 加下:1.(2mc) [瑪加伯下]  [2 Machabaeus]  [共15 章]  [思高聖經]
    
 加下:1.1    耶路撒冷和猶太全境的猶太兄弟，祝僑居埃及及猶太兄弟安好! 並祝平安幸福!
 加下:1.2    願天主記念祂與自己的忠僕亞巴郎、依撒格、雅各伯所立的盟約，賜你們滿享幸福!
 加下:1.3    願祂使你們全心崇拜天主，誠心槳樂意承行祂的旨意!
 加下:1.4    願祂使你們瞭解祂的法律和規誡，並賜你們平安!
 加下:1.5    願祂俯允你們的祈禱，憐恤你們，在患難中不離棄你們!
 加下:1.6    現在我們在這裏為你們祈禱。
 加下:1.7    在一六九年，德摩特琉為王時，我們猶太人曾給你們寫信說：「自從雅松和他的同黨出賣聖地和國家以來，在這些年中，我們遭受了大的痛苦。
 加下:1.8    當時他們曾燒毀了殿門，傾流了無辜者的血，那時我們只有祈求上主，也獲得垂允；我們遂奉獻了犧牲和素祭，也點上燈，供上餅」
 加下:1.9    現在，盻望你們也過「基色寰」月的帳幕節。書于一八八年」。
 加下:1.10   耶路撒冷和猶太的居民，長老院和猶大，朴托肋米王的太傅阿黎斯托步羅--他原是受傅為司祭的後代--並祝一切僑居在埃及的猶太人平安健康!
 加下:1.11   猶太的居民，長老院和猶大，祝仆托肋米王的太傅阿黎斯托步羅──他原是受傅為司祭的後代──並祝一切居在埃及的猶太人平安健康!
 加下:1.12   我們這些從大難中被天主救出來的人，應深深感謝天主，因為是祂倍伴我們攻打君王，是祂驅逐了進攻聖城的敵人。
 加下:1.13   當敵人的的魁首率領那所向無敵的軍隊到了波斯時，竟在納納雅廟內，被納納雅女神的設計誘殺，剁為肉泥。
 加下:1.14   起初，安提約古託言要娶納納雅女神為妻，與隨同他的朋友來到此地，想以取妝奩的名義，獲得廟內中批珍寶。
 加下:1.15   進納納雅的司祭把寶物出來，安提約古便帶著少數隨員走廟院；安提約古一進門，他們就把門關上，
 加下:1.16   接，打開天花板上的密門，拋下石塊，將魁首打死，把他和隨從他的人切成塊，把他們的頭拋給站在外邊的人。──
 加下:1.17   我們的天主在這一切事上受讚美，因為祂把惡人置於死地。
 加下:1.18   「基色婁」月二十五日，我們將要舉行潔殿禮，我們認必須通知你們，叫你們也過帳柵節和火節，這火節是為記念乃赫米雅重鞗聖殿和祭壇以後，獻祭時所出現的火。
 加下:1.19   因為當我們的祖先被擄往波斯去的時候，有幾位虔誠的司祭，取了祭壇上的的火，暗藏在一個旱井的穴中，把它封好，不讓人察覺這個地方。
 加下:1.20   過了相當長的歲月，天主願意的時候到了，乃赫米雅便被波斯王遺回故鄉；於是他命昔日藏火的司祭的子孫去找火；但是，當他們給我們說沒有找到那火，只找到一些濃厚的液體時，乃赫米雅便他們汲出，給他帶來。
 加下:1.21   獻祭的一切都準備好，乃赫米雅便命把那液體灑在木柴上面所放的犧牲上。
 加下:1.22   剛灑上沒有好久，忽然為雲彩遮蔽的太陽，射出光來，這時忽然發出烈火，眾人都驚奇不已。
 加下:1.23   祭物焚燒時，司祭都一起祈禱，眾人也同司祭們一起祈禱；約納堂領禱，其餘的人都一同隨聲應和，乃赫米雅也有內。
 加下:1.24   禱文如下：「上主，上主天主，萬物的創造者! 你是可敬畏的、大能的、正義的、仁慈的。惟有你是君王，惟有你是聖的，
 加下:1.25   惟有你好施捨，惟有你是公義永恆的! 是你從一切患難中拯救了以色列，是你揀選了我們的祖先，聖化了他們。
 加下:1.26   求你收納你全以色列所奉獻的祭獻，保存和祝聖你的產業!
 加下:1.27   求你把我們四散漂流的人聚集起來，使那些在異民中的奴隸重獲自由，眷顧那些被人輕視和憎惡的，使外方人知道你是我們的天主!
 加下:1.28   求你懲罰那些欺壓和傲慢侮辱我們的人!
 加下:1.29   求你按梅瑟的話，將你的百姓栽植在你的聖地裏! 」
 加下:1.30   接著，司祭們輪流歌唱聖詠。
 加下:1.31   祭品焚燒完畢，乃赫米雅就下命把剩下的液體倒在大石上，
 加下:1.32   剛一倒下，便立刻發出焰，而這出焰被祭壇上發卞來的火光吸收了。
 加下:1.33   這事一傳出去，就有人報告波斯王說：在被俘的司祭們藏火的地方發現了液體，乃赫米雅和他的同伴用這液體聖潔了祭品。
 加下:1.34   這事證實以後，王命人將那地方修上圍牆，視為聖地。
 加下:1.35   王逐與得他歡人的人彼此餽送禮物。
 加下:1.36   乃赫米雅和他的同伴稱這液體為「乃弗塔爾」，即潔淨之意，可是人多稱之為「乃弗泰」。
    
 加下:2.1    文獻上記載：耶肋米亞先知曾命令充軍的人，如上面所說的，攜帶著聖火；
 加下:2.2    並且也記載著：先知曾給他們一部法律，使他們不要忘記天主誡命，也不要因為看見一些金銀的偶像和偶像上的裝飾，就神志昏迷；
 加下:2.3    並且還用其他類似的言詞，勸勉他們不要讓自己的心遠離法律
 加下:2.4    在文獻上又記載著：當先知登上梅瑟為觀望天主的產業所上過的山時，受天主的勸告，命他帶著會幕和約櫃上去。
 加下:2.5    耶肋米亞到了那裏，看見一個大洞，就把會幕。約櫃以及焚香壇放在裏面，然後堵上洞門。
 加下:2.6    後有幾個同來的伴侶折回去，沿路上作記號，可是沒有再找到。
 加下:2.7    耶肋米亞知道了這事，責斥他們說：這地方叫任何人知道；等到天主施行仁慈，再把百姓集合起來的時候，
 加下:2.8    天主才能指示這一些東西的所在；那時上主的榮耀和雲彩將再出現，像梅瑟的時候，又像撒羅滿為使聖殿受聖祈禱的時候出現的一樣。
 加下:2.9    又記載這位智慧者，如何奉獻了聖殿祝聖和落成的祭獻。
 加下:2.10   當撒羅滿祈禱時，有火降下，焚燒了全燔祭品，就如從前梅瑟祈禱上主時，有火從天降下焚燒了祭品一樣。
 加下:2.11   梅瑟說人不能吃贖罪祭品，應當把它焚毀。
 加下:2.12   撒羅滿也同樣舉行了八天的慶祝。
 加下:2.13   此外，在史記上和乃赫米雅的回憶錄上都同樣的記載；並且還記載乃赫米雅怎樣建立了圖書館，怎樣搜集了到王、眾先知和達味的書藉，以及諸王有關饋贈的書札等事。
 加下:2.14   同樣，猶大也把因我們所遭受的的戰禍，而散失了的一切文搜起來。這些文獻現在存在我們這裏。
 加下:2.15   若你們需要的話，請你們打發人來取。
 加下:2.16   因為我們正要舉行潔殿禮，所以才給你們寫信，請你們也好好地過這些日子。
 加下:2.17   天主既然拯救了自己的全體百姓，又把產業、國家、司祭職和祝聖禮交給了自己所有的人，
 加下:2.18   正如祂在法律書上所以預許的。希望天主快快憐憫我們，從天下各處把我們聚集到聖所裏，因為祂已從大患難中拯救了我們，潔淨了聖所」。
 加下:2.19   關於猶大瑪加伯和兄弟所作的一切，他怎樣清潔二偉大的聖殿，怎樣祝聖了祭壇，
 加下:2.20   怎樣與安提約古厄丕法乃及他的兒子歐帕托爾作戰，
 加下:2.21   怎樣天主從天顯現，援助了那些勇敢為猶太教作戰的人，致使少數的人能克服全境，驅逐野蠻的大軍；
 加下:2.22   又怎樣天主大慈大悲地憐憫了他們，使他們收回舉世聞名的聖殿，恢復了京城的自由，重整了快要廢棄的法律等等事項，
 加下:2.23   基勒乃人雅松共寫了五卷，我們現在要把這五卷縮為一卷。
 加下:2.24   我們有見於數字的混亂，以及有心研究歷史的人因材料繁雜所遭遇的困難，
 加下:2.25   就設法縮短，使喜愛閱讀的人得到愉快，使愛好背誦史事的人易於牢記，使般手執這書的讀者獲得裨益。
 加下:2.26   從事這項摘要的工作，為我們並不是一伴容易事，而是一項使人流汗和失眠的工作，
 加下:2.27   並不比準備筳席的人，想使眾客都稱心，更容易；但我們為了為大眾服務，才欣然擔負起這項艱苦的工作。
 加下:2.28   讓歷史家對每一件事作詳細的分析吧! 這裏我們只注意遵守撰寫撮要的規律。
 加下:2.29   就如建築新房的工程師，只注意建築的大體，而負責鑲嵌和繪畫的技師，該設法使各項裝飾恰到好；我想為我們也是如此。
 加下:2.30   至於精研深究，詳述一切史實，和苦心的考查，是歷史家的任務；
 加下:2.31   言簡意賅，刪除繁冗，這才是撮要者的本意。
 加下:2.32.  現在我們就開始敘述，對以所述的不再加添，因為若是寫撮要，而在前面作冗的序，言這未免太可笑了。
    
 加下:3.1    敖尼雅作大司祭的時候，因他的熱誠和嫉惡的心，聖城安享太平，人民無不奉公守法，
 加下:3.2    各國君王都尊敬聖所，餽贈珍貴禮品，增添聖殿的光榮；
 加下:3.3    連亞西亞王色苛也以私人的進項，來供給祭時所需要的一切費用。
 加下:3.4    但是，有一個彼耳加族的息孟，本是聖殿的管理員，為了管理市場的事，與大司祭發生了衝突。
 加下:3.5    他既不能制勝敖尼雅，便投奔到塔爾索人阿頗羅尼那裏，當時他正是切肋敘利亞和腓尼基的總督。
 加下:3.6    息孟便向他述說耶路撒冷寶庫的財寶富不可言，進款多得不無統計，這一切與祭獻的費用毫無關係，所以可收歸王有。
 加下:3.7    阿頗羅尼朝覲的時候，便把別人給他述說的這項財寶告訴了國王；王遂選派總理大臣赫略多洛，奉去沒收上朮的錢財。
 加下:3.8    赫略多洛便立時起程，名上的是為視察切肋敘利亞和腓尼基的各城市，其實是為執行國王的計劃
 加下:3.9    他到了耶路撒冷，受到大司祭和全城的歡迎，以後說明他所得到的消息，並說明意，繼而詢問這些事是否屬實。
 加下:3.10   大司祭聲明說：庫內的存款，都是孤兒寡婦所寄存的；還有一部份是位高望重的托彼雅的後裔依爾卡諾所寄存的；
 加下:3.11   至於全庫的財寶，並沒有像邪惡的息孟傳報的那樣多，只有銀子四百「塔冷通」，金子二百「塔冷通」罷了。
 加下:3.12   此外，使那些信賴聖所神聖的人受剝削，使這舉世所敬仰的聖殿，與其神聖不可侵犯的尊嚴受到侮辱，是萬不可的。
 加下:3.13   但是，赫略多洛因為受了王命，堅決主,應將 這些財寶收歸國庫。
 加下:3.14   赫略多洛便於指定的閑進去清查這些寶物。這使全城大感憂傷。
 加下:3.15   眾司祭都穿上司祭祭服，俯伏在祭台呼號上天，求存法的立法官，替這些存款的人安全保護這批財寶。
 加下:3.16   凡看見大司祭面容的人，沒有不心中悲傷的，因為他的神氣和他面的改變，都明顯他心靈上的痛苦。
 加下:3.17   他驚惶失措與全身戰慄的態度，使人見了就知道他內心的憂傷。
 加下:3.18   居民都成群結隊地從房屋湧出，共同祈禱，因為聖快要遭受侮辱。
 加下:3.19   婦女都苦帶束胸，塞滿了街道，連深居不出的處女，也有的跑到門口，有的爬上牆頭，有的從窗戶向外觀望；
 加下:3.20   大家都舉手向上天哀禱。
 加下:3.21   看到群眾一起矣地哀，與大司祭的焦心不安，委實令人可憐。
 加下:3.22   正當人民呼求全能的天主，保護存款的人所寄存的財寶絕對安全時，
 加下:3.23   赫略多洛就來執行他所決定的事。
 加下:3.24   當他與衛兵走近寶庫的時候，眾神和全能的主忽然大顯異像，使那些擅入聖殿的人，受到天主威能的打擊，驚惶失措，不省人事，
 加下:3.25   因為在他們面前出現了一匹配備華麗的駿馬，上面騎著一位威嚴可的騎士，疾馳衝來，前蹄亂踏赫略多洛，騎馬的人身穿金黃的鎧甲。
 加下:3.26   同時又出現了兩英俊的少年，光榮體面，立在赫略多洛的兩邊，鞭打不停，使他身受重傷。
 加下:3.27   赫略多洛忽然倒在地上，昏迷不醒。人將他扶起，放在床上，
 加下:3.28   這即是方才帶著大批侍從和衛士來到寶庫的人，現在卻無能為力，為人抬出，公然承認了這是天主的大能。
 加下:3.29   正這人受天主大能的打擊，啞口失聲，絕望無救的時候，
 加下:3.30   猶太人卻同聲讚頌上主，因為上主光榮了自己的聖所，方才還充滿著恐怖驚慌的聖殿，如今卻因全上主的顯現，充滿歡喜快樂。
 加下:3.31   赫略多洛的同僚便急忙懇敖尼雅哀求至高者，使這奄侍斃的人重獲生命。
 加下:3.32   大司祭害怕國王懷疑猶太人對赫略多洛下了毒手，所以為這人獻祭祈痊愈。
 加下:3.33   當大司祭奉獻贖罪祭時，那兩位少年又顯現給赫略多洛，他們仍穿著同樣的服裝，站在他跟說：「應多謝大司祭敖尼雅，因為上主為了他才賞你活命。
 加下:3.34   你這被上天鞭打的人，該向一切人宣揚天主的大能」。他們說完話，就不見了。
 加下:3.35   於是赫略多洛向上天獻了犧牲，且向保全自己生命的上主許下大，願和顏悅色地辭別敖尼雅，以後便率領部下回到國王那裏。
 加下:3.36   他向一切人作證，他親眼見了偉大的天主的作為。
 加下:3.37   國王問赫略多洛，下次派遣誰去耶路撒冷更相宜呢﹖他回答說：
 加下:3.38   「若有仇人或叛國之，可以派他到那裏去，既使他能逃生，也必飽受一頓毒打，才能回來見你；那裏確實天主的能力，
 加下:3.39   因為在天上的，是那地方的看守者和保護者，故，此凡存惡意去的，必遭受痛打和殺害」。
 加下:3.40   關於赫略多洛及保護聖庫的事，是如此。
    
