To their Jewish brethren in Egypt,

Greeting, and good peace.

2 May God do good to you, and may he remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants. ³May he give you all a heart to worship him and to do his will with a strong heart and a willing spirit. ⁴May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, and may he bring peace. ⁵May he hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may he not forsake you in time of evil. ⁶We are now praying for you here.

10 Those in Jerusalem and those in Judea and the senate and Judas,

To Aristob'ulus, who is of the family of the anointed priests, teacher of Ptol'emy the king, and to the Jews in Egypt,

Greeting, and good health.

18 Since on the twenty-fifth day of Chis'lev we shall celebrate the purification of the temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the feast of booths and the feast of the fire given when Nehemi'ah, who built the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.

“O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, who are awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, who alone are King and are kind, ²⁵who alone are bountiful, who alone are just and almighty and eternal, who rescue Israel from every evil, who chose the fathers and consecrated them, ²⁶accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and preserve your portion and make it holy. ²⁷Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look upon those who are rejected and despised, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God. ²⁸Afflict those who oppress and are insolent with pride. ²⁹Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses said.”

30 Then the priests sang the hymns. ³¹And when the materials of the sacrifice were consumed, Nehemi'ah ordered that the liquid that was left should be poured upon large stones. ³²When this was done, a flame blazed up; but when the light from the altar shone back, it went out. ³³When this matter became known, and it was reported to the king of the Persians that, in the place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, the liquid had appeared with which Nehemi'ah and his associates had burned the materials of the sacrifice, ³⁴the king investigated the matter, and enclosed the place and made it sacred. ³⁵And with those persons whom the king favored he exchanged many excellent gifts. ³⁶Nehemi'ah and his associates called this “nephthar,” which means purification, but by most people it is called naphtha. ^d

4 It was also in the writing that the prophet, having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. ⁵And Jeremi'ah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance. ⁶Some of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it. ⁷When Jeremi'ah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: “The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. ⁸And then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated.”

9 It was also made clear that being possessed of wisdom Solomon ^e offered sacrifice for the dedication and completion of the temple. ¹⁰Just as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven and devoured the sacrifices, so also Solomon prayed, and the fire came down and consumed the whole burnt offerings. ¹¹And Moses said, “They were consumed because the sin offering had not been eaten.” ¹²Likewise Solomon also kept the eight days.

13 The same things are reported in the records and in the memoirs of Nehemi'ah, and also that he founded a library and collected the books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings. ¹⁴In the same way Judas also collected all the books that had been lost on account of the war which had come upon us, and they are in our possession. ¹⁵So if you have need of them, send people to get them for you.

16 Since, therefore, we are about to celebrate the purification, we write to you. Will you therefore please keep the days? ¹⁷It is God who has saved all his people, and has returned the inheritance to all, and the kingship and priesthood and consecration, ¹⁸as he promised through the law. For we have hope in God that he will soon have mercy upon us and will gather us from everywhere under heaven into his holy place, for he has rescued us from great evils and has purified the place.

19 The story of Judas Mac''cabe'us and his brothers, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar, ²⁰and further the wars against Anti'ochus Epiph'anes and his son Eu'pator, ²¹and the appearances which came from heaven to those who strove zealously on behalf of Judaism, so that though few in number they seized the whole land and pursued the barbarian hordes, ²²and recovered the temple famous throughout the world and freed the city and restored the laws that were about to be abolished, while the Lord with great kindness became gracious to them—²³all this, which has been set forth by Jason of Cyre'ne in five volumes, we shall attempt to condense into a single book. ²⁴For considering the flood of numbers involved and the difficulty there is for those who wish to enter upon the narratives of history because of the mass of material, ²⁵we have aimed to please those who wish to read, to make it easy for those who are inclined to memorize, and to profit all readers. ²⁶For us who have undertaken the toil of abbreviating, it is no light matter but calls for sweat and loss of sleep, ²⁷just as it is not easy for one who prepares a banquet and seeks the benefit of others. However, to secure the gratitude of many we will gladly endure the uncomfortable toil, ²⁸leaving the responsibility for exact details to the compiler, while devoting our effort to arriving at the outlines of the condensation. ²⁹For as the master builder of a new house must be concerned with the whole construction, while the one who undertakes its painting and decoration has to consider only what is suitable for its adornment, such in my judgment is the case with us. ³⁰It is the duty of the original historian to occupy the ground and to discuss matters from every side and to take trouble with details, ³¹but the one who recasts the narrative should be allowed to strive for brevity of expression and to forego exhaustive treatment. ³²At this point therefore let us begin our narrative, adding only so much to what has already been said; for it is foolish to lengthen the preface while cutting short the history itself.

9 When he had arrived at Jerusalem and had been kindly welcomed by the high priest of ^h the city, he told about the disclosure that had been made and stated why he had come, and he inquired whether this really was the situation. ¹⁰The high priest explained that there were some deposits belonging to widows and orphans, ¹¹and also some money of Hyrca'nus, son of Tobi'as, a man of very prominent position, and that it totaled in all four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold. To such an extent the impious Simon had misrepresented the facts. ¹²And he said that it was utterly impossible that wrong should be done to those people who had trusted in the holiness of the place and in the sanctity and inviolability of the temple which is honored throughout the whole world. ¹³But He''liodo'rus, because of the king’s commands which he had, said that this money must in any case be confiscated for the king’s treasury. ¹⁴So he set a day and went in to direct the inspection of these funds.

There was no little distress throughout the whole city. ¹⁵The priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their priestly garments and called toward heaven upon him who had given the law about deposits, that he should keep them safe for those who had deposited them. ¹⁶To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart, for his face and the change in his color disclosed the anguish of his soul. ¹⁷For terror and bodily trembling had come over the man, which plainly showed to those who looked at him the pain lodged in his heart. ¹⁸People also hurried out of their houses in crowds to make a general supplication because the holy place was about to be brought into contempt. ¹⁹Women, clothed with sackcloth under their breasts, thronged the streets. Some of the maidens who were kept indoors ran together to the gates, and some to the walls, while others peered out of the windows. ²⁰And holding up their hands to heaven, they all made entreaty. ²¹There was something pitiable in the prostration of the whole populace and the anxiety of the high priest in his great anguish.

