, the third was tortured. At the executioner's request, he immediately offered his tongue and fearlessly extended his hands,
11 And he said with noble courage: »I hold these members from Heaven, but because of its laws I despise them, and it is from Him that I hope to recover them one day.«
12 The king himself and those who accompanied him were struck by the courage of This young man, who considered the tortures as nothing.
13 When he died, the fourth was subjected to the same torments.
14 As he was about to die, he said, »Blessed are those who die.” of the hand men, with the hope they have from God of being raised from the dead through him! But for you, your resurrection will not be for life.«
15 Then they brought in the fifth, and they tortured him. But he, fixing his eyes on the king,
16 says: "You, though mortal, have power among men, and you do as you please. But do not believe that our race is abandoned by God.".
17 As for you, wait, and you will see his great power, how he will torment you and your descendants.«
18 After him, the sixth was brought in. Near death, he said: »Do not delude yourself; it is we ourselves who have brought these evils upon ourselves by sinning against our God; therefore strange calamities have befallen us.
19 But you, do not imagine that you will go unpunished, for you have dared to fight against God.«
30 While she was still speaking, the young man said, »What are you waiting for? I am not obeying the king’s orders; I am obeying the prescriptions of the law which was given by Moses to our fathers.
31 And you, the author of all the evils unleashed upon the Hebrews, you will not escape the arm of God.
32 For it is because of our sins that we suffer;
33 And if, to chastise and correct us, our Lord, who lives, has shown us his anger for a little while, he will be reconciled to his servants.
34 But you, O impious and most wicked of all men, do not be foolishly proud, indulging in vain hopes, when you raise your hand against the servants of God;
35 for you have not yet escaped the judgment of God Almighty, who watches over all things.
36 Our brothers, having endured a passing suffering, have fallen into the covenant of God for eternal life; but you, by the judgment of God, will bear the just punishment for your pride.
37 As for me, and my brothers, I surrender my body and my life for the laws of my fathers, begging God to soon be merciful to his people and to lead you, through torments and suffering, to confess that he is the only God,
38 and may the wrath of the Almighty, justly unleashed upon our entire race, be stopped in me and in my brothers!«
39 The king, overcome with fury, struck this man even more cruelly than the others, unable to bear that he was being mocked.
40 Thus died this young man, pure of all idolatry and trusting entirely in the Lord.
41 Finally, the mother died last, after her children.
42 But enough about sacrifices and excessive cruelties of Antiochus.
Chapter 8
1 However, Judas Maccabeus and his companions, secretly entering the villages, summoned their relatives, and, joining those who had remained faithful to Judaism, they gathered thus a troop of approximately six thousand men.
2 They begged the Lord to look her a people whom everyone trampled underfoot, to have such pity on her temple desecrated by the impious,
3 to have compassion for the devastated city that would be at ground level, and to listen to the voice of the blood crying out to him,
4 to remember the criminal murder of innocent little children and the outrages done in his name, and to show his hatred against the wicked.
5 Once in command of a troop numerous, Maccabeus became invincible to the nations, for the Lord's anger had turned into mercy.
6 Falling unexpectedly upon towns and villages, he burned them; occupying the most favorable positions, he inflicted defeats on many enemies.
7 He especially chose the night to favor the success of these kinds of expeditions. Word of his valor spread everywhere.
8 Philip did not take long to see what progress this man was making, and the increasingly frequent successes he was winning; he therefore wrote to Ptolemy, military leader of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, to come to the aid of the king's affairs.
9 Ptolemy, having set to work without delay, sent Nicanor, son of Patroclus, one of the principal favorites, away of the king, at the head of at least twenty thousand men from various nations, so that he might exterminate the entire race of the Jews; he appointed Gorgias as his deputy, a general very experienced in matters of the war.
10 Nicanor fully intended to procure for the king, on the sale captives taken from Judea, the tribute of two thousand talents of to the Romans.
11 He hastened to send invitations to the coastal cities to come and buy Jewish slaves, promising to give them ninety for one talent: he did not think of the vengeance of the Almighty that was about to fall upon him.
12 As soon as Judas learned of Nicanor's march, he informed his companions of the army's approach.
13 Then some, overcome with fear and lacking faith in God's righteousness, fled and moved on to other places;
14 The others sold everything that their They remained and, at the same time, they prayed to the Lord to deliver them from the impious Nicanor, who had sold them out even before the battle began:
15 if not because of them, at least in consideration of the alliances do with their fathers, and because his holy and august name had been named upon them.
16 Maccabeus, having gathered together those who had remained with him, numbering six thousand men, exhorted them not to fear the enemies, nor to be dismayed by the multitude of nations that marched unjustly against them, but to fight valiantly,
17 having before their eyes the shameful desecration they have committed against the holy place, the outrage against the ravaged city, and the ruin of the institutions of the ancestors.
18 "They," he said, "trust in their weapons and..." charges bold; we, however, place our trust in God, master of all things, who can with a sign overthrow those who come to attack us and even the universe itself.«
19 He also listed before them the ancient examples of protection of God ; and how, under Sennacherib, the one hundred and eighty thousand men had perished;
20 and how, in the battle fought against the Galatians in Babylonia, those who took part in the action being in all eight thousand, with four thousand Macedonians, and these being strongly pressed, the eight thousand had destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand enemies, thanks to the help which had come to them from heaven, and had won a great profit.
