The First Book of the Maccabees, chapters 5 - 7
5 WHEN THE GENTILES round about heard that the altar had been re-
built and the temple rededicated, they were furious, and determined to
wipe out all those of the race of Jacob who lived among them. Thus began
the work of massacre and extermination among the people.
Judas then made war on the descendants of Esau in Idumaea and
attacked Acrabattene, because they had hemmed Israel in. There he
inflicted on them a severe and humiliating defeat, and took spoils from
them. He remembered also the wrong done by the Baeanite, who with
their traps and road-blocks were continually ambushing the Isrealites.
He first confined them to their forts and took up positions against them;
then he solemnly committed them to destruction and set the forts ablaze
with all their occupants. He crossed over to the Ammonites, and came upon
a strong and numerous force under the command of a certain Timotheus.
He fought many battles with them, and they broke before him and were
crushed. After capturing Jazer and its dependent villages, he returned to
Judaea.
Then the Gentiles in Gilead gathered against the Israelites within their
territory, intending to destroy them; but they took refuge in the fortress of
Dathema, and sent this letter to Judas and his brothers:
The Gentiles round us have gathered to wipe us out. They are pre-
paring to come and seize the fortress where we have taken refuge;
Timotheus is in command of their army. So come at once and rescue us
from their clutches, for many of our number have already fallen. All our
fellow-Jews in the region of Tubias have been massacred, their wives
and their children taken captive, and their property carried off. About
a thousand men there have lost their lives.
While the letter was being read, other messengers with their garments
torn arrived from Galilee. 'Ptolemais, Tyre and Sidon,' they said, 'and all
heathen Galilee have mustered their forces to make an end of us.'
When Judas and the people heard this, a full assembly was called to
decide what they should do for their fellow-countrymen in distress and
under enemy attack. Judas said to Simon his brother, 'Choose your men,
and go and rescue your countrymen in Galilee, while I and my brother
Jonathan march into Gilead.' The rest of his forces he left for the defences
of Judaea, with Josephus son of Zacharias, and Azarias, leading citizens,
and gave them this order: 'Take charge of the people of Jerusalem, but
on no account join battle with the Gentiles until we return.' Simon was
allotted three thousand men for the march on Galilee, and Judas eight
thousand for the march on Gilead.
Simon invaded Galilee and, after many battles, broke the resistance of
the Gentiles. He pursued them as far as the gate of Ptolemais, killed nearly
three thousand of them, and stripped their corpses. He took back with him
the Jews from Galilee and Arbatta, their wives and children, and all their
property, and brought them to Judaea with great jubilation.
Meanwhile Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan crossed the
Jordan and made a three days' march through the desert. They came upon
some Nabataeans, who met them peacefully, and gave them an account of
all that had happened to their fellow-Jews in Gilead: many of them were
held prisoner in Bozrah and Bezer, in Alema, Casphor, Maked, and
Carnaim——all large fortified towns; some in the other towns of Gilead.
'Your enemies', they told them, 'are marshalling their forces to storm your
fortresses tomorrow so as to capture them and destroy all the Jews in them
in a single day.'
Then Judas and his army suddenly turned aside to Bozrah by way of the
desert, captured the town, and put all the males to the sword. He plundered
all their property and set fire to the town. From there he made a night-
march and came within reach of the fortress Dathema. When dawn
broke they saw in front of them an innumerable host, bringing up scaling-
ladders and siege-engines and engaging the defenders, to capture the
fortress. Judas saw that battle was already joined, and a cry went up to
heaven from the town, with trumpeting and loud shouting. Judas said to
his men: 'Now is the time to fight for our brothers.'
They marched out in three columns to take the enemy in the rear. Then
they sounded the trumpets and cried aloud in prayer, and the army of
Timotheus recognized that it was Maccabaeus and took to flight before him.
He inflicted a severe defeat on them, and nearly eight thousand of the enemy
fell that day.