 加下:4.1    上面記載的那位密告財寶，出賣祖國的息孟，今又毀謗敖尼雅，說他是陷害赫略多洛和一切凶禍的主謀。
 加下:4.2    他竟將這位造福本城，善理同胞，忠誠法的人，說成一個陰謀叛徒。
 加下:4.3    這仇恨是如此深刻，甚至有些人為息孟的心腹所殺。
 加下:4.4    敖尼雅見到這爭鬥的危險性，並且又見到默及斯太的兒子，即切肋敘利亞和腓尼基的總督阿頗羅尼，助長息孟為惡，
 加下:4.5    便去覲見國王；他去不並不是為控告自己的同胞，而是為了的公私利益，
 加下:4.6    因為他看得很清楚，若沒有國王的停調，要使問題和平解決，和使息孟停止妄行，是不可能的，
 加下:4.7    但是，色婁苛死後，號稱厄丕法乃的安提約古繼位為王，此時，敖尼雅的弟弟雅松用非法手段，奪取了大司祭的職位。
 加下:4.8    當他朝見國王時，給國王三十六十「塔冷通」銀子，和其他進項中的八十「塔冷通」；
 加下:4.9    此外，如果國王准許他用王的權勢，修建一座體育場和一座青年訓所，並把耶路撒冷登記為安提約基雅的公民，他就許下另繳一百五十「塔冷通」。
 加下:4.10   國一一允許了。雅松既然得勢，立刻使本國人民希臘化，
 加下:4.11   並且把諸王因歐頗肋摩的父親若望，而賜與猶太人的特權取消，──歐頗肋摩就是日後出使與羅馬人締結友好盟約的中仗──把合法的制度廢除，而倡導違法的新風俗。
 加下:4.12   他故意在城堡下建立了運動場，引領貴族少年受體育訓練。
 加下:4.13   因了這邪惡而非大司祭的雅松的過度狂妄，希臘文化和外風俗到了極點，
 加下:4.14   以致司祭們對祭獻的禮儀己不感興趣，甚至輕慢聖殿，忽略祭獻，一聽到擲餅的訊號，就急忙跑去運動埸上的違法運動。
 加下:4.15   他們毫不尊重本國的尊嚴，一心崇拜希臘的光榮。
 加下:4.16   正是為這些緣故，他們日後陷於惡劣的環境，那些推崇其生活方式和事事取法他們的的人，日後反成了他們的仇敵治者，
 加下:4.17   因為背棄天主的法律，並不是一伴小事：這由下面的事實可以應證明。
 加下:4.18   在提 洛舉行五年一次的運動大會的時候，國王也親見到埸，
 加下:4.19   無廉的雅松派了幾個入安提約基雅藉的人，代表耶路撒冷去作觀察員，又叫他們帶三百銀錢去祭獻赫辣克肋神。但是帶錢的人以為用這些錢購辦祭物不相宜，所以留下作了別的費用。
 加下:4.20   雖然按主使者的意思，這錢是為祭獻赫辣克肋用的，帶錢的人卻用來建造了三層漿是戰船。
 加下:4.21   當安提約古打發默乃斯太的兒子阿頗羅尼去埃及，參與非羅默托王登極的盛典時，知道了埃及王是他的政敵， 所以為自衛起見，就去了約培，然後來到了耶路撒冷。
 加下:4.22   安提約古受到雅松及全國人民的熱烈歡迎，火炬歡呼中進了城。隨後他又領兵到了腓尼基。
 加下:4.23   三年以後，雅松打發上述息孟的兄弟默乃勞把錢送交國王，並請王解決傋忘錄上的伴重要制度事項。
 加下:4.24   默乃勞先使人在國王跟推荐自己，後又奉上他，自裝有權勢，又許給他比雅松還多的二百「塔冷通」，於是獲得大司祭的職位。
 加下:4.25   他領到國王的委任狀，就回到耶路撒冷。他決不相稱大司祭職位，暴燥如虐王，狂怒似野獸。
 加下:4.26   如此，以前曾推翻哥哥的雅松，今也被人推翻，被迫逃到阿孟人的地方去。
 加下:4.27   默乃勞固然得到高位，但許給國王的錢未繳納，
 加下:4.28   城堡的司令兼主管稅務的索斯塔卻不斷托摧他繳納，於是二人同被國王傳召，。
 加下:4.29   默乃勞便委任自己的兄弟里息瑪苛代理大司祭的職務，索斯塔托委託塞浦路斯的軍官辣特為代理。
 加下:4.30   正當此時，塔爾索斯和瑪羅兩城的人民，因為國王把這兩座城當作禮品，送給自己的嬪妃安提約基，而群起叛亂。
 加下:4.31   國王急速去平亂，委託他的大官安多尼苛為代理。
 加下:4.32   默乃勞乘此良機，由聖殿中偷去一些金器，送給安多尼苛，也把一些金器賣給提洛和附近的城邑。
 加下:4.33   此時，退隱到安提約基雅附近的達夫乃避難所的敖尼雅，聽到這些確實的消息，就責斥默乃勞，
 加下:4.34   因此他把安多尼苛叫到一邊，煽動他去殺敖尼雅。安多尼苛來到敖尼雅那裏，伸出右手假裝向他起誓，使他相信。敖尼雅雖然猶豫，仍相信了，遂從避難所走出。安多尼苛竟然不顧道義，就地殺了他。
 加下:4.35   為此，不但猶太人，連別的外方人對屈殺這人，都忿忿不平，懷恨在心。
 加下:4.36   及至國王從基里基雅回來，京城的猶太人，連一些希臘人，都來到王前，控訴敖尼雅死得冤枉。
 加下:4.37   安提約古心中也很難受，深表哀憐，回想死者的賢能端莊，不禁淚下。
 加下:4.38   國王一時怒火大起，命人即刻脫去安多尼苛的紫紅袍，將他的衣服撕爛，領他遊城示眾，直到他對敖尼雅兇的地方，就在那裏，將這兇手從世上剷除；如此，上主使他受到應得的處罰。
 加下:4.39   里息瑪苛由於默乃勞的贊助，在城內犯了許多盜賣聖物的褻聖罪過。這事一傳出去，民眾都公然起來攻擊里息瑪苛；那時有許多金器已被盜賣給各方。
 加下:4.40   里息瑪苛見群眾怒形於色，起來反抗他，即武裝了大約三千人，以暴力對付，並以年老而愚妄未減的奧辣諾為首領。
 加下:4.41   眾人見里息瑪苛派人來攻打，有的拾取石塊，有的手拿棒棍，有的就地抓起灰土，一起向里息瑪苛的部下衝過去；
 加下:4.42   如此，他的部下有許多被打傷了，也有一些被打死，其餘的都逃散了；連賣聖器的人也被殺死在聖庫的近旁。
 加下:4.43   關於這事，人民都抱怨默乃勞。
 加下:4.44   當國王來到提洛時，長老院便去派去三人到君王跟前伸訴。
 加下:4.45   默乃勞明知自己已失敗，遂許給多黎默乃的兒子仆托肋米大批金銀，託他向國王代為說情。
 加下:4.46   仆托肋米便引國王來到廊下，假意乘涼，乘機使他改變了心意，
 加下:4.47   於是國王釋放了罪魁禍首默乃勞，撤清了一切的控訴，反而把這幾個可憐的人處死。這幾個人，假使叔提雅人伸訴的話，一定會被判無罪釋放。
 加下:4.48   這些保護聖城、百姓和聖器的人，反倒很快的受到這樣不公平的懲罰。
 加下:4.49   因此有些提洛人，為了表示痛恨這種惡行，自願為這些犧牲者舉行隆重的喪禮。
 加下:4.50   因此有權勢的人貪污，默乃勞仍能保持原位，仍然怙惡不悛，時時處處加害本國人。
    
 加下:5.1    那時，安提約古正準備第二次進攻埃及，
 加下:5.2    在全耶路撒冷，出現了一個異像近四十天之久：成隊的騎兵，有些身穿金衣，手執干戈，在空中奔馳；
 加下:5.3    騎陣依次展開，雙方反復衝殺，盾牌閃爍，刀劍飛舞，箭矢橫飛，金甲銀盔，光輝燦爛，
 加下:5.4    眾人都祝禱這是吉祥之兆。
 加下:5.5    正當此時，虛報安提約古駕崩，雅松遂率領千餘人，忽然襲擊聖城，城牆的守兵敗退，城被佔領，默乃勞便逃入城堡。
 加下:5.6    雅松遂殘殺聖城的同胞，毫不顧惜；他沒有想到：戰勝自己的同胞，正是最大的不幸；自以為是戰勝仇敵，而不是戰勝親族。
 加下:5.7    但沒有得到大權，結果，只得含羞地逃到阿孟地區去。
 加下:5.8    他的結局非常悽慘：首先被阿刺伯王阿勒達監禁，後逃竄各城，為眾人所追逐；人憎恨他他有如罪犯，厭惡他好像屠殺祖國和同胞的兇手；他只得跑到埃及去。
 加下:5.9    那從祖國驅逐無數民眾的雅松，如今飄流到拉刻待孟人那裏，希望以同族的關係，可以在那裏避難安身；結果，竟死異鄉。
 加下:5.10   從前他曾暴露多人的屍體，未得掩埋；如今也沒有人哭悼他，也沒有人舉喪，也沒有人將他葬在祖塋裏。
 加下:5.11   王一聽到這些消息，以為是猶太起來叛亂，一時咆哮如野獸，當下離開埃及，帶領大軍佔領了聖城；
 加下:5.12   命軍隊逢人便殺，毫不留情；凡上到屋頂的，也都要搜淨盡；
 加下:5.13   於是殘殺老幼，滅絕婦孺，屠殺處女嬰兒。
 加下:5.14   三日之內，殺害了八萬人，四萬喪身刀下，其餘的被賣為奴。
 加下:5.15   王還以為不足，又以背叛法律出賣祖國的默乃勞為響導，膽敢進入舉世至聖的聖殿，
 加下:5.16   伸出他罪污的手攫取聖器，以他凡俗的手，奪去各國君王，為加曾聖殿的光榮所獻的禮品。
 加下:5.17   安提約古一時大為得意，卻不想這只是上主，為了城內居民的罪惡，暫時動怒不顧聖所罷了。
 加下:5.18   若不是居民的罪惡滿盈，祂必定也如色婁苛王打發來視察寶庫的赫略多洛一樣，一來到，就立刻遭受鞭打，不得任意妄為了!
 加下:5.19   但是，上主並不是為了聖所而選擇了聖所。
 加下:5.20   所以那分受民眾所遭災難的聖所，後來也得分享他們的幸福；那在全能者義怒下被遺棄的聖殿，與至上之主和好後，仍然要恢復以前所有的光榮。
 加下:5.21   從聖殿裏攫取了一百八百「塔冷通」以後，迅速回到安提約基雅去；他心中自鳴得意，竟然妄想陸地行舟，海上步行。
 加下:5.22   他留下的官吏，與百姓為難；在耶路撒冷留下夫黎基亞人斐理伯，這人性情殘暴，甚於委派他的人；
 加下:5.23   在革黎斤山留下安多尼苛；此外還有默乃勞，這人虐待本國人比外更兇殘。安提約古王因對猶太人心懷仇恨，
 加下:5.24   就派米息雅的軍長阿頗羅尼率領二萬二千人，命他殺盡了年富力強的壯丁，把婦女與幼童出賣。
 加下:5.25   阿頗羅尼到了耶路撒冷，假仁假義，等到安息日，明知猶太人都停工安息，便命步隊武裝起來，列隊遊行。
 加下:5.26   凡出來觀望的人，都用刀砍死，然後率領武裝部隊，走遍全城，殺了無數的居民。
 加下:5.27   猶大瑪加伯同其餘九人，逃到曠 野，形同野獸，饑食野菜，免染不潔。
    
 加下:6.1    不久以後，王派遣一位年老的雅典人，來強迫猶太人背棄祖傳的規誡，不得按照天主的法律生活，
 加下:6.2    並且褻瀆耶路撒冷的聖殿，將聖殿轉獻與奧林比亞則烏斯神，又將革黎斤山上的殿宇，依當地居民的要求，獻與克色尼則烏斯神。
 加下:6.3    這種種邪惡的侵入，實在令人難以忍受。
 加下:6.4    因為聖殿內充滿了外邦人的放和蕩縱飲，他們與娼妓淫歡，甚至在聖殿的圍牆內與女人私通，將犯禁的東西帶入殿內。
 加下:6.5    祭壇上充滿了法律所禁止的不潔之物，
 加下:6.6    並且不准遵守安息日，不准舉行祖傳的慶節，連承認自己是猶太人也不許可。
 加下:6.7    每月遇到國王誕生的那一天，他們都被脅迫參與祭祀；一到彫尼索節，應頭帶長春藤冠，參與慶祝彫尼索的遊行。
 加下:6.8    且因仆托肋買城內居民的唆使，王又向附近受到希臘文化影響的城邑，頒發一道命令，令人以同樣的方式對待猶太人，迫使他們分食祭品。
 加下:6.9    誰若不採用希臘風俗，依法處以死刑。從此可知大難臨頭了。
 加下:6.10   有兩個婦人，因為給孩子割損，就被逮捕受審，令人將孩子掛在她們胸前，遊街示眾，然後將她們由城牆高處扔下去。
 加下:6.11   此外還有些人在附近的山洞裏聚集，暗地裏舉行安息日；有人報告給斐理伯，他便下令把他們活活燒死，因他們寧願遵守聖日，不願自衛。
 加下:6.12   至此，我勸告本書的讀者，不要因了這些不幸而灰心喪志，反該相信這些災難並不是為消滅，而只是為懲戒我們的民族罷了。
 加下:6.13   因為作惡的人不得長久放縱，反而即刻受到懲罰，這實在是大恩的明證。
 加下:6.14   對於其他的民族，上主儘量念忍，待他們罪惡滿盈，即施以懲罰；對於我們，祂卻不是這樣：
 加下:6.15   祂不等我們的罪惡到達頂點，就責罰我們。
 加下:6.16   因此，祂的憐憫總不離棄我們：雖然用患茌來懲戒自己的百姓，卻不放棄他們。
 加下:6.17   上面所說的，只是叫你們注意。說完這些話，就該言歸正傳。
 加下:6.18   厄肋阿匝爾是一位傑出的經師，又是年已古稀，儀表莊嚴的人。有人用力拉開了他的口，強迫他吃豬肉；
 加下:6.19   但他寧願光榮捨命，不願受辱而偷生，遂自動走上刑架，
 加下:6.20   況且把肉吐出。其實，凡決意拒絕吃違法食物的人，都該如此，雖死不辭。
 加下:6.21   那些監督這違法祭食的人，因為與他有年的交情，便把他叫到一邊，再三他勸他帶著自己準備而合法可吃的肉，假裝吃王命的祭肉；
 加下:6.22   如此，就烈免一死，而且因他與他們多年的交情，還可獲得優待。
 加下:6.23   但他立即作一豪爽的決斷，這決斷相稱他的高齡和聲望，相稱他因積勞而生的白髮，和自幼至今的善行，更符合於天主所立的神聖法律。因此他說明自己的意見，告訴人快把他送到陰府裏去，說：
 加下:6.24   「像我這樣年齡的人，決不宜作偽，免得許多青年，想年高九十的厄肋阿匝爾也接受了外教禮俗，
 加下:6.25   因我的作偽和貪戀殘生．他們也都因我的緣故而誤入岐途；如此，不免在我的高齡上塗上一層污點和恥辱!
 加下:6.26   況且，既使目前我能逃避人的刑罰；可是或生或死，我總逃不出全能者的手。
 加下:6.27   所以現在，我若是勇敢捨生，我不愧有此高齡，
 加下:6.28   因為我已給青年留下了一個為可敬的神聖法律，甘心慷慨犧牲的高尚榜樣」。說完這話，就立刻走上刑架。
 加下:6.29   方才和顏悅勸說他的人，以為他瘋了，遂改變為仇視的態度。
 加下:6.30   當他受刑快要斷氣的時候，呻吟著說：「具有聖智的上主明知我能逃脫死亡，但是，為了敬畏祂，我的肉身在痛打之下，雖受到很大的疼痛，但我的心靈卻喜樂忍受這一切」。
 加下:6.31   他便這樣死了。他的死，不但給青年人，而且也給全國的人，留下剛勇的模範，和大德不凡的記錄。
    
 加下:7.1    事後，又有兄弟七人與他們的母親一同被捕，國王命人用鞭打和牛筋痛打他們，強迫他們吃法律禁止的豬肉。
 加下:7.2    其中一個，代表發言說：「你想問什麼﹖你願由我們知道什麼﹖我們已經準備，寧死不願背叛我們祖先的法律」。
 加下:7.3    於是國王大怒，命人取過鍋釜來，放在火上。
 加下:7.4    及至鍋釜瞬間燒紅以後，就命人在兄弟和母親眼前，將鄱發言人的舌頭割下來，剝去他的頭皮，割下他的四肢，
 加下:7.5    肢體被分割後，王命人將拉到火邊，活生生地放在火裏煎熬。當媧肉的蒸氣往上升起時，其餘的兄弟和母親都互相勸勉作壯烈的犧牲說：
 加下:7.6    「上主天主看見，必要憐恤我們，正如梅瑟在譴責歌中所說的：祂必憐恤祂的僕人! 」
 加下:7.7    第一個這樣死去以後，遂領第二個來赴刑。將他的頭皮與頭髮一起削去，以後問他說：「在你的身體一塊一塊地分解以前，你吃不吃豬肉﹖」
 加下:7.8    他用祖國的話回答說：「不! 」因此，他也像第一個一般受了刑罰。
 加下:7.9    他在快要斷氣的一剎那，高聲說：「你這窮兇極惡的人! 你使我失掉現世的生命，但是宇宙的君王，必要使我們這些為祂法律而殉難的人復活，獲得永生」。
 加下:7.10   這一個以後，輪到第三個受刑了! 在命他伸舌頭時，他就爽快地伸出，且毅然伸開雙手，
 加下:7.11   慷慨地說：「這些肢體是從上天得來的，但是，現在為了祂的法律，我不吝惜這一切，希望有一天從祂那裏仍然得到」。
 加下:7.12   國王和他的侍從都驚異這少年人不怕受苦的精神。
 加下:7.13   他死了以後，他們用同樣酷刑處罰第四個。
 加下:7.14   他臨死時這樣說：「深信天主使人復活許諾的人，死在人手中，是求之不得的；可是為你，卻沒有進入生命的復活」。
 加下:7.15   接著，人就帶第五個來受刑。
 加下:7.16   他向國王瞪著眼說：「你這有死有壞的人，現今你對人有權利，為所欲為，可是，不要想我們是民族已被天主擯棄。
 加下:7.17   你等著看吧! 你必要看到祂的大能，看祂要怎樣懲罰你和 你的子孫」!
 加下:7.18   在他以後，帶了第六個來，他快死時說：「你不要糊塗自欺! 我們遭受了這一切，正是因為我們得罪了我們的天主，因而遭受了這樣嚴重的災難。
 加下:7.19   可是，你不要想你對抗天主，能僥倖免罰! 」
 加下:7.20   尤當稱奇，最值得光榮記念的，還是他們的母親。她在一日之內親見七個兒子死去，還能欣然忍受，因為她全心寄望於上主。
 加下:7.21   她心中充滿高的情緒，以大大丈夫的氣概奮發起女性孱弱的心靈，用本國的話，一一鼓勵他們說：
 加下:7.22   「我不知你們怎樣出現在我的腹中：不是我給了你們靈魂與生命，也不是我構成你們每一個人的身體。
 加下:7.23   世界的創造者，既然形成了人的初生，賜予萬物以起源，也必仁慈償還你們靈魂和生命，因為你們現在為愛護祂的法律捨生致命」。
 加下:7.24   安提約古自覺受了輕慢，猜想這番話必是諷刺自己，就趁最後一個尚在，不斷用話勸勉誘，且向他起誓，只要他捨棄自己祖傳的一切，保證他必高富貴榮華，作自己的朋友，且得高官厚祿。
 加下:7.25   可是少年人對這話毫不介意，因此國就召他的母親來，勸她給少年人出個主意。
 加下:7.26   國王 再三勸了她，她才同意去勸說她的兒子。
 加下:7.27   於是她向他彎著身，嘲弄著暴君，用祖國的話這樣對他說：「我兒，你憐恤我吧! 我在腹中懷育你九個月，三年哺養你，又栽培提攜養育你，現在的年紀。
 加下:7.28   我兒，我懇求你仰觀天，俯視地，觀察天地間形形色色的萬物! 你該知道這一切都是天主從無中造成的，人類也是如此造成的。
 加下:7.29   你不要怕這劊子手，該對得起你的哥哥們，視死如歸，好叫我在天主顯示仁慈的時候，可迎接你的哥哥和你」。
 加下:7.30   她剛說完了話，青年人說說：「你們還等什麼﹖我決不聽從國王的命令，只聽從梅瑟給我們祖宗立定的法律命令。
 加下:7.31   你這設法迫害希伯來人的罪魁，你決能逃脫天主的手!
 加下:7.32   我們受難是為了我們的罪惡。
 加下:7.33   我們永生的上主，為責罰和懲戒我們，一時向我們發怒，佰終究要與自己的僕人重新和好o
 加下:7.34   至於你這惡人! 你這人類中的妖孽! 你雖然伸手毒害上天的子女，可是，別糊裏糊塗，洋洋得意，妙想天開，
 加下:7.35   因為你逃脫不了全能全知天主的審判。
 加下:7.36   我哥哥們既忍受了暫時的苦痛，如今他們按照天主的盟約，得到了永生，你卻因天主的審判，將受你驕傲應得的刑罰。
 加下:7.37   我要如我哥哥們一樣，甘心為祖的法律，捨棄我的肉身和生命，求主早日憐恤我們的百姓，並用苦難和災禍，迫使你承認祂是唯一的天主。
 加下:7.38   願全能者向我們所發的憤怒，在我和我哥哥們的身上，就此止息」。
 加下:7.39   國王難以忍受他的淩 辱，於是教然大怒，加給他的刑罰比對別的更兇殘。
 加下:7.40   這樣，這個純潔的少年一心倚靠天主，走入了另一世界。
 加下:7.41   兒子們相繼致命，最後母親也致了命。
 加下:7.42   以上所述，足以叫人瞭解當時關於吃祭品和因此掀起的殘酷的刑罰。
    