31 Quickly some of He''liodo'rus’ friends asked Oni'as to call upon the Most High and to grant life to one who was lying quite at his last breath. ³²And the high priest, fearing that the king might get the notion that some foul play had been perpetrated by the Jews with regard to He''liodo'rus, offered sacrifice for the man’s recovery. ³³While the high priest was making the offering of atonement, the same young men appeared again to He''liodo'rus dressed in the same clothing, and they stood and said, “Be very grateful to Oni'as the high priest, since for his sake the Lord has granted you your life. ³⁴And see that you, who have been scourged by heaven, report to all men the majestic power of God.” Having said this they vanished.

35 Then He''liodo'rus offered sacrifice to the Lord and made very great vows to the Savior of his life, and having bidden Oni'as farewell, he marched off with his forces to the king. ³⁶And he bore testimony to all men of the deeds of the supreme God, which he had seen with his own eyes. ³⁷When the king asked He''liodo'rus what sort of person would be suitable to send on another mission to Jerusalem, he replied, ³⁸“If you have any enemy or plotter against your government, send him there, for you will get him back thoroughly scourged, if he escapes at all, for there certainly is about the place some power of God. ³⁹For he who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that place himself and brings it aid, and he strikes and destroys those who come to do it injury.” ⁴⁰This was the outcome of the episode of He''liodo'rus and the protection of the treasury.

7 When Seleu'cus died and Anti'ochus who was called Epiph'anes succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Oni'as obtained the high priesthood by corruption, ⁸promising the king at an interview ^k three hundred and sixty talents of silver and, from another source of revenue, eighty talents. ⁹In addition to this he promised to pay one hundred and fifty more if permission were given to establish by his authority a gymnasium and a body of youth for it, and to enroll the men of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch. ¹⁰When the king assented and Jason ^l came to office, he at once shifted his countrymen over to the Greek way of life. ¹¹He set aside the existing royal concessions to the Jews, secured through John the father of Eupol'emus, who went on the mission to establish friendship and alliance with the Romans; and he destroyed the lawful ways of living and introduced new customs contrary to the law. ¹²For with alacrity he founded a gymnasium right under the citadel, and he induced the noblest of the young men ^m to wear the Greek hat. ¹³There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no high priest, ¹⁴that the priests were no longer intent upon their service at the altar. Despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to take part in the unlawful proceedings in the wrestling arena after the call to the discus, ¹⁵disdaining the honors prized by their fathers and putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige. ¹⁶For this reason heavy disaster overtook them, and those whose ways of living they admired and wished to imitate completely became their enemies and punished them. ¹⁷For it is no light thing to show irreverence to the divine laws—a fact which later events will make clear.

18 When the quadrennial games were being held at Tyre and the king was present, ¹⁹the vile Jason sent envoys, chosen as being An''tio'chian citizens from Jerusalem, to carry three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules. Those who carried the money, however, thought best not to use it for sacrifice, because that was inappropriate, but to expend it for another purpose. ²⁰So this money was intended by the sender for the sacrifice to Hercules, but by the decision of its carriers it was applied to the construction of triremes.

21 When Apollo'nius the son of Menes'theus was sent to Egypt for the coronation ⁿ of Phil''ome'tor as king, Anti'ochus learned that Philometor ^o had become hostile to his government, and he took measures for his own security. Therefore upon arriving at Joppa he proceeded to Jerusalem. ²²He was welcomed magnificently by Jason and the city, and ushered in with a blaze of torches and with shouts. Then he marched into Phoeni'cia.

23 After a period of three years Jason sent Menela'us, the brother of the previously mentioned Simon, to carry the money to the king and to complete the records of essential business. ²⁴But he, when presented to the king, extolled him with an air of authority, and secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver. ²⁵After receiving the king’s orders he returned, possessing no qualification for the high priesthood, but having the hot temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage wild beast. ²⁶So Jason, who after supplanting his own brother was supplanted by another man, was driven as a fugitive into the land of Am'mon. ²⁷And Menela'us held the office, but he did not pay regularly any of the money promised to the king. ²⁸When Sos'tratus the captain of the citadel kept requesting payment, for the collection of the revenue was his responsibility, the two of them were summoned by the king on account of this issue. ²⁹Menela'us left his own brother Lysim'achus as deputy in the high priesthood, while Sos'tratus left Cra'tes, the commander of the Cyprian troops. *

30 While such was the state of affairs, it happened that the people of Tarsus and of Mallus revolted because their cities had been given as a present to Anti'ochis, the king’s concubine. ³¹So the king went hastily to settle the trouble, leaving Andron'icus, a man of high rank, to act as his deputy. ³²But Menela'us, thinking he had obtained a suitable opportunity, stole some of the gold vessels of the temple and gave them to Andron'icus; other vessels, as it happened, he had sold to Tyre and the neighboring cities. ³³When Oni'as became fully aware of these acts he publicly exposed them, having first withdrawn to a place of sanctuary at Daphne near Antioch. ³⁴Therefore Menela'us, taking Andron'icus aside, urged him to kill Oni'as. Andronicus ^p came to Onias, and resorting to treachery offered him sworn pledges and gave him his right hand, and in spite of his suspicion persuaded Onias ^q to come out from the place of sanctuary; then, with no regard for justice, he immediately put him out of the way. * ³⁵For this reason not only Jews, but many also of other nations, were grieved and displeased at the unjust murder of the man. ³⁶When the king returned from the region of Cili'cia, the Jews in the city ^r appealed to him with regard to the unreasonable murder of Oni'as, and the Greeks shared their hatred of the crime. ³⁷Therefore Anti'ochus was grieved at heart and filled with pity, and wept because of the moderation and good conduct of the deceased; ³⁸and inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped off the purple robe from Andron'icus, tore off his garments, and led him about the whole city to that very place where he had committed the outrage against Oni'as, and there he dispatched the bloodthirsty fellow. The Lord thus repaid him with the punishment he deserved.

