1 Maccabees 3–4

Chapter 3

¹Then Judas his son, who was called Maccabeus, took command in his place. ²All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him; they gladly fought for Israel.

³He extended the glory of his people.

Like a giant he put on his breastplate;

he girded on his armor of war and waged battles,

protecting the host by his sword.

⁴He was like a lion in his deeds,

like a lion’s cub roaring for prey.

⁵He searched out and pursued the lawless;

he burned those who troubled his people.

⁶Lawless men shrank back for fear of him;

all the evildoers were confounded;

and deliverance prospered by his hand.

⁷He embittered many kings,

but he made Jacob glad by his deeds,

and his memory is blessed for ever.

⁸He went through the cities of Judah;^j

he destroyed the ungodly out of the land;

thus he turned away wrath from Israel.

⁹He was renowned to the ends of the earth;

he gathered in those who were perishing.

¹⁰But Apollonius gathered together Gentiles and a large force from Samaria to fight against Israel. ¹¹When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him, and he defeated and killed him. Many were wounded and fell, and the rest fled. ¹²Then they seized their spoils; and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and used it in battle the rest of his life.

¹³Now when Seron, the commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had gathered a large company, including a body of faithful men who stayed with him and went out to battle, ¹⁴he said, “I will make a name for myself and win honor in the kingdom. I will make war on Judas and his companions, who scorn the king’s command.” ¹⁵And again a strong army of ungodly men went up with him to help him, to take vengeance on the sons of Israel.

¹⁶When he approached the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a small company. ¹⁷But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, “How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing today.” ¹⁸Judas replied, “It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few. ¹⁹It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven. ²⁰They come against us in great pride and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us; ²¹but we fight for our lives and our laws. ²²He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them.”

²³When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him. ²⁴They pursued them^k down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain; eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines. ²⁵Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell upon the Gentiles round about them. ²⁶His fame reached the king, and the Gentiles talked of the battles of Judas.

²⁷When king Antiochus heard these reports, he was greatly angered; and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army. ²⁸And he opened his coffers and gave a year’s pay to his forces, and ordered them to be ready for any need. ²⁹Then he saw that the money in the treasury was exhausted, and that the revenues from the country were small because of the dissension and disaster which he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days. ³⁰He feared that he might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the gifts which he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings. ³¹He was greatly perplexed in mind, and determined to go to Persia and collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund.

³²He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal lineage, in charge of the king’s affairs from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt. ³³Lysias was also to take care of Antiochus his son until he returned. ³⁴And he turned over to Lysias^l half of his troops and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wanted done. As for the residents of Judea and Jerusalem, ³⁵Lysias was to send a force against them to wipe out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem; he was to banish the memory of them from the place, ³⁶settle aliens in all their territory, and distribute their land. ³⁷Then the king took the remaining half of his troops and departed from Antioch his capital in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the Euphrates river and went through the upper provinces.

³⁸Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, mighty men among the friends of the king, ³⁹and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, as the king had commanded. ⁴⁰so they departed with their entire force, and when they arrived they encamped near Emmaus in the plain. ⁴¹When the traders of the region heard what was said to them, they took silver and gold in immense amounts, and fetters,ⁿ and went to the camp to get the sons of Israel for slaves. And forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines joined with them.

⁴²Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction. ⁴³But they said to one another, “Let us repair the destruction of our people, and fight for our people and the sanctuary.” ⁴⁴And the congregation assembled to be ready for battle, and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.

⁴⁵Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness;

not one of her children went in or out.

The sanctuary was trampled down,

and the sons of aliens held the citadel;

it was a lodging place for the Gentiles.

Joy was taken from Jacob;

the flute and the harp ceased to play.

⁴⁶So they assembled and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Israel formerly had a place of prayer in Mizpah. ⁴⁷They fasted that day, put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads, and rent their clothes. ⁴⁸And they opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the Gentiles were consulting the images of their idols. ⁴⁹They also brought the garments of the priesthood and the first fruits and the tithes, and they stirred up the Nazirites who had completed their days; ⁵⁰and they cried aloud to Heaven, saying,

“What shall we do with these?

Where shall we take them?

⁵¹Thy sanctuary is trampled down and profaned,

and thy priests mourn in humiliation.

⁵²And behold, the Gentiles are assembled against us to destroy us;

thou knowest what they plot against us.

⁵³How will we be able to withstand them,

if thou dost not help us?”

⁵⁴Then they sounded the trumpets and gave a loud shout. ⁵⁵After this Judas appointed leaders of the people, in charge of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens. ⁵⁶And he said to those who were building houses, or were betrothed, or were planting vineyards, or were fainthearted, that each should return to his home, according to the law. ⁵⁷Then the army marched out and encamped to the south of Emmaus.

⁵⁸And Judas said, “Gird yourselves and be valiant. Be ready early in the morning to fight with these Gentiles who have assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary. ⁵⁹It is better for us to die in battle than to see the misfortunes of our nation and of the sanctuary. ⁶⁰But as his will in heaven may be, so he will do.”

Chapter 4

¹Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and a thousand picked cavalry, and this division moved out by night ²to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides. ³But Judas heard of it, and he and his mighty men moved out to attack the king’s force in Emmaus ⁴while the division was still absent from the camp. ⁵When Gorgias entered the camp of Judas by night, he found no one there, so he looked for them in the hills, because he said, “These men are fleeing from us.”

⁶At daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, but they did not have armor and swords such as they desired. ⁷And they saw the camp of the Gentiles, strong and fortified, with cavalry round about it; and these men were trained in war. ⁸But Judas said to the men who were with him, “Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge. ⁹Remember how our fathers were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them. ¹⁰And now let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favor us and remember his covenant with our fathers and crush this army before us today. ¹¹Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel.”

¹²When the foreigners looked up and saw them coming against them, ¹³they went forth from their camp to battle. Then the men with Judas blew their trumpets ¹⁴and engaged in battle. The Gentiles were crushed and fled into the plain, ¹⁵and all those in the rear fell by the sword. They pursued them to Gazara, and to the plains of Idumea, and to Azotus and Jamnia; and three thousand of them fell. ¹⁶Then Judas and his force turned back from pursuing them, ¹⁷and he said to the people, “Do not be greedy for plunder, for there is a battle before us; ¹⁸Gorgias and his force are near us in the hills. But stand now against our enemies and fight them, and afterward seize the plunder boldly.”

¹⁹Just as Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared, coming out of the hills. ²⁰They saw that their army^o had been put to flight, and that the Jews^o were burning the camp, for the smoke that was seen showed what had happened. ²¹When they perceived this they were greatly frightened, and when they also saw the army of Judas drawn up in the plain for battle, ²²they all fled into the land of the Philistines. ²³Then Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they seized much gold and silver, and cloth dyed blue and sea purple, and great riches. ²⁴On their return they…