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1 Maccabees 3:1-9:22

Judas Maccabaeus - early victories. (1Mace.3.1-26)

3¹His son, Judas, known as Maccabaeus, then took his place. ²All his brothers, and all who had attached themselves to his father, supported him, and they fought for Israel with a will.

³He extended the fame of his people. Like a giant, he put on the breastplate and buckled on his war harness; he engaged in battle after battle, protecting the ranks with his sword. ⁴He was like a lion in his exploits, like a young lion roaring over its prey. ⁵He pursued and tracked down the renegades, he consigned those who troubled his people to the flames. ⁶The renegades quailed with the terror he inspired, all evil-doers were utterly confounded, and deliverance went forward under his leadership. ⁷He brought bitterness to many a king and rejoicing to Jacob by his deeds, his memory is blessed for ever and ever. ⁸He went through the towns of Judah eliminating the irreligious from them, and diverted the Retribution from Israel. ⁹His name resounded to the ends of the earth, he rallied those who were on the point of perishing.

¹⁰Next, Apollonius mustered the gentiles and a large force from Samaria to make war on Israel. ¹¹When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him and routed and killed him. Many fell wounded, and the survivors took to flight. ¹²Their spoils were seized and the sword of Apollonius was taken by Judas, who used it to fight with throughout his life. ¹³On hearing that Judas had raised a mixed force of believers and seasoned fighters, ¹⁴Seron, commander of the Syrian troops, said, 'I shall make a name for myself and gain honour in the kingdom if I fight Judas and those supporters of his who are so contemptuous of the king's orders.' ¹⁵He therefore launched another expedition, with a strong army of unbelievers to support him in taking revenge on the Israelites. ¹⁶He had nearly reached the descent of Beth-Horon when Judas went out to confront him with a handful of men. ¹⁷But as soon as these saw the force advancing to meet them, they said to Judas, 'How can we, few as we are, engage such overwhelming numbers? We are exhausted as it is, not having had anything to eat today.' ¹⁸'It is easy', Judas answered, 'for a great number to be defeated by a few; indeed, in the sight of Heaven, deliverance, whether by many or by few, is all one; ¹⁹for victory in war does not depend on the size of the fighting force: Heaven accords the strength. ²⁰They are coming against us in full-blown insolence and lawlessness to destroy us, our wives and our children, and to plunder us; ²¹but we are fighting for our lives and our laws, ²²and he will crush them before our eyes; do not be afraid of them.' ²³When he had finished speaking, he made a sudden sally against Seron and his force and overwhelmed them. ²⁴Judas pursued them down from Beth-Horon as far as the plain. About eight hundred of their men fell, and the rest took refuge in the country of the Philistines. ²⁵Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and alarm seized the surrounding peoples. ²⁶His name even reached the king's ears, and among the nations there was talk of Judas and his battles.

Antiochus appoints Lysias as Governor of the Levant. (1Mace.3.27-37)

²⁷The news of these events infuriated Antiochus, and he ordered mobilisation of all the forces in his kingdom, a very powerful army. ²⁸Opening his treasury, he distributed a year's pay to his troops, telling them to be prepared for any eventuality. ²⁹He then found that the money in his coffers had run short and that the tribute of the province had decreased, as a result of the dissension and disaster brought on the country by his own abrogation of laws that had been in force from antiquity. ³⁰He began to fear that, as had happened more than once, he would not have enough to cover the expenses and the lavish bounties he had previously been accustomed to make on a larger scale than his predecessors on the throne. ³¹In this grave quandary he resolved to invade Persia, there to levy tribute on the provinces and so accumulate substantial funds. ³²He therefore left Lysias, a nobleman and member of the royal family, to manage the royal affairs between the River Euphrates and the Egyptian frontier, ³³making him responsible for the education of his son Antiochus, until he should come back. ³⁴To him Antiochus made over half his forces, with the elephants, giving him instructions about what he wanted done, particularly with regard to the inhabitants of Judaea and Jerusalem, ³⁵against whom he was to send a force, to crush and destroy the power of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem, to wipe out their very memory from the place, ³⁶to settle foreigners in all parts of their territory and to distribute their land into lots. ³⁷The king took the remaining half of his troops with him and set out from Antioch, the capital of his kingdom, in the year 147; he crossed the River Euphrates and made his way through the Upper Provinces.

Victories of Judas Maccabaeus. (1Mace.3.38-4.25)

³⁸Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, with Nicanor and Gorgias, influential men from among the Friends of the King, ³⁹and, under their command, despatched forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse to invade the land of Judah and devastate it, as the king had ordered. ⁴⁰The entire force set out and reached the neighbourhood of Emmaus in the lowlands, where they pitched camp. ⁴¹The local merchants, hearing the news of this, arrived at the camp, bringing with them a large amount of gold and silver, and fetters as well, proposing to buy the Israelites as slaves; they were accompanied by a company from Idumaea and the Philistine country. ⁴²Judas and his brothers saw that the situation was going from bad to worse and that armies were camping in their territory; they were also well aware that the king had ordered the people's total destruction. ⁴³So they said to each other, 'Let us restore the ruins of our people and fight for our people and our sanctuary.' ⁴⁴The Assembly was summoned, to prepare for war, to offer prayer and to implore compassion and mercy.