39 When many acts of sacrilege had been committed in the city by Lysim'achus with the connivance of Menela'us, and when report of them had spread abroad, the populace gathered against Lysimachus, because many of the gold vessels had already been stolen. ⁴⁰And since the crowds were becoming aroused and filled with anger, Lysim'achus armed about three thousand men and launched an unjust attack, under the leadership of a certain Aura'nus,* a man advanced in years and no less advanced in folly. ⁴¹But when the Jews ^s became aware of Lysim'achus’ attack, some picked up stones, some blocks of wood, and others took handfuls of the ashes that were lying about, and threw them in wild confusion at Lysimachus and his men. ⁴²As a result, they wounded many of them, and killed some, and put them all to flight; and the temple robber himself they killed close by the treasury.

43 Charges were brought against Menela'us about this incident. ⁴⁴When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate presented the case before him. ⁴⁵But Menela'us, already as good as beaten, promised a substantial bribe to Ptol'emy son of Dorym'enes to win over the king. ⁴⁶Therefore Ptol'emy, taking the king aside into a colonnade as if for refreshment, induced the king to change his mind. ⁴⁷Menela'us, the cause of all the evil, he acquitted of the charges against him, while he sentenced to death those unfortunate men, who would have been freed uncondemned if they had pleaded even before Scyth'ians. ⁴⁸And so those who had spoken for the city and the villages ^t and the holy vessels quickly suffered the unjust penalty. ⁴⁹Therefore even the Ty'rians, showing their hatred of the crime, provided magnificently for their funeral. ⁵⁰But Menela'us, because of the cupidity of those in power, remained in office, growing in wickedness, having become the chief plotter against his fellow citizens.

5 When a false rumor arose that Anti'ochus was dead, Jason took no less than a thousand men and suddenly made an assault upon the city. When the troops upon the wall had been forced back and at last the city was being taken, Menela'us took refuge in the citadel. ⁶But Jason kept relentlessly slaughtering his fellow citizens, not realizing that success at the cost of one’s kindred is the greatest misfortune, but imagining that he was setting up trophies of victory over enemies and not over fellow countrymen. ⁷He did not gain control of the government, however; and in the end got only disgrace from his conspiracy, and fled again into the country of the Am'monites. ⁸Finally he met a miserable end. Accused ^u before Ar'etas the ruler of the Arabs, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt; ⁹and he who had driven many from their own country into exile died in exile, having embarked to go to the Lac''edaemo'nians in hope of finding protection because of their kinship. ¹⁰He who had cast out many to lie unburied had no one to mourn for him; he had no funeral of any sort and no place in the tomb of his fathers.

11 When news of what had happened reached the king, he took it to mean that Judea was in revolt. So, raging inwardly, he left Egypt and took the city by storm. ¹²And he commanded his soldiers to cut down relentlessly every one they met and to slay those who went into the houses. ¹³Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of virgins and infants. ¹⁴Within the total of three days eighty thousand were destroyed, forty thousand in hand-to-hand fighting; and as many were sold into slavery as were slain.

15 Not content with this, Anti'ochus ^v dared to enter the most holy temple in all the world, guided by Menela'us, who had become a traitor both to the laws and to his country. ¹⁶He took the holy vessels with his polluted hands, and swept away with profane hands the votive offerings which other kings had made to enhance the glory and honor of the place. ¹⁷Anti'ochus was elated in spirit, and did not perceive that the Lord was angered for a little while because of the sins of those who dwelt in the city, and that therefore he was disregarding the holy place. ¹⁸But if it had not happened that they were involved in many sins, this man would have been scourged and turned back from his rash act as soon as he came forward, just as He''liodo'rus was, whom Seleu'cus the king sent to inspect the treasury. ¹⁹But the Lord did not choose the nation for the sake of the holy place, but the place for the sake of the nation. ²⁰Therefore the place itself shared in the misfortunes that befell the nation and afterward participated in its benefits; and what was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was restored again in all its glory when the great Lord became reconciled.

21 So Anti'ochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on the land and walk on the sea, because his mind was elated. ²²And he left governors to afflict the people: at Jerusalem, Philip, by birth a Phryg'ian and in character more barbarous than the man who appointed him; ²³and at Ger'izim, Andron'icus; and besides these Menela'us, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. In his malice toward the Jewish citizens, ^{w 24}Anti'ochus ^x sent Apollo'nius, the captain of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand, and commanded him to slay all the grown men and to sell the women and boys as slaves. ²⁵When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peaceably disposed and waited until the holy sabbath day; then, finding the Jews not at work, he ordered his men to parade under arms. ²⁶He put to the sword all those who came out to see them, then rushed into the city with his armed men and killed great numbers of people.

27 But Judas Mac''cabe'us, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness, and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild, so that they might not share in the defilement.

7 On the monthly celebration of the king’s birthday, the Jews ^a were taken, under bitter constraint, to partake of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Diony'sus came, they were compelled to walk in the procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy. ⁸At the suggestion of Ptol'emy a decree was issued to the neighboring Greek cities, that they should adopt the same policy toward the Jews and make them partake of the sacrifices, ⁹and should slay those who did not choose to change over to Greek customs. One could see, therefore, the misery that had come upon them. ¹⁰For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These women they publicly paraded about the city, with their babies hung at their breasts, then hurled them down headlong from the wall. ¹¹Others who had assembled in the caves near by, to observe the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of their regard for that most holy day.

