The First Book of the Maccabees, chapters 15 - 16

15      Antiochus son of King Demetrius sent a letter from overseas to Simon  
     the high priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to the whole nation.  The  
     contents were as follows:  
    
           King Antiochus to Simon, High Priest and Ethnarch, and to the  
        Jewish nation, greeting.  
           Whereas certain traitors have seized my ancestral kingdom, I have  
        now decided to assert my claim to it, so that I may restore it to its former  
        condition.  I have raised a large body of mercenaries and fitted out ships  
        of war.  I intend to land in my country and to attack those who have  
        ravaged my kingdom and destroyed many of its cities.  Now therefore I  
        confirm all the tax remissions which my royal predecessors granted you,  
        and all their other remissions of tribute.  I permit you to mint your own  
        coinage as currency for your country.  Jerusalem and the temple shall be  
        free.  All the arms you have prepared, and the fortifications which you  
        have built and now hold, shall remain yours.  All debts now owing to the  
        royal treasury and all future liabilities thereto shall be cancelled from   
        this time on for ever.  When we have re-established our kingdom, we  
        shall confer the highest honours upon you, your nation and temple, to  
        make your country's greatness apparent to the whole world.   

        In the year 174, Antiochus marched into his ancestral domain, and all  
     the armed forces came over to him, leaving very few with Trypho.  Antio-  
     chus pursued him, and Trypho came as a fugitive to Dor by the sea.  He  
     knew that his position was desperate now that all his troops had deserted.  
     Antiochus, at the head of a hundred and twenty thousand trained soldiers  
     and eight thousand horsemen, laid siege to Dor.  He encircled the town, and  
     his ships joined in the blockade from the sea.  He thus exerted heavy pres-  
     sure on it from both land and sea, and prevented anyone from leaving or  
     entering.    

     NUMENIUS  AND  HIS  PARTY  arrived from Rome with a letter to the  
     various kings and countries, which read as follows:    

           Lucius, Consul of the Roman, to King Ptolemy, greeting.  
           Envoys have come to us from our friends and allies the Jews, sent by  
        Simon the High Priest and the Jewish people, to renew their original  
        treaty of friendship and alliance.  They brought a gold shield worth a  
        thosand minas.  We have decided, therefore, to write to the kings and  
        countries, requiring them to do no harm to the Jews, nor make war on  
        them or their cities or their country, nor ally themselves with those who  
        so make war.  And we have decided to accept the shield from them.  If  
        therefore any traitors have escaped from their country to you, hand  
        them over to Simon the High Priest to be punished by him according to  
        the law of the Jews.   
 
        The same message was sent to King Demetrius, to Attalus, Ariarathes,  
     Arsakes, Sampsakes, and the Spartans, and also to the following places:         
     Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus,  
     Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus, and   
     Cyrene.  A copy was sent to Simon the high priest.   