 加下:8.1    猶大瑪加伯與他的同人暗暗走到各鄉村，向同族人呼籲，把固守猶太教的人，集合起來，有六千人。
 加下:8.2    他們懇求上主，垂顧為眾人蹂躝的民族，憐憫被惡人祝聖的聖殿，
 加下:8.3    憐恤已經毀壞且快夷為平地的京城，俯聽向祂喊冤的血聲，
 加下:8.4    記念無罪嬰兒所遭的殘殺，並向詛咒祂聖名的惡人發洩恨。
 加下:8.5    瑪加伯成一支軍隊以後，外方人就無法抵抗他，因為上主的義怒已經變成了憐憫。
 加下:8.6    他屢次在人料想不到的時候，去襲擊城鎮，放火焚燒，佔據要塞，使敵人屢遭潰敗。
 加下:8.7    他為作戰順利，特別喜愛夜間住擊，因此他勇敢的聲譽傳遍各地。
 加下:8.8    斐理伯見這人勢力漸漸強大，所作的事日漸成功，遂致書與切肋敘利亞和腓尼基的總督仆托肋米，請他援助國王的事務。
 加下:8.9    他遂立時指派了仆托克羅的兒子尼加諾爾，君王的一個知心好友，帶領各國的聯軍，人數不下二萬，去消滅猶太民族；又派了一位富有作戰經驗的大將哥爾基雅援助他。
 加下:8.10   尼加諾爾想出擄來猶太人，好填補國王羅馬人的兩千「塔冷通 」稅款。
 加下:8.11   於是立時派人到沿海各城市去，叫他們收買猶太人奴隸，與他們約定每九十人一「塔冷通」，卻一點也不想全能者正要於他的刑罰。
 加下:8.12   有人將尼加諾爾進軍的消息告訴了他的部下。
 加下:8.13   那些膽小的和不依恃上主的人，就逃到別的地方了；
 加下:8.14   其餘的人變了賣了自己尚存的一切，一同祈上主拯救那些在交戰以前，就被兇惡的尼加諾爾賣掉了的人們，
 加下:8.15   求主若不為了他們自己，至少為了與他們祖先立的，為了在他們身上稱呼的可敬而偉大的聖名，拯救他們。
 加下:8.16   瑪加伯w自己同人，約有六千，勸他們不要臨敵驚慌，不要要那些無理襲擊他們的外方人數眾多，只要勇敢作戰，
 加下:8.17   把外方人無理加於聖所的褻瀆與虐待，以及傳統制度遭受的破壞等事放在眼前。
 加下:8.18   繼而又說：「他們仗著武器和奮勇；至於我們，只應倚靠全能的天主，祂能轉瞬之間，擊攻打我們的敵人和整個世界」。
 加下:8.19   瑪加伯還給他們引述了他們的祖先獲得的救助：在散乃黑黎布時，怎樣十八萬五千人一時同歸於盡；
 加下:8.20   在巴比倫與迦拉達人作戢時，來作的共有八千，此外還有四馬其頓人助戰。當馬其頓人陷困境時，這八千人怎樣賴上天的助，消滅了十二萬敵人，並且獲得了許多戰利品。
 加下:8.21   用這番話激起他們的勇氣，叫大家準備為法律和國家而犧牲；以後他就把軍隊分成四隊：
 加下:8.22   立自己的兄弟息孟、若瑟和約納堂的隊長，叫他們各人率領一千亟百人。
 加下:8.23   此外，又令厄次辣誦讀聖經，然後立定「天主助佑」為口號；猶大就親率領第一隊，進攻尼加諾爾：
 加下:8.24   因為全能者與他們一同作戰，擊殺了敵軍九千人，使尼加諾爾的軍隊，大部份受了傷，成了殘廢，迫使剩下的都逃了。
 加下:8.25   來購買他們的人帶來的銀錢，也都奪回來，
 加下:8.26   因為那時正值安息日前夕，所以不能繼續追趕。
 加下:8.27   他們拾取敵人的武器，掠奪他們的財物，以後就行安息日，全心謝讚頌上主，因為祂今日開始把恩露灑在他們身上。
 加下:8.28   了安息日，他們便把每一部份戰利品贈給受害的人、孤兒和寡婦；剩下的，他們自己和子女分了。
 加下:8.29   辦完這事，又共同祈禱，懇仁慈的上主，完全與他的僕人和好。
 加下:8.30   他們又與提摩太和巴基德的軍隊交戰，殺死了他們兩萬多人，並且也佔領了幾座很高大的堡壘，將獲得的無數戢利品，平均分為兩份：一份為他們自己，一份為受害的人、孤兒、寡婦和老心。
 加下:8.31   又拾取了敵人的軍械，把這一切仔細安放在適宜的地方，餘下的戰利品悉數運到耶路撒冷去。
 加下:8.32   又殺了提摩太部隊下的一個軍長，這人非常暴虐無道，曾殘殺害過猶太人。
 加下:8.33   當他們在祖國慶祝勝利時，將從前燒過聖殿的門，而今與卡里斯特乃逃到一個小房裏的人，都用火燒死。如此，他們得了因行褻瀆應得的報應。
 加下:8.34   那曾帶一千商人來購買猶太人的萬惡的尼加諾爾，
 加下:8.35   如今，卻因上主賜給猶太人的救助，被他所最輕視的人們制服了。他脫去了自己耀武揚威的官服，似逃命之徒，獨自一人，跑過了曠野；在他軍覆沒以後，他還能跑到安提約基雅去，這為他算是太幸運了。
 加下:8.36   曾負責以販耶路撒冷俘擄的價錢償還羅馬人的稅款的人，如今反倒聲明猶太人確實有一位保護者，若是猶太人遵從祂立的法律，他們絕對不會受任何傷害。
    
 加下:9.1    這時，安提約古正從波斯地域含羞歸來，
 加下:9.2    原來去了名叫里波里的京城，企圖劫掠神殿和佔領該城。但是當地民眾都起來，以武力抗拒，安提約古終於被當地的民眾打敗，含羞退回。
 加下:9.3    他一到厄克巴塔納，就聽說尼加諾爾和提摩太的軍隊潰敗了，
 加下:9.4    遂教然大怒，想把別人打敗他的恥辱向猶太人報復；於是命御者不停地加緊趕路。其實，是上天的懲罰催迫著他，因為他傲慢地說：「我到了耶路撒冷，必使這城變為猶太人的墳場」。
 加下:9.5    但是，無所不見的上主，以色列的天主，用不可救藥和從未見過的病症，打擊了他。他剛說完這話，他的臟腑就痛不可忍，五內感到劇痛。
 加下:9.6    這是極其公道的，因為他從前曾用各種罕見的刑罰，難為過別人的臟腑。
 加下:9.7    他不但不止息他的蠻橫，反而更加驕傲，向猶太人發洩他的怒焰，下命快跑。正當御車風馳電掣的時刻，他忽然跌下來，且跌得得十分慘重，渾身肢體都錯了節。
 加下:9.8    剛才自命不凡，叱吒風雲，想量山峰的人，如今卻躺在地上，被人用床抬起：這事叫人知道天主威能的顯示。
 加下:9.9    況且，又從這萬惡的人身上生出了蛆蟲，他雖還活著，可肌肉卻一塊一塊的脫，落痛萬狀，腐爛的臭味使全軍想嘔。
 加下:9.10   剛才仿佛要觸摸天上星辰的人，現今為他這難的臭味，沒有一個人願抬他。
 加下:9.11   這樣，因痛苦纏身，他的狂傲，方開始止息；因天主的懲罰，痛苦逐漸增加，他也逐漸覺悟。
 加下:9.12   當他自己也無法忍受自己的臭味時，就說：「服從天主是理所當然的，有死有壞的人，絕不可妄想與天主平衡! 」
 加下:9.13   這惡人不住向那不憐憫他的上主所說：
 加下:9.14   「他要把從前於夷為墳場的聖城，宣佈為自己之地；
 加下:9.15   要使一切先前決定不配埋葬，而該與子女一同投給飛禽走獸作食物的猶太人，得享雅典人平等的待遇；
 加下:9.16   要用最珍的禮物點綴他先前劫掠的聖殿，加倍償一切聖器，以自己的收入支付祭獻的費用；
 加下:9.17   此外還要作一個猶太人，周遊凡有人煙的地方，宣揚天主的大能。
 加下:9.18   然而，他的痛苦並因此減輕，因為天主公義的審判已經來到他身上。他見自己無希望，於是用哀懇的言詞給猶太0 下了下面的一封信：
 加下:9.19   「安提約古王兼大元帥，祝良善的猶太國民安好! 並祝健康幸福!
 加下:9.20   倘若你們及你們的子女健康，萬事如意，我就非常感謝上天。
 加下:9.21   我今毫無能力，躺在床上，很懷念你們。自從我由波斯地域回來，即患重病，所以將有關公益的事，安排一下我以為很有需要。
 加下:9.22   不是因為對我的病症已感絕望，反之，我極希望脫離這病苦。
 加下:9.23   不過，我起先父母每次帶兵出征高原區時，常先定下他的繼承人，
 加下:9.24   好在發生不測的事情，或傳來什麼不幸的消息時，各省的居民都知道國王已有繼承，不致發生暴亂；
 加下:9.25   此外，我察覺近邦的王子，與鄰國的君王，都在窺探時機，等待事變，所以指定我的兒子安提約古為王，他就是我出巡高原各省時，曾給你們許多人託付介紹過所施的公私的那位。我還給他寫了下面所寫的一封信。
 加下:9.26   因此我切哀你們，回想我對你們所施的公私恩惠，對我和我的兒子保持原的友誼，
 加下:9.27   因為我深信他必仁慈和善地履行我的指意，甘願就和你們」。
 加下:9.28   如此，這個人王，受盡了劇烈痛苦，在國外的群山中，悲慘地結束了自己的性命。
 加下:9.29   他的摯友斐理伯收殮了他的屍首。他卻害怕安提約古的兒子，就去埃及，投奔了仆托肋米非羅默。
    
 加下:10.1   瑪加伯及他的部下在上主引領之下，收復了聖殿和京城。
 加下:10.2   他們把外方人在廣埸上建立的一切祭壇，以及廟宇都予以拆毀。
 加下:10.3   潔淨聖殿以後，他們另建立了一座祭壇，然後打石取火，用取來的火中重獻了中斷兩年的祭獻，又焚香、點燈、供餅。
 加下:10.4   此後，他們便俯伏在地，祈求上主不要讓他再遭遇這樣的禍患；如果他們仍再犯罪，求祂滅輕懲罰，不要再將他們交付與褻神的野蠻民族。
 加下:10.5   正在外邦人玷污聖殿的那記念日，他們舉行了潔殿禮，即「基色婁」月二十五日；
 加下:10.6   按著舉行帳棚節的儀式，興高采烈地慶祝了八天；回想不久前過帳棚節時，還像野獸一樣，藏在山上或洞裏；
 加下:10.7   為此他們都拿著花枝，青枝和棕櫚樹枝，歌頌那位賜他們能順利清潔聖殿的天主；
 加下:10.8   並且大家一致表決，規定猶太全國人民應每年舉行這慶節。
 加下:10.9   有關安提約古號稱厄丕法乃的結局，已如上述。
 加下:10.10  現在我們要述說這惡人的兒子，安提約古歐帕托爾在位時所發生的事情，略所有的戰禍。
 加下:10.11  他登極後，便立了一位名叫息里雅的為國務總理，兼任切肋敘利亞和腓尼基的總督。
 加下:10.12  此時，號瑪克龍的仆托肋米，首先對猶太人主持正義，為了他們受的委屈，就盡力和平對待他們；
 加下:10.13  因此王的一些朋友在歐帕托爾面前控告了他，說他在各方面堪稱為叛臣，因為他曾離棄了非羅默托託他管理的塞浦路斯，而投奔安提約古厄丕法乃。因為他自覺不配居高位，逐服毒自盡。
 加下:10.14  當哥爾基雅了那地的總督以後，便招募外方人從軍，利用各種機會同猶太人交戰。
 加下:10.15  同時，佔有一些要重堡壘的依杜默雅人，也騷擾猶太人，收留從耶路撒冷逃亡的人，意圖發動戰爭。
 加下:10.16  瑪加伯及他的部下，在哀懇祈求天主協助自己作戰以後，就動員攻擊依杜默雅人的堡壘。
 加下:10.17  他們英勇作戰，佔據了那些據點，把城牆上作戰的人都擊退，凡落在他們手中的，都一概殺盡，殺了不下兩萬人。
 加下:10.18  有九千人逃到兩座特別堅固，且貯藏有各種急需物品的堡壘裏。
 加下:10.19  瑪加伯留下息孟、匝刻約和他的軍隊，足夠圍困堡壘，自己便往危急的地方去了。
 加下:10.20  但是息孟的部隊貪財，受了堡壘中一些人的賄賂，收得七萬「達瑪」而讓他們有些人逃走了。
 加下:10.21  瑪加伯一知道這事，就召集軍民的軍長，斥責他們為銀錢出賣自己的弟兄，把自己交戰的敵人放走，
 加下:10.22  因此把這些叛徒處死，並立時進攻這兩座堡壘。
 加下:10.23  戰事在他的手中進行的很是順利，在這兩個堡壘裏，又殺了兩萬多人。
 加下:10.24  從前被猶太人打敗的提摩太，又聚集一大批外方士兵，並招募不少來自亞西亞的騎兵，想用武力去佔領猶太。
 加下:10.25  但他快來近時，瑪加伯和他的部下都頭上撒土，腰束苦帶，懇求天主，
 加下:10.26  跪伏在祭壇的前階上，懇求天主向他們大發慈悲，按著法律所宣示的，與他們的仇人為仇，與他們的敵人為敵。
 加下:10.27  祈禱完畢，就拿起武器出發，走到離城相當遠的地方，靠近敵人，就停住了。
 加下:10.28  天一破曉，兩軍交鋒：這一方，不只倚靠兵力，而是倚靠天主，作為成功和勝利的保證；另一方卻只仗自己的勇氣，而來作戰。
 加下:10.29  戰爭正在激烈時，敵人看見從天上降下五個光輝燦爛的人，騎著金轡的馬，走在猶太人的前面，
 加下:10.30  把瑪加伯圍在中央，用自己的盔因掩護他，使他不受傷害；然後向敵人放射箭矢和雷電，使他們目炫眩惶惑，秩序大亂。
 加下:10.31  結果，殺死步兵二萬五百，騎兵六百；
 加下:10.32  提摩太只得逃到一座凱勒阿管轄的，名叫革則爾最穩固的堡壘去。
 加下:10.33  瑪加伯與他的部下，四天圍攻這堅固的堡壘。
 加下:10.34  裏面的人，仗著地勢險要，狂傲謾罵，口出惡言。
 加下:10.35  至第五天破曉時分，瑪加伯軍中有二十個少年，被這些謾罵激得怒火如焚，於是奮勇越牆而上，咆哮如野獸，逢人便殺。
 加下:10.36  同時，有別的一些人，也越牆而上，四面襲擊裏面的人，又放火燒樓，燃起烈火，把謾罵的人活活地燒死。另有一些人卻衝破城門，讓其餘的軍隊進去，迅速地把城市佔領，
 加下:10.37  殺了藏在畜水池中的提摩太和他的兄弟凱勒阿與阿頗羅法乃。
 加下:10.38  戰後他們詠詩唱歌，讚美上主，因為祂對以色列特降鴻恩，使他們獲得勝利。
    
 加下:11.1   此後不久，王的親戚和監護人並國務總理里息雅，對所遭遇的事，異常憤恨，
 加下:11.2   便募集了八萬步兵及所有的騎兵，出發進攻猶太人，企圖將聖城作為希臘人的居所；
 加下:11.3   向聖殿徵稅，像對其他各國的寺廟一樣；並且每年高價出售大司祭的職位。
 加下:11.4   他毫不想天主的威能，而只信賴他的幾萬步兵，數千騎兵和八十匹象。
 加下:11.5   侵入猶太之後，逼近離耶路撒冷約三十二公里的一個要塞貝特族爾，傾全力圍攻。
 加下:11.6   瑪加伯與部下聽說他圍攻那堡壘，便與民眾一同歎息流淚，懇求上主派一位好天使來拯救以色列。
 加下:11.7   瑪加伯自己首先拿起武器，然後激勵眾人跟他去冒險拯救同胞；眾人都自告奮勇與他前去。
 加下:11.8   他們離耶路撒冷不遠，有位身穿白衣，手揮金武器的騎兵出現，作他們的前鋒。
 加下:11.9   他們一致稱揚仁慈的天主，個個勇往直前，不但準備衝鋒殺敵，而且還敢與最兇猛的野獸搏鬥，衝破銅牆鐵壁。
 加下:11.10  他們既得上主垂憐，從天上獲得助戰者，就列陣前進，
 加下:11.11  衝向敵人如猛獅一般，擊殺了步兵一萬一千，騎兵一千六百，迫得其餘的人都望風而逃，
 加下:11.12  大半負傷棄甲逃命，連里息雅自己也得抱頭鼠竄，纔得苟全性命。
 加下:11.13  但他並不是個愚昧人：當他回想自己所遭遇的失敗，便知希伯來人是不可戰勝的，因為有全能的天主與他們共同作戰；
 加下:11.14  於是派遣使者，去同猶太人說和，立平等的條件，且許下盡力勸國王與他們做朋友。
 加下:11.15  瑪加伯為顧全公共的利益，就接受了里息雅所提出的一切，王也批准了瑪加伯為猶太人向里息雅書面所要求的各項條件。
 加下:11.16  里息雅給猶太人所寫的函件如下：「里息雅祝猶太人民安好!
 加下:11.17  你們的使者若望及阿貝沙隆呈遞下附的函件，請求批准所列的事項。
 加下:11.18  凡應轉呈君王的，我已稟呈；凡是可允准的，他一概允准了。
 加下:11.19  若你們對政府仍保持友好，今後我必盡力為你們謀求幸福。
 加下:11.20  關於這些及其餘詳細事項，我已吩咐你們的使者和我的特派員與你們會商。
 加下:11.21  祝你們健康! 一四 八年，「彫斯苛洛」月二十四日。」
 加下:11.22  王的諭文如下：「安提約古王祝兄弟里息雅安好!
 加下:11.23  自從先父歸於諸神以後，我們願意所屬人民，自管其國，不受騷擾；
 加下:11.24  我們也聽說猶太人不滿先父令他們隨從希臘風俗，而願保守自己固有的生活方式，並且要求遵守自己法律的許可。
 加下:11.25  其實，我們很願意這民族不受騷擾，決意將聖殿交還他們，准許他們按照祖先的習例度日。
 加下:11.26  所以，你更好派使者到他們那裏去，與他們和好，好使他們認清我們的意思，安心樂意處理自己的事務。」
 加下:11.27  王給猶太民族所頒的詔書如下：「安提約古王祝猶太參議院與其他的人民安好!
 加下:11.28  如果你們安康，那正是我們的希望，我們也很平安。
 加下:11.29  默乃勞向我們呈報，說你們願意回鄉，從事己業。
 加下:11.30  因此，凡在「散提苛」月三十日以前回家的，一概得享平安。
 加下:11.31  並允許猶太人像昔日一樣，享用自己規定的食物，遵守自己的法律；如果有人無意做了什麼錯事，誰也不可干涉。
 加下:11.32  此外，我又派默乃勞前以慰問你們。
 加下:11.33  謹此祝你們健康! 一四八年「散提苛」月十五日。」
 加下:11.34  羅馬人也寄給猶太人一封公函，其原文如下：「羅馬人的使者昆突默米，提突瑪尼祝猶太人民安好!
 加下:11.35  王的人里息雅與你們商定的事，我們也表示贊同。
 加下:11.36  對於那些他認為應請示國王的事，在你們仔細考慮以後，即刻派一人來，使我們能依照你們的利益去建議，因為我們快要起身到安提約基雅去。
 加下:11.37  請急速派幾個人，叫我們知道究竟你們有什麼意見。
 加下:11.38  謹此祝你們健康! 一四八年「散提苛」月十五日。」
    
