2 Maccabees 4:1-10:8

New Catholic Bible

Liberation of the Temple

Persecution of Antiochus IV and Success of Hellenism

Chapter 4

The Superintendent of the Temple Disturbs the Public Order.^{[a] 1} The aforementioned Simon, who had served as an informer about the money against his country, began to make slanderous accusations against Onias, claiming that it was he who had incited Heliodorus and thus had instigated these wretched disorders. ² He even had the effrontery to accuse of conspiracy against the government this man who was a benefactor of the city, the protector of his compatriots, and a zealous defender of the laws. ³ When Simon’s hostility reached such proportions that murders were actually committed by one of his agents, ⁴ Onias realized how dangerous the situation had become and that Apollonius, the son of Menestheus, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was encouraging Simon in his evil ways. ⁵ Therefore, he appealed to the king, not to accuse his compatriots but rather as one who had at heart the best interests, both public and private, of all the people. ⁶ He saw that, unless the king intervened, public order could not exist and that Simon would persist in his madness.

Hellenism in Jerusalem.^{[b] 7} When Seleucus^[c] died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded him on the throne, Jason, the brother of Onias, obtained the high priesthood by corrupt means. ^8 [d]In a petition he promised the king three hundred and sixty talents of silver, with eighty talents from another source of revenue. ⁹ In addition, he committed himself to a payment of a further one hundred and fifty talents if he was given the authority to establish a gymnasium and a youth club to be affiliated with it, and to enroll the people of Jerusalem as Antiochians.

¹⁰ When the king gave his assent and Jason succeeded to the office, he immediately imposed the Greek way of life on his fellow Jews. ¹¹ He set aside the royal concessions that had been granted to the Jews through the efforts of John—the father of that Eupolemus who later was sent on an embassy to negotiate a treaty of friendship and alliance with the Romans—and, abolishing the institutions founded on the law, he introduced customs that ran contrary to it.^{[e] 12} He quickly established a gymnasium^[f] at the very foot of the citadel itself, and he convinced the most noble of the young men to wear the Greek hat.

¹³ As a result of the introduction of foreign customs, the craze for Hellenism became so intense because of the unrestricted wickedness of the ungodly bogus high priest^[g] Jason ¹⁴ that the priests no longer bothered to fulfill their duties at the altar. Disdaining the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they would hasten to participate in the unlawful exercises as soon as they heard the signal for the discus-throwing. ¹⁵ They showed no respect for what their ancestors had regarded as honorable and placed the greatest value on what the Greeks honored above all else. ^16 [h]As a result, they ended up suffering great affliction, for the very people whose way of life they sought to emulate and whom they wished to imitate in every respect became their enemies and oppressors. ¹⁷ It is no light matter to violate the laws of God, as will become clear in due course.

¹⁸ When the quinquennial games were being held at Tyre in the presence of the king, ¹⁹ the villainous Jason sent envoys chosen from among the Antiochian citizens from Jerusalem to bring there three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules. However, those who were designated to carry the money considered it improper for this money to be used as a sacrifice, and they decided to expend it for some other purpose. ²⁰ And so, the money intended by the sender to be used for the sacrifice to Hercules was in fact applied, at the suggestion of those who brought it, to the construction of triremes.^[i]

²¹ When Apollonius, the son of Menestheus, was sent to Egypt for the coronation of King Philometor,^[j] Antiochus learned that Philometor had become hostile to his reign. Concerned about his own security, after arriving at Joppa he moved on to Jerusalem, ²² where he was given a lavish welcome by Jason and the people of the city, who escorted him in with a torchlight procession and acclamations. After this, he led his army into Phoenicia.

²³ Jason Supplanted by Menelaus. Three years later,^[k] Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the previously mentioned Simon, to deliver money to the king and to complete the negotiations on some important matters. ²⁴ But when Menelaus was presented to the king, he flattered him with an air of authority and thereby secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.^{[l] 25} He returned with the royal appointment, despite the fact that he possessed no qualification that made him worthy of the high priesthood. He had the temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage beast. ²⁶ Then Jason, who had supplanted his own brother, was now himself supplanted by another man and driven out as a fugitive into the land of the Ammonites.

