1 Now in the hundred and sixtieth year Alexander the son of Antiochus, surnamed the Illustrious, came up and took Ptolemais, and they received him, and he reigned there.
2 And king Demetrius heard of it, and gathered together an exceeding great army, and went forth against him to fight.
3 And Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan with peaceable words, to magnify him.
4 For he said: Let us first make a peace with him, before he make one with Alexander against us.
5 For he will remember all the evils that we have done against him, and against his brother, and against his nation.
6 And he gave him authority to gather together an army, and to make arms, and that he should be his confederate: and the hostages that were in the castle, he commanded to be delivered to him.
7 And Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letters in the hearing of all the people, and of them that were in the castle.
8 And they were struck with great fear, because they heard that the king had given him authority to gather together an army.
9 And the hostages were delivered to Jonathan, and he restored them to their parents.
10 And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build, and to repair the city.
11 And he ordered workmen to build the walls, and mount Sion round about with square stones for fortification: and so they did.
12 And the strangers that were in the strong holds, which Bacchides had built, fled away.
13 And every man left his place, and departed into his own country:
14 Only in Bethsura there remained some of them, that had forsaken the law, and the commandments of God: for this was a place of refuge for them.
15 And king Alexander heard of the promises that Demetrius had made Jonathan: and they told him of the battles, and the worthy acts that he, and his brethren had done, and the labours that they had endured.
16 And he said: Shall we find such another man? now therefore we will make him our friend and our confederate.
17 So he wrote a letter, and sent it to him according to these words, saying:
18 King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greeting.
19 We have heard of thee, that thou art a man of great power, and fit to be our friend:
20 Now therefore we make thee this day high priest of thy nation, and that thou be called the king's friend, (and he sent him a purple robe, and a crown of gold,) and that thou be of one mind with us in our affairs, and keep friendship with us.
21 Then Jonathan put on the holy vestment in the seventh month, in the year one hundred and threescore, at the feast day of the tabernacles: and he gathered together an army, and made a great number of arms.
22 And Demetrius heard these words, and was exceeding sorry, and said:
23 What is this that we have done, that Alexander hath prevented us to gain the friendship of the Jews to strengthen himself?
24 I also will write to them words of request, and offer dignities, and gifts: that they may be with me to aid me.
25 And he wrote to them in these words: King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greeting.
26 Whereas you have kept covenant with us, and have continued in our friendship, and have not joined with our enemies, we have heard of it, and are glad.
27 Wherefore now continue still to keep fidelity towards us, and we will reward you with good things, for what you have done in our behalf.
28 And we will remit to you many charges, and will give you gifts.
29 And now I free you, and all the Jews from tributes, and I release you from the customs of salt, and remit the crowns, and the thirds of the seed:
30 And the half of the fruit of trees, which is my share, I leave to you from this day forward, so that it shall not be taken of the land of Juda, and of the three cities that are added thereto out of Samaria and Galilee, from this day forth and for ever:
31 And let Jerusalem be holy and free, with the borders thereof: and let the tenths, and tributes be for itself.
32 I yield up also the power of the castle that is in Jerusalem, and I give it to the high priest, to place therein such men as he shall choose to keep it.
33 And every soul of the Jews that hath been carried captive from the land of Juda in all my kingdom, I set at liberty freely, that all be discharged from tributes even of their cattle.
34 And I will that all the feasts, and the sabbaths, and the new moons, and the days appointed, and three days before the solemn day, and three days after the solemn day, be all days of immunity and freedom, for all the Jews that are in my kingdom:
35 And no man shall have power to do any thing against them, or to molest any of them, in any cause.
36 And let there be enrolled in the king's army to the number of thirty thousand of the Jews: and allowance shall be made them as is due to all the king's forces, and certain of them shall be appointed to be in the fortresses of the great king:
37 And some of them shall be set over the affairs of the kingdom, that are of trust, and let the governors be taken from among themselves, and let them walk in their own laws, as the king hath commanded in the land of Juda.
38 And the three cities that are added to Judea, out of the country of Samaria, let them be accounted with Judea: that they may be under one, and obey no other authority but that of the high priest:
39 Ptolemais, and the confines thereof, I give as a free gift to the holy places, that are in Jerusalem, for the necessary charges of the holy things.
40 And I give every year fifteen thousand sicles of silver out of the king's accounts, of what belongs to me:
41 And all that is above, which they that were over the affairs the years before, had not paid, from this time they shall give it to the works of the house.
42 Moreover the five thousand sicles of silver which they received from the account of the holy places, every year, shall also belong to the priests that execute the ministry.
43 And whosoever shall flee into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and in all the borders thereof, being indebted to the king for any matter, let them be set at liberty, and all that they have in my kingdom, let them have it free.
44 For the building also, or repairing the works of the holy places, the charges shall be given out of the king's revenues:
45 For the building also of the walls of Jerusalem, and the fortifying thereof round about, the charges shall be given out of the king's account, as also for the building of the walls in Judea.