⁴⁵Jerusalem was as empty as a desert, none of her children to go in and out. The sanctuary was trodden underfoot, men of an alien race held the Citadel, which had become a lodging for gentiles. There was no more rejoicing for Jacob, the flute and lyre were mute.

⁴⁶After mustering, they made their way to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, since Mizpah was traditionally a place of prayer for Israel. ⁴⁷That day they fasted and put on sackcloth, covering their heads with ashes and tearing their garments. ⁴⁸For the guidance that the gentiles would have sought from the images of their false gods, they opened the Book of the Law. ⁴⁹They also brought out the priestly vestments, with first-fruits and tithes, and marshalled the Nazirites who had completed the period of their vow. ⁵⁰Then, raising their voices to Heaven, they cried, 'What shall we do with these people, and where are we to take them? ⁵¹Your holy place has been trampled underfoot and defiled, your priests mourn in their humiliation, ⁵²and now the gentiles are in alliance to destroy us: you know what they have in mind for us. ⁵³How can we stand up and face them if you do not come to our aid?' ⁵⁴Then they sounded the trumpets and raised a great shout. ⁵⁵Next, Judas appointed leaders for the people, to command a thousand, a hundred, fifty or ten men. ⁵⁶Those who were in the middle of building a house, or were about to be married, or were planting a vineyard, or were afraid, he told to go home again, as the Law allowed. ⁵⁷The column then marched off and took up a position south of Emmaus. ⁵⁸'Stand to your arms,' Judas told them, 'acquit yourselves bravely, in the morning be ready to fight these gentiles massed against us to destroy us and our sanctuary. ⁵⁹Better for us to die in battle than to watch the ruin of our nation and our Holy Place. ⁶⁰Whatever be the will of Heaven, he will perform it.' 4¹Gorgias took with him five thousand foot and a thousand picked cavalry, and the force moved off by night ²with the object of attacking the Jewish position and dealing them an unexpected blow; the men from the Citadel were there to guide him. ³Judas got wind of it and himself moved off with his fighters to strike at the royal army at Emmaus, ⁴while its fighting troops were still dispersed outside the camp. ⁵Hence, when Gorgias reached Judas' camp, he found no one and began looking for the Jews in the mountains. 'For', he said, 'we have got them on the run.' ⁶First light found Judas in the plain with three thousand men, although these lacked the armour and swords they would have wished. ⁷They could now see the gentile encampment with its strong fortifications and cavalry surrounding it, clearly people who understood warfare. ⁸Judas said to his men, 'Do not be afraid of their numbers, and do not flinch at their attack. ⁹Remember how our ancestors were delivered at the Red Sea when Pharaoh was pursuing them in force. ¹⁰And now let us call on Heaven: if he cares for us, he will remember his covenant with our ancestors and will destroy this army confronting us today; ¹¹then all the nations will know for certain that there is One who ransoms and saves Israel.' ¹²The foreigners looked up and, seeing the Jews advancing against them, ¹³came out of the camp to join battle. Judas' men sounded the trumpet ¹⁴and engaged them. The gentiles were defeated and fled towards the plain ¹⁵and all the stragglers fell by the sword. The pursuit continued as far as Gezer and the plains of Idumaea, Azotus and Jamnia, and the enemy lost about three thousand men. ¹⁶Breaking off the pursuit, Judas returned with his men ¹⁷and said to the people, 'Never mind the booty, for we have another battle ahead of us. ¹⁸Gorgias and his troops are still near us in the mountains. First stand up to our enemies and fight them, and then you can safely collect the booty.' ¹⁹The words were hardly out of Judas' mouth, when a detachment came into view, peering down from the mountain. ²⁰Observing that their own troops had been routed and that the camp had been fired—since the smoke, which they could see, attested the fact- ²¹they were panic-stricken at the sight; and when, furthermore, they saw Judas' troops drawn up for battle on the plain, ²²they all fled into Philistine territory. ²³Judas then turned back to plunder the camp, and a large sum in gold and silver, with violet and sea-purple stuffs, and many other valuables were carried off. ²⁴On their return, the Jews chanted praises to Heaven, singing, 'He is kind and his love is everlasting!' ²⁵That day had seen a remarkable deliverance in Israel.

Victory over Lysias. (1Mace.4.26-35)

²⁶Those of the foreigners who had escaped came and gave Lysias an account of all that had happened. ²⁷The news shocked and dismayed him, for affairs in Israel had not gone as he intended, and the result was quite the opposite to what the king had ordered. ²⁸The next year he mobilised sixty thousand picked troops and five thousand cavalry with the intention of finishing off the Jews. ²⁹They advanced into Idumaea and made their base at Beth-Zur, where Judas met them with ten thousand men. ³⁰When he saw their military strength he offered this prayer, 'Blessed are you, Saviour of Israel, who shattered the mighty warrior's attack at the hand of your servant David, and delivered the Philistine camp into the hands of Jonathan son of Saul, and his armour-bearer. ³¹Crush this expedition in the same way at the hands of your people Israel; let their troops and cavalry bring them nothing but shame. ³²Sow panic in their ranks, confound the confidence they put in their numbers and send them reeling in defeat. ³³Overthrow them by the sword of those who love you, and all who acknowledge your name will sing your praises.' ³⁴The two forces engaged, and five thousand men of Lysias' troops fell in hand-to-hand fighting. ³⁵Seeing the rout of his army and the courage of Judas' troops and their readiness to live or die nobly, Lysias withdrew to Antioch, where he recruited mercenaries for a further invasion of Judaea in even greater strength.