12 Now I urge those who read this book not to be depressed by such calamities, but to recognize that these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline our people. ¹³In fact, not to let the impious alone for long, but to punish them immediately, is a sign of great kindness. ¹⁴For in the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins; but he does not deal in this way with us, ¹⁵in order that he may not take vengeance on us afterward when our sins have reached their height. ¹⁶Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us. Though he disciplines us with calamities, he does not forsake his own people. ¹⁷Let what we have said serve as a reminder; we must go on briefly with the story.

18 Elea'zar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh. ¹⁹But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh, ²⁰as men ought to go who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life.

24 “Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life,” he said, “lest many of the young should suppose that Elea'zar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion, ²⁵and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. ²⁶For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty. ²⁷Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age ²⁸and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.”

When he had said this, he went ^b at once to the rack. ²⁹And those who a little before had acted toward him with good will now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness. ^{c 30}When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: “It is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him.”

31 So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.

7 After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, “Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?” ⁸He replied in the language of his fathers, and said to them, “No.” Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done. ⁹And when he was at his last breath, he said, “You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, * because we have died for his laws.”

10 After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, ¹¹and said nobly, “I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again.” ¹²As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man’s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.

13 When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. ¹⁴And when he was near death, he said, “One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!”

15 Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him. ¹⁶But he looked at the king, ^f and said, “Because you have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please. But do not think that God has forsaken our people. ¹⁷Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you and your descendants!”

20 The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. ²¹She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage, and said to them, ²²“I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. ²³Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.”

30 While she was still speaking, the young man said, “What are you ^k waiting for? I will not obey the king’s command, but I obey the command of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses. ³¹But you, ^l who have contrived all sorts of evil against the Hebrews, will certainly not escape the hands of God. ³²For we are suffering because of our own sins. ³³And if our living Lord is angry for a little while, to rebuke and discipline us, he will again be reconciled with his own servants. ³⁴But you, unholy wretch, you most defiled of all men, do not be elated in vain and puffed up by uncertain hopes, when you raise your hand against the children of heaven. ³⁵You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God. ³⁶For our brothers after enduring a brief suffering have drunk ^m of everflowing life under God’s covenant; but you, by the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your arrogance. ³⁷I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our fathers, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by afflictions and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God, ³⁸and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has justly fallen on our whole nation.”

39 The king fell into a rage, and handled him worse than the others, being exasperated at his scorn. ⁴⁰So he died in his integrity, putting his whole trust in the Lord.

41 Last of all, the mother died, after her sons.

42 Let this be enough, then, about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.

5 As soon as Mac''cabe'us got his army organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the wrath of the Lord had turned to mercy. ⁶Coming without warning, he would set fire to towns and villages. He captured strategic positions and put to flight not a few of the enemy. ⁷He found the nights most advantageous for such attacks. And talk of his valor spread everywhere.

8 When Philip saw that the man was gaining ground little by little, and that he was pushing ahead with more frequent successes, he wrote to Ptol'emy, the governor of Coe'le-syr'ia and Phoeni'cia, for aid to the king’s government. ⁹And Ptol'emy ⁿ promptly appointed Nica'nor the son of Patro'clus, one of the king’s chief friends, and sent him, in command of no fewer than twenty thousand Gentiles of all nations, to wipe out the whole race of Judea. He associated with him Gor'gias, a general and a man of experience in military service. ¹⁰Nica'nor determined to make up for the king the tribute due to the Romans, two thousand talents, by selling the captured Jews into slavery. ¹¹And he immediately sent to the cities on the seacoast, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to hand over ninety slaves for a talent, not expecting the judgment from the Almighty that was about to overtake him.

12 Word came to Judas concerning Nica'nor’s invasion; and when he told his companions of the arrival of the army, ¹³those who were cowardly and distrustful of God’s justice ran off and got away. ¹⁴Others sold all their remaining property, and at the same time begged the Lord to rescue those who had been sold by the ungodly Nica'nor before he ever met them, ¹⁵if not for their own sake, yet for the sake of the covenants made with their fathers, and because he had called them by his holy and glorious name. ¹⁶But Mac''cabe'us gathered his men together, to the number of six thousand, and exhorted them not to be frightened by the enemy and not to fear the great multitude of Gentiles who were wickedly coming against them, but to fight nobly, ¹⁷keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage which the Gentiles ^o had committed against the holy place, and the torture of the derided city, and besides, the overthrow of their ancestral way of life. ¹⁸“For they trust to arms and acts of daring,” he said, “but we trust in the Almighty God, who is able with a single nod to strike down those who are coming against us and even the whole world.”

19 Moreover, he told them of the times when help came to their ancestors; both the time of Sennach'erib, when one hundred and eighty-five thousand perished, ²⁰and the time of the battle with the Galatians that took place in Babylonia, when eight thousand in all went into the affair, with four thousand Macedonians; and when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand, by the help that came to them from heaven, destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand and took much booty.

21 With these words he filled them with good courage and made them ready to die for their laws and their country; then he divided his army into four parts. ²²He appointed his brothers also, Simon and Joseph and Jonathan, each to command a division, putting fifteen hundred men under each. ²³Besides, he appointed Elea'zar to read aloud ^p from the holy book, and gave the watchword, “God’s help”; then, leading the first division himself, he joined battle with Nica'nor.

24 With the Almighty as their ally, they slew more than nine thousand of the enemy, and wounded and disabled most of Nica'nor’s army, and forced them all to flee. ²⁵They captured the money of those who had come to buy them as slaves. After pursuing them for some distance, they were obliged to return because the hour was late. ²⁶For it was the day before the sabbath, and for that reason they did not continue their pursuit. ²⁷And when they had collected the arms of the enemy and stripped them of their spoils, they kept the sabbath, giving great praise and thanks to the Lord, who had preserved them for that day and allotted it to them as the beginning of mercy. ²⁸After the sabbath they gave some of the spoils to those who had been tortured and to the widows and orphans, and distributed the rest among themselves and their children. ²⁹When they had done this, they made common supplication and begged the merciful Lord to be wholly reconciled with his servants.