 加下:12.1   條約既定，里息雅便回到王那裏，猶太人則去從事農業。
 加下:12.2   可是，有幾位地方總督，如提摩太、革納約的兒子阿頗羅尼、耶洛尼摩、德摩豐、和塞浦路軍隊的總司令尼加諾爾，仍然不讓猶太人安居樂業。
 加下:12.3   而且，約培的居民又作出一件殘暴的事：他們邀請那些住在他們中間的猶太人，攜帶妻子兒女，登上他們預備好的船，表面上毫無加害他們的意思，
 加下:12.4   並說是按市民大眾的決議行事。猶太人因愛好和平，不疑有詐，便接受了邀請；到了海中，他們即被推到海中，至少淹死了二百人。
 加下:12.5   猶大聽說同胞們遭受了這樣的殘害，便集合起他的部下，
 加下:12.6   呼求了公義的判官天主以後，就出擊那些殘殺自己同胞的人，夜間放火燒港，焚毀船隻，殺了所有逃避在那裏的人。
 加下:12.7   由於城市已經關閉，他便暫且收兵，有意再次殲滅約培城中所有的人民。
 加下:12.8   同時他又得知雅木尼雅人對僑居的猶太人，也將採取同樣的行動，
 加下:12.9   便乘夜襲擊雅木尼雅人，放火焚燒港口及船隻，火光燭天，以致遠在二百四十「斯塔狄」外的耶路撒冷，都可看見。
 加下:12.10  他們從那裏起程，走了不到九「斯塔狄，」正要去攻提摩太的時候，阿剌伯人便前來迎擊，計有步兵不下五千，騎兵五百。
 加下:12.11  戰事極其激烈，猶大的軍隊賴天主的協助，獲得全勝；這些打敗的游牧民族，便向猶大求和，許下送給他們牲畜，也在各種事上接濟他們。
 加下:12.12  猶大知道他們在許多事上，的確對自己有利，所以同意與他們講和；雙方握手言好之後，都回了自己的帳幕。
 加下:12.13  猶大又進軍攻擊一座築有垣墻與堡壘的堅城，住在裏面的是些混雜的民族，城名叫做卡斯平。
 加下:12.14  城內的人，仗著城墻堅固，又有儲備的食糧，就以蠻橫的態度對待猶大及他的部下，百般辱罵，口出惡言。
 加下:12.15  但是，猶大與他的部下，呼號了那位在若蘇厄時代，不用衝城車和軍械傾覆了耶里哥城的宇宙大主宰以後，就猛攻城墻。
 加下:12.16  因天主的旨意，他們佔據了這城，大加屠殺，以致附近寬約二「斯塔狄」的湖，好像注滿了血。
 加下:12.17  他們由此再向前推進，走了約七百五十「斯塔狄，」便到達哈辣斯，以往稱為托布人的猶太人住在那裏。
 加下:12.18  他們在那裏沒有找到提摩太，因為他既一無所成，已離開那裏，只在某地留下一批極精銳的軍隊。
 加下:12.19  瑪加伯的將軍多息太及索息帕托便動身往那裏去，剿滅了提摩太留在堡中的一萬多人。
 加下:12.20  同時，瑪加伯把自己的軍隊分成數隊，並給每隊指派一人作統帥，然後引軍進攻率領十二萬步兵和二千五百騎兵的提摩太。
 加下:12.21  提摩太聽說猶大來攻，就先將婦孺及行李遣送到名叫卡爾納殷的地方去，因為那地方四周，地勢險要，不易圍攻，難以侵犯。
 加下:12.22  猶大的前鋒部隊一出現，因了無所不見的顯現，敵人感到恐怖驚惶，奪路奔逃，甚至自相殘殺，彼此刀鋒相剌。
 加下:12.23  於是猶大奮勇追擊，殺了這批罪犯，殲滅了約三萬人，
 加下:12.24  連提摩太自己也落在多息太及索息帕托部隊的手裏；那人卻以巧言花語求他們釋放自己，得保性命，因為他說：「在他權下尚有很多猶太人的父母兄弟，如他本人受害，這些人也必遭凶禍。」
 加下:12.25  他用了很多話來說服他們，且也發誓許下把那些人遣回；他們就為了自己弟兄的安全，將他釋放了。
 加下:12.26  猶大又進攻卡爾納殷及阿塔加提廟，擊殺了二萬五千人。
 加下:12.27  殺退了這些仇人以後，猶大人又領兵進攻里息雅及各族軍民駐紮的厄斐龍堅城；城外有健壯的青年軍人列陣把守，城內存有大批的軍械和箭矢。
 加下:12.28  但猶太人呼號以威力粉碎敵軍的主宰以後，遂佔領了這城，殺死約二萬五千居民。
 加下:12.29  又從那裏出發，進攻距離耶路撒冷六百「斯塔狄」的史托頗里。
 加下:12.30  但是那裏的猶太僑民證明史托頗里居民對他們非常友善，在患難時特別恩待他們；
 加下:12.31  因此猶大與其部下表示感激，也忠告他們以後對自己的民族繼續表示友善。因七七節來近了，他們便回了耶路撒冷。
 加下:12.32  過了所謂的五旬節 以後，他們又出發進攻依杜默雅的總督哥爾基雅。
 加下:12.33  哥爾基雅率領三千步兵，四百騎兵出來應戰。
 加下:12.34  雙方交鋒後，有些猶太人陣亡了。
 加下:12.35  那時，托布隊中，有一名叫多息太的，驍勇善騎，趕上哥爾基雅，扯住他的外衣，用力拉他，想活活捉住這個可咒罵的人。不料有個特辣克的騎兵，向他撲來，砍傷多息太的肩膀。這樣，哥爾基雅便逃到瑪黎撒去了。
 加下:12.36  此時，厄次辣的部下，由於長久作戰，都感厭倦；猶大便呼求上主顯示助戰，作他們作戰的領導者。
 加下:12.37  然後用祖國的語言高呼戰鬥的口號，歌唱詩歌，隨後突襲哥爾基的部隊，使他們瓦解。
 加下:12.38  事後，猶大率領兵馬，到了阿杜藍城；因為已到第七日，他們就在那裏照例自潔，過了安息日。
 加下:12.39  第二天，由於事不宜遲，猶大的部隊便出去收殮陣亡的屍體，好把他們安葬在祖墳裏，與親族在一起。
 加下:12.40  當時在每個死者的內衣下，發現都有雅木尼雅偶像的符籙，這原是法律禁止佩帶的；眾人便都明白這正是他們陣亡的原因。
 加下:12.41  於是眾人稱讚秉公審判及揭示隱密的上主，
 加下:12.42  同心哀禱，求使所犯過惡，得以完全赦免。隨後，英勇的猶大勸勉民眾避免犯罪，因為人都親眼看見這些陣亡者因罪所受的罰。
 加下:12.43  於是大眾募集了二千銀「達瑪，」送到耶路撒冷作贖 祭的獻儀：他作的是一件很美妙高超的事，因為他想念著復活；
 加下:12.44  如果他不希望那些死過的人還要復活，為亡者祈禱，便是一種多餘而糊塗的事。
 加下:12.45  何況，他還想到為那些善終的人保留下的超等報酬：這實在是一個聖善而虔誠的思想。
 加下:12.46  為此，他為亡者獻贖罪祭，是為叫他們獲得罪赦。
    
 加下:13.1   一四九年，猶大和他的部下聽說安提約古歐帕托爾率領大軍來進攻猶太，
 加下:13.2   他的監護人里息雅總理也與他同來；各自率領著希臘兵，共計兵十一萬，騎兵五千三百，象二十二頭，鐮刀車三百輛。
 加下:13.3   默乃勞也混入其中，假仁假義地激勵安提約古；他如此作，並非為了國家的安全，而只是想鞏固自己的職位。
 加下:13.4   但萬王之王激動安提約古惱恨這個惡徒；里息雅向君王証明此人是萬惡的罪魁，安提約古即下令解送他到貝洛雅去，按當地的刑法處死他。
 加下:13.5   在那裏有一座塔，高五十餘肘，裏面滿是火灰，設有一架旋機，能從各方面把人投入火灰中。
 加下:13.6   凡盜竊廟物，或犯其他重罪的人，都應投入裏面處死。
 加下:13.7   這犯法的默乃勞就是受這刑罰而死的，死後也不得入土。
 加下:13.8   祭壇上的火和灰原是聖潔的：他既多次褻瀆祭壇，如今死在火灰中，是極公平的。
 加下:13.9   此時，國王起了一種野蠻和強橫的念頭，想加害猶太人，比他父親所行的還要殘酷。
 加下:13.10  猶大一知道這事，便命民眾日夜呼求上主，求他這次還如從前一樣，拯救他們，不使法律、國家和聖殿遭受浩劫，
 加下:13.11  不讓這剛才復興的民族落在瀆神的異民手中。
 加下:13.12  眾人一致順命，一連三天俯伏在地，哀哭禁食，懇求仁慈的上主。於是猶大勉勵眾人後，下令備戰，
 加下:13.13  先與長老們私下商議，然後決定在國王的軍隊尚未開入猶太和佔領京城以前，就出發迎擊，賴天主的助佑來決定一切。
 加下:13.14  將戰爭的勝負全託付於宇宙的創造者；又勸勉自己的部下，應同他一起為法律、聖殿、京城、祖國及民權奮勇作戰，死而後已。於是他就在摩丁附近紮了營。
 加下:13.15  他給軍隊規定以「天主勝利」為口號，然後選拔一隊驍勇的少年士兵，夜襲國王營幕，在營內殺了二千守兵，剌殺了象隊中的領隊大象，以及木樓裏馭象的人。
 加下:13.16  最後使全營敵人驚慌失措，遂凱旋而歸。
 加下:13.17  因了上主保護猶大，戰事完了，天纔破曉。
 加下:13.18  國王雖經驗到猶太人的英勇，但仍設法侵略他們的地方。
 加下:13.19  於是進攻猶太人堅固的堡壘貝特族爾，但被擊退；再次進攻，又遭挫敗。
 加下:13.20  猶大輸送一切必需品，接濟被圍困的人，
 加下:13.21  但有個猶太軍人，名叫洛多苛的，向敵人告密；這人被查出後，即被捕入獄。
 加下:13.22  國王二次與貝特族爾居民握手議和，遂離開了那裏，去攻擊猶大的軍隊，可是又遭到慘敗。
 加下:13.23  那時王聽說，他留在安提約基雅攝政的斐理伯造反，就心慌意亂，遂與猶太人講和，宣誓接受他們一切合理的條件；講和後，他也獻了祭，對聖殿起敬起畏，對聖所也表示慷慨大方。
 加下:13.24  王又善待了瑪加伯，留下赫革摩尼德為總督，管理由仆托肋買至革勒尼人所居住的地方。
 加下:13.25  王回到仆托肋買，那裏的居民卻憤憤不平，不滿意這些和約，要廢除所議定的事項。
 加下:13.26  里息雅便登台竭力辯解，說服了他們，贏得了他們的信心，使他們寧靜下來，然後回安提約基雅以了。這就是王進軍及撤兵的事。
    
 加下:14.1   過了三年，猶大和他的部下知道色婁苛的兒子德默特琉帶著大軍及戰船已在黎頗里海口登陸，
 加下:14.2   佔領那地，殺了安提約古及他的監護人里息雅。
 加下:14.3   從前任大司祭的阿耳基慕，在與外邦人絕交時期，曾甘心自污，自知無論如何不得安全，也不能再走近聖壇；
 加下:14.4   於是在一五一年，去見德默特琉王，獻給他一頂金冠和金棕櫚枝，此外還獻上些聖殿內常供奉的橄欖枝；他那一天沒有說什麼。
 加下:14.5   但當德默特琉召他來會議，詢問他猶太人有何心思和企圖時，他便乘機貢獻那無恥的計策說：
 加下:14.6   「有一些號稱哈息待的，並以猶大瑪加為領袖的猶太人，時常發動戰爭，叛變無常，不讓國家獲得安寧。
 加下:14.7   因此，我既然被他們剝奪了祖傳的光榮，即大司祭的地位，現今我來到這裏：
 加下:14.8   第一，是為誠心圖謀國王的福利；第二，是為替我同胞著想，因為，因了上述那些人的膽大妄為，我們整個民族受到不少的苦楚
 加下:14.9   如今請陛下將這些事先一一調查清楚，以後設法依照陛下對天下所懷的仁德，照顧我們的家鄉，及我們遭難的民族，
 加下:14.10  因為猶大一息尚存，國家決不能平安。」
 加下:14.11  他正說這些話時，其他憎恨猶大的親信，也在旁激動德默特琉的憤怒。
 加下:14.12  於是國王立即選定曾任象隊司令的尼加諾爾，委他為猶太總督，派他前去；
 加下:14.13  令他去殺猶大，解散他的部下，立阿耳基慕為那莊嚴聖殿的司祭長。
 加下:14.14  猶太各地被猶大所驅逐的外邦人，便都成群結隊來協助尼加諾爾，認為猶太人的不幸和災害，都於自己有利。
 加下:14.15  猶太人聽說尼加諾爾來侵，外邦人來犯，便頭上撒土，哀號那位永遠保存自己的民族，又常顯奇蹟保護自己產業的天主，
 加下:14.16  然後遵照領袖的命令，立時從那裏動身，在德掃村與敵人交鋒。
 加下:14.17  猶大的兄弟息孟已經與尼加諾爾交戰，但因敵兵的突擊，稍感不利。
 加下:14.18  可是，尼加諾爾因為聽說猶大和他的部下驍勇善戰，以及他們為國作戰的雄心，不敢用武力來解決，
 加下:14.19  於是派頗息多尼、特奧多托和瑪塔提雅去與猶太人商議和談。
 加下:14.20  將條件詳細考慮後，首領通知眾軍隊，大家既一致贊同，他纔同意講和。
 加下:14.21  雙方也規定了同到一地會商的日期，那天，各乘轎車來就已佈置好的席位。
 加下:14.22  猶大在適宜的地方派兵防守，以免敵人背信突擊；雙方的談判終於獲得協議。
 加下:14.23  尼加諾爾逗留在耶路撒冷時，沒有做出什麼越軌的事，而且還解散了那些來協助他的隊伍。
 加下:14.24  他常女猶大在自己的身邊，心裏也很喜歡他；
 加下:14.25  於是勸他娶妻生子，猶大便娶了妻子，享受人生樂趣。
 加下:14.26  阿耳基慕見他們二人交好，便帶了一份訂的和約，到德默特琉面前，說尼加諾爾對國事有異心，因為他已指定了叛國的猶大為自己的繼承人。
 加下:14.27  王被這惡徒的讒言所惑，勃然大怒，寫信給尼加諾爾，表示不滿意他所訂的和約，並命令他從速逮捕瑪加伯，把解送到安提約基雅去。
 加下:14.28  尼加諾爾得到這道諭令，極感不安，因為對方沒有什麼不對，不好輕易違背與他訂的和約；
 加下:14.29  但又不能違抗君王，所以只好尋找機會，運用機智來完成這道命令。
 加下:14.30  瑪加伯見尼加諾爾對自己冷淡，談話的態度也比以前粗暴，便瞭解這種粗暴態度決非好現象；於是召集自己不少的部下，暗自離開了尼加諾爾。
 加下:14.31  尼加諾爾見自己被猶大玩弄，便在司祭正獻日常祭時，闖進莊嚴的聖殿，命他們交出瑪加伯來。
 加下:14.32  他們就起誓說不知道他找的人在那裏。
 加下:14.33  他就向聖殿伸出右手發誓道：「你們若不將猶大逮捕交給我，我要將天主的這座殿宇夷為平地，將祭壇拆毀，並在這裏給彫尼索建築一座壯麗的廟宇。」
 加下:14.34  說完這話就走了。司祭們舉手向天，呼求那常為自己的民族作戰者說：
 加下:14.35  「萬有的上主! 你一無所缺，但是你卻樂意在我們中有一座聖殿作你的住所。
 加下:14.36  那麼，至聖的上主! 求你保護這座纔潔淨的聖殿，使它永遠不再受褻瀆! 」
 加下:14.37  在耶路撒冷有位長老，名叫辣齊斯，被人在尼加諾爾跟前控告了；他原是熱心愛國，極負盛名的人，因為為人慈祥，人都稱他為猶太人之父。
 加下:14.38  他在與外邦人絕交的初期，也曾因猶太教而被控告；他已決意為猶太教犧牲自身和性命。
 加下:14.39  尼加諾爾為發洩自己對猶太人所懷的仇恨，便派了五百多人去捉拿他，
 加下:14.40  認為逮捕這個人，一定能給猶太人一個極大的打擊。
 加下:14.41  當軍隊正要佔據堡壘，撞開庭院大門，下令放火燒門時，辣齊斯見四面受敵，便伏劍自刎，
 加下:14.42  寧願壯烈犧牲，不願陷在惡人手中，使自已的身份遭受不堪的凌辱。
 加下:14.43  但因伏劍過急，沒有剌中要害，那時敵人已闖進門內，他便奮身跑到牆上，毅然跳到人群中，
 加下:14.44  眾人都急忙後退，讓出一塊空地，他便落在空地上。
 加下:14.45  這時他還活著，於是怒火如焚的爬起來，雖然血流如注，傷勢甚重，還跑著穿過人群，屹立在一塊巖石上；
 加下:14.46  血快要流盡的時候，又將五臟扯出來，雙手捧著，向人群拋去，懇求那掌管生命及靈魂的主宰，把這一切再還給他；他就這樣死了。
    