Purification of the temple. (1Mace.4.36-61)

³⁶Judas and his brothers then said, 'Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.' ³⁷So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion. ³⁸There they found the sanctuary deserted, the altar desecrated, the gates burnt down, and vegetation growing in the courts as it might in a wood or on some mountain, while the storerooms were in ruins. ³⁹They tore their garments and mourned bitterly, putting dust on their heads. ⁴⁰They prostrated themselves on the ground, and when the trumpets gave the signal they cried aloud to Heaven. ⁴¹Judas then ordered his men to keep the Citadel garrison engaged until he had purified the sanctuary. ⁴²Next, he selected priests who were blameless and zealous for the Law ⁴³to purify the sanctuary and remove the stones of the 'Pollution' to some unclean place. ⁴⁴They discussed what should be done about the altar of burnt offering which had been profaned, ⁴⁵and very properly decided to pull it down, rather than later be embarrassed about it since it had been defiled by the gentiles. They therefore demolished it ⁴⁶and deposited the stones in a suitable place on the hill of the Dwelling to await the appearance of a prophet who should give a ruling about them. ⁴⁷They took unhewn stones, as the Law prescribed, and built a new altar on the lines of the old one. ⁴⁸They restored the Holy Place and the interior of the Dwelling, and purified the courts. ⁴⁹They made new sacred vessels, and brought the lamp-stand, the altar of incense, and the table into the Temple. ⁵⁰They burned incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lamp-stand, and these shone inside the Temple. ⁵¹They placed the loaves on the table and hung the curtains and completed all the tasks they had undertaken. ⁵²On the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year 148 they rose at dawn ⁵³and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of burnt offering which they had made. ⁵⁴The altar was dedicated, to the sound of hymns, zithers, lyres and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the gentiles had originally profaned it. ⁵⁵The whole people fell prostrate in adoration and then praised Heaven who had granted them success. ⁵⁶For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering burnt offerings, communion and thanksgiving sacrifices. ⁵⁷They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, renovated the gates and storerooms, providing the latter with doors. ⁵⁸There was no end to the rejoicing among the people, since the disgrace inflicted by the gentiles had been effaced. ⁵⁹Judas, with his brothers and the whole assembly of Israel, made it a law that the days of the dedication of the altar should be celebrated yearly at the proper season, for eight days beginning on the twenty-fifth of the month of Chislev, with rejoicing and gladness. ⁶⁰They then proceeded to build high walls with strong towers round Mount Zion, to prevent the gentiles from coming and riding roughshod over it as in the past. ⁶¹Judas stationed a garrison there to guard it; he also fortified Beth-Zur, so that the people would have a fortress confronting Idumaea.

Wars with neighbouring nations. (1Mace.5.1-68)