30 In encounters with the forces of Timothy and Bacchi'des they killed more than twenty thousand of them and got possession of some exceedingly high strongholds, and they divided very much plunder, giving to those who had been tortured and to the orphans and widows, and also to the aged, shares equal to their own. ³¹Collecting the arms of the enemy, ^q they stored them all carefully in strategic places, and carried the rest of the spoils to Jerusalem. ³²They killed the commander of Timothy’s forces, a most unholy man, and one who had greatly troubled the Jews. ³³While they were celebrating the victory in the city of their fathers, they burned those who had set fire to the sacred gates, Callis'thenes and some others, who had fled into one little house; so these received the proper recompense for their impiety. ^r

5 But the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him an incurable and unseen blow. As soon as he ceased speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels for which there was no relief and with sharp internal tortures—⁶and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. ⁷Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to hasten the journey. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. ⁸Thus he who had just been thinking that he could command the waves of the sea, in his superhuman arrogance, and imagining that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. ⁹And so the ungodly man’s body swarmed with worms, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of his stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay. ¹⁰Because of his intolerable stench no one was able to carry the man who a little while before had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven. ¹¹Then it was that, broken in spirit, he began to lose much of his arrogance and to come to his senses under the scourge of God, for he was tortured with pain every moment. ¹²And when he could not endure his own stench, he uttered these words: “It is right to be subject to God, and no mortal should think that he is equal to God.” ^t

13 Then the abominable fellow made a vow to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him, stating ¹⁴that the holy city, which he was hastening to level to the ground and to make a cemetery, he was now declaring to be free; ¹⁵and the Jews, whom he had not considered worth burying but had planned to throw out with their children to the beasts, for the birds to pick, he would make, all of them, equal to citizens of Athens; ¹⁶and the holy sanctuary, which he had formerly plundered, he would adorn with the finest offerings; and the holy vessels he would give back, all of them, many times over; and the expenses incurred for the sacrifices he would provide from his own revenues; ¹⁷and in addition to all this he also would become a Jew and would visit every inhabited place to proclaim the power of God. ¹⁸But when his sufferings did not in any way abate, for the judgment of God had justly come upon him, he gave up all hope for himself and wrote to the Jews the following letter, in the form of a supplication. This was its content:

9 Such then was the end of Anti'ochus, who was called Epiph'anes.

14 When Gor'gias became governor of the region, he maintained a force of mercenaries, and at every turn kept on warring against the Jews. ¹⁵Besides this, the Idume'ans, who had control of important strongholds, were harassing the Jews; they received those who were banished from Jerusalem, and endeavored to keep up the war. ¹⁶But Mac''cabe'us and his men, after making solemn supplication and begging God to fight on their side, rushed to the strongholds of the Idume'ans. ¹⁷Attacking them vigorously, they gained possession of the places, and beat off all who fought upon the wall, and slew those whom they encountered, killing no fewer than twenty thousand.

18 When no less than nine thousand took refuge in two very strong towers well equipped to withstand a siege, ¹⁹Mac''cabe'us left Simon and Joseph, and also Zacchae'us and his men, a force sufficient to besiege them; and he himself set off for places where he was more urgently needed. ²⁰But the men with Simon, who were money-hungry, were bribed by some of those who were in the towers, and on receiving seventy thousand drachmas let some of them slip away. ²¹When word of what had happened came to Mac''cabe'us, he gathered the leaders of the people, and accused these men of having sold their brethren for money by setting their enemies free to fight against them. ²²Then he slew these men who had turned traitor, and immediately captured the two towers. ²³Having success at arms in everything he undertook, he destroyed more than twenty thousand in the two strongholds.

24 Now Timothy, who had been defeated by the Jews before, gathered a tremendous force of mercenaries and collected the cavalry from Asia in no small number. He came on, intending to take Judea by storm. ²⁵As he drew near, Mac''cabe'us and his men sprinkled dust upon their heads and put on sackcloth, in supplication to God. ²⁶Falling upon the steps before the altar, they begged him to be gracious to them and to be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries, as the law declares. ²⁷And rising from their prayer they took up their arms and advanced a considerable distance from the city; and when they came near to the enemy they halted. ²⁸Just as dawn was breaking, the two armies joined battle, the one having as pledge of success and victory not only their valor but their reliance upon the Lord, while the other made rage their leader in the fight.

29 When the battle became fierce, there appeared to the enemy from heaven five resplendent men on horses with golden bridles, and they were leading the Jews. ³⁰Surrounding Mac''cabe'us and protecting him with their own armor and weapons, they kept him from being wounded. And they showered arrows and thunderbolts upon the enemy, so that, confused and blinded, they were thrown into disorder and cut to pieces. ³¹Twenty thousand five hundred were slaughtered, besides six hundred horsemen.

16 The letter written to the Jews by Lys'ias was to this effect:

“Lysias to the people of the Jews, greeting. ¹⁷John and Ab'salom, who were sent by you, have delivered your signed communication and have asked about the matters indicated therein. ¹⁸I have informed the king of everything that needed to be brought before him, and he has agreed to what was possible. ¹⁹If you will maintain your good will toward the government, I will endeavor for the future to help promote your welfare. ²⁰And concerning these matters and their details, I have ordered these men and my representatives to confer with you. ²¹Farewell. The one hundred and forty-eighth year, ^y Di''oscorin'thius twenty-fourth.”

22 The king’s letter ran thus:

“King Anti'ochus to his brother Lys'ias, greeting. ²³Now that our father has gone on to the gods, we desire that the subjects of the kingdom be undisturbed in caring for their own affairs. ²⁴We have heard that the Jews do not consent to our father’s change to Greek customs but prefer their own way of living and ask that their own customs be allowed them. ²⁵Accordingly, since we choose that this nation also be free from disturbance, our decision is that their temple be restored to them and that they live according to the customs of their ancestors. ²⁶You will do well, therefore, to send word to them and give them pledges of friendship, so that they may know our policy and be of good cheer and go on happily in the conduct of their own affairs.”