²⁷ Although Menelaus continued to hold the office of high priest, he failed to make any payments of the money he had promised to the king, despite the insistent demands for payment by Sostratus, the captain of the citadel, ²⁸ who had the responsibility for the collection of revenues. As a result, both men were summoned to appear before the king. ²⁹ Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus as his deputy in the high priesthood, while Sostratus designated Crates, the commander of the Cypriots,^[m] to act in his place.

³⁰ Murder of the Saintly Onias.^[n] While these events were taking place, the people of Tarsus and Mallus rose in revolt because their cities had been given as a present to Antiochis, the king’s concubine.^{[o] 31} Therefore, the king hurriedly departed to resolve the problem, leaving Andronicus, one of his ministers, to act as his deputy. ³² Menelaus, believing that he had been presented with a favorable opportunity, stole some of the gold vessels from the temple and gave them to Andronicus. Some other vessels he had already previously sold to Tyre and the neighboring cities.

³³ When Onias received irrefutable evidence of these facts, he publicly denounced him, after having first withdrawn to a place of sanctuary at Daphne,^[p] near Antioch. ³⁴ Thereupon, Menelaus approached Andronicus privately and urged him to arrange for the death of Onias. Andronicus came to Onias and treacherously offered him sworn pledges with right hands joined. Despite his suspicions, Onias was persuaded to leave the place of sanctuary, whereupon Andronicus, without any regard for justice, immediately put him to death.

³⁵ The unjust murder of this man resulted in an outpouring of grief and outrage not only among the Jews but among people from many other nations as well. ³⁶ When the king returned from the region of Cilicia, the Jews of the city protested to him about the indefensible killing of Onias, and in this they were joined by Greeks who shared their anger about this criminal act.^{[q] 37} Antiochus was deeply grieved and filled with pity, and he wept as he recalled the prudence and exemplary conduct of the dead man. ³⁸ Inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped Andronicus of his purple robe, tore off his other garments, and then paraded him throughout the city to that very place where he had committed the outrageous deed against Onias. At that spot he put the murderer to death, and thus the Lord repaid him with the punishment he deserved.

³⁹ Disorders at Jerusalem. Lysimachus, with the connivance of Menelaus, had committed many sacrilegious thefts in the city. When this became common knowledge, and the people heard that many gold vessels had already been disposed of, they rose up in protest against him. ⁴⁰ When the crowds became even more enraged and menacing, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men and launched an unjustified attack. The troops were commanded by Auranus, a man advanced in years and no less in folly. ⁴¹ When the people realized that Lysimachus was the instigator of this attack, some picked up stones, others blocks of wood, still others handfuls of ashes lying around, and they flung them indiscriminately at Lysimachus and his men. ⁴² As a result, they wounded many of them, even killing a few, and put all the rest to flight. The temple plunderer himself they put to death near the treasury.

⁴³ Menelaus Maintains His Power. Charges were brought against Menelaus as a result of this incident. ⁴⁴ When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate pleaded their case before him. ⁴⁵ Menelaus, realizing that the verdict would go against him, promised Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes,^[r] a substantial sum of money if he would win over the king. ⁴⁶ Ptolemy therefore took the king aside into a colonnade, as though for a breath of air, and persuaded him to change his mind. ⁴⁷ Menelaus, the cause of all the trouble, the king acquitted of all the charges against him. But he condemned to death those unfortunate men who had brought forward the accusations and who would have been adjudged as innocent and set free even if they had pleaded their case before the Scythians.^{[s] 48} Therefore, those who had pleaded the cause of the city, the people, and the sacred vessels quickly incurred an unjust punishment. ⁴⁹ Some Tyrians were actually so enraged by this crime that they provided sumptuously for their funerals. ⁵⁰ However, Menelaus, because of the greed of those who held power, remained in office, where he grew in wickedness and established himself as the chief plotter against his compatriots.

Chapter 5

Jason Dies Wretchedly in Exile. ¹ About this time, Antiochus undertook his second expedition^[t] against Egypt. ² It then happened that all over the city, for almost forty days, there were apparitions of horsemen clad in gold galloping through the air, companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords— ³ squadrons of cavalry in battle order, charges and counter-charges in this direction and that, with brandished shields, massed spears, and hurled javelins, and gold accoutrements and armor of all kinds glittering brightly. ⁴ Therefore, everyone prayed that these apparitions might prove to be a good omen.