 加下:15.1   尼加諾爾聽說猶大和他的部下都在撒瑪黎雅附近，便決意要在安息日那天攻擊他們，可確保勝利；
 加下:15.2   但那些被迫跟隨他的猶太人卻反對說：「你切不要這樣殘忍兇悍地去屠殺人，應當尊敬觀察萬物者所聖化的日子!」
 加下:15.3   那罪大惡極的人問道：「天上是否有位命令守安息日的主宰﹖」
 加下:15.4   他們率直地答說：「有一位永生的天主，是天上的主宰，他命令守安息日。」
 加下:15.5   他答說：「在地上我是主宰我今命你們拿出武器，執行君王的命令! 」雖然如此，他卻沒有完成那殘酷的計謀。
 加下:15.6   可是，尼加諾爾驕傲自大，仍決意要建立一座象徵擊敗猶大和其部下的凱旋坊；
 加下:15.7   瑪加伯卻時常懷著堅定的信念，全心信賴必得到上主的援助，
 加下:15.8   勸勉自己的同志，不必害怕外邦人的攻擊，只該懷念昔日從天上賜予他們的援助，深信此時全能者也必賜給他們勝利。
 加下:15.9   後又用法律和先知的話來鼓勵他們，又叫他們回憶所經歷的戰爭，使他們都熱情勃發。
 加下:15.10  激起他們作戰的精神以後，又宣示外邦人如何失信，違犯誓言，遂發出攻擊的命令。
 加下:15.11  他武裝每個兵士，並不靠盾牌和長槍，而是用極富鼓勵的話同他們講述了一個很可信的夢，──即一個異像──使他們非常高興。
 加下:15.12  他所見的異像是這樣：他看見一個人，舉起雙手為整個猶太民族祈禱。這人就是為人善良敦厚，待人謙和，態度溫雅，善於辭令，自幼勤修各樣德行的前任大司祭敖尼雅。
 加下:15.13  接著，又看見一人顯現，同樣為猶太民族祈禱。他頭髮蒼白，體面端雅，尊嚴非凡，令人起敬。
 加下:15.14  敖尼雅便解釋說：「這是愛護弟兄的人，他就是常為百姓及聖城祈禱的，天主的先知耶肋米亞。」
 加下:15.15  隨後，耶肋米亞伸出右手，交給猶大一把金劍說：
 加下:15.16  「你收下這把聖劍! 這是天主的恩賜，你要用來擊殺敵人。」
 加下:15.17  聽到了猶大這番美妙言辭的鼓勵，人心大為振作，青年的鬥志因而堅強起來，因此大家決定不再留守營中，要奮勇進攻，拚命與敵人決戰，因為京城、宗教與聖殿，都陷在危險中。
 加下:15.18  他們對妻子、兒女、兄弟及親友並不怎麼掛慮，最掛慮的卻是神聖的聖殿。
 加下:15.19  留在城中的人也非常焦慮，為那些在外作戰的人放心不下。
 加下:15.20  眾人都期待著快要來臨的決戰。那時，敵人都已聚集，嚴陣以待，象隊已擺在重要的據點，馬隊已分成左右兩翼。
 加下:15.21  瑪加伯見配備各樣武器的大軍，及兇猛的象隊已擺好陣勢，便舉手向天，呼求施行奇蹟的上主；他知道勝利並不在乎武器，而在於上主斷定誰應勝利，就使誰勝利。
 加下:15.22  猶大又祈禱說：「無上的主宰! 在猶大王希則克雅時，你曾派遣你的天使， 斬殺了散乃黑黎布的軍隊約十八萬五千人。
 加下:15.23  上天的主宰，求你現在也派遣一位好天使來，在我們前散布恐怖驚惶。
 加下:15.24  求你用你大能的手，打擊這些謾罵和攻擊你聖民的人! 」他就這樣結束了祈禱。
 加下:15.25  那時，尼加諾爾率領軍隊，吹著號角，唱著軍歌，蜂擁而來。
 加下:15.26  猶大的部下卻在哀求與祈禱聲中，前去迎敵，
 加下:15.27  徒手作戰，心中不住呼求天主，因此擊殺了不下三萬五千人，萬分高興天主明顯的助佑。
 加下:15.28  戰後，他們興高彩烈回來時，發覺尼加諾爾穿著全副武裝，臥地陣亡，
 加下:15.29  一時高聲歡呼，用本國語言稱頌無上的主宰。
 加下:15.30  那位完全奉獻身心為同胞奮鬥，一生熱愛民族的猶大，便命人將尼加諾爾的頭和手臂砍下，帶到耶路撒冷去。
 加下:15.31  他一到那裏，便召集同胞和司祭，又派人將堡壘裏的人召來；然後站在祭壇前，
 加下:15.32  將這可惡的尼加諾爾的頭，並將他為褻瀆慢罵全能者聖殿而舉過的手，出示給眾人看。
 加下:15.33  然後，又割下這邪惡尼加諾爾的舌頭，下令切成碎塊，以飼飛鳥，並將這狂妄的手臂，掛在聖殿前面。
 加下:15.34  那時，眾人都向天讚頌榮耀的上主說：「那位保衛聖所不受玷污的，應受讚美! 」
 加下:15.35  猶大又將尼加諾爾的頭，懸在堡壘上，作為上主援助極顯明昭著的記號。
 加下:15.36  眾人一致決議，不可讓這一天平淡地過去，而該在每年十二月，敘利亞語名「阿達爾」月，十三日，即摩爾德開節前日，隆重慶祝。
 加下:15.37  這就是有關尼加諾爾的事。從此以後，京城便由希伯來人佔領。我也就此結束此記述。
 加下:15.38  此書若敘述得體，編輯完善，這纔是我的願望；若嫌寫得膚淺平凡，但我已盡了我之所能。
 加下:15.39  比方人只喝酒，或只喝水，都不免有害；但酒水調和了再喝，纔有滋味，暢快人心；同樣，若史事編纂的巧妙，讀此史事的人，才感興趣。     [瑪加伯下完篇]

 2mc:1.       [2 Maccabees]   15 chapters   [瑪加伯下篇]  [英文版]
   
 2mc:1.1     The Jews in Jerusalem and in the land of Judea send greetings to their brethren, the Jews in Egypt, and wish them true peace!
 2mc:1.2     May God bless you and remember his covenant with his faithful servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
 2mc:1.3     May he give to all of you a heart to worship him and to do his will readily and generously.
 2mc:1.4     May he open your heart to his law and his commandments and grant you peace.
 2mc:1.5     May he hear your prayers, and be reconciled to you, and never forsake you in time of adversity.
 2mc:1.6     Even now we are praying for you here.
 2mc:1.7     In the reign of Demetrius, the year one hundred and sixty-nine, we Jews wrote to you during the trouble and violence that overtook us in those years after Jason and his followers had revolted against the holy land and the kingdom,
 2mc:1.8     setting fire to the gatehouse and shedding innocent blood. But we prayed to the Lord, and our prayer was heard; we offered sacrifices and fine flour; we lighted the lamps and set out the loaves of bread.
 2mc:1.9     We are now reminding you to celebrate the feast of Booths in the month of Chislev.
 2mc:1.10    Dated in the year one hundred and eighty-eight. The people of Jerusalem and Judea, the senate, and Judas send greetings and good wishes to Aristobulus, counselor of King Ptolemy and member of the family of the anointed priests, and to the Jews in Egypt.
 2mc:1.11    Since we have been saved by God from grave dangers, we give him great thanks for having fought on our side against the king;
 2mc:1.12    it was he who drove out those who fought against the holy city.
 2mc:1.13    When their leader arrived in Persia with his seemingly irresistible army, they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea through a deceitful stratagem employed by Nanea's priests.
 2mc:1.14    On the pretext of marrying the goddess, Antiochus with his Friends had come to the place to get its great treasures by way of dowry.
 2mc:1.15    When the priests of the Nanaeon had displayed the treasures, Antiochus with a few attendants came to the temple precincts. As soon as he entered the temple, the priests locked the doors.
 2mc:1.16    Then they opened a hidden trapdoor in the ceiling, hurled stones at the leader and his companions and struck them down. They dismembered the bodies, cut off their heads and tossed them to the people outside.
 2mc:1.17    Forever blessed be our God, who has thus punished the wicked!
 2mc:1.18    We shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev, so we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
 2mc:1.19    When our fathers were being exiled to Persia, devout priests of the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry cistern, making sure that the place would be unknown to anyone.
 2mc:1.20    Many years later, when it so pleased God, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to look for it.
 2mc:1.21    When they informed us that they could not find any fire, but only muddy water, he ordered them to scoop some out and bring it. After the material for the sacrifices had been prepared, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle with the water the wood and what lay on it.
 2mc:1.22    When this was done and in time the sun, which had been clouded over, began to shine, a great fire blazed up, so that everyone marveled.
 2mc:1.23    While the sacrifice was being burned, the priests recited a prayer, and all present joined in with them, Jonathan leading and the rest responding with Nehemiah.
 2mc:1.24    The prayer was as follows: "Lord, Lord God, creator of all things, awesome and strong, just and merciful, the only king and benefactor,
 2mc:1.25    who alone are gracious, just, almighty, and eternal, Israel's savior from all evil, who chose our forefathers and sanctified them:
 2mc:1.26    accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and guard and sanctify your heritage.
 2mc:1.27    Gather together our scattered people, free those who are the slaves of the Gentiles, look kindly on those who are despised and detested, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God.
 2mc:1.28    Punish those who tyrannize over us and arrogantly mistreat us.
 2mc:1.29    Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses promised."
 2mc:1.30    Then the priests began to sing hymns.
 2mc:1.31    After the sacrifice was burned, Nehemiah ordered the rest of the liquid to be poured upon large stones.
 2mc:1.32    As soon as this was done, a flame blazed up, but its light was lost in the brilliance cast from a light on the altar.
 2mc:1.33    When the event became known and the king of the Persians was told that, in the very place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, a liquid was found with which Nehemiah and his people had burned the sacrifices,
 2mc:1.34    the king, after verifying the fact, fenced the place off and declared it sacred.
 2mc:1.35    To those on whom the king wished to bestow favors he distributed the large revenues he received there.
 2mc:1.36    Nehemiah and his companions called the liquid nephthar, meaning purification, but most people named it naphtha.
   
 2mc:2.1     You will find in the records, not only that Jeremiah the prophet ordered the deportees to take some of the aforementioned fire with them,
 2mc:2.2     but also that the prophet, in giving them the law, admonished them not to forget the commandments of the Lord or be led astray in their thoughts, when seeing the gold and silver idols and their ornaments.
 2mc:2.3     With other similar words he urged them not to let the law depart from their hearts.
 2mc:2.4     The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to see God's inheritance.
 2mc:2.5     When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance.
 2mc:2.6     Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it.
 2mc:2.7     When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: "The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.
 2mc:2.8     Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Place might be gloriously sanctified."
 2mc:2.9     It is also related how Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice at the dedication and the completion of the temple.
 2mc:2.10    Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire descended from the sky and consumed the sacrifices, so Solomon also prayed and fire came down and burned up the holocausts.
 2mc:2.11    Moses had said, "Because it had not been eaten, the sin offering was burned up."
 2mc:2.12    Solomon also celebrated the feast in the same way for eight days.
 2mc:2.13    Besides these things, it is also told in the records and in Nehemiah's Memoirs how he collected the books about the kings, the writings of the prophets and of David, and the royal letters about sacred offerings.
 2mc:2.14    In like manner Judas also collected for us the books that had been scattered because of the war, and we now have them in our possession.
 2mc:2.15    If you need them, send messengers to get them for you.
 2mc:2.16    As we are about to celebrate the feast of the purification of the temple, we are writing to you requesting you also to please celebrate the feast.
 2mc:2.17    It is God who has saved all his people and has restored to all of them their heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sacred rites,
 2mc:2.18    as he promised through the law. We trust in God, that he will soon have mercy on us and gather us together from everywhere under the heavens to his holy Place, for he has rescued us from great perils and has purified his Place.
 2mc:2.19    This is the story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, of the purification of the great temple, the dedication of the altar,
 2mc:2.20    the campaigns against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator,
 2mc:2.21    and of the heavenly manifestations accorded to the heroes who fought bravely for Judaism, so that, few as they were, they seized the whole land, put to flight the barbarian hordes,
 2mc:2.22    regained possession of the world-famous temple, liberated the city, and reestablished the laws that were in danger of being abolished, while the Lord favored them with all his generous assistance.
 2mc:2.23    All this, which Jason of Cyrene set forth in detail in five volumes, we will try to condense into a single book.
 2mc:2.24    In view of the flood of statistics, and the difficulties encountered by those who wish to plunge into historical narratives where the material is abundant,
 2mc:2.25    we have aimed to please those who prefer simple reading, as well as to make it easy for the studious who wish to commit things to memory, and to be helpful to all.
 2mc:2.26    For us who have taken upon ourselves the labor of making this digest, the task, far from being easy, is one of sweat and of sleepless nights,
 2mc:2.27    just as the preparation of a festive banquet is no light matter for one who thus seeks to give enjoyment to others. Similarly, to win the gratitude of many we will gladly endure these inconveniences,
 2mc:2.28    while we leave the responsibility for exact details to the original author, and confine our efforts to giving only a summary outline.
 2mc:2.29    As the architect of a new house must give his attention to the whole structure, while the man who undertakes the decoration and the frescoes has only to concern himself with what is needed for ornamentation, so I think it is with us.
 2mc:2.30    To enter into questions and examine them thoroughly from all sides is the task of the professional historian;
 2mc:2.31    but the man who is making an adaptation should be allowed to aim at brevity of expression and to omit detailed treatment of the matter.
 2mc:2.32    Here, then, we shall begin our account without further ado; it would be nonsense to write a long preface to a story and then abbreviate the story itself.
   
 2mc:3.1     While the holy city lived in perfect peace and the laws were strictly observed because of the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of evil,
 2mc:3.2     the kings themselves honored the Place and glorified the temple with the most magnificent gifts.
 2mc:3.3     Thus Seleucus, king of Asia, defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses necessary for the sacrificial services.
 2mc:3.4     But a certain Simon, of the priestly course of Bilgah, who had been appointed superintendent of the temple, had a quarrel with the high priest about the supervision of the city market.
 2mc:3.5     Since he could not prevail against Onias, he went to Apollonius of Tarsus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia,
 2mc:3.6     and reported to him that the treasury in Jerusalem was so full of untold riches that the total sum of money was incalculable and out of all proportion to the cost of the sacrifices, and that it would be possible to bring it all under the control of the king.
 2mc:3.7     When Apollonius had an audience with the king, he informed him about the riches that had been reported to him. The king chose his minister Heliodorus and sent him with instructions to expropriate the aforesaid wealth.
 2mc:3.8     So Heliodorus immediately set out on his journey, ostensibly to visit the cities of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, but in reality to carry out the king's purpose.
 2mc:3.9     When he arrived in Jerusalem and had been graciously received by the high priest of the city, he told him about the information that had been given, and explained the reason for his presence, and he asked if these things were really true.
 2mc:3.10    The high priest explained that part of the money was a care fund for widows and orphans,
 2mc:3.11    and a part was the property of Hyrcanus, son of Tobias, a man who occupied a very high position. Contrary to the calumnies of the impious Simon, the total amounted to four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold.
 2mc:3.12    He added that it was utterly unthinkable to defraud those who had placed their trust in the sanctity of the Place and in the sacred inviolability of a temple venerated all over the world.
 2mc:3.13    But because of the orders he had from the king, Heliodorus said that in any case the money must be confiscated for the royal treasury.
 2mc:3.14    So on the day he had set he went in to take an inventory of the funds. There was great distress throughout the city.
 2mc:3.15    Priests prostrated themselves in their priestly robes before the altar, and loudly begged him in heaven who had given the law about deposits to keep the deposits safe for those who had made them.
 2mc:3.16    Whoever saw the appearance of the high priest was pierced to the heart, for the changed color of his face manifested the anguish of his soul.
 2mc:3.17    The terror and bodily trembling that had come over the man clearly showed those who saw him the pain that lodged in his heart.
 2mc:3.18    People rushed out of their houses in crowds to make public supplication, because the Place was in danger of being profaned.
 2mc:3.19    Women, girded with sackcloth below their breasts, filled the streets; maidens secluded indoors ran together, some to the gates, some to the walls, others peered through the windows,
 2mc:3.20    all of them with hands raised toward heaven, making supplication.
 2mc:3.21    It was pitiful to see the populace variously prostrated in prayer and the high priest full of dread and anguish.
 2mc:3.22    While they were imploring the almighty Lord to keep the deposits safe and secure for those who had placed them in trust,
 2mc:3.23    Heliodorus went on with his plan.
 2mc:3.24    But just as he was approaching the treasury with his bodyguards, the Lord of spirits who holds all power manifested himself in so striking a way that those who had been bold enough to follow Heliodorus were panic-stricken at God's power and fainted away in terror.
 2mc:3.25    There appeared to them a richly caparisoned horse, mounted by a dreadful rider. Charging furiously, the horse attacked Heliodorus with its front hoofs. The rider was seen to be wearing golden armor.
 2mc:3.26    Then two other young men, remarkably strong, strikingly beautiful, and splendidly attired, appeared before him. Standing on each side of him, they flogged him unceasingly until they had given him innumerable blows.
 2mc:3.27    Suddenly he fell to the ground, enveloped in great darkness. Men picked him up and laid him on a stretcher.
 2mc:3.28    The man who a moment before had entered that treasury with a great retinue and his whole bodyguard was carried away helpless, having clearly experienced the sovereign power of God.
 2mc:3.29    While he lay speechless and deprived of all hope of aid, due to an act of God's power,
 2mc:3.30    the Jews praised the Lord who had marvelously glorified his holy Place; and the temple, charged so shortly before with fear and commotion, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the almighty Lord had manifested himself.
 2mc:3.31    Soon some of the companions of Heliodorus begged Onias to invoke the Most High, praying that the life of the man who was about to expire might be spared.
 2mc:3.32    Fearing that the king might think that Heliodorus had suffered some foul play at the hands of the Jews, the high priest offered a sacrifice for the man's recovery.
 2mc:3.33    While the high priest was offering the sacrifice of atonement, the same young men in the same clothing again appeared and stood before Heliodorus. "Be very grateful to the high priest Onias," they told him. "It is for his sake that the Lord has spared your life.
 2mc:3.34    Since you have been scourged by Heaven, proclaim to all men the majesty of God's power." When they had said this, they disappeared.
 2mc:3.35    After Heliodorus had offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made most solemn vows to him who had spared his life, he bade Onias farewell, and returned with his soldiers to the king.
 2mc:3.36    Before all men he gave witness to the deeds of the most high God that he had seen with his own eyes.
 2mc:3.37    When the king asked Heliodorus who would be a suitable man to be sent to Jerusalem next, he answered:
 2mc:3.38    "If you have an enemy or a plotter against the government, send him there, and you will receive him back well-flogged, if indeed he survives at all; for there is certainly some special divine power about the Place.
 2mc:3.39    He who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that Place and protects it, and he strikes down and destroys those who come to harm it."
 2mc:3.40    This was how the matter concerning Heliodorus and the preservation of the treasury turned out.
   