46 Now when Jonathan, and the people heard these words, they gave no credit to them nor received them: because they remembered the great evil that he had done in Israel, for he had afflicted them exceedingly.
47 And their inclinations were towards Alexander, because he had been the chief promoter of peace in their regard, and him they always helped.
48 And king Alexander gathered together a great army, and moved his camp near to Demetrius.
49 And the two kings joined battle, and the army of Demetrius fled away, and Alexander pursued after him, and pressed them close.
50 And the battle was hard fought till the sun went down: and Demetrius was slain that day.
51 And Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemee king of Egypt, with words to this effect, saying:
52 Forasmuch as I am returned into my kingdom, and am set in the throne of my ancestors and have gotten the dominion, and have overthrown Demetrius, and possessed our country,
53 And have joined battle with him, and both he and his army have been destroyed by us, and we are placed in the throne of his kingdom:
54 Now therefore let us make friendship one with another: and give me now thy daughter to wife, and I will be thy son in law, and I will give both thee and her gifts worthy of thee.
55 And king Ptolemee answered, saying: Happy is the day wherein thou didst return to the land of thy fathers, and sattest in the throne of their kingdom.
56 And now I will do to thee as thou hast written: but meet me at Ptolemais, that we may see one another, and I may give her to thee as thou hast said.
57 So Ptolemee went out of Egypt, with Cleopatra his daughter, and he came to Ptolemais in the hundred and sixty-second year.
58 And king Alexander met him, and he gave him his daughter Cleopatra: and he celebrated her marriage at Ptolemais, with great glory, after the manner of kings.
59 And king Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should come and meet him.
60 And he went honourably to Ptolemais, and he met there the two kings, and he gave them much silver, and gold, and presents: and he found favour in their sight.
61 And some pestilent men of Israel, men of a wicked life, assembled themselves against him to accuse him: and the king gave no heed to them.
62 And he commanded that Jonathan's garments should be taken off, and that he should be clothed with purple: and they did so. And the king made him sit by himself.
63 And he said to his princes: Go out with him into the midst of the city, and make proclamation, that no man complain against him of any matter, and that no man trouble him for any manner of cause.
64 So when his accusers saw his glory proclaimed, and him clothed with purple, they all fled away.
65 And the king magnified him, and enrolled him amongst his chief friends, and made him governor and partaker of his dominion.
66 And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with peace and joy.
67 In the year one hundred and sixty-five Demetrius the son of Demetrius came from Crete into the land of his fathers.
68 And king Alexander heard of it, and was much troubled, and returned to Antioch.
69 And king Demetrius made Apollonius his general, who was governor of Celesyria: and he gathered together a great army, and came to Jamnia: and he sent to Jonathan the high priest,
70 Saying: Thou alone standest against us, and I am laughed at, and reproached, because thou shewest thy power against us in the mountains.
71 Now therefore if thou trustest in thy forces, come down to us into the plain, and there let us try one another: for with me is the strength of war.
72 Ask, and learn who I am, and the rest that help me, who also say that your foot cannot stand before our face, for thy fathers have twice been put to flight in their own land:
73 And now how wilt thou be able to abide the horsemen, and so great an army in the plain, where there is no stone, nor rock, nor place to flee to?
74 Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was moved in his mind: and he chose ten thousand men, and went out of Jerusalem, and Simon his brother met him to help him.
75 And they pitched their tents near Joppe, but they shut him out of the city: because a garrison of Apollonius was in Joppe, and he laid siege to it.
76 And they that were in the city being affrighted, opened the gates to him: so Jonathan took Joppe.
77 And Apollonius heard of it, and he took three thousand horsemen, and a great army.
78 And he went to Azotus as one that was making a journey, and immediately he went forth into the plain: because he had a great number of horsemen, and he trusted in them. And Jonathan followed after him to Azotus, and they joined battle.
79 And Apollonius left privately in the camp a thousand horsemen behind them.
80 And Jonathan knew that there was an ambush behind him, and they surrounded his army, and cast darts at the people from morning till evening.
81 But the people stood still, as Jonathan had commanded them: and so their horses were fatigued.
82 Then Simon drew forth his army, and attacked the legion: for the horsemen were wearied: and they were discomfited by him, and fled.
83 And they that were scattered about the plain, fled into Azotus, and went into Bethdagon their idol's temple, there to save themselves.
84 But Jonathan set fire to Azotus, and the cities that were around it, and took the spoils of them, and the temple of Dagon: and all them that were fled into it, he burnt with fire.
85 So they that were slain by the sword, with them that were burnt, were almost eight thousand men.
86 And Jonathan removed his army from thence, and camped against Ascalon: and they went out of the city to meet him with great honour.
87 And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with his people, having many spoils.
88 And it came to pass: When Alexander the king heard these words, that he honoured Jonathan yet more.
89 And he sent him a buckle of gold, as the custom is, to be given to such as are of the royal blood. And he gave him Accaron and all the borders thereof in possession.