⁵ However, when a false rumor began to circulate that Antiochus had died, Jason^[u] commandeered no fewer than a thousand men and launched a surprise attack on the city. When the defenders on the walls were driven back and the city was on the verge of being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel. ⁶ Jason then embarked on a merciless slaughter of his compatriots, failing to comprehend that success against one’s own kindred was the greatest of disasters, but rather imagining that he was winning trophies of victory over enemies, not over his own people. ⁷ However, he failed to seize control of the government. In the end, his treachery only resulted in disgrace for him, and once again he took refuge in the country of the Ammonites.

⁸ At length Jason came to a miserable end. After being accused before Aretas,^[v] the ruler of the Arabs, he fled from city to city, hounded by all, detested as a transgressor of the laws, and hated as the executioner of his country and his compatriots, until he was cast ashore in Egypt. ⁹ From there he crossed the sea to Sparta, where he hoped to obtain sanctuary because of the Spartans’ kinship^[w] with him. There, he who had sent into exile so many children of his homeland, died himself in exile. ¹⁰ Furthermore, this man who had cast out so many to be unburied now had no one to mourn for him, with no funeral of any kind and no place in the tomb of his ancestors.^[x]

¹¹ Antiochus IV Epiphanes Ravages the Temple.^[y] When news of what had happened reached the king, he came to the conclusion that Judea was in revolt. He therefore set out from Egypt, raging like a wild beast, and took the city by storm. ¹² He then ordered his soldiers to cut down mercilessly everyone they met and to slay those who fled to their houses. ¹³ There was the massacre of young and old, the extermination of women and children, and the slaughter of young girls and infants. ¹⁴ In the course of three days there were eighty thousand victims—forty thousand killed in hand-to-hand fighting and another forty sold into slavery.

¹⁵ Not content with this, the king had the audacity to enter the holiest temple in the entire world, with Menelaus, who had become a traitor to the laws and to his country, serving as his guide. ¹⁶ The king laid his unclean hands on the sacred vessels, and with his profane hands he gathered up the votive offerings that other kings had made to enhance the glory and the honor of the holy place. ¹⁷ With an inflated opinion of himself, Antiochus failed to realize that the Lord had been angered for a time because of the sins committed by the inhabitants of the city, and that it was for this reason that he was disregarding the holy place. ¹⁸ If it had not been the case that they were involved in many sinful acts, Antiochus would have been flogged and checked in his presumptuous act as soon as he approached, just as had been the case with Heliodorus, whom King Seleucus had sent to inspect the treasury.

¹⁹ However, the Lord had not chosen the people for the sake of the holy place, but the holy place for the sake of the people.^{[z] 20} Therefore, the holy place itself, having shared in the misfortunes that afflicted the people, afterward shared in their good fortune, and what had been abandoned by the Almighty in his anger was restored again in all its glory once the great Sovereign became reconciled.

²¹ The Governor Mistreats the Jews. Antiochus hurried back to Antioch, taking with him eighteen hundred talents from the temple. He was so arrogant that, in his pride, he thought he could sail on the land and traverse the sea on foot. ²² However, he left governors behind to oppress the people: at Jerusalem he left Philip, a Phrygian by birth^[aa] and with a more barbarous nature than the one who appointed him, ²³ and, at Mount Gerizim,^[ab] Andronicus; and in addition to these there was Menelaus who lorded it over his compatriots worse than the others did.

Such was Antiochus’s animosity toward the Jewish people, ²⁴ that he sent Apollonius,^[ac] the commander of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand men, with orders to slaughter all the adult men and to sell the women and children into slavery. ²⁵ When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peacefully disposed and waited until the holy Sabbath day. Then, finding the Jews abstaining from work, he ordered his men to parade fully armed. ²⁶ He put to the sword all those who came out to watch, and then he charged into the city with his armed warriors and slaughtered a great number of people.

²⁷ However, Judas Maccabeus,^[ad] with about nine others, escaped into the wilderness, where he and his companions lived like wild animals in the hills, eating nothing but what grew wild there to avoid contracting defilement.

Chapter 6

Pagan Cults Are Installed. ¹ Not long afterward, the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and to live no longer in accordance with the laws of God. ² He was also instructed to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus,^[ae] and to dedicate the sanctuary on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as had been requested by the people who inhabited that place.