Judas then turned aside to Alema, attacked and captured it, and killed
all the males. He plundered the town and set it on fire. From there he moved
on and occupied Casphor, Maked, Bezer, and the other towns of Gilead.
After these events, Timotheus gathered another army, and took up
position opposite Raphon, on the other side of the ravine. Judas sent spies
to their camp, and they reported that all the Gentiles in the neighbourhood
had rallied in great strength to Timotheus, who had also hired Arab
mercenaries to help them; they were encamped on the far side of the ravine,
ready to engage him in battle. So Judas marched to meet them.
As Judas and his army were approaching the flooded ravine, Timotheus
said to his officers: 'If Judas crosses over to our side first, we shall not be
able to stand up to him; he will certainly get the better of us. If, however,
his courage fails him and he takes up a position on the other side of the
river, then we will cross over and get the better of him.' When Judas
reached the ravine, he stationed the officers of the muster on its bank, with
instructions that no one should be allowed to take up a fixed position, but
that all should advance to battle. Thus Judas forestalled the enemy by
crossing to attack them, with all his people following. The Gentiles broke
before him; they all threw away their arms and took refuge in the temple at
Carnaim. Judas captured the town and burnt the temple together with all
its occupants: Carnaim was completely subdued and could no longer
withstand him.
Then Judas gathered together all the Israelites in Gilead to escort them
to Judaea. They amounted to an immense host, small and great, women
and children, with their property. They came as far as Ephron, a large and
strongly fortified town on the road: it was impossible to pass by it on
either side; the only route was through the town. But the townsmen kept
them out, barricading their gates with boulders. Judas sent them a con-
ciliatory message: 'We have to pass through your territory to reach our
own. No one should do you any harm: we shall only march through.' But
they refused to open their gate to him.
Judas issued orders to the whole host for everyone to halt where he was.
Then the fighting men took up battle positions and attacked the town all
that day and all the night, until it fell into their hands. They put every male
to the sword, razed the town to the ground and plundered it, and then
marched through it over the bodies of the dead. They crossed the Jordan
to the great plain opposite Bethshan, while Judas brought up stragglers
and encouraged the people all along the road till he arrived in Judaea.
They went up to Mount Zion with gladness and jubilation, and offered
burnt-offerings, because they had returned in safety without the loss of
a single man.
Now while Judas and Jonathan were in Gilead, and Simon their brother
in Galilee was besieging Ptolemais, the two commanders, Josephus son of
Zacharias, and Azarias, heard of their exploits in battle. 'We too', they
said, 'must make a name for themselves: let us go and fight the Gentiles in
our neighbourhood.' So they gave orders to their forces and marched
against Jamnia. Gorgias came out of the town with his men to meet them
in battle; and Josephus and Azarias were routed and pursue to the
frontier of Judaea. Some two thousand of the people fell that day. So the
Israelites suffered a heavy defeat, because their commanders, thinking to
play the hero themselves, had not obeyed Judas and his brothers. They
were not, however, of that family to whom it was granted to bring deliver-
ance to Israel.
Judas and his brothers won a great reputation in all Israel and among
the gentiles, wherever their fame was heard, and crowds flocked to
acclaim them.
After this, Judas marched out with his brothers and made war on the
descendants of Esau to the south. He struck at Hebron and its villages,
demolished its fortifications, and burnt down its forts on all sides. he then
set out to invade Philistine territory, Marching through Marisa. On that
day several priests, who had ill-advisedly gone into action wishing to dis-
tinguish themselves, fell in Battle. Then Judas turned aside to Azotus in
Philistia. He pulled down their altars. burnt the images of their gods,
carried off the spoil from their towns, and returned to Judaea.
6 As King Antiochus marched through the upper provinces he heard that
there was a city in Persia called Elymais, famous for its wealth in silver and
gold. Its temple was very rich, full of gold shields, coats of mail, and arms,
left there by Alexander son of Philip, king of Macedon and the first to be
king over the Greeks. Antiochus came and tried to capture and plunder
the city, but failed because his plan had become known to the citizens.