21 After having, through these memories, filled them with confidence and prepared them to die for the laws and for the fatherland, he divided his army into four corps.
22 At the head of each corps, he placed his brothers Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan, giving each of them fifteen hundred men.
23 Furthermore, he ordered Eleazar to read from the Holy Book; then, having given the watchword: Help of God! Judas took command of the first corps and attacked Nicanor.
24 The Almighty came to their aid, and they killed more than nine thousand enemies, wounded and maimed most of Nicanor's soldiers, and put them all to flight.
25 They also took the money from those who had come to buy them. Having gone quite far the fugitives,
26 They turned back, stopped by the time, for it was the day before the Sabbath; therefore they did not continue their pursuit.
27 Having gathered the weapons of the enemy and collected their spoils, they celebrated the Sabbath, blessing a thousand times and praising the Lord who THE had delivered for that day, having resolved to show them a beginning of mercy.
28 After the Sabbath, they distributed some of the spoils to those who had suffered persecution, to widows and orphans; they themselves and their children divided the rest among themselves.
29 Having done this, they all began to pray together, imploring the merciful Lord to be completely reconciled with his servants.
30 They also killed more than twenty thousand men of the troops who fought under the command of Timothy and Bacchides, and valiantly captured high fortresses. They divided their immense plunder into two equal parts, one for themselves, the other for the persecuted, the orphans and widows, as well as for the elderly.
31 They gathered the weapons and carefully placed them all in suitable places, and transported the rest of the spoils to Jerusalem.
32 They put to death Phylarchus, who was with Timothy; he was a very wicked man, who had done much harm to the Jews.
33 While they were celebrating their victory in their capital, Callisthenes and a few others, who had consigned the holy gates to the flames of the temple, Having taken refuge in a small house, they burned them there and thus gave them the just reward for their desecrations.
34 The triple villain Nicanor, who had brought the thousand merchants to sell them the Jews,
35. Humiliated, thanks to the Lord's help, by those he believed weaker than himself, he stripped himself of his garments of honor and, fleeing across the fields like a fugitive, without escort, he returned alone to Antioch, in despair at having lost his army.
36 And he who had promised to complete the tribute to the Romans with the price From the captives of Jerusalem, he now proclaimed that the Jews had God as their defender and that therefore they were invulnerable, because they obeyed the laws that he had prescribed for them.
Chapter 9
1 Around that time, Antiochus had shamefully returned from the lands of Persia.
2 For, having entered the city named Persepolis, he had tried to plunder the temple and oppress the city; therefore the multitude rose up and resorted to the force of arms and it came to pass that Antiochus, put to flight by the inhabitants of the country, made a humiliating retreat.
3 While he was in the region of Ecbatana, he heard what had happened to Nicanor and to Timothy's army.
4 Overcome with fury, he plotted to avenge on the Jews the insult of those who had forced him to flee; so he ordered the driver to push his chariot forward without stopping, to hasten the journey. The vengeance of heaven pursued him, for he had said in his pride, »As soon as I arrive in Jerusalem, I will make this city a grave for the Jews.«
5 But the Lord, the God of Israel, who sees all things, struck him with an incurable and horrible wound. No sooner had he uttered these words than he was seized by extreme bowel pain, with cruel torments inside.
6 It was just, since he had torn the entrails of others with numerous and unheard-of torments. But he did not diminish his arrogance in the slightest;
7 Still filled with pride, he breathed out the fire of his anger against the Jews and ordered them to hasten their march, when suddenly he fell from the chariot which was rolling with a crash, and his fall was so violent that all the members of his body were bruised.
8 He who just now believed he could command the waves of the sea, in his superhuman boasting, he who imagined he could weigh the height of the mountains in the balance, having been thrown to the ground, he was carried in a litter, making manifest to the eyes of all the power of God.
9 From the body of the wicked man came forth swarms of towards; while he was still alive, his flesh was detaching in tatters with excruciating pain, and the stench of decay emanating from it bothered the entire army;
10 and he who formerly seemed to touch the stars of the sky, no one could now wear him, because of this intolerable stench.
11 Then, deeply wounded, he began to recover from this great pride and to know himself, under the divine lash which redoubled his pains at every moment;
12 And since he himself could not bear his infection, he said, »It is right to submit to God and, a mere mortal, not to insolently equate oneself with the divine.«
13 But this scoundrel prayed to the Sovereign Master, who was no longer to have pity on him,
14 promising to declare the holy city free, towards which he was hastening to level it to the ground and make it the tomb of its inhabitants;
15 to make all the Jews like the Athenians, whom he did not consider worthy of burial, destine them and their children to serve as food for birds of prey and wild beasts;
16 to adorn with the most beautiful offerings the holy temple which he had once plundered, to restore to him and beyond all his sacred utensils and to provide for the costs of sacrifices from their own income,
17 and furthermore to become himself Jewish, and to travel through all the inhabited places in y proclaiming the power of God.
18 But his sufferings did not subside, for God's righteous judgment had come upon him; then, seeing his desperate condition, he wrote to the Jews the letter transcribed below, in the form of a supplication, and worded as follows:
19 » To the Jews, his excellent citizens, King and General Antiochus: Greetings, health and perfect happiness!
20 If you and your children fare well, and your affairs go according to your desires, I give God the greatest glory, putting my hope in heaven.
21 As for me, I am lying on a bed, without strength, lovingly remembering the marks of honor and kindness I have received from you.