³ This evil onslaught harshly intensified the grievous distress of the people. ⁴ The Gentiles made the temple a center of debauchery and licentious revelry, as they used the sacred precincts for immoral pleasures with prostitutes and intercourse with women.^[af] They also brought into the temple sacrificial offerings that were forbidden, ⁵ so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings that were prohibited by the law.

⁶ No one was allowed to keep the Sabbath or to observe the traditional feasts or even to admit being a Jew. ⁷ Furthermore, on the monthly celebration of the king’s birthday, the Jews were forcibly compelled to partake of the sacrificial victims, and when the festival of Dionysus^[ag] was celebrated, they were forced to wear wreaths of ivy and to take part in the procession honoring him.

⁸ At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued to the neighboring Greek cities^[ah] ordering them to adopt the same policies toward the Jews, compel them to partake of the sacrifices, ⁹ and put to death those who refused to conform to Greek customs. Thus it was clear that disaster was imminent. ¹⁰ For example, two women were brought to trial, charged with having circumcised their children. They were publicly paraded around the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then hurled headlong from the city wall. ¹¹ Others who had assembled in some nearby caves to observe the Sabbath secretly were betrayed to Philip, and all were burned to death together, since their piety kept them from defending themselves in their respect for the holiness of the day.

¹² Purpose of Divine Judgment.^[ai] Now I urge those who read this book not to be disheartened by such calamities but to realize that these punishments were inflicted not for the destruction but for the discipline of our people. ¹³ Indeed, it is a sign of great benevolence when sinners are punished promptly rather than having their wrongful acts escape retribution for a period of time. ¹⁴ In the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins. However, he does not deal with us in this way, ¹⁵ choosing to inflict punishment on us before our sins have reached their height so that he will not have to punish us more severely at that time. ¹⁶ Therefore, he never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us by some misfortunes, he does not forsake his own people. ¹⁷ Let these words suffice as a reminder. Now we must proceed with our narrative.

Accounts of Martyrdom

¹⁸ Martyrdom of Eleazar. Eleazar, one of the foremost teachers of the law, a man of advanced age and distinguished appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork. ¹⁹ But he, preferring death with honor rather than a life marked by defilement, spat it out and voluntarily went up to the torture rack, ²⁰ as should be done by all who have the courage to reject the food that it is not lawful to eat, suppressing the natural desire to save their lives.

²¹ The officials in charge of this sacrilegious meal took the man aside privately because of their long acquaintance with him and urged him to bring meat of his own providing that he was permitted to eat, and to pretend that he was eating the sacrificial meat that had been commanded by the king. ²² In this way he would be saved from death and be treated kindly as a result of their long-standing friendship. ²³ But, making an honorable decision, worthy of his years and of the dignity of his advanced age, and of the gray hairs he had attained and worn with distinction, and of his impeccable conduct even from childhood, but worthy above all of the holy law given by God, he told them to dispatch him immediately to the abode of the dead.

²⁴ “At this stage of my life it would be terribly wrong to be a party to such a pretense,” he said, “for many young people would be led to believe that at the age of ninety Eleazar had conformed to a foreign practice. ²⁵ If I should engage in deceit for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring defilement and disgrace on my old age. ²⁶ For the moment I would avoid the punishment of mortals, but alive or dead I shall never escape the hands of the Almighty. ²⁷ Therefore, by bravely forfeiting my life now, I shall prove myself worthy of my old age, ²⁸ and I shall leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for our revered and holy laws.”

With these words he went immediately to the torture rack. ²⁹ Those who a short time before had been so kindly disposed toward him now became hostile after this statement that they regarded as sheer madness. ³⁰ When he was at the point of death as the result of the blows he had received, he groaned aloud and said: “The Lord in his holy knowledge clearly realizes that although I could have escaped death, not only am I enduring terrible sufferings in my body from this scourging, but in my soul I am gladly accepting these torments because of my awe of him.”

³¹ In this way he died, and by his death he left an example of courage and a model of virtue not only for the young but for the entire nation.