5¹When the surrounding nations heard that the altar had been rebuilt and the sanctuary restored to what it had been before, they became very angry ²and decided to destroy the descendants of Jacob living among them; they began to murder and evict our people. ³Judas made war on the sons of Esau in Idumaea, in the region of Acrabattene where they were besieging the Israelites. He dealt them a serious blow, drove them off and despoiled them. ⁴He also remembered the wickedness of the sons of Baean, who were a menace and a trap for the people with their ambushes on the roads. ⁵Having blockaded them in their town and besieged them, he put them under the curse of destruction; he then set fire to their towers and burned them down with everyone inside. ⁶Next, he crossed over to the Ammonites where he found a strong fighting force and a numerous people, commanded by Timotheus. ⁷He fought many battles with them, defeated them and cut them to pieces. ⁸Having captured Jazer and its dependent villages, he retired to Judaea. ⁹Next, the gentiles of Gilead banded together to destroy the Israelites living in their territory. The latter, however, took refuge in the fortress of Dathema, ¹⁰and sent the following letter to Judas and his brothers: 'The gentiles round us have banded themselves together against us to destroy us, ¹¹and they are preparing to storm the fortress in which we have taken refuge; Timotheus is in command of their forces. ¹²Come at once and rescue us from their clutches, for we have already suffered great losses. ¹³All our countrymen living in Tobias' country have been killed, their women and children have been taken into captivity, their property has been seized, and about a thousand men have been destroyed there.' ¹⁴While the letter was being read, other messengers arrived from Galilee with their garments torn, bearing similar news, ¹⁵'The people of Ptolemais, Tyre and Sidon have joined forces with the whole of gentile Galilee to destroy us!' ¹⁶When Judas and the people heard this, they held a great assembly to decide what should be done for their oppressed countrymen who were under attack from their enemies. ¹⁷Judas said to his brother Simon, 'Pick your men and go and relieve your countrymen in Galilee, while my brother Jonathan and I make our way into Gilead.' ¹⁸He left Joseph son of Zechariah and the people's leader Azariah with the remainder of the army in Judaea to keep guard, and gave them these orders, ¹⁹'You are to be responsible for our people. Do not engage the gentiles until we return.' ²⁰Simon was allotted three thousand men for the expedition into Galilee, Judas eight thousand for Gilead. ²¹Simon advanced into Galilee, engaged the gentiles in several battles and swept all before him; ²²he pursued them to the gate of Ptolemais, and they lost about three thousand men, whose spoils he collected. ²³With him, he took away the Jews of Galilee and Arbatta, with their wives and children and all their possessions, and brought them into Judaea with great rejoicing. ²⁴Meanwhile Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan crossed the Jordan and made a three-days' march through the desert, ²⁵where they encountered the Nabataeans, who gave them a friendly reception and told them everything that had been happening to their brothers in Gilead, ²⁶many of whom, they said, were shut up in Bozrah and Bosor, Alema, Chaspho, Maked and Carnaim, all large fortified towns. ²⁷Others were blockaded in the other towns of Gilead, and the enemy planned to attack and capture these strongholds the very next day, and destroy all the people inside them on one day. ²⁸Judas and his army at once turned off by the desert road to Bozrah. He took the town and, having put all the males to the sword and collected the booty, burned it down. ²⁹When night came, he left the place, and they continued their march until they reached the fortress. ³⁰In the light of dawn they looked, and there was an innumerable horde, setting up ladders and engines to capture the fortress; the assault was just beginning. ³¹When Judas saw that the attack had begun and that the war cry was rising to heaven from the city, mingled with trumpet calls and a great clamour, ³²he said to the men of his army, 'Into battle today for your brothers!' ³³Dividing them into three commands, he advanced on the enemy's rear, with trumpets sounding and prayers shouted aloud. ³⁴The troops of Timotheus, recognising that this was Maccabaeus, fled before his advance; Maccabaeus dealt them a crushing defeat; about eight thousand of their men fell that day. ³⁵Then, wheeling on Alema, he attacked and captured it and, having killed all the males and collected the booty, burned the place down. ³⁶From there he moved on and took Chaspho, Maked, Bosor and the remaining towns of Gilead. ³⁷After these events, Timotheus mustered another force and pitched camp opposite Raphon, on the far side of the stream-bed. ³⁸Judas sent men to reconnoitre the camp, and these reported back as follows, 'With him are massed all the gentiles surrounding us, making a very numerous army, ³⁹with Arab mercenaries as auxiliaries; they are encamped on the far side of the stream-bed, and ready to launch an attack on you.' Judas then advanced to engage them, ⁴⁰and was approaching the watercourse with his troops when Timotheus told the commanders of his army, 'If he crosses first we shall not be able to resist him, because he will have a great advantage over us; ⁴¹but if he is afraid and camps on the other side of the stream, we shall cross over to him and the advantage will then be ours.' ⁴²As soon as Judas reached the watercourse, he posted people's scribes along it, giving them this order: 'Do not let anyone pitch his tent; all are to go into battle!' ⁴³He was himself the first across to the enemy side, with all the people following. He defeated all the opposing gentiles, who threw down their arms and ran for refuge in the sanctuary of Carnaim. ⁴⁴The Jews first captured the town and then burned down the temple with everyone inside. And so Carnaim was overthrown, and the enemy could offer no further resistance to Judas. ⁴⁵Next, Judas assembled all the Israelites living in Gilead, from the least to the greatest, with their wives, children and belongings, an enormous muster, to take them to Judaea. ⁴⁶They reached Ephron, a large town straddling the road and strongly fortified. As it was impossible to by-pass it either to right or to left, there was nothing for it but to march straight through. ⁴⁷But the people of the town denied them passage and barricaded the gates with stones. ⁴⁸Judas sent them a conciliatory message in these terms, 'We want to pass through your territory to reach our own; no one will do you any harm, we only want to go through on foot.' But they would not open up for him. ⁴⁹So Judas sent an order down the column for everyone to halt where he stood. ⁵⁰The fighting men took up their positions; Judas attacked the town all day and night, and the town fell to him. ⁵¹He put all the males to the sword, rased the town to the ground, plundered it and marched through the town square over the bodies of the dead. ⁵²They then crossed the Jordan into the Great Plain, opposite Beth-Shean, ⁵³Judas all the time rallying the stragglers and encouraging the people the whole way until they reached Judaea. ⁵⁴They climbed Mount Zion in joy and gladness and presented burnt offerings because they had returned safe and sound without having lost a single man. ⁵⁵While Judas and Jonathan were in Gilead and Simon his brother in Galilee outside Ptolemais, ⁵⁶Joseph son of Zechariah, and Azariah, who were in command of the army, heard of their valiant deeds and of the battles they had been fighting, ⁵⁷and said, 'Let us make a name for ourselves too and go and fight the nations around us.' ⁵⁸So they issued orders to the men under their command and marched on Jamnia. ⁵⁹Gorgias and his men came out of the town and gave battle. ⁶⁰Joseph and Azariah were routed and pursued as far as the frontiers of Judaea. That day about two thousand Israelites lost their lives. ⁶¹Our people thus met with a great reverse, because they had not listened to Judas and his brothers, thinking that they would do something equally valiant. ⁶²They were not, however, of the same breed of men as those to whom the deliverance of Israel was entrusted. ⁶³The noble Judas and his brothers, however, were held in high honour throughout Israel and among all the nations wherever their name was heard, ⁶⁴and people thronged round to acclaim them. ⁶⁵Judas marched out with his brothers to fight the Edomites in the country towards the south; he stormed Hebron and its dependent villages, threw down its fortifications and burned down its encircling towers. ⁶⁶Leaving there, he made for the country of the Philistines and passed through Marisa. ⁶⁷Among the fallen in that day's fighting were some priests who sought to prove their courage there by joining in the battle, a foolhardy venture. ⁶⁸Judas next turned on Azotus, which belonged to the Philistines; he overthrew their altars, burned the statues of their gods and, having pillaged their towns, withdrew to Judaea.

