1 Maccabees 1:29-40
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Attack and Occupation. 29 (A)Two years later, the king sent the Mysian commander[a] to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a strong force. 30 He spoke to them deceitfully in peaceful terms, and they believed him. Then he attacked the city suddenly, in a great onslaught, and destroyed many of the people in Israel. 31 He plundered the city and set fire to it, demolished its houses and its surrounding walls. 32 And they took captive the women and children, and seized the animals. 33 Then they built up the City of David with a high, strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.[b] 34 There they installed a sinful race, transgressors of the law, who fortified themselves inside it. 35 They stored up weapons and provisions, depositing there the plunder they had collected from Jerusalem, and they became a great snare.
36 The citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary,
and a wicked adversary to Israel at all times.
37 They shed innocent blood around the sanctuary;
they defiled the sanctuary.
38 Because of them the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away,
she became the abode of strangers.
She became a stranger to her own offspring,
and her children forsook her.
39 (B)Her sanctuary became desolate as a wilderness;
her feasts were turned into mourning,
Her sabbaths to shame,
her honor to contempt.
40 As her glory had been, so great was her dishonor:
her exaltation was turned into mourning.
Footnotes
- 1:29 Mysian commander: in 2 Mc 5:24 he is identified as “Apollonius, commander of the Mysians” (mercenaries from Asia Minor). The Greek text of 1 Mc 1:29 (“chief collector of tribute”) reflects a misreading of the Hebrew original.
- 1:33 Citadel: literally, akra means fortress. This was a garrison for foreign troops and renegade Jews that was established near the Temple area and fell to Simon only in 141 B.C. (13:49–50).
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