Chapter 7

Martyrdom of Seven Brothers and Their Mother.^{[aj] 1} It also happened that seven brothers were arrested together with their mother. The king tortured them with whips and scourges in an attempt to force them to eat pork, in violation of the law of God. ² One of the brothers, acting as a spokesman for the others, said, “What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are prepared to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”

³ The king became enraged and issued orders to have pans and caldrons heated. ⁴ After this was done without delay, he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that he be scalped and his hands and feet cut off while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on. ⁵ When he had been rendered utterly helpless but still breathing, the king ordered him to be taken to the fire and fried in one of the pans. As the smoke from the pan began to spread, his mother and his brothers encouraged one another to die in a noble manner, with words such as these: ⁶ “The Lord God is watching, and he cannot fail to have compassion on us, as Moses declared in his canticle when he asserted: ‘He will have compassion on his servants.’ ”^[ak]

⁷ When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought forward the second to be subjected to their cruel sport. After the skin and hair of his head had been stripped off, they asked him: “Will you eat some pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?” ⁸ Replying in the language of his ancestors, he said to them, “Never!” Therefore, he in turn underwent the same torture that the first had endured. ⁹ With his final breath, he said: “You accursed fiend, you may send us forth from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up^[al] to life eternal, since it is because of our obedience to his laws that we are dying.”

¹⁰ After him, the third brother bore the brunt of their cruel torture. In response to their demand, he immediately thrust forth his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands ¹¹ as he said: “It was from Heaven^[am] that I received these. For the sake of his laws I disdain them. From him I hope to receive them again.” ¹² Both the king and his attendants were astounded as they witnessed the courage of this young man and his complete indifference to suffering.

¹³ After he had died they maltreated and tortured the fourth brother in the same way. ¹⁴ When he was at the point of death, he cried out: “It is far better to choose to die at the hands of men and rely on the promise of God of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life.”

¹⁵ They next brought forward the fifth brother and tortured him. ¹⁶ Directing his gaze at the king, he said: “Even though you yourself are mortal, you have authority over other mortals, and thus you can do as you please. However, do not think that God has abandoned our nation. ¹⁷ Just wait and you will see how his mighty power will torment you and your descendants.”

¹⁸ After him they brought forward the sixth brother. When he was about to die, he said: “Do not have any vain delusions. We are suffering these torments deservedly because we have sinned against our God and brought these appalling events on ourselves. ¹⁹ However, do not think that you will avoid the consequences of having dared to contend with God.”

²⁰ Especially admirable and deserving of everlasting remembrance was the mother. Although she witnessed the deaths of her seven sons within the space of a single day, she endured it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. ²¹ Filled with a noble spirit that reinforced her womanly thoughts with manly courage, she encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors: ²² “I do not know how you came to being in my womb. It was not I who endowed you with breath and life, nor did I set in order the elements that established the composition of your being. ²³ Therefore, the Creator of the universe who authored the beginning of human life and devised the origin of all things will, in his mercy, restore breath and life to you, since you have placed his law above concern for your own desires.”

²⁴ Antiochus felt that he was being treated with contempt and suspected that her words were insulting. Since the youngest brother was still alive, the king did not limit himself to an appeal with mere words. Indeed, he promised him on oath that if he would abandon the traditions of his ancestors, he would not only make him rich and happy but also enroll him as his Friend and appoint him to high office. ²⁵ When the young man paid no heed to his proposals, the king made an appeal to his mother, urging her to advise her son to save his life. ²⁶ After a great deal of encouraging on his part, she agreed to try to persuade him.

²⁷ However, she flouted the king’s wishes by saying to her son in their native language as she leaned close to him: “My son, have pity on me. I carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, reared you, and provided for your needs up to this point in your life. ²⁸ I beg you, my child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see everything that is in them. Reflect on the fact that God did not create them from things that already existed^[an] and that the human race came into being in the same way. ²⁹ Have no fear of this butcher. Prove yourself worthy of your brothers by accepting death, so that through the mercy of God I shall receive you back again along with them.”

³⁰ She had barely finished speaking when the young man said: “What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king’s command. I choose rather to obey the ordinance of the law that was given to our ancestors through Moses. ³¹ However, you, who have devised every kind of evil against the Hebrews, will certainly not escape the hands of God. ³² We are suffering as the result of our own sins, ³³ and while our living Lord is angry with us for a brief time as he seeks to correct and discipline us, he will eventually be reconciled with his servants. ³⁴ However, you, perfidious wretch, are the most wicked of all mortal beings. Do not allow yourself to be deluded by vain hopes when you raise your hand against the children of Heaven, ³⁵ for you will not be able to escape from the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God. ³⁶ My brothers, after enduring a brief period of suffering, have now drunk of the waters of everlasting life in accordance with his covenant, but you, convicted by the judgment of God, will receive a richly warranted punishment for your arrogance.