Death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. (1Mace.6.1-17)

6¹King Antiochus, meanwhile, was making his way through the Upper Provinces; he had heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais, renowned for its riches, its silver and gold, ²and its very wealthy temple containing golden armour, breastplates and weapons, left there by Alexander son of Philip, the king of Macedon, the first to reign over the Greeks. ³He therefore went and attempted to take the city and pillage it, but without success, the citizens having been forewarned. ⁴They resisted him by force of arms. He was routed, and began retreating, very gloomily, towards Babylon. ⁵But, while he was still in Persia, news reached him that the armies which had invaded Judaea had been routed, ⁶and that Lysias in particular had advanced in massive strength, only to be forced to turn and flee before the Jews; that the latter were now stronger than ever, thanks to the arms, supplies and abundant spoils acquired from the armies they had cut to pieces, ⁷and that they had pulled down the abomination which he had erected on the altar in Jerusalem, had encircled the sanctuary with high walls as in the past, and had fortified Beth-Zur, one of his cities. ⁸When the king heard this news he was amazed and profoundly shaken; he threw himself on his bed and fell sick with grief, since things had not turned out for him as he had planned. ⁹And there he remained for many days, subject to deep and recurrent fits of melancholy, until he realised that he was dying. ¹⁰Then, summoning all his Friends, he said to them, 'Sleep evades my eyes, and my heart is cowed by anxiety. ¹¹I have been wondering how I could have come to such a pitch of distress, so great a flood as that which now engulfs me—I who was so generous and well-loved in my heyday. ¹²But now I recall how wrongly I acted in Jerusalem when I seized all the vessels of silver and gold there and ordered the extermination of the inhabitants of Judah for no reason at all. ¹³This, I am convinced, is why these misfortunes have overtaken me, and why I am dying of melancholy in a foreign land.' ¹⁴He summoned Philip, one of his Friends, and made him regent of the whole kingdom. ¹⁵He entrusted him with his diadem, his robe and his signet, on the understanding that he was to educate his son Antiochus and train him for the throne. ¹⁶King Antiochus then died, in the year 149. ¹⁷Lysias, learning that the king was dead, established on the throne in succession to him his son Antiochus, whom he had brought up from childhood—and styled him Eupator.

The campaign of Antiochus V Eupator & Lysias. (1Mace.6.18-63)