They gave battle and put him to flight, and he withdrew to Babylon in
bitter disappointment.
A messenger met him in Persia with the news that the armies which had
invaded Judaea were in full retreat. Lysias had marched up with an excep-
tionally strong force, only to be flung back before the enemy, and the
strength of the Jews had grown by the capture of arms, equipment, and
spoils from the Syrian armies they had defeated. They had pulled down the
abomination he had built on the altar in Jerusalem, and surrounded their
temple with high walls as before, and had even fortified Bethsura.
When the king heard the news, he was thrown into such deep dismay
that he took to his bed, ill with grief at the miscarriage of his plans. There
he lay for many days, the bitter grief breaking out again and again, and he
realized that he was dying. So he summoned all his Friends and said to
them: 'Sleep has deserted me; the weight of care has broken my heart.
At first I asked myself, "Why am I overwhelmed by this flood of trouble,
I who was kind and well-loved in the day of my power?" But now I
remember the wrong I did in Jerusalem, when I took all her vessels of silver
and gold, and when I made an unjustified attempt to wipe out the inhabi-
tants of Judaea. It is for this, I know, that these misfortunes have come
upon me; and here I am, dying of grief in a foreign land.'
He summoned Philip, one of his Friends, and appointed him regent
over his whole empire, giving him the crown, the royal robe, and the signet-
ring, with authority to take his son Antiochus and bring him up to be king.
King Antiochus Died there in the year 149.
When Lysias learnt that the king was dead, he placed the young Antio-
chus, whom he had brought up from boyhood, on the throne in succession
to his father, and gave him the name Eupator.
MEANWHILE THE GARRISON of the citadel were confining the
Israelites to the neighbourhood of the temple, and giving continual sup-
port to the Gentiles by their harassing tactics. Judas therefore determined
to make an end of them. He gathered all the people together to lay siege to
the citadel in the year 150, erecting emplacements and siege engines
against the enemy.
Now some of the besieged garrison escaped and were joined by a number
of renegade Israelites. They went to the king and said: 'How long must we
wait for you to do justice and avenge our comrades? We were willing to
serve your father, to follow his instructions and to obey his decrees, and
what was the result? Our own countrymen became our enemies. They
actually killed as many of us as they could find, an robbed us of our pro-
perty. Nor are we the only ones to suffer at their hands. They have attacked
all their neighbours as well. At this very moment they are besieging the
citadel in Jerusalem and mean to capture it; they have fortified both the
temple and Bethsura. Unless your majesty quickly overpowers them they
will go to yet greater lengths, and you will not be able to keep them in
check.'
When the king heard this he was furious. He assembled all his Friends,
the commanders of his army, and his cavalry officers. He was joined by
mercenary troops from other kingdoms and from the islands. His forces
numbered one hundred thousand infantry, twenty thousand cavalry, and
thirty-two war elephants. They passed through Idumaea and laid siege
to Bethsura. They kept up the attack for a long time and erected siege-
engines, but the defenders made a sortie and set fire to them, and fought
back manfully.
Judas now withdrew from the citadel and encamped at Bethzacharia,
opposite the camp of the king. Early next morning the king broke camp
and rushed his army along to Bethzacharia; there his forces were
drawn up for battle and the trumpets were sounded. The elephants were
roused for battle with the juice of grapes and of mulberries. The great
beasts were distributed among the phalanxes; by each were stationed a
thousand men, equipped with coats of chain-mail an bronze helmets.
Five hundred picked horsemen were also assigned to each animal. These
had been station beforehand where the beast was; and wherever it went,
they went with it, never leaving it. Each animal had a strong wooden turret
fastened on its back with a special harness, by way of protection, ad
carried four fighting men as well as an Indian driver. The rest of the
cavalry Lysias stationed on either flank of the army, to harass the enemy
while themselves protected by phalanxes. When the sun shone on the
gold and bronze shields, they lit up the hills, which flashed like torches.