»"Upon my return from the lands of Persia, having fallen into a cruel illness, I deemed it necessary to take care of the well-being of all.".
22 It is not that I despair of myself; on the contrary, I have great confidence that I will recover from this illness.
23 But considering that my father, when he carried his arms into the high provinces, designated his future successor,
24 so that, in case of an unexpected misfortune or distressing rumors, those of the kingdom, knowing to whom matters were entrusted, would not be disturbed;
25. Considering further that the bordering monarchs and neighboring princes of my states are watching the situation closely and awaiting what will happen, I have designated my son Antiochus as king, whom, more than once, when I have traveled through my upper provinces, I have entrusted to most of you in you recommending, and I wrote him the letter transcribed below.
26 I therefore ask and beseech you to remember my kindnesses, both general and particular, and to each retain the goodwill that you have for me and for my son.
27 For I am convinced that, being gentle and compassionate, he will carry out my intentions and show condescension toward you.«
28 Thus this murderer, this blasphemer, in the throes of horrible suffering, as he in had made others suffer, died in a foreign land, in the mountains, a miserable death.
29 Philippe, his childhood companion, was having transported her body; but fearing the young Antiochus, he withdrew to Egypt, to Ptolemy Philometor.
Chapter 10
1 However, Maccabeus and his companions, with the help of the Lord, recaptured the temple and the city.
2 They destroyed the altars that the foreigners had set up in the public square, as well as the sacred groves.
3 Then, after purifying the temple, they erected another altar and, having taken stones from the fire, they took some of this fire and, after an interval of two years, they offered a sacrifice, made smoke again incense, lit up they lit the lamps and placed the loaves of the Presence on the table.
4 When this was done, they fell prostrate on the ground and prayed to the Lord not to do anything more TO DO to fall on them such evils, asking, if they should sin again, to be punished by him as is fitting, but no longer to be handed over to impious and barbarous nations.
5 The temple had been desecrated by foreigners on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Casleu, and it happened that it was purified on the same day.
6 And they did during eight days a party in the manner of that tabernacles, remembering that not long before, they had spent the Feast of Tabernacles in the mountains, in caves, like wild beasts.
7 Therefore, bearing thyrses, green branches, and palm fronds, they sang hymns to the glory of him who had happily led them to purify his temple.
8 And they prescribed by a public edict and decree that the whole Jewish nation should observe these same days every year.
9 Such were the circumstances of the death of Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes;
10 we will now set forth what concerns Antiochus Eupator, son of this impious man, by briefly relating the evils caused by the wars.
11 Upon his accession to the throne, he placed a certain Lysias in charge of affairs, appointed also commander-in-chief of the army of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia.
12 For Ptolemy, nicknamed Macron, had been the first to observe justice towards the Jews, because of the violence they had suffered, and had striven to govern them peacefully.
13 But for this very reason he was accused by friends of the king before Eupator and, as on every occasion he heard himself called a traitor, for having abandoned Cyprus which Philometor had entrusted to him, and for having gone over to the side of Antiochus Epiphanes, having nothing left but a dignity without honor, he lost courage and took his own life by poison.
14 Now Gorgias, who had become military leader of these provinces, raised foreign troops, and seized every opportunity to do the war to the Jews.
15 At the same time, the Edomites, masters of strong fortresses, harassed the Jews; they welcomed those who were driven out of Jerusalem, and tried to maintain the war.
16 Maccabeus and his companions, after praying and asking God to come to their aid, stormed the strongholds occupied by the Idumeans.
17 Having attacked them vigorously, they took control of them, and drove back all those who fought on the ramparts; they slaughtered anyone who fell into their hands; the number of the dead was not less than twenty thousand.
18 At least nine thousand men had taken refuge in two very strong towers, having with them everything necessary to withstand a siege.
19 Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, as well as Zacchaeus and his companions, in sufficient number, to subdue them, and went away himself where there were emergencies.
20 But Simon’s people, greedy for riches, allowed themselves to be bribed by some of those who were in the towers and, having received seventy thousand drachmas, they let a number of them escape.
21 When Maccabeus learned what had happened, he gathered the leaders of the people and accused these men for having sold their brothers for money, letting armed enemies escape against them.
22 Then he put those traitors to death and immediately seized the two towers.
23 And, carrying out all his military enterprises, he killed more than twenty thousand men in these two fortresses.
24 But Timothy, who had previously been defeated by the Jews, having gathered a multitude of foreign troops and brought out a large cavalry from Asia, advanced to conquer Judea by force of arms.
25 As he approached, Maccabeus and his companions began to pray to God, scattering dust on their heads and girding their loins with sacks.
26 Prostrate at the foot of the altar, they asked the Lord to be favorable to them, to be the enemy of their enemies, and the adversary of their adversaries, as the law promises.
27 When they had finished their prayer, they took up arms, went out of the city to a considerable distance, and when they were near the enemy they stopped.
28 At the first light of day, the battle began on both sides, one side having as a guarantee of success and victory, besides their valor, their recourse to the Lord, the others taking as their guide in the fight only their outburst.
29 At the height of the battle, five resplendent men appeared from the sky to the enemy, on horses with golden bridles, who placed themselves at the head of the Jews.
30 Two of them took Maccabeus from among them, and they kept him invulnerable by covering him with their armor; at the same time they launched arrows and lightning against the enemies who, struck blind and filled with terror, fell in disorder.