¹⁸The people in the Citadel at the time were blockading Israel round the sanctuary and were taking every opportunity to harm them and to support the gentiles. ¹⁹Judas decided that they must be destroyed, and he mobilised the whole people to besiege them. ²⁰They assembled and laid siege to the Citadel in the year 150, building batteries and siege-engines. ²¹But some of the besieged broke through the blockade, and to these a number of renegades from Israel attached themselves. ²²They made their way to the king and said, 'How much longer are you going to wait before you see justice done and avenge our fellows? ²³We were content to serve your father, to comply with his orders, and to obey his edicts. ²⁴As a result our own people will have nothing to do with us; what is more, they have killed all those of us they could catch, and looted our family property. ²⁵Nor is it on us alone that their blows have fallen, but on all your territories. ²⁶At this moment, they are laying siege to the Citadel of Jerusalem, to capture it, and they have fortified the sanctuary and Beth-Zur. ²⁷Unless you forestall them at once, they will go on to even bigger things, and then you will never be able to control them.' ²⁸The king was furious when he heard this and summoned all his Friends, the generals of his forces and the marshals of horse. ²⁹He recruited mercenaries from other kingdoms and the Mediterranean islands. ³⁰His forces numbered a hundred thousand foot soldiers, twenty thousand cavalry and thirty-two elephants with experience of battle conditions. ³¹They advanced through Idumaea and besieged Beth-Zur, pressing the attack for days on end; they also constructed siege-engines, but the defenders made a sortie and set these on fire, putting up a brave resistance. ³²At this, Judas left the Citadel and pitched camp at Beth-Zechariah opposite the royal encampment. ³³The king rose at daybreak and marched his army at top speed down the road to Beth-Zechariah, where his forces took up their battle formations and sounded the trumpets. ³⁴The elephants were given a syrup of grapes and mulberries to prepare them for the battle. ³⁵These animals were distributed among the phalanxes, to each elephant being allocated a thousand men dressed in coats of mail with bronze helmets on their heads; five hundred picked horsemen were also assigned to each beast. ³⁶The horsemen anticipated every move their elephant made; wherever it went they went with it, never quitting it. ³⁷On each elephant, to protect it, was a stout wooden tower, kept in position by girths, each with its three combatants, as well as its mahout. ³⁸The remainder of the cavalry was stationed on one or other of the two flanks of the army, to harass the enemy and cover the phalanxes. ³⁹When the sun glinted on the bronze and golden shields, the mountains caught the glint and gleamed like fiery torches. ⁴⁰One part of the royal army was deployed on the upper slopes of the mountain and the other in the valley below; they advanced in solid, well-disciplined formation. ⁴¹Everyone trembled at the noise made by this vast multitude, the thunder of the troops on the march and the clanking of their armour, for it was an immense and mighty army. ⁴²Judas and his army advanced to give battle, and six hundred of the king's army were killed. ⁴³Eleazar, called Avaran, noticing that one of the elephants was royally caparisoned and was also taller than all the others, and supposing that the king was mounted on it, ⁴⁴sacrificed himself to save his people and win an imperishable name. ⁴⁵Boldly charging towards the creature through the thick of the phalanx, dealing death to right and left, so that the enemy scattered on either side at his onslaught, ⁴⁶he darted in under the elephant, thrust at it from underneath, and killed it. The beast collapsed on top of him, and he died on the spot. ⁴⁷The Jews however realising how strong the king was and how ferocious his army, retreated ahead of them. ⁴⁸The royal army moved up to encounter them outside Jerusalem, and the king began to blockade Judaea and Mount Zion. ⁴⁹He granted peace terms to the people of Beth-Zur, who evacuated the town; it lacked store of 'provisions to withstand a siege, since the land was enjoying a sabbatical year. ⁵⁰Having occupied Beth-Zur, the king stationed a garrison there to hold it. ⁵¹He besieged the sanctuary for a long time, erecting batteries and siege-engines, flame-throwers and ballistas, scorpions to discharge arrows, and catapults. ⁵²The defenders countered these by constructing their own engines and were thus able to prolong their resistance. ⁵³But they had no food in their stores since it was the seventh year, and because those who had taken refuge in Judaea from the gentiles had eaten up the last of their reserves. ⁵⁴Only a few men were left in the Holy Place, owing to the severity of the famine; the rest had dispersed and gone home. ⁵⁵Meanwhile Philip, whom King Antiochus before his death had appointed to train his son Antiochus for the throne, ⁵⁶had returned from Persia and Media with the forces that had accompanied the king, and was planning to seize control of affairs. ⁵⁷On hearing this, Lysias at once decided to leave, and said to the king, the generals of the army and the men, 'We are growing weaker every day, we are short of food, and the place we are besieging is well fortified; moreover the affairs of the kingdom demand our attention. ⁵⁸Let us offer the hand of friendship to these men and make peace with them and with their whole nation. ⁵⁹Let us grant them permission to follow their own customs as before, since it is our abolition of these customs that has provoked them into acting like this.' ⁶⁰The king and his commanders approved this argument, and he offered the Jews peace terms, which they accepted. ⁶¹The king and the generals ratified the treaty by oath, and the besieged accordingly left the fortress. ⁶²The king then entered Mount Zion, but on seeing how impregnable the place was, he broke the oath he had sworn and gave orders for the encircling wall to be demolished. ⁶³He then hurriedly withdrew, making off for Antioch, where he found Philip already master of the city. Antiochus gave battle and captured the city by force of arms.

The high priest Alcimus & the campaign of Nicanor. (161 BCE) (1Mace.7.1-50)

7¹In the year 151, Demetrius son of Seleucus left Rome and arrived with a few men at a town on the coast, where he inaugurated his reign. ²It so happened that, as he was entering the royal residence of his ancestors, the army captured Antiochus and Lysias, and intended to bring them to him. ³On hearing this, he said, 'Keep them out of my sight.' ⁴The army put them to death, and Demetrius ascended his throne. ⁵Next, all those Israelites without law or piety, led by Alcimus, whose ambition was to become high priest, ⁶approached the king and denounced our people to him. 'Judas and his brothers', they said, 'have killed all your friends, and he has driven us out of our country. ⁷Send someone now whom you can trust; let him go and see the wholesale ruin Judas has brought on us and on the king's dominions, and let him punish the wretches and all who assist them.' ⁸The king chose Bacchides, one of the Friends of the King, governor of Transeuphrates, an important personage in the kingdom and loyal to the king. ⁹He sent him with the godless Alcimus, whom he confirmed in the high priesthood, with orders to exact retribution from the Israelites. ¹⁰So they set out with a large force and, on reaching Judaea, sent emissaries to Judas and his brothers with proposals peaceable yet treacherous. ¹¹The latter, however, did not put any faith in their words, aware that they had come with a large force. ¹²Nevertheless, a commission of scribes presented themselves before Alcimus and Bacchides, to sue for just terms. ¹³The first among the Israelites to ask them for peace terms were the Hasidaeans, ¹⁴who reasoned thus, 'This is a priest of Aaron's line who has come with the armed forces; he will not wrong us.' ¹⁵He did in fact discuss peace terms with them and gave them his oath, 'We shall not attempt to injure you or your friends.' ¹⁶They believed him, but he arrested sixty of them and put them to death on one day, fulfilling the words of scripture:

¹⁷They have scattered the bodies of your faithful, and shed their blood all round Jerusalem, leaving no one to bury them!