27 To the nation the king’s letter was as follows:

“King Anti'ochus to the senate of the Jews and to the other Jews, greeting. ²⁸If you are well, it is as we desire. We also are in good health. ²⁹Menela'us has informed us that you wish to return home and look after your own affairs. ³⁰Therefore those who go home by the thirtieth day of Xan'thicus will have our pledge of friendship and full permission ³¹for the Jews to enjoy their own food and laws, just as formerly, and none of them shall be molested in any way for what he may have done in ignorance. ³²And I have also sent Menela'us to encourage you. ³³Farewell. The one hundred and forty-eighth year, ^z Xan'thicus fifteenth.”

34 The Romans also sent them a letter, which read thus:

“Quint'us Mem'mius and Titus Ma'nius, envoys of the Romans, to the people of the Jews, greeting. ³⁵With regard to what Lys'ias the kinsman of the king has granted you, we also give consent. ³⁶But as to the matters which he decided are to be referred to the king, as soon as you have considered them, send some one promptly, so that we may make proposals appropriate for you. For we are on our way to Antioch. ³⁷Therefore make haste and send some men, so that we may have your judgment. ³⁸Farewell. The one hundred and forty-eighth year, ^a Xan'thicus fifteenth.”

2 But some of the governors in various places, Timothy and Apollo'nius the son of Gennae'us, as well as Hi''eron'ymus and Dem'ophon, and in addition to these Nica'nor the governor of Cyprus, would not let them live quietly and in peace. ³And some men of Joppa did so ungodly a deed as this: they invited the Jews who lived among them to embark, with their wives and children, on boats which they had provided, as though there were no ill will to the Jews; ^{b 4}and this was done by public vote of the city. And when they accepted, because they wished to live peaceably and suspected nothing, the men of Joppa ^c took them out to sea and drowned them, not less than two hundred. ⁵When Judas heard of the cruelty visited on his countrymen, he gave orders to his men ⁶and, calling upon God the righteous Judge, attacked the murderers of his brethren. He set fire to the harbor by night, and burned the boats, and massacred those who had taken refuge there. ⁷Then, because the city’s gates were closed, he withdrew, intending to come again and root out the whole community of Joppa. ⁸But learning that the men in Jam'nia meant in the same way to wipe out the Jews who were living among them, ⁹he attacked the people of Jam'nia by night and set fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the light was seen in Jerusalem, thirty miles ^d distant.

10 When they had gone more than a mile ^e from there, on their march against Timothy, not less than five thousand Arabs with five hundred horsemen attacked them. ¹¹After a hard fight Judas and his men won the victory, by the help of God. The defeated nomads begged Judas to grant them pledges of friendship, promising to give him cattle and to help his people ^f in all other ways. ¹²Judas, thinking that they might really be useful in many ways, agreed to make peace with them; and after receiving his pledges they departed to their tents.

13 He also attacked a certain city which was strongly fortified with earthworks ^g and walls, and inhabited by all sorts of Gentiles. Its name was Cas'pin. ¹⁴And those who were within, relying on the strength of the walls and on their supply of provisions, behaved most insolently toward Judas and his men, railing at them and even blaspheming and saying unholy things. ¹⁵But Judas and his men, calling upon the great Sovereign of the world, who without battering-rams or engines of war overthrew Jericho in the days of Joshua, rushed furiously upon the walls. ¹⁶They took the city by the will of God, and slaughtered untold numbers, so that the adjoining lake, a quarter of a mile ^h wide, appeared to be running over with blood.

17 When they had gone ninety-five miles ⁱ from there, they came to Cha'rax, to the Jews who are called Tou''bia'ni. ¹⁸They did not find Timothy in that region, for he had by then departed from the region without accomplishing anything, though in one place he had left a very strong garrison. ¹⁹Dosith'eus and Sosip'ater, who were captains under Mac''cabe'us, marched out and destroyed those whom Timothy had left in the stronghold, more than ten thousand men. ²⁰But Mac''cabe'us arranged his army in divisions, set men ^j in command of the divisions, and hastened after Timothy, who had with him a hundred and twenty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry. ²¹When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent off the women and the children and also the baggage to a place called Carna'im; for that place was hard to besiege and difficult of access because of the narrowness of all the approaches. ²²But when Judas’ first division appeared, terror and fear came over the enemy at the manifestation to them of him who sees all things; and they rushed off in flight and were swept on, this way and that, so that often they were injured by their own men and pierced by the points of their swords. ²³And Judas pressed the pursuit with the utmost vigor, putting the sinners to the sword, and destroyed as many as thirty thousand men.

24 Timothy himself fell into the hands of Dosith'eus and Sosip'ater and their men. With great guile he begged them to let him go in safety, because he held the parents of most of them and the brothers of some and no consideration would be shown them. ²⁵And when with many words he had confirmed his solemn promise to restore them unharmed, they let him go, for the sake of saving their brethren.

26 Then Judas ^k marched against Carna'im and the temple of Atar'gatis, and slaughtered twenty-five thousand people. ²⁷After the rout and destruction of these, he marched also against E'phron, a fortified city where Lys'ias dwelt with multitudes of people of all nationalities. ^l Stalwart young men took their stand before the walls and made a vigorous defense; and great stores of war engines and missiles were there. ²⁸But the Jews ^m called upon the Sovereign who with power shatters the might of his enemies, and they got the city into their hands, and killed as many as twenty-five thousand of those who were within it.

29 Setting out from there, they hastened to Scythop'olis, which is seventy-five miles ⁿ from Jerusalem. ³⁰But when the Jews who dwelt there bore witness to the good will which the people of Scythop'olis had shown them and their kind treatment of them in times of misfortune, ³¹they thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future also. Then they went up to Jerusalem, as the feast of weeks was close at hand.