1 Now Maccabeus and his company, the Lord guiding them, recovered the temple and the city:
2 But the altars which the heathen had built in the open street, and also the chapels, they pulled down.
3 And having cleansed the temple they made another altar, and striking stones they took fire out of them, and offered a sacrifice after two years, and set forth incense, and lights, and shewbread.
4 When that was done, they fell flat down, and besought the Lord that they might come no more into such troubles; but if they sinned any more against him, that he himself would chasten them with mercy, and that they might not be delivered unto the blasphemous and barbarous nations.
5 Now upon the same day that the strangers profaned the temple, on the very same day it was cleansed again, even the five and twentieth day of the same month, which is Casleu.
6 And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.
7 Therefore they bare branches, and fair boughs, and palms also, and sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.
8 They ordained also by a common statute and decree, That every year those days should be kept of the whole nation of the Jews.
9 And this was the end of Antiochus, called Epiphanes.
10 Now will we declare the acts of Antiochus Eupator, who was the son of this wicked man, gathering briefly the calamities of the wars.
11 So when he was come to the crown, he set one Lysias over the affairs of his realm, and appointed him his chief governor of Celosyria and Phenice.
12 For Ptolemeus, that was called Macron, choosing rather to do justice unto the Jews for the wrong that had been done unto them, endeavoured to continue peace with them.
13 Whereupon being accused of the king’s friends before Eupator, and called traitor at every word because he had left Cyprus, that Philometor had committed unto him, and departed to Antiochus Epiphanes, and seeing that he was in no honourable place, he was so discouraged, that he poisoned himself and died.
14 But when Gorgias was governor of the holds, he hired soldiers, and nourished war continually with the Jews:
15 And therewithall the Idumeans, having gotten into their hands the most commodious holds, kept the Jews occupied, and receiving those that were banished from Jerusalem, they went about to nourish war.
16 Then they that were with Maccabeus made supplication, and besought God that he would be their helper; and so they ran with violence upon the strong holds of the Idumeans,
17 And assaulting them strongly, they won the holds, and kept off all that fought upon the wall, and slew all that fell into their hands, and killed no fewer than twenty thousand.
18 And because certain, who were no less than nine thousand, were fled together into two very strong castles, having all manner of things convenient to sustain the siege,
19 Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, and Zaccheus also, and them that were with him, who were enough to besiege them, and departed himself unto those places which more needed his help.
20 Now they that were with Simon, being led with covetousness, were persuaded for money through certain of those that were in the castle, and took seventy thousand drachms, and let some of them escape.
21 But when it was told Maccabeus what was done, he called the governors of the people together, and accused those men, that they had sold their brethren for money, and set their enemies free to fight against them.
22 So he slew those that were found traitors, and immediately took the two castles.
23 And having good success with his weapons in all things he took in hand, he slew in the two holds more than twenty thousand.
24 Now Timotheus, whom the Jews had overcome before, when he had gathered a great multitude of foreign forces, and horses out of Asia not a few, came as though he would take Jewry by force of arms.
25 But when he drew near, they that were with Maccabeus turned themselves to pray unto God, and sprinkled earth upon their heads, and girded their loins with sackcloth,
26 And fell down at the foot of the altar, and besought him to be merciful to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to their adversaries, as the law declareth.
27 So after the prayer they took their weapons, and went on further from the city: and when they drew near to their enemies, they kept by themselves.
28 Now the sun being newly risen, they joined both together; the one part having together with their virtue their refuge also unto the Lord for a pledge of their success and victory: the other side making their rage leader of their battle
29 But when the battle waxed strong, there appeared unto the enemies from heaven five comely men upon horses, with bridles of gold, and two of them led the Jews,
30 And took Maccabeus betwixt them, and covered him on every side weapons, and kept him safe, but shot arrows and lightnings against the enemies: so that being confounded with blindness, and full of trouble, they were killed.
31 And there were slain of footmen twenty thousand and five hundred, and six hundred horsemen.
32 As for Timotheus himself, he fled into a very strong hold, called Gawra, where Chereas was governor.
33 But they that were with Maccabeus laid siege against the fortress courageously four days.
34 And they that were within, trusting to the strength of the place, blasphemed exceedingly, and uttered wicked words.
35 Nevertheless upon the fifth day early twenty young men of Maccabeus’ company, inflamed with anger because of the blasphemies, assaulted the wall manly, and with a fierce courage killed all that they met withal.
36 Others likewise ascending after them, whiles they were busied with them that were within, burnt the towers, and kindling fires burnt the blasphemers alive; and others broke open the gates, and, having received in the rest of the army, took the city,
37 And killed Timotheus, that was hid in a certain pit, and Chereas his brother, with Apollophanes.
38 When this was done, they praised the Lord with psalms and thanksgiving, who had done so great things for Israel, and given them the victory.