¹⁸At this, fear and dread gripped the whole people. 'There is no truth or virtue in them,' they said, 'they have broken their agreement and their sworn oath.' ¹⁹Bacchides then left Jerusalem and encamped at Beth-Zeth, and from there sent and arrested many of the men who had deserted him and a few of our people too; he had them killed and thrown down the great well. ²⁰He then put Alcimus in charge of the province, leaving an army with him to support him; Bacchides himself returned to the king. ²¹Alcimus continued his struggle to become high priest, ²²and all who were disturbing the peace of their own people rallied to him, and, having won control of Judaea, did much harm in Israel. ²³Seeing that all the wrongs done to the Israelites by Alcimus and his supporters exceeded what the Gentiles had done, ²⁴Judas went right round the whole territory of Judaea to take vengeance on those who had deserted him and to prevent their free movement about the country. ²⁵When Alcimus saw how strong Judas and his supporters had grown and realised that he was powerless to resist them, he went back to the king, to whom he made malicious accusations against them. ²⁶The king sent Nicanor, one of his generals ranking as Illustrious and a bitter enemy of Israel, with orders to exterminate the people. ²⁷Reaching Jerusalem with a large force, Nicanor sent a friendly, yet treacherous, message to Judas and his brothers, as follows: ²⁸'Let us have no fighting between you and me; I shall come with a small escort for a peaceful meeting with you.' ²⁹He met Judas and they exchanged friendly greetings; the enemy, however, had made preparations to abduct Judas. ³⁰When Judas became aware of Nicanor's treacherous purpose in coming to see him, he took fright and refused any further meeting. ³¹Nicanor then realised that his plan had been discovered, and took the field against Judas, to give battle near Caphar-Salama. ³²About five hundred of Nicanor's men fell; the rest took refuge in the City of David. ³³After these events Nicanor went up to Mount Zion. Some of the priests came out of the Holy Place with some elders, to give him a friendly welcome and show him the burnt offering being presented for the king. ³⁴But he ridiculed them, laughed at them, defiled them and used insolent language, swearing in his rage, ³⁵'Unless Judas is handed over to me this time with his army, as soon as I am safely back, I promise you, I shall burn this building down!' ³⁶Then he went off in a fury. At this, the priests went in again, and stood weeping in front of the altar and the Temple, saying,

³⁷'You have chosen this house to be called by your name, to be a house of prayer and petition for your people. ³⁸Take vengeance on this man and on his army, and let them fall by the sword; remember their blasphemies and give them no respite.'

³⁹Nicanor left Jerusalem and encamped at Beth-Horon, where he was joined by an army from Syria. ⁴⁰Judas, meanwhile, camped at Adasa with three thousand men, and offered this prayer, ⁴¹'When the king's envoys blasphemed, your angel went out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand of his men. ⁴²In the same way let us see you crush this army today, so that everyone else may know that this man has spoken blasphemously against your sanctuary: pass judgement on him as his wickedness deserves!' ⁴³The armies met in battle on the thirteenth of the month Adar, and Nicanor's army was crushed, he himself being the first to fall in the battle. ⁴⁴When Nicanor's soldiers saw him fall, they threw down their arms and fled. ⁴⁵The Jews pursued them a day's journey, from Adasa to the approaches of Gezer; they sounded their trumpets in warning as they followed them, ⁴⁶and people came out of all the surrounding Judaean villages to encircle the fugitives, who then turned back on their own men. All fell by the sword, not one being left alive. ⁴⁷Having collected the spoils and booty, they cut off Nicanor's head and the right hand he had stretched out in a display of insolence; these were taken and displayed within sight of Jerusalem. ⁴⁸The people were overjoyed and kept that day as a great holiday: ⁴⁹indeed they decided to celebrate it annually on the thirteenth of Adar. ⁵⁰For a short while Judaea enjoyed peace.

The treaty with the Romans. (1Mace.8.1-32)