31 Twenty thousand five hundred infantrymen and six hundred cavalrymen perished in this way.
32 Timothy fled to a very stronghold called Gazara, where Chereashes was in command.
33 Maccabeus and his companions, filled with joyful zeal, besieged him for four days.
34 Confident in the strength of the place, the besieged did not cease to blaspheme and utter impious words.
35 As the fifth day began to dawn, twenty young men from Maccabeus's troop, whose anger had been inflamed by these blasphemies, bravely rushed upon the wall and, with the courage of lions, massacred everything they found before them.
36 Others also went up and attacked the besieged on the opposite side; they set fire to the towers and lit pyres on which they burned the blasphemers alive; others broke down the gates and opened a passage for the rest of the army, which seized the city.
37 Having found Timothy, hidden in a cistern, they THE put to death, along with his brother Chereas and Apollophanes.
38 When these exploits had been accomplished, they blessed the Lord with hymns and songs of praise, for he had done great things for Israel and had given them the victory.
Chapter 11
1 Very soon after, Lysias, guardian and relative of the king, and regent of the kingdom, finding it difficult to bear what had just happened,
2 assembled about eighty thousand men and all its cavalry, and set out against the Jews, fully intending to populate the city with Greeks holy,
3 subject the temple to a tribute, like all the other sanctuaries of the nations, and sell the dignity of high priest every year;
4. not considering in any way in this the power of God, but excessively proud of his myriads of infantry, his thousands of horsemen and his eighty elephants.
5 So he entered Judea and approached Bethsur, a place difficult to access, about five stades from Jerusalem, and pressed hard against it.
6 When Maccabeus and his companions learned that Lysias was besieging the fortresses, they prayed to the Lord with groans and tears, and all the people with them, to send a good angel for the deliverance of Israel.
7 Maccabeus was the first to take up arms, and he urged the others to expose themselves with him to danger to help their brothers.
8 They all set out with great eagerness; and, as they were still in sight of Jerusalem, a rider dressed in white appeared at their head, waving golden armor.
9 Then they all together blessed the merciful God, and they were strengthened in their hearts, ready to fight not only men, but the fiercest beasts, and able to pierce walls of iron.
10 They advanced in battle formation, having an auxiliary came from heaven, and the Lord having compassion on them.
11 Having rushed like lions upon the enemy, they laid down eleven thousand infantrymen and sixteen hundred cavalrymen,
12 and put the others to flight. Most of them escaped wounded and unarmed; Lysias himself only saved his life by a shameful flight.
13 But since he was not lacking in sense, he reflected on his defeat and, understanding that the Hebrews were invincible, since the Almighty God fought with them, he sent them
14. To propose reconciliation under all fair conditions, offering themselves accordingly to persuade the king of the necessity of becoming their friend.
15 Maccabeus agreed to everything Lysias proposed, having only his own interests in mind. audience ; for all the conditions that Maccabeus transmitted in writing to Lysias concerning the Jews, the king consented to.
16 The letter that Lysias wrote to the Jews was worded as follows:
»"Lysias to the Jewish people, greetings.".
17 John and Absalom, whom you sent me, having delivered to me the signed document of you, They asked me to fulfill its terms.
18 Everything that was to be submitted to the king, I him I made it known, and he granted what was permissible.
19 If therefore you persevere in your good will towards the government, I too will now strive to contribute to your happiness.
20 As for certain details, I have given explanations to your envoys and mine to confer with you.
21 Farewell. The year one hundred and forty-eight, the twenty-fourth of the month of Dioscorinth.«
22 The king's letter was worded as follows:
»"King Antiochus to his brother Lysias, greetings.".
23 Our father having been transferred among the gods, we, — wanting those of OUR kingdoms go about their business without disturbance.,
24 and having learned that the Jews do not consent, as our father wished, to adopt Greek customs, but that they prefer their own particular customs and consequently request that they be allowed to live according to their own laws,
25 Desiring therefore that this nation should not be disturbed either, — we order that the temple be restored to them and that they may live according to the customs of their ancestors.
26 You will do well to send to them and extend your hand to them, so that, knowing our intentions, they may have confidence and cheerfully attend to their own affairs.«
27 The King's Letter to the Nation Jewish was designed as follows:
»"King Antiochus to the Jewish senate and to the other Jews, greetings.".
28 If you are well, that fulfills our wishes, and we ourselves are in good health.
29 Menelaus has informed us of your desire to return and be about your own business.
30 Therefore, those who set out until the thirtieth day of the month of Xanthicus will enjoy peace and security.
31 Let the Jews use their food and follow their laws as before, without any of them being worried in any way for mistakes made through ignorance.
32 I have sent Menelaus, who will give you peaceful assurances.
33 Farewell. The year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of the month of Xanthicus.«
34 The Romans also addressed to the Jews a letter worded as follows:
»"Quintus Memmius and Titus Manlius, Roman legates, to the Jewish people, greetings.
35 The things that Lysias, a relative of the king, granted you, we also grant you.
36 As for those which he deemed worthy of submission to the king, send someone to us without delay, after having examined them thoroughly, so that we may present them to the king, as appropriate to do it for you, because we are going to Antioch.
37 Therefore, hurry and send out your representatives, so that we too may know what your intentions are.
38 Farewell. The year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of Xanthic.«
Chapter 12
1 With this treaty concluded, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews began to cultivate their fields.
2 Now the generals of the country, Timothy and Apollonius, son of Gennaeus, as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, to whom must be added Nicanor, governor of Cyprus, did not leave them in peace or live in peace.