 2mc:4.1     The Simon mentioned above as the informer about the funds against his own country, made false accusation that it was Onias who threatened Heliodorus and instigated the whole miserable affair.
 2mc:4.2     He dared to brand as a plotter against the government the man who was a benefactor of the city, a protector of his compatriots, and a zealous defender of the laws.
 2mc:4.3     When Simon's hostility reached such a point that murders were being committed by one of his henchmen,
 2mc:4.4     Onias saw that the opposition was serious and that Apollonius, son of Menestheus, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was abetting Simon's wickedness.
 2mc:4.5     So he had recourse to the king, not as an accuser of his countrymen, but as a man looking to the general and particular good of all the people.
 2mc:4.6     He saw that, unless the king intervened, it would be impossible to have a peaceful government, and that Simon would not desist from his folly.
 2mc:4.7     But Seleucus died, and when Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes succeeded him on the throne, Onias' brother Jason obtained the high priesthood by corrupt means:
 2mc:4.8     in an interview, he promised the king three hundred and sixty talents of silver, as well as eighty talents from another source of income.
 2mc:4.9     Besides this he agreed to pay a hundred and fifty more, if he were given authority to establish a gymnasium and a youth club for it and to enroll men in Jerusalem as Antiochians.
 2mc:4.10    When Jason received the king's approval and came into office, he immediately initiated his countrymen into the Greek way of life.
 2mc:4.11    He set aside the royal concessions granted to the Jews through the mediation of John, father of Eupolemus (that Eupolemus who would later go on an embassy to the Romans to establish a treaty of friendship with them); he abrogated the lawful institutions and introduced customs contrary to the law.
 2mc:4.12    He quickly established a gymnasium at the very foot of the acropolis, where he induced the noblest young men to wear the Greek hat.
 2mc:4.13    The craze for Hellenism and foreign customs reached such a pitch, through the outrageous wickedness of the ungodly pseudo-high-priest Jason,
 2mc:4.14    that the priests no longer cared about the service of the altar. Disdaining the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened, at the signal for the discus-throwing, to take part in the unlawful exercises on the athletic field.
 2mc:4.15    They despised what their ancestors had regarded as honors, while they highly prized what the Greeks esteemed as glory.
 2mc:4.16    Precisely because of this, they found themselves in serious trouble: the very people whose manner of life they emulated, and whom they desired to imitate in everything, became their enemies and oppressors.
 2mc:4.17    It is no light matter to flout the laws of God, as the following period will show.
 2mc:4.18    When the quinquennial games were held at Tyre in the presence of the king,
 2mc:4.19    the vile Jason sent envoys as representatives of the Antiochians of Jerusalem, to bring there three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules. But the bearers themselves decided that the money should not be spent on a sacrifice, as that was not right, but should be used for some other purpose.
 2mc:4.20    So the contribution destined by the sender for the sacrifice to Hercules was in fact applied, by those who brought it, to the construction of triremes.
 2mc:4.21    When Apollonius, son of Menestheus, was sent to Egypt for the coronation of King Philometor, Antiochus learned that the king was opposed to his policies; so he took measures for his own security.
 2mc:4.22    After going to Joppa, he proceeded to Jerusalem. There he was received with great pomp by Jason and the people of the city, who escorted him with torchlights and acclamations; following this, he led his army into Phoenicia.
 2mc:4.23    Three years later Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the aforementioned Simon, to deliver the money to the king, and to obtain decisions on some important matters.
 2mc:4.24    When he had been introduced to the king, he flattered him with such an air of authority that he secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.
 2mc:4.25    He returned with the royal commission, but with nothing that made him worthy of the high priesthood; he had the temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast.
 2mc:4.26    Then Jason, who had cheated his own brother and now saw himself cheated by another man, was driven out as a fugitive to the country of the Ammonites.
 2mc:4.27    Although Menelaus had obtained the office, he did not make any payments of the money he had promised to the king,
 2mc:4.28    in spite of the demand of Sostratus, the commandant of the citadel, whose duty it was to collect the taxes. For this reason, both were summoned before the king.
 2mc:4.29    Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus as his substitute in the high priesthood, while Sostratus left Crates, commander of the Cypriots, as his substitute.
 2mc:4.30    While these things were taking place, the people of Tarsus and Mallus rose in revolt, because their cities had been given as a gift to Antiochis, the king's mistress.
 2mc:4.31    The king, therefore, went off in haste to settle the affair, leaving Andronicus, one of his nobles, as his deputy.
 2mc:4.32    Then Menelaus, thinking this a good opportunity, stole some gold vessels from the temple and presented them to Andronicus; he had already sold some other vessels in Tyre and in the neighboring cities.
 2mc:4.33    When Onias had clear evidence of the facts, he made a public protest, after withdrawing to the inviolable sanctuary at Daphne, near Antioch.
 2mc:4.34    Thereupon Menelaus approached Andronicus privately and asked him to lay hands on Onias. So Andronicus went to Onias, and by treacherously reassuring him through sworn pledges with right hands joined, persuaded him, in spite of his suspicions, to leave the sanctuary. Then, without any regard for justice, he immediately put him to death.
 2mc:4.35    As a result, not only the Jews, but many people of other nations as well, were indignant and angry over the unjust murder of the man.
 2mc:4.36    When the king returned from the region of Cilicia, the Jews of the city, together with the Greeks who detested the crime, went to see him about the murder of Onias.
 2mc:4.37    Antiochus was deeply grieved and full of pity; he wept as he recalled the prudence and noble conduct of the deceased.
 2mc:4.38    Inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped Andronicus of his purple robe, tore off his other garments, and had him led through the whole city to the very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias; and there he put the murderer to death. Thus the Lord rendered him the punishment he deserved.
 2mc:4.39    Many sacrilegious thefts had been committed by Lysimachus in the city with the connivance of Menelaus. When word was spread that a large number of gold vessels had been stolen, the people assembled in protest against Lysimachus.
 2mc:4.40    As the crowds, now thoroughly enraged, began to riot, Lysimachus launched an unjustified attack against them with about three thousand armed men under the leadership of Auranus, a man as advanced in folly as he was in years.
 2mc:4.41    Reacting against Lysimachus' attack, the people picked up stones or pieces of wood or handfuls of the ashes lying there and threw them in wild confusion at Lysimachus and his men.
 2mc:4.42    As a result, they wounded many of them and even killed a few, while they put all the rest to flight. The sacrilegious thief himself they slew near the treasury.
 2mc:4.43    Charges about this affair were brought against Menelaus.
 2mc:4.44    When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate presented to him the justice of their cause.
 2mc:4.45    But Menelaus, seeing himself on the losing side, promised Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, a substantial sum of money if he would win the king over.
 2mc:4.46    So Ptolemy retired with the king under a colonnade, as if to get some fresh air, and persuaded him to change his mind.
 2mc:4.47    Menelaus, who was the cause of all the trouble, the king acquitted of the charges, while he condemned to death those poor men who would have been declared innocent even if they had pleaded their case before Scythians.
 2mc:4.48    Thus, those who had prosecuted the case for the city, for the people, and for the sacred vessels, quickly suffered unjust punishment.
 2mc:4.49    For this reason, even some Tyrians were indignant over the crime and provided sumptuously for their burial.
 2mc:4.50    But Menelaus, thanks to the covetousness of the men in power, remained in office, where he grew in wickedness and became the chief plotter against his fellow citizens.
   
 2mc:5.1     About this time Antiochus sent his second expedition into Egypt.
 2mc:5.2     It then happened that all over the city, for nearly forty days, there appeared horsemen charging in midair, clad in garments interwoven with gold--companies fully armed with lances
 2mc:5.3     and drawn swords; squadrons of cavalry in battle array, charges and countercharges on this side and that, with brandished shields and bristling spears, flights of arrows and flashes of gold ornaments, together with armor of every sort.
 2mc:5.4     Therefore all prayed that this vision might be a good omen.
 2mc:5.5     But when a false rumor circulated that Antiochus was dead, Jason gathered fully a thousand men and suddenly attacked the city. As the defenders on the walls were forced back and the city was finally being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.
 2mc:5.6     Jason then slaughtered his fellow citizens without mercy, not realizing that triumph over one's own kindred was the greatest failure, but imagining that he was winning a victory over his enemies, not his fellow countrymen.
 2mc:5.7     Even so, he did not gain control of the government, but in the end received only disgrace for his treachery, and once again took refuge in the country of the Ammonites.
 2mc:5.8     At length he met a miserable end. Called to account before Aretas, king of the Arabs, he fled from city to city, hunted by all men, hated as a transgressor of the laws, abhorred as the butcher of his country and his countrymen. After being driven into Egypt,
 2mc:5.9     he crossed the sea to the Spartans, among whom he hoped to find protection because of his relations with them. There he who had exiled so many from their country perished in exile;
 2mc:5.10    and he who had cast out so many to lie unburied went unmourned himself with no funeral of any kind or any place in the tomb of his ancestors.
 2mc:5.11    When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm.
 2mc:5.12    He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses.
 2mc:5.13    There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants.
 2mc:5.14    In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.
 2mc:5.15    Not satisfied with this, the king dared to enter the holiest temple in the world; Menelaus, that traitor both to the laws and to his country, served as guide.
 2mc:5.16    He laid his impure hands on the sacred vessels and gathered up with profane hands the votive offerings made by other kings for the advancement, the glory, and the honor of the Place.
 2mc:5.17    Puffed up in spirit, Antiochus did not realize that it was because of the sins of the city's inhabitants that the Lord was angry for a little while and hence disregarded the holy Place.
 2mc:5.18    If they had not become entangled in so many sins, this man, like Heliodorus, who was sent by King Seleucus to inspect the treasury, would have been flogged and turned back from his presumptuous action as soon as he approached.
 2mc:5.19    The Lord, however, had not chosen the people for the sake of the Place, but the Place for the sake of the people.
 2mc:5.20    Therefore, the Place itself, having shared in the people's misfortunes, afterward participated in their good fortune; and what the Almighty had forsaken in his anger was restored in all its glory, once the great Sovereign became reconciled.
 2mc:5.21    Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried back to Antioch. In his arrogance he planned to make the land navigable and the sea passable on foot, so carried away was he with pride.
 2mc:5.22    But he left governors to harass the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by birth, and in character more cruel than the man who appointed him;
 2mc:5.23    at Mount Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. Out of hatred for the Jewish citizens,
 2mc:5.24    the king sent Appollonius, commander of the Mysians, at the head of an army of twenty-two thousand men, with orders to kill all the grown men and sell the women and young men into slavery.
 2mc:5.25    When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peacefully disposed and waited until the holy day of the sabbath; then, finding the Jews refraining from work, he ordered his men to parade fully armed.
 2mc:5.26    All those who came out to watch, he massacred, and running through the city with armed men, he cut down a large number of people.
 2mc:5.27    But Judas Maccabeus and about nine others withdrew to the wilderness, where he and his companions lived like wild animals in the hills, continuing to eat what grew wild to avoid sharing the defilement.
 2mc:6.1     Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God;
 2mc:6.2     also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and that on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested.
 2mc:6.3     This intensified the evil in an intolerable and utterly disgusting way.
 2mc:6.4     The Gentiles filled the temple with debauchery and revelry; they amused themselves with prostitutes and had intercourse with women even in the sacred court. They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden,
 2mc:6.5     so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws.
 2mc:6.6     A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew.
 2mc:6.7     Moreover, at the monthly celebration of the king's birthday the Jews had, from bitter necessity, to partake of the sacrifices, and when the festival of Dionysus was celebrated, they were compelled to march in his procession, wearing wreaths of ivy.
 2mc:6.8     At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews: oblige them to partake of the sacrifices,
 2mc:6.9     and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended.
 2mc:6.10    Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall.
 2mc:6.11    Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the sabbath in secret, were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death. In their respect for the holiness of that day, they had scruples about defending themselves.
 2mc:6.12    Now I beg those who read this book not to be disheartened by these misfortunes, but to consider that these chastisements were meant not for the ruin but for the correction of our nation.
 2mc:6.13    It is, in fact, a sign of great kindness to punish sinners promptly instead of letting them go for long.
 2mc:6.14    Thus, in dealing with other nations, the Lord patiently waits until they reach the full measure of their sins before he punishes them; but with us he has decided to deal differently,
 2mc:6.15    in order that he may not have to punish us more severely later, when our sins have reached their fullness.
 2mc:6.16    He never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he does not abandon his own people.
 2mc:6.17    Let these words suffice for recalling this truth. Without further ado we must go on with our story.
 2mc:6.18    Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork.
 2mc:6.19    But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat, and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture,
 2mc:6.20    as men ought to do who have the courage to reject the food which it is unlawful to taste even for love of life.
 2mc:6.21    Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately, because of their long acquaintance with him, and urged him to bring meat of his own providing, such as he could legitimately eat, and to pretend to be eating some of the meat of the sacrifice prescribed by the king;
 2mc:6.22    in this way he would escape the death penalty, and be treated kindly because of their old friendship with him.
 2mc:6.23    But he made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he had lived from childhood; and so he declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God. He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining:
 2mc:6.24    "At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense; many young men would think the ninety-year-old Eleazar had gone over to an alien religion.
 2mc:6.25    Should I thus dissimulate for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age.
 2mc:6.26    Even if, for the time being, I avoid the punishment of men, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hands of the Almighty.
 2mc:6.27    Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age,
 2mc:6.28    and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws." He spoke thus, and went immediately to the instrument of torture.
 2mc:6.29    Those who shortly before had been kindly disposed, now became hostile toward him because what he had said seemed to them utter madness.
 2mc:6.30    When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned and said: "The Lord in his holy knowledge knows full well that, although I could have escaped death, I am not only enduring terrible pain in my body from this scourging, but also suffering it with joy in my soul because of my devotion to him."
 2mc:6.31    This is how he died, leaving in his death a model of courage and an unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation.
   
 2mc:7.1     It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.
 2mc:7.2     One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: "What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors."
 2mc:7.3     At that the king, in a fury, gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated.
 2mc:7.4     While they were being quickly heated, he commanded his executioners to cut out the tongue of the one who had spoken for the others, to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on.
 2mc:7.5     When he was completely maimed but still breathing, the king ordered them to carry him to the fire and fry him. As a cloud of smoke spread from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying such words as these:
 2mc:7.6     "The Lord God is looking on, and he truly has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his canticle, when he protested openly with the words, 'And he will have pity on his servants.'"
 2mc:7.7     When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought the second to be made sport of. After tearing off the skin and hair of his head, they asked him, "Will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?"
 2mc:7.8     Answering in the language of his forefathers, he said, "Never!" So he too in turn suffered the same tortures as the first.
 2mc:7.9     At the point of death he said: "You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying."
 2mc:7.10    After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands,
 2mc:7.11    as he spoke these noble words: "It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again."
 2mc:7.12    Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
 2mc:7.13    After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.
 2mc:7.14    When he was near death, he said, "It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life."
 2mc:7.15    They next brought forward the fifth brother and maltreated him. Looking at the king,
 2mc:7.16    he said: "Since you have power among men, mortal though you are, do what you please. But do not think that our nation is forsaken by God.
 2mc:7.17    Only wait, and you will see how his great power will torment you and your descendants."
 2mc:7.18    After him they brought the sixth brother. When he was about to die, he said: "Have no vain illusions. We suffer these things on our own account, because we have sinned against our God; that is why such astonishing things have happened to us.
 2mc:7.19    Do not think, then, that you will go unpunished for having dared to fight against God."
 2mc:7.20    Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.
 2mc:7.21    Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words:
 2mc:7.22    "I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.
 2mc:7.23    Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man's beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law." Martyrdom of Mother and Sons
 2mc:7.24    Antiochus, suspecting insult in her words, thought he was being ridiculed. As the youngest brother was still alive, the king appealed to him, not with mere words, but with promises on oath, to make him rich and happy if he would abandon his ancestral customs: he would make him his Friend and entrust him with high office.
 2mc:7.25    When the youth paid no attention to him at all, the king appealed to the mother, urging her to advise her boy to save his life.
 2mc:7.26    After he had urged her for a long time, she went through the motions of persuading her son.
 2mc:7.27    In derision of the cruel tyrant, she leaned over close to her son and said in their native language: "Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age.
 2mc:7.28    I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence.
 2mc:7.29    Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them."
 2mc:7.30    She had scarcely finished speaking when the youth said: "What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king's command. I obey the command of the law given to our forefathers through Moses.
 2mc:7.31    But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God.
 2mc:7.32    We, indeed, are suffering because of our sins.
 2mc:7.33    Though our living Lord treats us harshly for a little while to correct us with chastisements, he will again be reconciled with his servants.
 2mc:7.34    But you, wretch, vilest of all men! do not, in your insolence, concern yourself with unfounded hopes, as you raise your hand against the children of Heaven.
 2mc:7.35    You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God.
 2mc:7.36    My brothers, after enduring brief pain, have drunk of never-failing life, under God's covenant, but you, by the judgment of God, shall receive just punishments for your arrogance.
 2mc:7.37    Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life for our ancestral laws, imploring God to show mercy soon to our nation, and by afflictions and blows to make you confess that he alone is God.
 2mc:7.38    Through me and my brothers, may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation."
 2mc:7.39    At that, the king became enraged and treated him even worse than the others, since he bitterly resented the boy's contempt.
 2mc:7.40    Thus he too died undefiled, putting all his trust in the Lord.
 2mc:7.41    The mother was last to die, after her sons.
 2mc:7.42    Enough has been said about the sacrificial meals and the excessive cruelties.
   
 2mc:8.1     Judas Maccabeus and his companions entered the villages, secretly, summoned their kinsmen, and by also enlisting others who remained faithful to Judaism, assembled about six thousand men.
 2mc:8.2     They implored the Lord to look kindly upon his people, who were being oppressed on all sides; to have pity on the temple, which was profaned by godless men;
 2mc:8.3     to have mercy on the city, which was being destroyed and about to be leveled to the ground; to hearken to the blood that cried out to him;
 2mc:8.4     to remember the criminal slaughter of innocent children and the blasphemies uttered against his name; and to manifest his hatred of evil.
 2mc:8.5     Once Maccabeus got his men organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the Lord's wrath had now changed to mercy.
 2mc:8.6     Coming unexpectedly upon towns and villages, he would set them on fire. He captured strategic positions, and put to flight a large number of the enemy.
 2mc:8.7     He preferred the nights as being especially helpful for such attacks. Soon the fame of his valor spread everywhere.
 2mc:8.8     When Philip saw that Judas was gaining ground little by little and that his successful advances were becoming more frequent, he wrote to Ptolemy, governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to come to the aid of the king's government.
 2mc:8.9     Ptolemy promptly selected Nicanor, son of Patroclus, one of the Chief Friends, and sent him at the head of at least twenty thousand armed men of various nations to wipe out the entire Jewish race. With him he associated Gorgias, a professional military commander, well-versed in the art of war.
 2mc:8.10    Nicanor planned to raise the two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans by selling captured Jews into slavery.
 2mc:8.11    So he immediately sent word to the coastal cities, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to deliver ninety slaves for a talent--little did he dream of the punishment that was to fall upon him from the Almighty.
 2mc:8.12    When Judas learned of Nicanor's advance and informed his companions about the approach of the army,
 2mc:8.13    the cowardly and those who lacked faith in God's justice deserted and got away.
 2mc:8.14    But the others sold everything they had left, and at the same time besought the Lord to deliver those whom the ungodly Nicanor had sold before even meeting them.
 2mc:8.15    They begged the Lord to do this, if not for their sake, at least for the sake of the covenants made with their forefathers, and because they themselves bore his holy, glorious name.
 2mc:8.16    Maccabeus assembled his men, six thousand strong, and exhorted them not to be panic-stricken before the enemy, nor to fear the large number of the Gentiles attacking them unjustly, but to fight courageously,
 2mc:8.17    keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage perpetrated by the Gentiles against the holy Place and the affliction of the humiliated city, as well as the subversion of their ancestral way of life.
 2mc:8.18    "They trust in weapons and acts of daring," he said, "but we trust in almighty God, who can by a mere nod destroy not only those who attack us, but the whole world."
 2mc:8.19    He went on to tell them of the times when help had been given their ancestors: both the time of Sennacherib, when a hundred and eighty-five thousand of his men were destroyed,
 2mc:8.20    and the time of the battle in Babylonia against the Galatians, when only eight thousand Jews fought along with four thousand Macedonians; yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand routed one hundred and twenty thousand and took a great quantity of booty, because of the help they received from Heaven.
 2mc:8.21    With such words he encouraged them and made them ready to die for their laws and their country. Then Judas divided his army into four,
 2mc:8.22    placing his brothers, Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan, each over a division, assigning to each fifteen hundred men.
 2mc:8.23    (There was also Eleazar.) After reading to them from the holy book and giving them the watchword, "The Help of God," he himself took charge of the first division and joined in battle with Nicanor.
 2mc:8.24    With the Almighty as their ally, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy, wounded and disabled the greater part of Nicanor's army, and put all of them to flight.
 2mc:8.25    They also seized the money of those who had come to buy them as slaves. When they had pursued the enemy for some time,
 2mc:8.26    they were obliged to return by reason of the late hour, it was the day before the sabbath, and for that reason they could not continue the pursuit.
 2mc:8.27    They collected the enemy's arms and stripped them of their spoils, and then observed the sabbath with fervent praise and thanks to the Lord who kept them safe for that day on which he let descend on them the first dew of his mercy.
 2mc:8.28    After the sabbath, they gave a share of the booty to the persecuted and to widows and orphans; the rest they divided among themselves and their children.
 2mc:8.29    When this was done, they made supplication in common, imploring the merciful Lord to be completely reconciled with his servants.
 2mc:8.30    They also challenged the forces of Timothy and Bacchides, killed more than twenty thousand of them, and captured some very high fortresses. They divided the enormous plunder, allotting half to themselves and the rest to the persecuted, to orphans, widows, and the aged.
 2mc:8.31    They collected the enemies' weapons and carefully stored them in suitable places; the rest of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem.
 2mc:8.32    They also killed the commander of Timothy's forces, a most wicked man, who had done great harm to the Jews.
 2mc:8.33    While celebrating the victory in their ancestral city, they burned both those who had set fire to the sacred gates and Callisthenes, who had taken refuge in a little house; so he received the reward his wicked deeds deserved.
 2mc:8.34    The accursed Nicanor, who had brought the thousand slave dealers to buy the Jews,
 2mc:8.35    after being humbled through the Lord's help by those whom he had thought of no account, laid aside his fine clothes and fled alone across country like a runaway slave, until he reached Antioch. He was eminently successful in destroying his own army.
 2mc:8.36    So he who had promised to provide tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem testified that the Jews had a champion, and that they were invulnerable for the very reason that they followed the laws laid down by him. Death of Antiochus
   