³⁷ “I too, like my brothers, surrender my body and my life for the laws of our ancestors. I appeal to God not to delay in showing mercy to our nation and by trials and afflictions to cause you to confess that he alone is God. ³⁸ Through me and my brothers may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty^[ao] that has justifiably fallen on our entire nation.”

³⁹ On hearing this, the king became enraged and dealt with him even more cruelly than with the others because of his defiance. ⁴⁰ And so the young man, having placed all his trust in the Lord, died undefiled. ⁴¹ The mother was the last to die, after her sons had perished.

⁴² Let this account be sufficient to relate the facts of the sacrificial meals and the monstrous tortures.

Liberation of the Holy City and the Temple

Chapter 8

Judas Maccabeus Conducts Guerrilla Warfare. ¹ Meanwhile, Judas, who was also called Maccabeus, secretly entered the villages with his companions and enlisted in their ranks their kindred as well as others who had remained faithful to Judaism.^[ap] Having assembled a force of about six thousand, ² they implored the Lord to look with favor on his people who were being oppressed on all sides; to have pity on the temple that was being profaned by godless people; ³ to have mercy on the city that was being destroyed and about to be leveled to the ground; to hearken to the blood that cried out to him; ⁴ to remember the lawless slaughter of innocent children and the blasphemous deeds perpetrated against his name; and to manifest his hatred of evil.

⁵ As soon as Maccabeus had organized his army, the Gentiles found that they were unable to withstand him, for the wrath of the Lord had turned to compassion. ⁶ Attacking towns and villages without warning, he would set them on fire. He captured strategic positions and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, ⁷ usually preferring the night as being especially advantageous for such attacks. His reputation for valor spread far and wide.

First Victory over Nicanor.^{[aq] 8} When Philip^[ar] noted that Judas was making steady progress little by little and that his successful excursions were becoming ever more frequent, he wrote to Ptolemy, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, asking for his help in defending the royal interests. ⁹ Ptolemy immediately appointed Nicanor, the son of Patroclus, one of the king’s Chief Friends, and dispatched him in command of at least twenty thousand troops from various nations to exterminate the entire Jewish race. As his associate he appointed Gorgias, a general of considerable military experience in the skills of war. ¹⁰ Nicanor’s intention was to raise the two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans^[as] by selling into slavery the Jews who were taken prisoner. ¹¹ Therefore, he immediately notified the coastal cities that he was prepared to sell them Jewish slaves at the rate of ninety slaves for a talent. However, he did not reckon with the judgment from the Almighty that was about to overtake him.

¹² When Judas learned of Nicanor’s advance and informed his men about the approach of the enemy’s army, ¹³ those who were cowardly or without faith in the justice of God deserted and got away. ¹⁴ But the others sold all of their remaining possessions while at the same time beseeching the Lord for the deliverance of those who had been put up for sale by the godless Nicanor even before he had so much as encountered them— ¹⁵ and to do so, if not for their own sake, then at least out of consideration for the covenants made with their ancestors and because they themselves bore his sacred and majestic name.^[at]

¹⁶ Maccabeus assembled his forces, who numbered about six thousand, and exhorted them not to succumb to panic when confronted by the enemy, nor to fear the vast horde of Gentiles who were advancing to attack them unjustly, but to fight bravely, ¹⁷ keeping ever before their eyes the outrages unlawfully perpetrated by the Gentiles against the holy place and the cruel indignities inflicted on the city as well as the subversion of their ancestral way of life. ¹⁸ “They may place their trust in their weapons and their acts of daring,” he said, “but we trust in almighty God who is able with a mere nod to strike down both those who are marching against us and, if necessary, the entire world.”

¹⁹ He then proceeded to remind them of the occasions when divine interventions had aided their ancestors—how, in the time of Sennacherib, one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the enemy forces had perished, ²⁰ and about the occasion of the battle in Babylon^[au] with the Galatians when the Jewish forces numbered no more than eight thousand, aided by four thousand Macedonians, and how, when the Macedonians were hard pressed, those eight thousand, with the help received from Heaven, had destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand of the enemy and gathered a great amount of booty. ²¹ With words such as these he roused their courage and made them ready to die for their laws and their country.