3 However, the inhabitants of Joppa committed an abominable crime. They invited the Jews who lived among them to board boats they had prepared, along with their wives and children, as if they had no enmity against them.,
4 but were acting under a decision taken jointly by the city. The Jews accepted, like people who desire peace and had no suspicion. But when they were out at sea, they were sunk to the bottom, at least two hundred of them.
5 As soon as Judas learned of the cruelty committed against men of his nation, he gave orders to his companions, and, after invoking God,
6 The righteous judge, he marched against the murderers of his brothers, set fire during the night to the buildings of the port, burned the ships and put to the sword those who had sought refuge there.
7 As the place was closed, he left, but with the intention of returning and destroying the whole city of the Joppites.
8 Having learned that those in Jamnia also intended to treat the Jews residing among them in the same way,
9 Judas similarly attacked the inhabitants of Jamnia during the night and burned the port with the ships, so that the glow of the fire was seen as far away as Jerusalem, two hundred and forty stades away.
10 When they had gone away from there for nine stades, marching against Timothy, the Arabs fell upon Judas, numbering at least five thousand foot soldiers and five hundred horsemen.
11 The fight was fierce; but, with God's help, Judas and his companions prevailed; defeated, the nomads asked Judas to extend his right hand to them, promising to give him cattle and to be useful to him in other things.
12 Judas, convinced that they could indeed render him many services, agreed to grant them peace And after they had joined hands, they withdrew to their tents.
13 Judas then attacked a fortified city, surrounded by ramparts with drawbridges, and inhabited by men of various nations: it was called Caspin.
14 The besieged, confident in the strength of their walls and well supplied with provisions, became rude, insulting Judas and his companions, and even uttering blasphemies and impious words.
15 Judas and his followers, after invoking the sovereign Master of the world who, in the time of Joshua, overturned the walls of Jericho, without battering rams or machines, rushed at the walls like furious lions.
16 Having taken the city by the will of the Lord, they made an immense slaughter there, to the point that the nearby pool, two stades wide, seemed filled with the blood that had flowed there.
17 From there, by a march of seven hundred and fifty stades, they reached Charax, where do they live the Jews who are called Tubians.
18 They did not meet Timothy in those places; as he had been unable to do anything there, he had left, after leaving a very strong garrison in a certain place.
19 But two Generals of Maccabeus, Dositheus and Sosipater, went tackle this fortress and killed those whom Timothy had left there, numbering more than ten thousand men.
20 For his part, Maccabeus, having arranged his army by cohorts, gave them command of these bodies and advanced against Timothy, who had with him one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry.
21 When Timothy was informed of Judas's approach, he sent women, the children and their belongings towards the place called Carnion; for it was an impregnable place and difficult to access, because of the narrow passes of the whole country.
22 As soon as the first cohort of Judas appeared, terror seized the enemies; for the power of Him who sees all was manifested to them in a frightening way, and they fled, some to one side, others to the other, so that they inflicted wounds on one another and pierced each other with their own swords.
23 Judas pursued them relentlessly, striking down all these criminal men, and he killed as many as thirty thousand of them.
24 Timothy himself having fallen into the hands of the soldiers of Dositheus and Sosipater, THE He conspired with great cunning to let him leave safe and sound, asserting that he held in his power the parents and brothers of many of them, and that if he would die, They would not be spared.
25 He assured them at length that he was resolved to send these men away without harming them, so that the Jews they released him to save their brothers.
26 However, Judas marched on Carnion and the sanctuary of Atargatis, where he killed twenty-five thousand men.
27 After having routed and exterminated these enemies, Judas led his army against Ephron, a fortified city inhabited by a multitude of diverse nations; robust young men, arrayed before the walls, valiantly defended them, and the city even was equipped with a quantity of machines and equipment.
28 But the Jews, having invoked the Almighty, the One who breaks by its with the power of the enemy forces, they took control of the city and laid on the ground twenty-five thousand of the men who occupied it.
29 From there they marched against the city of the Scythians, six hundred stades from Jerusalem.
30 But the Jews who resided there testified that they had been treated kindly by the inhabitants, and that, in times of misfortune, they had received good services from them,
31 Judas and his family They thanked the Scythopolitans and urged them to continue their kindness towards those of their race.
After that, They returned to Jerusalem just as the Feast of Weeks was about to begin.
32 After Pentecost, they marched against Gorgias, who was in command in Idumea.
33 He went out, having with him three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen.
34 A fight broke out, and a few Jews fell.
35 A certain Dositheus, a valiant knight in Bacenor's corps, seized Gorgias and, pulling him by his cloak, dragged him vigorously, desiring to take this cursed man alive; but one of the Thracian knights, throwing himself upon Dositheus, cut off his shoulder, and Gorgias was able to flee to Maresa.
36 However, Esdrin's men had been fighting for a long time and were exhausted with fatigue; so Judas begged the Lord to show himself to be their helper and their leader in the fight.
37 Then, loudly intoning the war cry with hymns in the language of his fathers, he fell unexpectedly upon Gorgias' men and routed them.
38 Then Judah, having rallied his army, led it to the city of Odollam, and, the seventh day of the week having arrived, they purified themselves according to custom and celebrated the Sabbath in that place.