32 After the feast called Pentecost, they hastened against Gor'gias, the governor of Idume'a. ³³And he came out with three thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry. ³⁴When they joined battle, it happened that a few of the Jews fell. ³⁵But a certain Dosith'eus, one of Bace'nor’s men, who was on horseback and was a strong man, caught hold of Gor'gias, and grasping his cloak was dragging him off by main strength, wishing to take the accursed man alive, when one of the Thracian horsemen bore down upon him and cut off his arm; so Gorgias escaped and reached Mar'isa.

36 As Es'dris and his men had been fighting for a long time and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle. ³⁷In the language of their fathers he raised the battle cry, with hymns; then he charged against Gor'gias’ men when they were not expecting it, and put them to flight.

38 Then Judas assembled his army and went to the city of Adul'lam. As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom, and they kept the sabbath there.

39 On the next day, as by that time it had become necessary, Judas and his men went to take up the bodies of the fallen and to bring them back to lie with their kinsmen in the sepulchres of their fathers. ⁴⁰Then under the tunic of every one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jam'nia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen. ⁴¹So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden; ⁴²and they turned to prayer, begging that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out. And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. ⁴³He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. ⁴⁴For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. ⁴⁵But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.*

3 Menela'us also joined them and with utter hypocrisy urged Anti'ochus on, not for the sake of his country’s welfare, but because he thought that he would be established in office. ⁴But the King of kings aroused the anger of Anti'ochus against the scoundrel; and when Lys'ias informed him that this man was to blame for all the trouble, he ordered them to take him to Beroe'a and to put him to death by the method which is the custom in that place. ⁵For there is a tower in that place, fifty cubits high, full of ashes, and it has a rim running around it which on all sides inclines precipitously into the ashes. ⁶There they all push to destruction any man guilty of sacrilege or notorious for other crimes. ⁷By such a fate it came about that Menela'us the lawbreaker died, without even burial in the earth. ⁸And this was eminently just; because he had committed many sins against the altar whose fire and ashes were holy, he met his death in ashes.

9 The king with barbarous arrogance was coming to show the Jews things far worse than those that had been done ^p in his father’s time. ¹⁰But when Judas heard of this, he ordered the people to call upon the Lord day and night, now if ever to help those who were on the point of being deprived of the law and their country and the holy temple, ¹¹and not to let the people who had just begun to revive fall into the hands of the blasphemous Gentiles. ¹²When they had all joined in the same petition and had begged the merciful Lord with weeping and fasting and lying prostrate for three days without ceasing, Judas exhorted them and ordered them to stand ready.

13 After consulting privately with the elders, he determined to march out and decide the matter by the help of God before the king’s army could enter Judea and get possession of the city. ¹⁴So, committing the decision to the Creator of the world and exhorting his men to fight nobly to the death for the laws, temple, city, country, and commonwealth, he pitched his camp near Mo'dein. ¹⁵He gave his men the watchword, “God’s victory,” and with a picked force of the bravest young men, he attacked the king’s pavilion at night and slew as many as two thousand men in the camp. He stabbed ^q the leading elephant and its rider. ¹⁶In the end they filled the camp with terror and confusion and withdrew in triumph. ¹⁷This happened, just as day was dawning, because the Lord’s help protected him.

18 The king, having had a taste of the daring of the Jews, tried strategy in attacking their positions. ¹⁹He advanced against Beth-zur, a strong fortress of the Jews, was turned back, attacked again, ^r and was defeated. ²⁰Judas sent in to the garrison whatever was necessary. ²¹But Rhod'ocus, a man from the ranks of the Jews, gave secret information to the enemy; he was sought for, caught, and put in prison. ²²The king negotiated a second time with the people in Beth-zur, gave pledges, received theirs, withdrew, attacked Judas and his men, was defeated; ²³he got word that Philip, who had been left in charge of the government, had revolted in Antioch; he was dismayed, called in the Jews, yielded and swore to observe all their rights, settled with them and offered sacrifice, honored the sanctuary and showed generosity to the holy place. ²⁴He received Mac''cabe'us, left Hegemon'ides as governor from Ptolema'is to Ge'rar, ²⁵and went to Ptolemais. The people of Ptolema'is were indignant over the treaty; in fact they were so angry that they wanted to annul its terms. ^{s 26}Lys'ias took the public platform, made the best possible defense, convinced them, appeased them, gained their good will, and set out for Antioch. This is how the king’s attack and withdrawal turned out.

3 Now a certain Al'cimus, who had formerly been high priest but had wilfully defiled himself in the times of separation, realized that there was no way for him to be safe or to have access again to the holy altar, ⁴and went to King Deme'trius in about the one hundred and fifty-first year, ^t presenting to him a crown of gold and a palm, and besides these some of the customary olive branches from the temple. During that day he kept quiet. ⁵But he found an opportunity that furthered his mad purpose when he was invited by Deme'trius to a meeting of the council and was asked about the disposition and intentions of the Jews. He answered:

11 When he had said this, the rest of the king’s friends, who were hostile to Judas, quickly inflamed Deme'trius still more. ¹²And he immediately chose Nica'nor, who had been in command of the elephants, appointed him governor of Judea, and sent him off ¹³with orders to kill Judas and scatter his men, and to set up Al'cimus as high priest of the greatest temple. ¹⁴And the Gentiles throughout Judea, who had fled before ^u Judas, flocked to join Nica'nor, thinking that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would mean prosperity for themselves.

18 Nevertheless Nica'nor, hearing of the valor of Judas and his men and their courage in battle for their country, shrank from deciding the issue by bloodshed. ¹⁹Therefore he sent Pos''ido'nius and Theod'otus and Mattathi'as to give and receive pledges of friendship. ²⁰When the terms had been fully considered, and the leader had informed the people, and it had appeared that they were of one mind, they agreed to the covenant. ²¹And the leaders ^z set a day on which to meet by themselves. A chariot came forward from each army; seats of honor were set in place; ²²Judas posted armed men in readiness at key places to prevent sudden treachery on the part of the enemy; they held the proper conference.

