Connected to database DB1 | Antiochus persecutes the Jews. (170-169 BCE) 1Mace.1.20-64 | KNSB Contents | notes| 1 | katapi NEW STUDY BIBLE | Passage | Old Testament in Greek (Septuagint) |
| 20 | After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred and forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. | Antiochus persecutes the Jews. (170-169 BCE) 1Mace.1.20-64 (Jerusalem) | |
| 21 | He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. | ||
| 22 | He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. | ||
| 23 | He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found. | ||
| 24 | Taking them all, he departed to his own land. He committed deeds of murder, | ||
| 25 | Israel mourned deeply in every community, | ||
| 26 | rulers and elders groaned, maidens and young men became faint, the beauty of women faded. | ||
| 27 | Every bridegroom took up the lament; she who sat in the bridal chamber was mourning. | ||
| 28 | Even the land shook for its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame. | ||
| 29 | Two years later the king sent to the cities of Judah a chief collector of tribute, and he came to Jerusalem with a large force. | ||
| 30 | Deceitfully he spoke peaceable words to them, and they believed him; but he suddenly fell upon the city, dealt it a severe blow, and destroyed many people of Israel. | ||
| 31 | He plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls. | ||
| 32 | And they took captive the women and children, and seized the cattle. | ||
| 33 | Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel. | ||
| 34 | And they stationed there a sinful people, lawless men. These strengthened their position; | ||
| 35 | they stored up arms and food, and collecting the spoils of Jerusalem they stored them there, and became a great snare. | ||
| 36 | It became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary of Israel continually. | ||
| 37 | On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood; they even defiled the sanctuary. | ||
| 38 | Because of them the residents of Jerusalem fled; she became a dwelling of strangers; she became strange to her offspring, and her children forsook her. | ||
| 39 | Her sanctuary became desolate as a desert; her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into a reproach, her honour into contempt. | ||
| 40 | Her dishonour now grew as great as her glory; her exaltation was turned into mourning. | ||
| 41 | Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, | ||
| 42 | and that each should give up his customs. | ||
| 43 | All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. | ||
| 44 | And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, | ||
| 45 | to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts, | ||
| 46 | to defile the sanctuary and the priests, | ||
| 47 | to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, | ||
| 48 | and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, | ||
| 49 | so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances. | ||
| 50 | "And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die." | ||
| 51 | In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. And he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city. | ||
| 52 | Many of the people, every one who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; | ||
| 53 | they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. | ||
| 54 | Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah, | ||
| 55 | and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. | ||
| 56 | The books of the law which they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. | ||
| 57 | Where the book of the covenant was found in the possession of any one, or if any one adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death. | ||
| 58 | They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities. | ||
| 59 | And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar which was upon the altar of burnt offering. | ||
| 60 | According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, | ||
| 61 | and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks. | ||
| 62 | But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. | ||
| 63 | They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. | ||
| 64 | And very great wrath came upon Israel. | ||