     KING  ANTIOCHUS  LAID  SIEGE  to Dor for the second time, and  
     launched repeated attacks against it; he had siege-engines constructed, and  
     blockaded Trypho, preventing all movement in or out of the town.  
        Simon sent Antiochus two thousand picked men to assist him, with  
     silver and gold and much equipment; but he refused the offer.  He repu-  
     diated all his previous agreements with Simon and broke off relations.  He  
     sent Athenobius, one of the Friends, to parley with him.  This was his  
     message: 'You are occupying Joppa and Gazara and the citadel in Jeru-  
     salem, cities that belong to my kingdom.  You have laid waste their terri-  
     tories, and done great damage to the country, and have made yourself  
     master of many places in my kingdom.  I demand the return of the cities  
     you have captured and the surrender of the tribute exacted from places   
     beyond the frontiers of Judaea over which you have assumed control.  
     Otherwise, you must pay five hundred talents of silver on their account, and  
     another five hundred as compensation for the destruction you have caused  
     and for the loss of tribute from the cities.  Failing this, we shall go to war  
     with you.'  
        Athenobius, the King's Friend, came to Jerusalem, and when he saw  
     the splendour of Simon's establishment, the gold and silver vessels on his  
     sideboard, and his display of wealth, he was amazed.  He delivered the  
     king's message, to which Simon replied: 'We have not occupied other  
     people's land or taken other people's property, but only the inheritance of  
     our ancestors, unjustly seized for a time by our enemies.  We have grasped  
     our opportunity and have claimed our patrimony.  With regard to Joppa  
     and Gazara, which you demand, these towns are doing a great deal of  
     damage among our people and in our land.  For these we offer one hundred   
     talents.'  
        Athenobius answered not a word, but went off in a rage to the king; he  
     reported what Simon had said, and described Simon's splendour and all the  
     things he had seen.  The king was furious.  
        Meanwhile Trypho boarded a ship and made good his escape to Orthosia.  
     The king appointed Kendebaeus as commander-in-chief of the coastal  
     zone, and gave him infantry and cavalry.  He instructed him to blockade   
     Judaea, to rebuild Kedron and strengthen its gates, and to make war on  
     our people, while he himself continued the pursuit of Trypho.  Kendebaeus  
     arrived in Jamania and began to harass our people by invading Judaea, and  
     by capturing and killing the inhabitants.  He rebuilt Kedron, stationing  
     cavalry and troops there to sally out and patrol the roads of Judaea, in   
     accordance with the king's instructions.     
16      John came from Gazara and reported to his father Simon the results of  
     Kendebaeus's campaign.  Simon summoned his two eldest sons Judas and   
     John, and said to them: 'My brothers and I and my father's family have  
     fought Israel's battles from our youth until this day, and many a time we  
     have been successful in rescuing Israel.  Now I am old, but mercifully  
     you are in the prime of life.  Take my place and my brother's and go out  
     and fight for our nation.  And may help from on high be with you.'   
        He then levied from the country twenty thousand picked warriors and  
     cavalry, and they marched against Kendebaeus.  After passing the night at  
     Modin they rose early and proceeded to the plain, where a large force of  
     infantry and cavalry stood ready to meet them on the far side of a gully.  
     When his army had taken up a position opposite, John saw that his men  
     were afraid to cross the gully.  So he crossed first himself; his men saw him  
     and followed.  John drew up his army with the cavalry in the centre of the  
     infantry, for the enemy cavalry were very numerous.  The trumpets were  
     sounded, and Kendebaeus and his army were routed; many of them fell,  
     and the remainder took refuge in the fortress.  It was in this engagement that   
     John's brother Judas was wounded.  John kept up the pursuit until Kende-  
     baeus reached Kedron, which he had rebuilt.  The enemy too refuge in the  
     towers in the open country round Azotus, whereupon John set fire to  
     Azotus.  Some two thousand of the enemy fell in the fighting, and Johbn  
     returned to Judaea in safety.  
        Now Ptolemaeus son of Abubus had been appointed commander for  
     the plain of Jericho.  He had great wealth, for he was the high priest's son-  
     in-law.  But he became over-ambitious; he proposed to make himself  
     master of the country and plotted to put Simon and his sons out of the way.  
     In the course of a tour to inspect the towns in that region and to attend to   
     their needs, Simon came to Jericho with his sons Mattathias and Judas in  
     the year 177, in the eleventh month, the month of Shebat.  The son of  
     Abubus, with treachery in his heart, received them at the small fort called  
     Dok which he had built, and entertained them lavishly.  But he had men in  
     concealment there, and when Simon and his sons had drunk freely,  
     Ptolemaeus and his accomplices jumped up, seized their weapons, and  
     rushed in to the banquet.  They attacked Simon and killed him, along with  
     his two sons and some of the servants.  It was an act of base treachery in  
     which evil was returned for good.  
        Ptolemaeus sent news of this in a dispatch to the king, asking him to send   
     troops to his assistance and to give him authority over the country and its  
     towns.  He sent some of his men to Gazara to kill John, and wrote to the  
     army officers urging them to join him, and offering them silver and gold  
     and presents.  Other troops he sent to take Jerusalem and the temple hill.  
     But someone ran ahead and reported to John at Gazara that his father and  
     brothers had been murdered, and that Ptolemaeus had sent men to kill  
     him as well.  When John heard this he was beside himself; he arrested the  
     men who came to kill him, and put them to death, because he had dis-  
     covered their plot against his life.  
        The rest of the story of John, his wars, and the deeds of valour he per-  
     formed, the walls he built, and his exploits, are written in the annals of his  
     high-priesthood from the time when he succeeded his father.  

The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970