23 Nica'nor stayed on in Jerusalem and did nothing out of the way, but dismissed the flocks of people that had gathered. ²⁴And he kept Judas always in his presence; he was warmly attached to the man. ²⁵And he urged him to marry and have children; so he married, settled down, and shared the common life.

26 But when Al'cimus noticed their good will for one another, he took the covenant that had been made and went to Deme'trius. He told him that Nica'nor was disloyal to the government, for he had appointed that conspirator against the kingdom, Judas, to be his successor. ²⁷The king became excited and, provoked by the false accusations of that depraved man, wrote to Nica'nor, stating that he was displeased with the covenant and commanding him to send Mac''cabe'us to Antioch as a prisoner without delay.

28 When this message came to Nica'nor, he was troubled and grieved that he had to annul their agreement when the man had done no wrong. ²⁹Since it was not possible to oppose the king, he watched for an opportunity to accomplish this by a stratagem. ³⁰But Mac''cabe'us, noticing that Nica'nor was more austere in his dealings with him and was meeting him more rudely than had been his custom, concluded that this austerity did not spring from the best motives. So he gathered not a few of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor.

31 When the latter became aware that he had been cleverly outwitted by the man, he went to the great ^a and holy temple while the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and commanded them to hand the man over. ³²And when they declared on oath that they did not know where the man was whom he sought, ³³he stretched out his right hand toward the sanctuary, and swore this oath: “If you do not hand Judas over to me as a prisoner, I will level this precinct of God to the ground and tear down the altar, and I will build here a splendid temple to Diony'sus.”

37 A certain Ra'zis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nica'nor as a man who loved his fellow citizens and was very well thought of and for his good will was called father of the Jews. ³⁸For in former times, when there was no mingling with the Gentiles, he had been accused of Judaism, and for Judaism he had with all zeal risked body and life. ³⁹Nica'nor, wishing to exhibit the enmity which he had for the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him; ⁴⁰for he thought that by arresting ^b him he would do them an injury. ⁴¹When the troops were about to capture the tower and were forcing the door of the courtyard, they ordered that fire be brought and the doors burned. Being surrounded, Ra'zis ^c fell upon his own sword, ⁴²preferring to die nobly rather than to fall into the hands of sinners and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth. ⁴³But in the heat of the struggle he did not hit exactly, and the crowd was now rushing in through the doors. He bravely ran up on the wall, and manfully threw himself down into the crowd. ⁴⁴But as they quickly drew back, a space opened and he fell in the middle of the empty space. ⁴⁵Still alive and aflame with anger, he rose, and though his blood gushed forth and his wounds were severe he ran through the crowd; and standing upon a steep rock, ⁴⁶with his blood now completely drained from him, he tore out his entrails, took them with both hands and hurled them at the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to give them back to him again. This was the manner of his death.

6 This Nica'nor in his utter boastfulness and arrogance had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his men. ⁷But Mac''cabe'us did not cease to trust with all confidence that he would get help from the Lord. ⁸And he exhorted his men not to fear the attack of the Gentiles, but to keep in mind the former times when help had come to them from heaven, and now to look for the victory which the Almighty would give them. ⁹Encouraging them from the law and the prophets, and reminding them also of the struggles they had won, he made them the more eager. ¹⁰And when he had aroused their courage, he gave his orders, at the same time pointing out the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths. ¹¹He armed each of them not so much with confidence in shields and spears as with the inspiration of brave words, and he cheered them all by relating a dream, a sort of vision, ^d which was worthy of belief.

17 Encouraged by the words of Judas, so noble and so effective in arousing valor and awaking manliness in the souls of the young, they determined not to carry on a campaign but to attack bravely, and to decide the matter, by fighting hand to hand with all courage, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger. ¹⁸Their concern for wives and children, and also for brethren and relatives, lay upon them less heavily; their greatest and first fear was for the consecrated sanctuary. ¹⁹And those who had to remain in the city were in no little distress, being anxious over the encounter in the open country.

25 Nica'nor and his men advanced with trumpets and battle songs; ²⁶and Judas and his men met the enemy in battle with invocation to God and prayers. ²⁷So, fighting with their hands and praying to God in their hearts, they laid low no less than thirty-five thousand men, and were greatly gladdened by God’s manifestation.

28 When the action was over and they were returning with joy, they recognized Nica'nor, lying dead, in full armor. ²⁹Then there was shouting and tumult, and they blessed the Sovereign Lord in the language of their fathers. ³⁰And the man who was ever in body and soul the defender of his fellow citizens, the man who maintained his youthful good will toward his countrymen, ordered them to cut off Nica'nor’s head and arm and carry them to Jerusalem. ³¹And when he arrived there and had called his countrymen together and stationed the priests before the altar, he sent for those who were in the citadel. ³²He showed them the vile Nica'nor’s head and that profane man’s arm, which had been boastfully stretched out against the holy house of the Almighty; ³³and he cut out the tongue of the ungodly Nica'nor and said that he would give it piecemeal to the birds and hang up these rewards of his folly opposite the sanctuary. ³⁴And they all, looking to heaven, blessed the Lord who had manifested himself, saying, “Blessed is he who has kept his own place undefiled.” ³⁵And he hung Nica'nor’s head from the citadel, a clear and conspicuous sign to every one of the help of the Lord. ³⁶And they all decreed by public vote never to let this day go unobserved, but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—which is called Adar' in the Syrian language—the day before Mor'decai’s day.

37 This, then, is how matters turned out with Nica'nor. And from that time the city has been in the possession of the Hebrews. So I too will here end my story. ³⁸If it is well told and to the point, that is what I myself desired; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that was the best I could do. ³⁹For just as it is harmful to drink wine alone, or, again, to drink water alone, while wine mixed with water is sweet and delicious and enhances one’s enjoyment, so also the style of the story delights the ears of those who read the work. And here will be the end.