 2mc:9.1     About that time Antiochus retreated in disgrace from the region of Persia.
 2mc:9.2     He had entered the city called Persepolis and attempted to rob the temple and gain control of the city. Thereupon the people had swift recourse to arms, and Antiochus' men were routed, so that in the end Antiochus was put to flight by the natives and forced to beat a shameful retreat.
 2mc:9.3     On his arrival in Ecbatana, he learned what had happened to Nicanor and to Timothy's forces.
 2mc:9.4     Overcome with anger, he planned to make the Jews suffer for the injury done by those who had put him to flight. Therefore he ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping until he finished the journey. Yet the condemnation of Heaven rode with him, since he said in his arrogance, "I will make Jerusalem the common graveyard of the Jews as soon as I arrive there."
 2mc:9.5     So the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him down with an unseen but incurable blow; for scarcely had he uttered those words when he was seized with excruciating pains in his bowels and sharp internal torment,
 2mc:9.6     a fit punishment for him who had tortured the bowels of others with many barbarous torments.
 2mc:9.7     Far from giving up his insolence, he was all the more filled with arrogance. Breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, he gave orders to drive even faster. As a result he hurtled from the dashing chariot, and every part of his body was racked by the violent fall.
 2mc:9.8     Thus he who previously, in his superhuman presumption, thought he could command the waves of the sea, and imagined he could weigh the mountaintops in his scales, was now thrown to the ground and had to be carried on a litter, clearly manifesting to all the power of God.
 2mc:9.9     The body of this impious man swarmed with worms, and while he was still alive in hideous torments, his flesh rotted off, so that the entire army was sickened by the stench of his corruption.
 2mc:9.10    Shortly before, he had thought that he could reach the stars of heaven, and now, no one could endure to transport the man because of this intolerable stench.
 2mc:9.11    At last, broken in spirit, he began to give up his excessive arrogance, and to gain some understanding, under the scourge of God, for he was racked with pain unceasingly.
 2mc:9.12    When he could no longer bear his own stench, he said, "It is right to be subject to God, and not to think one's mortal self divine."
 2mc:9.13    Then this vile man vowed to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him,
 2mc:9.14    that he would set free the holy city, toward which he had been hurrying with the intention of leveling it to the ground and making it a common graveyard;
 2mc:9.15    he would put on perfect equality with the Athenians all the Jews, whom he had judged not even worthy of burial, but fit only to be thrown out with their children to be eaten by vultures and wild animals;
 2mc:9.16    he would adorn with the finest offerings the holy temple which he had previously despoiled; he would restore all the sacred vessels many times over; and would provide from his own revenues the expenses required for the sacrifices.
 2mc:9.17    Besides all this, he would become a Jew himself and visit every inhabited place to proclaim there the power of God.
 2mc:9.18    But since God's punishment had justly come upon him, his sufferings were not lessened, so he lost hope for himself and wrote the following letter to the Jews in the form of a supplication. It read thus: Death of Antiochus
 2mc:9.19    "To my esteemed Jewish citizens, Antiochus, their king and general, sends hearty greetings and best wishes for their health and happiness.
 2mc:9.20    If you and your children are well and your affairs are going as you wish, I thank God very much, for my hopes are in heaven.
 2mc:9.21    Now that I am ill, I recall with affection the esteem and good will you bear me. On returning from the regions of Persia, I fell victim to a troublesome illness; so I thought it necessary to form plans for the general welfare of all.
 2mc:9.22    Actually, I do not despair about my health, since I have great hopes of recovering from my illness.
 2mc:9.23    Nevertheless, I know that my father, whenever he went on campaigns in the hinterland, would name his successor,
 2mc:9.24    so that, if anything unexpected happened or any unwelcome news came, the people throughout the realm would know to whom the government had been entrusted, and so not be disturbed.
 2mc:9.25    I am also bearing in mind that the neighboring rulers, especially those on the borders of our kingdom, are on the watch for opportunities and waiting to see what will happen. I have therefore appointed as king my son Antiochus, whom I have often before entrusted and commended to most of you, when I made hurried visits to the outlying provinces. I have written to him the letter copied below.
 2mc:9.26    Therefore I beg and entreat each of you to remember the general and individual benefits you have received, and to continue to show good will toward me and my son.
 2mc:9.27    I am confident that, following my policy, he will treat you with mildness and kindness in his relations with you."
 2mc:9.28    So this murderer and blasphemer, after extreme sufferings, such as he had inflicted on others, died a miserable death in the mountains of a foreign land.
 2mc:9.29    His foster brother Philip brought the body home; but fearing Antiochus' son, he later withdrew into Egypt, to Ptolemy Philometor.
   
 2mc:10.1    When Maccabeus and his companions, under the Lord's leadership, had recovered the temple and the city,
 2mc:10.2    they destroyed the altars erected by the Gentiles in the marketplace and the sacred enclosures.
 2mc:10.3    After purifying the temple, they made a new altar. Then, with fire struck from flint, they offered sacrifice for the first time in two years, burned incense, and lighted lamps. They also set out the showbread.
 2mc:10.4    When they had done this, they prostrated themselves and begged the Lord that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, and that if they should sin at any time, he might chastise them with moderation and not hand them over to blasphemous and barbarous Gentiles.
 2mc:10.5    On the anniversary of the day on which the temple had been profaned by the Gentiles, that is, the twenty-fifth of the same month Chislev, the purification of the temple took place.
 2mc:10.6    The Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths, remembering how, a little while before, they had spent the feast of Booths living like wild animals in caves on the mountains.
 2mc:10.7    Carrying rods entwined with leaves, green branches and palms, they sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had brought about the purification of his own Place.
 2mc:10.8    By public edict and decree they prescribed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these days every year.
 2mc:10.9    Such was the end of Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes.
 2mc:10.10   Now we shall relate what happened under Antiochus Eupator, the son of that godless man, and shall give a summary of the chief evils caused by the wars.
 2mc:10.11   When Eupator succeeded to the kingdom, he put a certain Lysias in charge of the government as commander-in-chief of Coelesyria and Phoenicia.
 2mc:10.12   Ptolemy, surnamed Macron, had taken the lead in treating the Jews fairly because of the previous injustice that had been done them, and he endeavored to have peaceful relations with them.
 2mc:10.13   As a result, he was accused before Eupator by the King's Friends. In fact, on all sides he heard himself called a traitor for having abandoned Cyprus, which Philometor had entrusted to him, and for having gone over to Antiochus Epiphanes. Since he could not command the respect due to his high office, he ended his life by taking poison.
 2mc:10.14   When Gorgias became governor of the region, he employed foreign troops and used every opportunity to attack the Jews.
 2mc:10.15   At the same time the Idumeans, who held some important strongholds, were harassing the Jews; they welcomed fugitives from Jerusalem and endeavored to continue the war.
 2mc:10.16   Maccabeus and his companions, after public prayers asking God to be their ally, moved quickly against the strongholds of the Idumeans.
 2mc:10.17   Attacking vigorously, they gained control of the places, drove back all who manned the walls, and cut down those who opposed them, killing as many as twenty thousand men.
 2mc:10.18   When at least nine thousand took refuge in two very strong towers, containing everything necessary to sustain a siege,
 2mc:10.19   Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, along with Zacchaeus and his men, in sufficient numbers to besiege them, while he himself went off to places where he was more urgently needed.
 2mc:10.20   But some of the men in Simon's force who were money lovers let themselves be bribed by some of the men in the towers; on receiving seventy thousand drachmas, they allowed a number of them to escape.
 2mc:10.21   When Maccabeus was told what had happened, he assembled the rulers of the people and accused those men of having sold their kinsmen for money by setting their enemies free to fight against them.
 2mc:10.22   So he put them to death as traitors, and without delay captured the two towers.
 2mc:10.23   As he was successful at arms in all his undertakings, he destroyed more than twenty thousand men in the two strongholds.
 2mc:10.24   Timothy, who had previously been defeated by the Jews, gathered a tremendous force of foreign troops and collected a large number of cavalry from Asia; then he appeared in Judea, ready to conquer it by force.
 2mc:10.25   At his approach, Maccabeus and his men made supplication to God, sprinkling earth upon their heads and girding their loins in sackcloth.
 2mc:10.26   Lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, they begged him to be gracious to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and a foe to their foes, as the law declares.
 2mc:10.27   After the prayer, they took up their arms and advanced a considerable distance from the city, halting when they were close to the enemy.
 2mc:10.28   As soon as dawn broke, the armies joined battle, the one having as pledge of success and victory not only their valor but also their reliance on the Lord, and the other taking fury as their leader in the fight.
 2mc:10.29   In the midst of the fierce battle, there appeared to the enemy from the heavens five majestic men riding on golden-bridled horses, who led the Jews on.
 2mc:10.30   They surrounded Maccabeus, and shielding him with their own armor, kept him from being wounded. They shot arrows and hurled thunderbolts at the enemy, who were bewildered and blinded, thrown into confusion and routed.
 2mc:10.31   Twenty-five hundred of their foot soldiers and six hundred of their horsemen were slain.
 2mc:10.32   Timothy, however, fled to a well-fortified stronghold called Gazara, where Chaereas was in command.
 2mc:10.33   For four days Maccabeus and his men eagerly besieged the fortress.
 2mc:10.34   Those inside, relying on the strength of the place, kept repeating outrageous blasphemies and uttering abominable words.
 2mc:10.35   When the fifth day dawned, twenty young men in the army of Maccabeus, angered over such blasphemies, bravely stormed the wall and with savage fury cut down everyone they encountered.
 2mc:10.36   Others who climbed up the same way swung around on the defenders, taking the besieged in the rear; they put the towers to the torch, spread the fire and burned the blasphemers alive. Still others broke down the gates and let in the rest of the troops, who took possession of the city.
 2mc:10.37   Timothy had hidden in a cistern, but they killed him, along with his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes.
 2mc:10.38   On completing these exploits, they blessed, with hymns of grateful praise, the Lord who shows great kindness to Israel and grants them victory.
   
 2mc:11.1    Very soon afterward, Lysias, guardian and kinsman of the king and head of the government, being greatly displeased at what had happened,
 2mc:11.2    mustered about eighty thousand infantry and all his cavalry and marched against the Jews. His plan was to make Jerusalem a Greek settlement;
 2mc:11.3    to levy tribute on the temple, as he did on the sanctuaries of the other nations; and to put the high priesthood up for sale every year.
 2mc:11.4    He did not take God's power into account at all, but felt exultant confidence in his myriads of foot soldiers, his thousands of horsemen, and his eighty elephants.
 2mc:11.5    So he invaded Judea, and when he reached Beth-zur, a fortified place about twenty miles from Jerusalem, launched a strong attack against it.
 2mc:11.6    When Maccabeus and his men learned that Lysias was besieging the strongholds, they and all the people begged the Lord with lamentations and tears to send a good angel to save Israel.
 2mc:11.7    Maccabeus himself was the first to take up arms, and he exhorted the others to join him in risking their lives to help their kinsmen. Then they resolutely set out together.
 2mc:11.8    Suddenly, while they were still near Jerusalem, a horseman appeared at their head, clothed in white garments and brandishing gold weapons.
 2mc:11.9    Then all of them together thanked God for his mercy, and their hearts were filled with such courage that they were ready to assault not only men, but the most savage beasts, yes, even walls of iron.
 2mc:11.10   Now that the Lord had shown his mercy toward them, they advanced in battle order with the aid of their heavenly ally.
 2mc:11.11   Hurling themselves upon the enemy like lions, they laid low eleven thousand foot soldiers and sixteen hundred horsemen, and put all the rest to flight.
 2mc:11.12   Most of those who got away were wounded and stripped of their arms, while Lysias himself escaped only by shameful flight.
 2mc:11.13   But Lysias was not a stupid man. He reflected on the defeat he had suffered, and came to realize that the Hebrews were invincible because the mighty God was their ally. He therefore sent a message
 2mc:11.14   persuading them to settle everything on just terms, and promising to persuade the king also, and to induce him to become their friend.
 2mc:11.15   Maccabeus, solicitous for the common good, agreed to all that Lysias proposed; and the king, on his part, granted in behalf of the Jews all the written requests of Maccabeus to Lysias.
 2mc:11.16   These are the terms of the letter which Lysias wrote to the Jews: "Lysias sends greetings to the Jewish people.
 2mc:11.17   John and Absalom, your envoys, have presented your signed communication and asked about the matters contained in it.
 2mc:11.18   Whatever had to be referred to the king I called to his attention, and the things that were acceptable he has granted.
 2mc:11.19   If you maintain your loyalty to the government, I will endeavor to further your interests in the future.
 2mc:11.20   On the details of these matters I have authorized my representatives, as well as your envoys, to confer with you.
 2mc:11.21   Farewell." The year one hundred and forty-eight, the twenty-fourth of Dioscorinthius.
 2mc:11.22   The king's letter read thus: "King Antiochus sends greetings to his brother Lysias.
 2mc:11.23   Now that our father has taken his place among the gods, we wish the subjects of our kingdom to be undisturbed in conducting their own affairs.
 2mc:11.24   We understand that the Jews do not agree with our father's policy concerning Greek customs but prefer their own way of life. They are petitioning us to let them retain their own customs.
 2mc:11.25   Since we desire that this people too should be undisturbed, our decision is that their temple be restored to them and that they live in keeping with the customs of their ancestors.
 2mc:11.26   Accordingly, please send them messengers to give them our assurances of friendship, so that, when they learn of our decision, they may have nothing to worry about but may contentedly go about their own business."
 2mc:11.27   The king's letter to the people was as follows: "King Antiochus sends greetings to the Jewish senate and to the rest of the Jews.
 2mc:11.28   If you are well, it is what we desire. We too are in good health.
 2mc:11.29   Menelaus has told us of your wish to return home and attend to your own affairs.
 2mc:11.30   Therefore, those who return by the thirtieth of Xanthicus will have our assurance of full permission
 2mc:11.31   to observe their dietary laws and other laws, just as before, and none of the Jews shall be molested in any way for faults committed through ignorance.
 2mc:11.32   I have also sent Menelaus to reassure you.
 2mc:11.33   Farewell." In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of Xanthicus.
 2mc:11.34   The Romans also sent them a letter as follows: "Quintus Memmius and Titus Manius, legates of the Romans, send greetings to the Jewish people.
 2mc:11.35   Whatever Lysias, kinsman of the king, has granted you, we also approve.
 2mc:11.36   But the matters on which he passed judgment should be submitted to the king. As soon as you have considered them, send someone to us with your decisions so that we may present them to your advantage, for we are on our way to Antioch.
 2mc:11.37   Make haste, then, to send us those who can inform us of your intentions.
 2mc:11.38   Farewell." In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of Xanthicus.
   