39 The next day Judas came with his men, as was necessary, to lift up the bodies of those who had been killed, to bury them with their relatives in the tombs of their fathers.
40 They found, under the tunics of each of the dead, sacred objects, coming idols of Jamnia and which the law forbids to Jews; it was therefore evident to all that this had been the cause of their death.
41 Therefore all blessed the Lord, the righteous judge who brings hidden things to light.
42 Then they began to pray, asking that the sin committed be entirely forgiven; and the valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves pure from sin, having before their eyes the consequences of the sin of those who had fallen.
43 Then, having made a collection where he collected the sum of two thousand drachmas, he sent it to Jerusalem to be used in an expiatory sacrifice. A beautiful and noble deed, inspired through the thought of the resurrection !
44 For if he had not believed that the soldiers You are in the battle Even if they were to rise again, it would have been useless and futile to pray for the dead.
45 He further considered that a very fine reward is reserved for those who fall asleep in piety,
46 And this is a holy and pious thought. That is why he made this atoning sacrifice for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sins.
Chapter 13
1 In the year one hundred and forty-nine, Judas and his companions learned that Antiochus Eupator was marching against Judea with numerous troops,
2 and that Lysias, her tutor and her minister, accompanied him, each of them at the head of a Greek army of one hundred and ten thousand infantry, five thousand three hundred cavalry, twenty-two elephants and three hundred chariots armed with scythes.
3 Menelaus also joined them and, with great cunning, he stirred up Antiochus, not for the salvation of his country, but hoping to be restored to his dignity.
4 However, the King of Kings aroused the wrath of Antiochus against this scoundrel, and Lysias having demonstrated to the king that Menelaus was the cause of all evils, Antiochus ordered that he be taken to Berea, and put to death there according to the custom of the place.
5 Now there was in Berea a tower fifty cubits high, filled with ashes, and crowned with a revolving machine which made it slide in ashes on all sides.
6 This is where the people of Berea precipitates, to make him perish, the man guilty of sacrilegious theft, or even the one who has committed certain other great crimes.
7 Thus died Menelaus, that violator of the law, and it was very just that he was not laid in the earth.
8 For he had often sinned against the altar, whose fire and ashes were pure, and it was in the ashes that he died.
9 The king therefore advanced, his mind filled with barbaric thoughts, ready to treat the Jews more cruelly than his father had done.
10 As soon as Judas learned of this, he ordered the people to invoke the Lord night and day, so that once again he might come to the aid of those
11 who were going to be deprived of the law, their homeland and the holy temple, and that he would not allow this people, who were only just beginning to breathe, to fall under the power of the ungodly nations.
12 When they had all prayed together and implored the merciful Lord with tears and fasting, remaining continually on their knees for three days, Judas addressed an exhortation to them and commanded them to be ready.
13 Then, having spoken privately with the elders, he resolved not to wait until the king had brought his army into Judea and taken control of Jerusalem, but to set out immediately and to finish everything with the help of the Lord.
14 Abandoning the fate of arms to the Creator of the world, he exhorted his companions to fight bravely to the death for the laws, for the temple, for the city holy, for the fatherland and the institutions, and he led his army to the vicinity of Modin.
15 After giving his people this watchword: "Victory by God!" he chose the bravest among the young warriors and attacked the king's tent during the night; he killed four thousand men in the camp, adding to it the largest of the elephants, with the troop he carried in a tower.
16 Finally they filled the camp with terror and confusion, and withdrew with complete success.
17 When day began to break, everything was finished, thanks to the protection with which the Lord covered Judas.
18 Having thus tested the audacity of the Jews, the king tried to seize positions obtained through trickery.
19 He marched against Bethsur, a strong Jewish stronghold; but he was repelled, he suffered defeats, he was defeated.
20 Now Judas sent to the besieged what they needed.
21 However, Rhodocus, of the Jewish army, revealed secrets to the enemy; an investigation was launched, he was caught, and he was put in prison.
22 For the second time the king parleyed with the besieged, extended his hand to them, took theirs, and withdrew,
23 attacked Judah's warriors and was defeated. But having learned that Philip, left by Epiphane at the head of the business, had revolted at Antioch, He was dismayed; he spoke kindly to the Jews, submitted, and swore to all fair terms; he reconciled and offered a sacrifice, he honored the temple, and treated the saint place,
24 and gave Maccabeus a warm welcome; he left him as military governor from Ptolemais to the Gerrhenians.
25 But when the king came to Ptolemais, the inhabitants showed their discontent with the treaty, which they were indignant about and did not want to carry out the conditions of.
26 Lysias went up to the tribunal, defended conventions as much as possible, he persuaded, disposed minds favorably, and left for Antioch.
This was how the king's attack and retreat took place.
Chapter 14
1 Three years having passed, Judas and his companions learned that Demetrius, son of Seleucus, had set sail from the port of Tripoli with a large army and fleet,
2 had taken control of the country and had put Antiochus and his guardian Lysias to death.
3 A certain Alcimus, who had previously become high priest, but who had voluntarily defiled himself during the times of confusion, understanding that he no longer had any hope of salvation or access to the holy altar,
4 came to King Demetrius in the year one hundred and fifty, offering him a golden crown with a palm branch and also some olive branches, such as it is customary to offer at the temple; and, on that day, he did nothing more.
5 But he found a favorable opportunity for his wickedness when Demetrius, having called him into his council, questioned him about the dispositions and designs of the Jews.
