2 Maccabees 10:14-38

New Catholic Bible

¹⁴ Judas Punishes the Idumeans.^[a] When Gorgias became governor of the region, he hired a force of mercenaries and maintained a state of war with the Jews. ¹⁵ At the same time, the Idumeans,^[b] who controlled some strategic fortresses, were harassing the Jews, as they welcomed fugitives from Jerusalem and made every effort to continue the war. ¹⁶ Maccabeus and his forces offered public prayers, entreating God to support their efforts, and then launched an assault against the Idumean strongholds. ¹⁷ Attacking them energetically, they captured these vantage positions, driving off all who manned the walls, and slaughtered all those whom they encountered, killing no fewer than twenty thousand men.

¹⁸ At least nine thousand of the enemy took refuge in two exceedingly strong towers that were fully equipped to withstand a siege. ¹⁹ Maccabeus left behind Simon and Joseph, as well as Zacchaeus and his troops, comprising a force sufficient to besiege them, while he himself set out for zones where he was more urgently needed. ²⁰ However, Simon’s men were avaricious, and they allowed themselves to be bribed by some of those who were in the towers. After receiving seventy thousand drachmas, they permitted a number of them to slip away. ²¹ When Maccabeus was told what had happened, he assembled the leaders of the people and denounced those men for having sold their kindred for money by freeing their enemies to fight against them. ²² Then he executed them as traitors and immediately captured both towers. ²³ Since he was successful in everything he undertook by force of arms, he slaughtered more than twenty thousand men in the two strongholds.

²⁴ Judas Defeats Timothy and Captures Gezer.^[c] Timothy, who had been defeated by the Jews once before, now gathered an enormous force of mercenaries and considerable numbers of cavalry from Asia. Then he marched into Judea, intending to take it by storm. ²⁵ At his approach, Maccabeus and his men made supplication to God, sprinkling dust upon their heads and girding their loins with sackcloth. ²⁶ Prostrating themselves on the steps in front of the altar, they implored him to support them in their struggle, and, as the law states, to be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries.

²⁷ After their prayer, they took up their weapons and advanced a considerable distance from the city, coming to a halt when they were near the enemy. ²⁸ Just as dawn was breaking, the two armies joined battle, the one having as a pledge of success and victory not only their own valor, but also their reliance on the Lord, whereas the other had only their own fury to sustain them in battle.

²⁹ When the fighting reached its height, there appeared to the enemy from the heavens five magnificent men, each astride a horse with a golden bridle, and they placed themselves in the forefront of the Jews. ³⁰ Surrounding Maccabeus and shielding him with their own armor, they kept him from being wounded. Meanwhile, they propelled arrows and thunderbolts at the enemy, leaving them confused and blinded so that they were thrown into complete disarray and routed. ³¹ Twenty thousand five hundred of their infantry were slain, in addition to six hundred cavalry.

³² Timothy himself fled to a strongly garrisoned citadel called Gazara,^[d] where Chaereas was in command. ³³ For four days Maccabeus and his forces eagerly besieged the fortress, ³⁴ while the men inside, their confidence buoyed by their belief in the security of the place, continued to taunt them with terrible blasphemies and abominable insults. ³⁵ At daybreak on the fifth day, twenty young men in the army of Maccabeus, infuriated at the blasphemies, bravely stormed the wall and with savage fury, cut down everyone they encountered. ³⁶ Others who came up in a similar way attacked the defenders from the rear and set fire to the towers while starting other fires in which the blasphemers were burned alive. Still others broke down the gates and let in the rest of the troops, who then took possession of the city. ³⁷ Timothy, who had hidden in a cistern, was slain, along with his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes. ³⁸ When they had accomplished all of these exploits, they offered hymns of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord who had shown such great kindness to Israel and given them the victory.