Part of the king's army was deployed over the heights, and part over the
low ground. They advanced confidently and in good order. All who heard
the din of this marching multitude and its clashing arms shook with fear.
It was a very great and powerful array indeed.
Judas advanced with his army and gave battle, and six hundred of the
king's men were killed. Eleazar Avaran, seeing that one of the elephants
wore royal armour and stood out above all the rest, thought that the king
was riding on it. So he gave his life to save his people and win everlasting
renown for himself. He ran boldly towards it, into the middle of the
phalanx, dealing death right and left, while they fell back on either side
before him. He got in underneath the elephant, and thrust at it from below
and killed it. It fell to the ground on top of him, and there he died.
When the Jews saw the strength and impetus of the imperial forces,
they fell back before them. Part of the king's army marched up to Jeru-
salem to renew the engagement, and the king put Judaea and Mount Zion
into a state of siege. He made peace with the people of Bethsura, who
abandoned the town, having no more food there to with stand a siege, as it
was a sabbatical year when the land was left fallow. Thus the king occupied
Bethsura and detailed a garrison to hold it.
He then attacked the temple and subjected it to a long siege; he set up
emplacements and siege-engines, with flame-throwers, catapults for dis-
charging stones and barbed missiles, and slings. But the defenders too
constructed engines to counter his engines, and put up a prolonged
resistance. There was no food, however, in the stores because of the sab-
batical year; those who from time to time had arrived in Judaea as refugees
from the Gentiles had eaten up all that remained of the provisions. There
were only a few men left in the temple, because he famine had been too
severe for them, and they had scattered to their own homes.
Lysias heard the Philip, whom King Antiochus had appointed before
he died to educate his son Antiochus for the kingship, had returned from
Persia and Media with the late king's expeditionary force, and that he was
seeking to take over the government. So he hastily gave orders for
departure, saying to the king, his commanders, and his troops: 'Every day
we are growing weaker, provisions are low, the place we are besieging is
strong, and the affairs of the empire are pressing. So let us offer these men
terms and make peace with them and their whole nation. Let us guarantee
their right to follow their laws and customs as they used to do, for it was our
abolition of these very customs and laws that roused their resentment, and
produced all these consequences.'
The proposal met with the approval of the king and the commanders,
and an offer of peace was sent and accepted. The king and his commanders
bound themselves by oath, and on the agreed terms the besieged emerged
from their stronghold. But when the king entered Mount Zion and saw
how strongly the place was fortified, he went back on the oath he had
sworn, and gave orders for the surrounding wall to be demolished. He then
set off at top speed for Antioch, where he found Philip in possession; a battle
ensued, and the city was taken by storm.
7 IN THE YEAR 151, Demetrius son of Seleucus left Rome, landed with a
handful of men at a town on the coast, and there made himself king. While
he was travelling to the royal seat of his ancestors, the army seized Antio-
chus and Lysias, intending to hand them over to him. When this was
reported to him, he said, 'Do not let me set eyes on them.' The soldiers
accordingly put them to death, and Demetrius ascended to the throne.
All the godless renegades from Israel, led by Alcimus, who aspired to
be high priest, came to the king and brought charges against their people.
They said to him: 'Judas and his brothers have killed all your supporters.'
The king chose Bacchides, one of the royal Friends, who was governor
beyond the Euphrates, a man of high standing in the empire and loyal to
the king. He sent him and the godless Alcimus, on whom he had con-
ferred the high-priesthood, with orders to take vengeance on Israel.
They set out with a large army and entered Judaea. Bacchides sent
envoys to Judas and his brothers to make false offers of friendship; but
when they saw what a large force he had brought with him, they took no
notice of these offers.