Then Judas divided his army into four sections, ²² placing his brothers, Simon, Joseph,^[av] and Jonathan, in command of one division each and assigning them fifteen hundred men apiece. ²³ Next, he appointed Eleazar^[aw] to read aloud from the holy book, and he gave them the rallying cry, “The help of God.” Then, taking command of the first division, he joined battle with Nicanor.

²⁴ With the Almighty as their ally, they slaughtered more than nine thousand of the enemy, wounded and disabled the greater part of Nicanor’s army, and put all of them to flight. ²⁵ They also appropriated the money of those who had come to purchase them as slaves. After pursuing the enemy for a considerable time, ²⁶ they were obliged to return because of the lateness of the hour. Since it was the day before the Sabbath, they could not continue their pursuit. ^27 [ax]After collecting the arms of the enemy and stripping them of their spoils, they observed the Sabbath, offering fervent praise and thanksgiving to the Lord who had preserved them to witness on that day this manifestation of his compassion. ²⁸ When the Sabbath was over, they distributed some of the spoils to the victims of the persecution and to the widows and orphans. The rest they divided among themselves and their children. ²⁹ After this had been done, they joined in common supplication, beseeching the merciful Lord to be fully reconciled with his servants.

³⁰ Defeat of Timothy and Bacchides.^[ay] They also engaged in battle with the forces of Timothy and Bacchides, killing more than twenty thousand of them and gaining possession of some very high strongholds. They divided the immense amount of plunder, giving half to the persecuted orphans and widows and the aged, and keeping the remaining half for themselves. ³¹ They carefully collected the weapons of the enemy and stored them in strategic locations; the rest of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem. ³² They put to death the commander of Timothy’s forces, a most wicked man who had inflicted great suffering on the Jews. ³³ During the victory celebrations in their ancestral city, they burned those who had set fire to the sacred gates, including Callisthenes, who had taken refuge in a tiny house. Thus he received due recompense for his sacrilegious deeds.

³⁴ Flight and Testimony of Nicanor.^[az] The accursed Nicanor, who villainously had brought along a thousand merchants to buy the Jewish captives, ³⁵ having been humbled with the help of the Lord by those whom he regarded as worthless, threw off his magnificent garments and fled across the country, unaccompanied, like a runaway slave, until he reached Antioch. His major accomplishment had been to oversee the destruction of his own army. ³⁶ Thus the man who had undertaken to secure tribute for the Romans by taking as prisoners the people of Jerusalem now bore witness that the Jews had a champion and that they were therefore invulnerable because they followed the laws set down by him.

Chapter 9

Antiochus Epiphanes Meets a Wretched End.^{[ba] 1} About that time it so happened that Antiochus was leading an ignominious retreat from the region of Persia. ² He had entered the city called Persepolis and attempted to plunder the temple and gain control of the city. However, the people immediately rose up in armed defense and repulsed Antiochus and his men, with the result that Antiochus was put to flight by the inhabitants and forced into a humiliating retreat. ³ On his arrival in Ecbatana, he learned what had happened to Nicanor and to the forces of Timothy. ⁴ Bursting with anger, he devised a plan to make the Jews suffer for the injury inflicted by those who had put him to flight. Therefore, he ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping until he completed his journey.

However, the judgment of Heaven rode with him, since in his arrogance he declared, “Once I arrive in Jerusalem, I will turn it into a mass graveyard for Jews.” ⁵ And so the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with an unseen but incurable blow. Hardly had he spoken those words when he was seized with excruciating pains in his bowels and acute internal torment— ⁶ an entirely suitable punishment for one who had inflicted many barbarous torments on the bowels of others. ⁷ Nevertheless, he did not in the least diminish his insolent behavior. More arrogant than ever and breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, he gave orders to drive even faster. As a result, he was hurled from the lurching chariot, and the fall was so violent that every part of his body was racked with pain.

⁸ Thus he who only a short time before had in his superhuman arrogance believed that he could command the waves of the sea, and who imagined that he could weigh high mountains on a scale, was thrown down to the ground and had to be carried in a litter, clearly manifesting to all the power of God. ⁹ The body of this ungodly man swarmed with worms, and while he was still alive suffering agonizing torments, his flesh rotted away, so that the entire army was sickened by the stench of his decay. ¹⁰ Only a short time before, he had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven. Now no one could even bring himself to transport the man because of his intolerable stench.