 2mc:12.1    After these agreements were made, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews went about their farming.
 2mc:12.2    But some of the local governors, Timothy and Apollonius, son of Gennaeus, as also Hieronymus and Demophon, to say nothing of Nicanor, the commander of the Cyprians, would not allow them to live in peace.
 2mc:12.3    Some people of Joppa also committed this outrage: they invited the Jews who lived among them, together with their wives and children, to embark on boats which they had provided. There was no hint of enmity toward them;
 2mc:12.4    this was done by public vote of the city. When the Jews, not suspecting treachery and wishing to live on friendly terms, accepted the invitation, the people of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned at least two hundred of them.
 2mc:12.5    As soon as Judas heard of the barbarous deed perpetrated against his countrymen, he summoned his men;
 2mc:12.6    and after calling upon God, the just judge, he marched against the murderers of his kinsmen. In a night attack he set the harbor on fire, burnt the boats, and put to the sword those who had taken refuge there.
 2mc:12.7    When the gates of the town were shut, he withdrew, intending to come back later and wipe out the entire population of Joppa.
 2mc:12.8    On hearing that the men of Jamnia planned to give like treatment to the Jews who lived among them,
 2mc:12.9    he attacked the Jamnian populace by night, setting fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the flames was visible as far as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.
 2mc:12.10   When the Jews had gone about a mile from there in the campaign against Timothy, they were attacked by Arabs numbering at least five thousand foot soldiers, and five hundred horsemen.
 2mc:12.11   After a hard fight, Judas and his companions, with God's help, were victorious. The defeated nomads begged Judas to make friends with them and promised to supply the Jews with cattle and to help them in every other way.
 2mc:12.12   Realizing that they could indeed be useful in many respects, Judas agreed to make peace with them. After the pledge of friendship had been exchanged, the Arabs withdrew to their tents.
 2mc:12.13   He also attacked a certain city called Caspin, fortified with earthworks and ramparts and inhabited by a mixed population of Gentiles.
 2mc:12.14   Relying on the strength of their walls and their supply of provisions, the besieged treated Judas and his men with contempt, insulting them and even uttering blasphemies and profanity.
 2mc:12.15   But Judas and his men invoked the aid of the great Sovereign of the world, who, in the day of Joshua, overthrew Jericho without battering-ram or siege machine; then they furiously stormed the ramparts.
 2mc:12.16   Capturing the city by the will of God, they inflicted such indescribable slaughter on it that the adjacent pool, which was about a quarter of a mile wide, seemed to be filled with the blood that flowed into it.
 2mc:12.17   When they had gone on some ninety miles, they reached Charax, where there were certain Jews known as Toubiani.
 2mc:12.18   But they did not find Timothy in that region, for he had already departed from there without having done anything except to leave behind in one place a very strong garrison.
 2mc:12.19   But Dositheus and Sosipater, two of Maccabeus' captains, marched out and destroyed the force of more than ten thousand men that Timothy had left in the stronghold.
 2mc:12.20   Meanwhile, Maccabeus divided his army into cohorts, with a commander over each cohort, and went in pursuit of Timothy, who had a force of a hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twenty-five hundred horsemen.
 2mc:12.21   When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent on ahead of him the women and children, as well as the baggage, to a place called Karnion, which was hard to besiege and even hard to reach because of the difficult terrain of that region.
 2mc:12.22   But when Judas' first cohort appeared, the enemy was overwhelmed with fear and terror at the manifestation of the All-seeing. Scattering in every direction, they rushed away in such headlong flight that in many cases they wounded one another, pierced by the swords of their own men.
 2mc:12.23   Judas pressed the pursuit vigorously, putting the sinners to the sword and destroying as many as thirty thousand men.
 2mc:12.24   Timothy himself fell into the hands of the men under Dositheus and Sosipater; but with great cunning, he asked them to spare his life and let him go, because he had in his power the parents and relatives of many of them, and could make these suffer.
 2mc:12.25   When he had fully confirmed his solemn pledge to restore them unharmed, they let him go for the sake of saving their brethren.
 2mc:12.26   Judas then marched to Karnion and the shrine of Atargatis, where he killed twenty-five thousand people.
 2mc:12.27   After the defeat and destruction of these, he moved his army to Ephron, a fortified city inhabited by people of many nationalities. Robust young men took up their posts in defense of the walls, from which they fought valiantly; inside were large supplies of machines and missiles.
 2mc:12.28   But the Jews, invoking the Sovereign who forcibly shatters the might of his enemies, got possession of the city and slaughtered twenty-five thousand of the people in it.
 2mc:12.29   Then they set out from there and hastened on to Scythopolis, seventy-five miles from Jerusalem.
 2mc:12.30   But when the Jews who lived there testified to the good will shown by the Scythopolitans and to their kind treatment even in times of adversity,
 2mc:12.31   Judas and his men thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future also. Finally they arrived in Jerusalem, shortly before the feast of Weeks.
 2mc:12.32   After this feast called Pentecost, they lost no time in marching against Gorgias, governor of Idumea,
 2mc:12.33   who opposed them with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen.
 2mc:12.34   In the ensuing battle, a few of the Jews were slain.
 2mc:12.35   A man called Dositheus, a powerful horseman and one of Bacenor's men, caught hold of Gorgias, grasped his military cloak and dragged him along by main strength, intending to capture the vile wretch alive, when a Thracian horseman attacked Dositheus and cut off his arm at the shoulder. Then Gorgias fled to Marisa.
 2mc:12.36   After Esdris 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.
 2mc:12.37   Then, raising a battle cry in his ancestral language, and with songs, he charged Gorgias' men when they were not expecting it and put them to flight.
 2mc:12.38   Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the week was ending, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there.
 2mc:12.39   On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs.
 2mc:12.40   But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain.
 2mc:12.41   They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden.
 2mc:12.42   Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers 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.
 2mc:12.43   He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view;
 2mc:12.44   for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.
 2mc:12.45   But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.
 2mc:12.46   Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.
   
 2mc:13.1    In the year one hundred and forty-nine, Judas and his men learned that Antiochus Eupator was invading Judea with a large force,
 2mc:13.2    and that with him was Lysias, his guardian, who was in charge of the government. They led a Greek army of one hundred and ten thousand foot soldiers, fifty-three hundred horsemen, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes.
 2mc:13.3    Menelaus also joined them, and with great duplicity kept urging Antiochus on, not for the welfare of his country, but in the hope of being established in office.
 2mc:13.4    But the King of kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel. When the king was shown by Lysias that Menelaus was to blame for all the trouble, he ordered him to be taken to Beroea and executed there in the customary local method.
 2mc:13.5    There is at that place a tower seventy-five feet high, full of ashes, with a circular rim sloping down steeply on all sides toward the ashes.
 2mc:13.6    A man guilty of sacrilege or notorious for certain other crimes is brought up there and then hurled down to destruction.
 2mc:13.7    In such a manner was Menelaus, the transgressor of the law, fated to die; he was deprived even of decent burial.
 2mc:13.8    It was altogether just that he who had committed so many sins against the altar with its pure fire and ashes should meet his death in ashes.
 2mc:13.9    The king was advancing, his mind full of savage plans for inflicting on the Jews worse things than those they suffered in his father's time.
 2mc:13.10   When Judas learned of this, he urged the people to call upon the LORD night and day, to help them now, if ever,
 2mc:13.11   when they were about to be deprived of their law, their country, and their holy temple; and not to allow this nation, which had just begun to revive, to be subjected again to blasphemous Gentiles.
 2mc:13.12   When they had all joined in doing this, and had implored the merciful LORD continuously with weeping and fasting and prostrations for three days, Judas encouraged them and told them to stand ready.
 2mc:13.13   After a private meeting with the elders, he decided that, before the king's army could invade Judea and take possession of the city, the Jews should march out and settle the matter with God's help.
 2mc:13.14   Leaving the outcome to the Creator of the world, and exhorting his followers to fight nobly to death for the laws, the temple, the city, the country, and the government, he pitched his camp near Modein.
 2mc:13.15   Giving his men the battle cry "God's Victory," he made a night attack on the king's pavilion with a picked force of the bravest young men and killed about two thousand in the camp. They also slew the lead elephant and its rider.
 2mc:13.16   Finally they withdrew in triumph, having filled the camp with terror and confusion.
 2mc:13.17   Day was just breaking when this was accomplished with the help and protection of the LORD.
 2mc:13.18   The king, having had a taste of the Jews' daring, tried to take their positions by a stratagem.
 2mc:13.19   So he marched against Beth-zur, a strong fortress of the Jews; but he was driven back, checked, and defeated.
 2mc:13.20   Judas then sent supplies to the men inside,
 2mc:13.21   but Rhodocus, of the Jewish army, betrayed military secrets to the enemy. He was found out, arrested, and imprisoned.
 2mc:13.22   The king made a second attempt by negotiating with the men of Beth-zur. After giving them his pledge and receiving theirs, he withdrew
 2mc:13.23   and attacked Judas and his men. But he was defeated. Next he heard that Philip, who was left in charge of the government in Antioch had rebelled. Dismayed, he parleyed with the Jews, submitted to their terms, and swore to observe their rights. Having come to this agreement, he offered a sacrifice, and honored the temple ous donation.
 2mc:13.24   He approved of Maccabeus and left him as military and civil governor of the territory from Ptolemais to the region of the Gerrenes.
 2mc:13.25   When he came to Ptolemais, the people of that city were angered by the peace treaty; in fact they were so indignant that they wanted to annul its provisions.
 2mc:13.26   But Lysias took the platform, defended the treaty as well as he could and won them over by persuasion. After calming them and gaining their good will, he returned to Antioch. That is how the king's attack and withdrawal went.
   
 2mc:14.1    Three years later, Judas and his men learned that Demetrius, son of Seleucus, had sailed into the port of Tripolis with a powerful army and a fleet,
 2mc:14.2    and that he had occupied the country, after doing away with Antiochus and his guardian Lysias.
 2mc:14.3    A certain Alcimus, a former high priest, who had willfully incurred defilement at the time of the revolt, realized that there was no way for him to salvage his position and regain access to the holy altar.
 2mc:14.4    So he went to King Demetrius in the year one hundred and fifty-one and presented him with a gold crown and a palm branch, as well as some of the customary olive branches from the temple. On that occasion he kept quiet.
 2mc:14.5    But he found an opportunity to further his mad scheme when he was invited to the council by Demetrius and questioned about the dispositions and intentions of the Jews. He replied:
 2mc:14.6    "Those Jews called Hasideans, led by Judas Maccabeus, are warmongers, who stir up sedition and keep the kingdom from enjoying peace and quiet.
 2mc:14.7    For this reason, now that I am deprived of my ancestral dignity, that is to say, the high priesthood, I have come here--
 2mc:14.8    first, out of my genuine concern for the king's interests, and secondly, out of consideration for my own countrymen, since our entire nation is suffering great affliction from the unreasonable conduct of the people just mentioned.
 2mc:14.9    When you have informed yourself in detail on these matters, O king, act in the interest of our country and its hard-pressed people with the same gracious consideration that you show toward all.
 2mc:14.10   As long as Judas is around, it is impossible for the state to enjoy peace."
 2mc:14.11   When he had said this, the other Friends who were hostile to Judas quickly added fuel to Demetrius' indignation.
 2mc:14.12   The king immediately chose Nicanor, who had been in command of the elephants, and appointed him governor of Judea. He sent him off
 2mc:14.13   with orders to put Judas to death, to disperse his followers, and to set up Alcimus as high priest of the great temple.
 2mc:14.14   The Gentiles from Judea, who would have banished Judas, came flocking to Nicanor, thinking that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would mean prosperity for themselves.
 2mc:14.15   When the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming, and that the Gentiles were rallying to him, they sprinkled themselves with earth and prayed to him who established his people forever, and who always comes to the aid of his heritage.
 2mc:14.16   At their leader's command, they set out at once and came upon the enemy at the village of Adasa.
 2mc:14.17   Judas' brother Simon had engaged Nicanor, but because of the sudden appearance of the enemy suffered a slight repulse.
 2mc:14.18   However, when Nicanor heard of the valor of Judas and his men, and the great courage with which they fought for their country, he shrank from deciding the issue by bloodshed.
 2mc:14.19   So he sent Posidonius, Theodotus and Mattathias to arrange an agreement.
 2mc:14.20   After a long discussion of the terms, each leader communicated them to his troops; and when general agreement was expressed, they assented to the treaty.
 2mc:14.21   A day was set on which the leaders would meet by themselves. From each side a chariot came forward and thrones were set in place.
 2mc:14.22   Judas had posted armed men in readiness at suitable points for fear that the enemy might suddenly carry out some treacherous plan. But the conference was held in the proper way.
 2mc:14.23   Nicanor stayed on in Jerusalem, where he did nothing out of place. He got rid of the throngs of ordinary people who gathered around him;
 2mc:14.24   but he always kept Judas in his company, for he had a cordial affection for the man.
 2mc:14.25   He urged him to marry and have children; so Judas married, settled down, and shared the common life.
 2mc:14.26   When Alcimus saw their friendship for each other, he took the treaty that had been made, went to Demetrius, and said that Nicanor was plotting against the state, and that he had appointed Judas, the conspirator against the kingdom, to be his successor.
 2mc:14.27   Stirred up by the villain's calumnies, the king became enraged. He wrote to Nicanor, stating that he was displeased with the treaty, and ordering him to send Maccabeus as a prisoner to Antioch without delay.
 2mc:14.28   When this message reached Nicanor he was dismayed, for he hated to break his agreement with a man who had done no wrong.
 2mc:14.29   However, there was no way of opposing the king, so he watched for an opportunity to carry out this order by a stratagem.
 2mc:14.30   But Maccabeus noticed that Nicanor was becoming cool in his dealings with him, and acting with unaccustomed rudeness when they met; he concluded that this coldness betokened no good. So he gathered together a large number of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor.
 2mc:14.31   When Nicanor realized that he had been disgracefully outwitted by the man, he went to the great and holy temple, at a time when the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and ordered them to surrender Judas.
 2mc:14.32   As they declared under oath that they did not know where the wanted man was,
 2mc:14.33   he raised his right hand toward the temple and swore this oath: "If you do not hand Judas over to me as prisoner, I will level this shrine of God to the ground; I will tear down the altar, and erect here a splendid temple to Dionysus."
 2mc:14.34   With these words he went away. The priests stretched out their hands toward heaven, calling upon the unfailing defender of our nation in these words:
 2mc:14.35   "Lord of all, though you are in need of nothing, you have approved of a temple for your dwelling place among us.
 2mc:14.36   Therefore, O holy One, Lord of all holiness, preserve forever undefiled this house, which has been so recently purified."
 2mc:14.37   A certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor as a patriot. A man highly regarded, he was called a father of the Jews because of his love for them.
 2mc:14.38   In the early days of the revolt, he had been convicted of Judaism, and had risked body and life in his ardent zeal for it.
 2mc:14.39   Nicanor, to show his detestation of the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him.
 2mc:14.40   He thought that by arresting such a man he would deal the Jews a hard blow.
 2mc:14.41   But when these troops, on the point of capturing the tower, were forcing the outer gate and calling for fire to set the door ablaze, Razis, now caught on all sides, turned his sword against himself,
 2mc:14.42   preferring to die nobly rather than fall into the hands of vile men and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth.
 2mc:14.43   In the excitement of the struggle he failed to strike exactly. So while the troops rushed in through the doors, he gallantly ran up to the top of the wall and with manly courage threw himself down into the crowd.
 2mc:14.44   But as they quickly drew back and left an opening, he fell into the middle of the empty space.
 2mc:14.45   Still breathing, and inflamed with anger, he got up and ran through the crowd, with blood gushing from his frightful wounds.
 2mc:14.46   Then, standing on a steep rock, as he lost the last of his blood, he tore out his entrails and flung them with both hands into the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and of spirit to give these back to him again. Such was the manner of his death.
   
 2mc:15.1    When Nicanor learned that Judas and his companions were in the territory of Samaria, he decided to attack them in all safety on the day of rest.
 2mc:15.2    The Jews who were forced to follow him pleaded, "Do not massacre them in that way, like a savage barbarian, but show respect for the day which the All-seeing has exalted with holiness above all other days."
 2mc:15.3    At this the thrice-sinful wretch asked if there was a ruler in heaven who prescribed the keeping of the sabbath day.
 2mc:15.4    When they replied that there was indeed such a ruler in heaven, the living LORD himself, who commanded the observance of the sabbath day,
 2mc:15.5    he said, "I, on my part, am ruler on earth, and my orders are that you take up arms and carry out the king's business." Nevertheless he did not succeed in carrying out his cruel plan.
 2mc:15.6    In his utter boastfulness and arrogance Nicanor had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his men.
 2mc:15.7    But Maccabeus remained confident, fully convinced that he would receive help from the LORD.
 2mc:15.8    He urged his men not to fear the enemy, but mindful of the help they had received from Heaven in the past, to expect that now, too, victory would be given them by the Almighty.
 2mc:15.9    By encouraging them with words from the law and the prophets, and by reminding them of the battles they had already won, he filled them with fresh enthusiasm.
 2mc:15.10   Having stirred up their courage, he gave his orders and pointed out at the same time the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths.
 2mc:15.11   When he had armed each of them, not so much with the safety of shield and spear as with the encouragement of noble words, he cheered them all by relating a dream, a kind of vision, worthy of belief.
 2mc:15.12   What he saw was this: Onias, the former high priest, a good and virtuous man, modest in appearance, gentle in manners, distinguished in speech, and trained from childhood in every virtuous practice, was praying with outstretched arms for the whole Jewish community.
 2mc:15.13   Then in the same way another man appeared, distinguished by his white hair and dignity, and with an air about him of extraordinary, majestic authority.
 2mc:15.14   Onias then said of him, "This is God's prophet Jeremiah, who loves his brethren and fervently prays for his people and their holy city."
 2mc:15.15   Stretching out his right hand, Jeremiah presented a gold sword to Judas. As he gave it to him he said,
 2mc:15.16   "Accept this holy sword as a gift from God; with it you shall crush your adversaries."
 2mc:15.17   Encouraged by Judas' noble words, which had power to instill valor and stir young hearts to courage, the Jews determined not to delay, but to charge gallantly and decide the issue by hand-to-hand combat with the utmost courage, since their city and its temple with the sacred vessels were in danger.
 2mc:15.18   They were not so much concerned about their wives and children or their brothers and kinsmen; their first and foremost fear was for the consecrated sanctuary.
 2mc:15.19   Those who remained in the city suffered a like agony, anxious as they were about the battle in the open country.
 2mc:15.20   Everyone now awaited the decisive moment. The enemy were already drawing near with their troops drawn up in battle line, their elephants placed in strategic positions, and their cavalry stationed on the flanks.
 2mc:15.21   Maccabeus, contemplating the hosts before him, their elaborate equipment, and the fierceness of their elephants, stretched out his hands toward heaven and called upon the LORD who works miracles; for he knew that it is not through arms but through the LORD'S decision that victory is won by those who deserve it.
 2mc:15.22   He prayed to him thus: "You, O LORD, sent your angel in the days of King Hezekiah of Judea, and he slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of Sennacherib's army.
 2mc:15.23   Sovereign of the heavens, send a good angel now to spread fear and dread before us.
 2mc:15.24   By the might of your arm may those be struck down who have blasphemously come against your holy people!" With this he ended his prayer.
 2mc:15.25   Nicanor and his men advanced to the sound of trumpets and battle songs.
 2mc:15.26   But Judas and his men met the army with supplication and prayers.
 2mc:15.27   Fighting with their hands and praying to God with their hearts, they laid low at least thirty-five thousand, and rejoiced greatly over this manifestation of God's power.
 2mc:15.28   When the battle was over and they were joyfully departing, they discovered Nicanor lying there in all his armor;
 2mc:15.29   so they raised tumultuous shouts in their native tongue in praise of the divine Sovereign.
 2mc:15.30   Then Judas, who was ever in body and soul the chief defender of his fellow citizens, and had maintained from youth his affection for his countrymen, ordered Nicanor's head and whole right arm to be cut off and taken to Jerusalem.
 2mc:15.31   When he arrived there, he assembled his countrymen, stationed the priests before the altar, and sent for those in the citadel.
 2mc:15.32   He showed them the vile Nicanor's head and the wretched blasphemer's arm that had been boastfully stretched out against the holy dwelling of the Almighty.
 2mc:15.33   He cut out the tongue of the godless Nicanor, saying he would feed it piecemeal to the birds and would hang up the other wages of his folly opposite the temple.
 2mc:15.34   At this, everyone looked toward heaven and praised the Lord who manifests his divine power, saying, "Blessed be he who has kept his own Place undefiled!"
 2mc:15.35   Judas hung up Nicanor's head on the wall of the citadel, a clear and evident proof to all of the Lord's help.
 2mc:15.36   By public vote it was unanimously decreed never to let this day pass unobserved, but to celebrate it on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in Aramaic, the eve of Mordecai's Day.
 2mc:15.37   Since Nicanor's doings ended in this way, with the city remaining in possession of the Hebrews from that time on, I will bring my own story to an end here too.
 2mc:15.38   If it is well written and to the point, that is what I wanted; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that is the best I could do.
 2mc:15.39   Just as it is harmful to drink wine alone or water alone, whereas mixing wine with water makes a more pleasant drink that increases delight, so a skillfully composed story delights the ears of those who read the work. Let this, then, be the end. [end of Maccabees]