6 He replied, »The Jews called Assidenes, whose leader is Judas Maccabeus, are plotting the war and the seditions, and do not allow the kingdom to be at peace.
7 That is why, having been excluded from my hereditary honors, I mean from the sovereign pontificate, I have come here,
8 first with the sincere desire to sustain the king's interests, then with the aim of also procuring the well-being of my fellow citizens; for the recklessness of these men causes the greatest evils to our entire nation.
9 You, O king, when you have learned of all these things, provide for the salvation of our country and our oppressed nation, according to that kindness which makes you affable to all.
10 For as long as Judas lives, it will be impossible to bring him back peace in the state.«
11 As soon as he had spoken in this way, the other friends of the king Those who hated Judas further inflamed Demetrius.
12 He immediately summoned Nicanor, who had commanded the squadron of elephants, appointed him general for the year of Judea, and sent him forth,
13 with written orders to kill Judas, to disperse his companions, and to install Alcimus as high priest of the Augustan temple.
14 The Gentiles, who had fled from Judea before Judah, gathered in troops around Nicanor, thinking that the misfortune and misery of the Jews would turn to their own advantage.
15 When the Jews They learned of Nicanor's march and the attack of the nations, they covered themselves with dust and they prayed to Him who had established his people forever, and had constantly protected his inheritance by manifest signs.
16 On the order of their chief, they left immediately and came to blows with the’enemy, in the town of Dessau.
17 Simon, Judah's brother, had engaged in combat against Nicanor, but, baffled due to the sudden appearance of the enemy, he suffered a slight setback.
18 However, Nicanor, learning of the valor of Judas and his companions, and with what fearlessness they fought for their homeland, feared to submit to judgment by blood.
19 He therefore sent Posidonius, Theodotus, and Mattathias to extend a helping hand to the Jews and receive their.
20 After having examined these for a long time proposals, The general communicated them to the army, and when it became clear that everyone was of the same opinion, they agreed to negotiate.
21 A day was set when the two chiefs would meet one-on-one; Judas presented himself there, and seats of honor were placed beside them.
22 However, Judas had posted armed men in advantageous positions, fearing some sudden treachery from the enemy. They had a proper conversation.
23 Nicanor spent some time in Jerusalem, without doing anything unjust, and he dismissed the crowds that had gathered in flocks.
24 He had the most friendly relations with Judas, feeling a deep affection for him.
25 He urged her to marry and have children; Judas She got married, lived happily, and enjoyed life.
26 Alcimus, seeing the friendship that reigned between them, took a copy of the treaty concluded, and went to Demetrius; he told him that Nicanor had designs contrary to the interests of the State, since he had designated Judas, an enemy of the kingdom, to replace him.
27 The king was beside himself; inflamed by the calumnies of this scoundrel, he wrote to Nicanor that he was greatly displeased with the agreements concluded and ordered him to send without delay to Antioch Maccabeus, laden with chains.
28 Upon receiving this letter, Nicanor was dismayed; it cost him dearly to have to violate agreements made without Judas would have done nothing unjust.
29 But, as it was not his permit Instead of resisting the king, he was looking for a favorable opportunity to execute his order by some stratagem.
30 Maccabeus, for his part, noticing that Nicanor was showing more reserve towards him and that their ordinary relations were less friendly, understood that this coldness did not bode well; he gathered a large number of his people and slipped away from Nicanor.
31 When Nicanor saw that he had been surprised by the energetic resolution of Judas, He went to the august and holy temple, while the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and ordered them to hand this man over to him.
32 As they swore that they did not know where the man he was looking for was, Nicanor raised his hand towards the temple
33 and he swore, saying, »If you do not hand over Judas to me in chains, I will raze this sanctuary of God to the ground, I will destroy the altar, and I will build here a magnificent temple to Bacchus.«
34 Having spoken thus, he withdrew. For their part, the priests, raising their hands to heaven, invoked Him who has always fought for our people, saying:
35 "You, Lord, who need nothing, it pleased you that the temple where you dwell should be in our midst.
36 Now therefore, O Lord, holy of all holiness, preserve forever from all defilement this newly purified dwelling.«
37 Now a certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor; he was a man who loved his fellow citizens, of very good reputation, and was called the father of the Jews because of his charity.
38 For in earlier times, when it was necessary to avoid all dealings with the Gentiles, he had incurred an accusation of Judaism and, with invincible constancy, he had risked his body and his life for Judaism.
39 Nicanor, wanting to give proof of his hostility against the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to take him;
40 because he had no doubt that his arrest would be a great blow to the Jews.
41 This troop was about to seize the tower and force the entrance to the vestibule; the order had already been given to set it on fire and burn the doors. But, just as it was about to be taken, Razis he threw himself on his sword,
42 preferring to die nobly than to fall into criminal hands and suffer outrages unworthy of his own nobility.
43 But, since in his haste he had not struck himself in the right place, seeing The crowd rushed through the gates, he ran bravely to the top of the wall and bravely charged into the crowd.
44 They all immediately retreated, and an empty space was formed in the middle of which he fell.
45 Still breathing and his soul ablaze, he rose, dripping with blood, and despite horrible wounds, he ran through the crowd and, standing on a rock that stood there,
46 Having already lost all his blood, he tore out his entrails, threw them with both hands onto the crowd, and prayed to the Master of life and soul to give them back to him one day; and so he died.
