1 Maccabees 14:7-33
New Catholic Bible
7 He took many captives
and conquered Gazara, Beth-zur, and the citadel.
He cleansed the citadel of its defilement;
no one was able to withstand him.
8 The people farmed their land in peace;
the ground yielded its produce
and the trees of the plain their fruit.
9 Old men sat in the squares;
all their conversation revolved around their prosperity,
while the young men were arrayed in splendid armor.
10 He supplied the towns with food
and equipped them with fortifications
until his renown resounded to the ends of the earth.
11 He established peace in the land,
and Israel was filled with great joy.
12 All the people sat under their own vines and fig trees,
and there was no one to make them afraid.
13 No one was left in the land to attack them;
the kings in those days had been crushed.
14 He gave help to the lowly among his people
and was zealous for the law,
suppressing all the lawless and the wicked.
15 He enhanced the splendor of the temple
and enriched it with many sacred vessels.
16 Renewal of the Alliance with Rome and Sparta. When the people heard in Rome and as far away as Sparta that Jonathan had died, they were deeply grieved.[a] 17 But when they heard that his brother Simon had succeeded him as high priest and that he was governing the country and the towns in it, 18 they wrote to him on bronze tablets to renew the treaty of friendship and alliance that they had established with his brothers, Judas and Jonathan. 19 The terms of the treaty were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.
20 This is a copy of the letter sent by the Spartans: “The rulers and the citizens of Sparta send greetings to Simon the high priest and to the elders, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people, our brothers. 21 The envoys you sent to our people have informed us of your glory and fame, and we were overjoyed to receive them. 22 We have made a record of their report in the archives of our public assembly, as follows: ‘Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and Antipater, the son of Jason, have come to us to reaffirm their friendship with us. 23 The people have been pleased to receive these men with honor and to deposit a copy of their words in the public archives so that the people of Sparta may have a record of them. A copy of this document has been made for Simon the high priest.’ ”
24 After this, Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a large gold shield weighing one thousand minas, to confirm the alliance with the Romans.
25 Homage Rendered to Simon. When the people heard an account of these events, they said, “How can we possibly thank Simon and his sons? 26 He and his brothers and the house of his father have stood firm and repulsed the enemies of Israel, ensuring the nation’s freedom.” Therefore, they engraved an inscription on bronze tablets and affixed them to pillars on Mount Zion. 27 [b]The following is a copy of the inscription:
“On the eighteenth day of Elul,[c] in the year one hundred and seventy-two, the third year of the high priesthood of Simon, 28 in Asaramel, in a great assembly of the priests and the people and the rulers of the nation and the elders of the country, the following resolution was approved:
29 “ ‘Because wars were a frequent occurrence in our country, Simon, the son of Mattathias, a priest of the line of Joarib, and his brothers have placed their lives in jeopardy by confronting the enemies of their nation, so that their sanctuary and the law might be preserved, and in this way they have brought great glory to their nation. 30 After Jonathan had rallied his nation and become their high priest, he was gathered to his ancestors. 31 When enemies resolved to invade and to devastate their country and to lay hands on their sanctuary, 32 Simon next came forward to fight for his nation, spending a large portion of his personal wealth to equip the soldiers of his nation and pay their wages. 33 He fortified the towns of Judea, including Beth-zur on the Judean frontier, a location that had formerly been used by the enemy to store their arms, and he stationed there a garrison of Jewish soldiers.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Maccabees 14:16 The embassy to Rome and Sparta took place soon after Simon’s accession to power and the replies were received before Demetrius’s expedition (vv. 1-3)—probably in 142 B.C.
- 1 Maccabees 14:27 The high priest held his office by divine appointment, indicated by descent from a particular family. But because there was no legitimate claimant, Simon was legitimized by a process known in ancient Israel (see Ex 19; 2 Ki 23; Ezr 10; Neh 9).
- 1 Maccabees 14:27 Elul is the sixth month of the year (the name is Babylonian but was used by the Jews after the Exile). Hence, we are in September of the year 140 B.C. Asaramel: a Hebrew word meaning “court of the people of God.”