¹¹ Ultimately, broken in spirit, he began to lose his excessive arrogance and to come to his senses under the scourge of God, for he was racked with incessant pain. ¹² When he no longer could endure his own stench, he exclaimed: “It is right to be subject to God. Mere mortals should never believe that they are equal to God.” ¹³ Then this vile wretch made a vow to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him, ¹⁴ that he would publicly declare to be free the holy city toward which he had been hurrying to level it to the ground and transform it into a mass graveyard; ¹⁵ that the Jews, whom he had not deemed to be worthy of burial but fit only to be thrown out with their children and eaten by wild animals and birds, would all be granted equality with the citizens of Athens;^{[bb] 16} that the holy temple that he had previously plundered, he would now adorn with the finest offerings, replace all the sacred vessels many times over, and provide from his own revenues the expenses incurred for the sacrifices. ¹⁷ In addition to all this, he would become a Jew himself and would visit every inhabited place to proclaim the glory of God.

¹⁸ However, when his sufferings did not abate in any way, inasmuch as the judgment of God had already justly befallen him, he lost all hope for himself and wrote to the Jews the following letter, in the form of a supplication. This was its content:

^19 [bc]“To his worthy Jewish citizens Antiochus, their king and general, sends warm greetings and good wishes for their health and prosperity. ²⁰ If you and your children are well and your affairs are prospering as you wish, I am delighted. As my hopes are directed toward heaven, ²¹ I cherish affectionate memories of your esteem and goodwill toward me. On my way back from the region of Persia I was afflicted with a distressing illness, and therefore I have thought it necessary to make provisions for the general welfare of all. ²² Actually I do not despair about my health, for I am confident that I will completely recover from my illness. ²³ However, I recall that whenever my father made expeditions into the upper provinces, he would designate his successor, ²⁴ so that if anything unforeseen should happen or some troublesome rumor should begin to circulate, the people throughout the realm would not be troubled, for they would know to whom the government had been entrusted. ²⁵ Moreover, I am fully aware that the neighboring rulers, particularly those situated on the frontiers of our kingdom, are ever on the watch for opportunities and waiting to see what will develop.

“Therefore, I have designated as king my son Antiochus, whom I have often before entrusted and commended to most of you when I made hurried trips to the upper provinces. I have sent to him a letter in regard to this and enclose a transcript for you. ²⁶ I therefore urge and entreat each of you to remember the public and private services I have rendered to you and to continue to manifest goodwill toward me and my son. ²⁷ I am confident that my son will follow my policy of benevolence and kindness in his relations with you.”

²⁸ And so this murderer and blasphemer, after enduring agonizing sufferings to match those he had inflicted on others, died a wretched death in the mountains of a foreign land. ²⁹ His close friend Philip^[bd] brought back the body. Then, fearing the son of Antiochus, he withdrew into Egypt, to the court of Ptolemy Philometor.

Chapter 10

Judas Recovers Jerusalem and Purifies the Temple. ¹ Under the guidance of the Lord, Maccabeus and his companions recovered the temple and the city,^{[be] 2} destroying the altars^[bf] erected by the Gentiles in the public square and tearing down their sacred precincts. ³ After they purified the sanctuary,^[bg] they built another altar. Then, striking fire from flints, they offered sacrifice for the first time in two years, burning incense, lighting lamps, and setting out the bread of the Presence. ⁴ When they had done this, they prostrated themselves and implored the Lord never again to allow them to be afflicted with such misfortunes, and, were they ever to sin, to discipline them himself with moderation rather than hand them over to blasphemous and barbarous nations.

⁵ The purification of the temple took place on the very same day on which the temple had been profaned by the Gentiles, that is, the twenty-fifth day of the same month Chislev. ⁶ The celebration and rejoicing lasted for eight days, in the manner of the Feast of Booths, as they recalled how, only a short time before, during the Feast of Booths, they had been living like wild animals in the mountains and caves. ⁷ And so, carrying wands entwined with ivy, and leafy branches and palm fronds, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him whose guiding hand had enabled them to achieve the purification of his holy place. ⁸ They also decreed by a public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole Jewish nation should observe these days every year.