Chapter 15
1 However, Nicanor learned that Judas and his companions were stationed near Samaria, and he resolved to attack them safely on the Sabbath day.
2 The Jews who were following him under duress said to him, »Do not THE Do not massacre in such a ferocious and barbaric manner, but give glory to the day that has been honored and sanctified by Him who governs all.«
3 Then this triple scoundrel asked if there was a ruler in heaven who had ordered the Sabbath day to be celebrated.
4 They answered him, »It is the Lord, God living, he, the sovereign Master in heaven, who ordered the seventh day to be solemnized.
5 "And I too," the other replied, "am sovereign on earth, and I command that arms be taken up and that service be rendered to the king." Yet he did not succeed in carrying out his evil plan.
6 While Nicanor, in his proud confidence, was contemplating erecting a common trophy of Judas and his companions,
7 Maccabeus continued to trust, with full hope, that he would obtain assistance from the Lord.
8 He urged his people not to fear the attack of the nations, but, remembering the help that Heaven had granted them in the past, to count on the Almighty giving them help and victory again at this time.
9 He encouraged them by quoting the law and the prophets, and also reminded them of the battles they had fought, and thus inspired them with great zeal.
10 After raising their courage, he gave them his orders, representing to them at the same time the perfidy of the nations and their violation of oaths.
11 When he had armed each of them, not so much with security as give shields and spears, but also the confidence that’inspire In addition to the kind words, he told them a trustworthy dream, a real vision, which delighted them all.
12 This is what he had seen: The high priest Onias, a good man, modest in appearance and gentle in character, distinguished in speech and devoted from childhood to all the practices of virtue, He had seen it., with outstretched hands, praying for the entire Jewish nation.
13 Then, in the same way, a man distinguished by his great age and air of dignity, of an admirable appearance, and surrounded by the most imposing majesty, appeared to him.
14 Onias spoke up and said to him, »This man is a friend of his brothers, who prays fervently for the people and for the holy city—Jeremiah, the prophet of God.«
15 Then Jeremiah, extending his right hand, gave Judas a golden sword and, handing it to him, said:
16 »Take this holy sword, it is a gift from God; with it you will crush your enemies.«
17 Inspired by these noble words of Judas, so capable of stirring courage and strengthening the souls of the young men, they resolved not to entrench themselves in a camp, but to boldly throw themselves on the enemy, and, in a fierce struggle, to decide the matter, since the city, the religion, and the temple were in peril.
18 For, in this struggle, They thought less about their wives, their children, their brothers and their relatives; their greatest fear, and the first, was for the holy temple.
19 The anxiety of the citizens who remained in the city was no less, worried as they were about the’resulting from The battle that was about to take place outside.
20 While everyone awaited the next outcome, while the enemies were already gathering in battle formation, the elephants were positioned in their proper places and the horsemen on the wings,
21 Maccabeus, seeing this immense multitude, the varied array of their weapons, the fierce appearance of the elephants, skillfully arranged, raised his hands to heaven and invoked the Lord who works wonders; for he knew that victory did not come of the force weapons, but that's God who decides and grants it to those who are worthy.
22 This was his prayer: »You, sovereign Master, who sent your angel during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and who destroyed one hundred and eighty-five thousand men from Sennacherib's camp,
23 Even now, O Sovereign of the heavens, send your good angel before us, so that he spreads fear and dread.
24 By the greatness of your arm may those who came with blasphemy on their lips against your holy people be struck down!» These were his words.
25 However, Nicanor and his army advanced to the sound of trumpets and war songs.
26 Judas and his people engaged in combat, invoking and praying.
27 Fighting with their arms and praying to God in their hearts, they laid at least thirty-five thousand men on the ground, and they rejoiced greatly at the manifest help of God.
28 The affair over, while they were happily scattering, they recognized that Nicanor had fallen, wearing his armor.
29 Then, amidst the shouts and confusion, they blessed the Master sovereign in the language of their fathers.
30 And he who had devoted himself entirely, body and soul, to the defense of his fellow citizens, who had preserved for his compatriots the affection of his youth, Judas ordered that Nicanor's head and his hand along with his arm be cut off, and that they be taken to Jerusalem.
31 He went there himself, summoned his fellow countrymen and the priests, and, having placed himself before the altar, he sent for those from the citadel,
32 and he showed them the head of the criminal Nicanor and the hand that this blasphemer had so insolently extended against the holy dwelling of the Almighty.
33 Then, having cut out the tongue of the impious Nicanor, he wanted it to be given away in pieces grazing to the birds, and that the prize was hung opposite the temple won by his madness.
34 All of them offered up blessings to the glorious Lord, saying, »Blessed is he who has kept his dwelling place spotless!«
35 Judas fastened Nicanor's head to the citadel, as a clear and visible sign of the Lord's help.
36 By common agreement, a public edict was issued ordering that no one should be allowed pass this day without solemnity,
37 but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in Syriac, the day before the day called Mordecai's Day.
38 So it was that things happened concerning Nicanor, and, since from that time the city remained in the possession of the Hebrews, I too will end up there My narrative.
39 If the provision facts If it is happy and well-designed, that is also what I wanted; if it is imperfect and mediocre, that is all I could do.
40 For just as it is worthless to drink only wine or only water, while wine mixed with water is good and produces pleasant enjoyment, so too is it the art of arranging the narrative that charms the ears of those who read history. Therefore, I will end here.