A deputation of doctors of the law came before Alcimus and Bacchides,
asking for justice. The Hasidaeans were in fact the first group in Israel to
make overtures to them; for they said to themselves, 'A priest of the family
of Aaron has come with their forces, and he will do us no harm.' The
language of Alcimus was conciliatory; he assured them on oath that no
harm was intended to them or their friends. But once he had gained their
confidence, he arrested sixty of them and put them to death in a single day;
as Scripture says:
'The bodies of thy slain were scattered,
their blood was shed round Jerusalem,
and there was none to bury them.'
This put all the people in fear and terror of them, and they said to each
other, 'There is neither truth nor justice among them; they have broken
their pledge and the oath they swore.' The Bacchides left Jerusalem and
camped in Bethzaith; and he ordered the arrest of many of those who had
deserted to him, together with some of the people, ad had them slaughtered
and thrown into a great pit. He assigned the whole district of Alcimus,
detailed some troops to assist him, and returned to the king.
Alcimus fought hard for his high-priesthood. All the trouble-makers
rallied to him; they gained control over Judaea, and did terrible damage in
Israel. When Judas saw all the mischief which Alcimus and his followers
had brought upon the Israelites, far worse than anything the Gentiles had
done, he marched through all the territory of Judaea and its environs,
punishing deserters and debarring them from access to the country dis-
tricts. When Alcimus saw that Judas and his band had grown powerful
and recognized that he was unable to with stand them, he returned to the
king and accused them of atrocities.
Then the king sent Nicanor, one of his distinguished commanders and
a bitter enemy of Israel, with orders to wipe them out. Nicanor arrived at
Jerusalem with a large force, and sent envoys to Judas and his brothers
to make false offers of friendship: 'Let there be no quarrel between us,'
he said; 'I propose to come with a few men for a friendly personal meeting.'
He came to Judas and they greeted one another as friends, yet the enemy
were preparing to kidnap Judas. When Judas discovered that Nicanor's
visit was a trick, he took alarm and refused to meet him again. Nicanor,
realizing that his plan had been detected, marched out to engage Judas
near Capharsalama. About five hundred of Nicanor's army were killed,
and the rest escaped to the city of David.
After these events , Nicanor went up to Mount Zion, and some of the
priests and members of the senate came out from the temple to give him a
friendly welcome, and to show him the burnt-offering which was being
sacrificed for the king. But he mocked them, jeered at them, and spat on
them, boasting and swearing angrily: 'Unless Judas and his army are
surrendered to me at once, when I return victorious I will burn down this
house.' And he went off in a rage. Thereupon the priests went in, and stood
facing the altar and the temple. They wept and said: 'Thou didst choose this
house to bear thy name, to be a house of prayer and supplication for thy
people; take vengeance on this man and on his army, and make them fall by
the sword. Remember all their blasphemy, and grant them no reprieve.'
Nicanor moved from Jerusalem and encamped at Beth-horon, where he
was joined by an army from Syria. Judas encamped at Adasa with three
thousand men; there he prayed in these words: 'There was a king whose
followers blasphemed, and thy angel came forth and struck down one
hundred and eighty-five thousand of them. So do thou crush this army
before us today, and let all men know that Nicanor has reviled thy holy
place; judge him as his wickedness deserves.'
The armies joined battle on the thirteenth of the month Adar, and the
army of Nicanor suffered a crushing defeat, he himself being the first to
fall in the battle. When his army saw that Nicanor had fallen, they threw
away their arms and took to flight. Then, sounding the signal trumpets
in the enemy's rear, pursued them as far as Gazara, a day's journey from
Adasa. From all the villages of Judaea round about, the inhabitants came
out and attacked their flanks, forcing them back upon their pursuers. They
all fell by the sword; there were no survivors. The Jews seized spoil and
booty; they cut off Nicanor's head and that right hand which he had
stretched out so arrogantly, and brought them to be displayed at Jerusalem.
There was great public rejoicing and that day was kept as a special day of
jubilation. It was ordained that the day should be observed annually, on
the thirteenth of Adar. Thus Judaea entered upon a short period of peace.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Aug 7, 2019, 1:06 AM UTC
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