8¹Now Judas had heard of the reputation of the Romans: how strong they were, and how well disposed towards any who made common cause with them, making a treaty of friendship with anyone who approached them. ²(And, indeed, they were extremely powerful.) He had been told of their wars and of their prowess among the Gauls, whom they had conquered and put under tribute; ³and of all they had done in the province of Spain to gain possession of the silver and gold mines there, ⁴making themselves masters of the whole country by their determination and perseverance, despite its great distance from their own; of the kings who came from the ends of the earth to attack them, only to be crushed by them and overwhelmed with disaster, and of others who paid them annual tribute; ⁵Philip, Perseus king of the Kittim, and others who had dared to make war on them, had been defeated and reduced to subjection, ⁶while Antiochus the Great, king of Asia, who had advanced to attack them with a hundred and twenty elephants, cavalry, chariots and a very large army, had also suffered defeat at their hands; ⁷they had taken him alive and imposed on him and his successors, on agreed terms, the payment of an enormous tribute, the surrender of hostages, and the cession ⁸of the Indian territory, with Media, Lydia, and some of their best provinces, which they took from him and gave to King Eumenes. ⁹Judas had also heard how, when the Greeks planned an expedition to destroy the Romans, ¹⁰the latter had got wind of it and, sending a single general against them, had fought a campaign in which they inflicted heavy casualties, carried their women and children away into captivity, pillaged their goods, subdued their country, tore down their fortresses and reduced them to a slavery lasting to the present day; ¹¹and how they had destroyed and subjugated all the other kingdoms and islands that resisted them. ¹²But where their friends and those who relied on them were concerned, they had always stood by their friendship. They had subdued kings far and near, and all who heard their name went in terror of them. ¹³One man, if they determined to help him and advance him to a throne, would certainly occupy it, while another, if they so determined, would find himself deposed; their influence was paramount. ¹⁴In spite of all this, no single one of them had assumed a crown or put on the purple for his own aggrandisement. ¹⁵They had set up a senate, where three hundred and twenty councillors deliberated daily, constantly debating how best to regulate public affairs. ¹⁶They entrusted their government to one man for a year at a time, with absolute power over their whole empire, and this man was obeyed by all without envy or jealousy. ¹⁷Having chosen Eupolemus son of John, of the family of Accos, and Jason son of Eleazar, Judas sent them to Rome to make a treaty of friendship and alliance with these people, ¹⁸in the hope of being rid of the yoke, for they could see that Greek rule was reducing Israel to slavery. ¹⁹The envoys made the lengthy journey to Rome and presented themselves before the Senate with their formal proposal: ²⁰'Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, with the Jewish people, have sent us to you to conclude a treaty of alliance and peace with you, and to enrol ourselves as your allies and friends.' ²¹The proposal met with the approval of the senators. ²²Here is a copy of the rescript which they engraved on bronze tablets and sent to Jerusalem to be kept there by the Jews as a record of peace and alliance: ²³'Good fortune attend the Romans and the Jewish nation by sea and land for ever; may sword or enemy be far from them! ²⁴'If war comes first to Rome or any of her allies throughout her dominions, ²⁵the Jewish nation will take action as her ally, as occasion may require, and do it wholeheartedly. ²⁶They will not give or supply to the enemy any grain, arms, money or ships: thus has Rome decided, and they are to honour their obligations without guarantees. ²⁷In the same way, if war comes first to the Jewish nation, the Romans will support them energetically as occasion may offer, ²⁸and the aggressor will not be furnished with grain, arms, money or ships: such is the Roman decision, and they will honour these obligations without treachery. ²⁹Such are the articles under which the Romans have concluded their treaty with the Jewish people. ³⁰If, later, either party should decide to make any addition or deletion, they will be free to do so, and any such addition or deletion will be binding. ³¹'As regards the wrongs done to them by King Demetrius, we have written to him in these terms: Why have you made your yoke lie heavy on our friends and allies the Jews? ³²If they appeal against you again, we shall uphold their rights and make war on you by sea and land.'

Death of Judas Maccabaeus. (1Mace.9.1-22)

9¹Demetrius, hearing that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, sent Bacchides and Alcimus a second time into Judaea, and with them the right wing of his army. ²They took the road to Galilee and besieged Mesaloth in Arbela, and captured it, putting many people to death. ³In the first month of the year 152, they encamped outside Jerusalem; ⁴they then moved on, making their way to Beer-Zaith with twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse. ⁵Judas lay in camp at Elasa, with three thousand picked men. ⁶When they saw the huge size of the enemy forces they were terrified, and many slipped out of the camp, until no more than eight hundred of the force were left. ⁷With battle now inevitable, Judas realised that his army had melted away; he was aghast, for he had no time to rally them. ⁸Yet, dismayed as he was, he said to those who were left, 'Up! Let us face the enemy; we may yet have the strength to fight them.' ⁹His men tried to dissuade him, declaring, 'We have no strength for anything but to escape with our lives this time; then we can come back with our brothers to fight them; by ourselves we are too few.' ¹⁰Judas retorted, 'That I should do such a thing as run away from them! If our time has come, at least let us die like men for our countrymen, and leave nothing to tarnish our reputation.' ¹¹The army marched out of camp and drew up, facing the enemy. The cavalry was drawn up in two squadrons; the slingers and archers marched in the van of the army, and all the best fighters were put in the front rank; ¹²Bacchides was on the right wing. The phalanx advanced from between the two squadrons, sounding the trumpets; the men on Judas' side also blew their trumpets, ¹³and the earth shook with the noise of the armies. The engagement lasted from morning until evening. ¹⁴Judas saw that Bacchides and the main strength of his army lay on the right; all the stout-hearted rallied to him, ¹⁵and they crushed the right wing, pursuing them as far as the Azara Hills. ¹⁶But when the Syrians on the left wing saw that the right had been broken, they turned and followed hot on the heels of Judas and his men to take them in the rear. ¹⁷The fight became desperate, and there were many casualties on both sides. ¹⁸Judas himself fell, and the remnant fled. ¹⁹Jonathan and Simon took up their brother Judas and buried him in his ancestral tomb at Modein. ²⁰All Israel wept and mourned him deeply and for many days they repeated this dirge.

²¹'What a downfall for the strong man, the man who kept Israel safe!'

²²The other deeds of Judas, the battles he fought, the exploits he performed, and all his titles to greatness have not been recorded; but they were very many.