Chapter 3
1 Then his son Judas, who was called Maccabeus, took command in his place. 2 All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him; they gladly fought for Israel.
3 He extended the glory of his people. Like a giant he put on his breastplate; he bound on his armor of war and waged battles, protecting the camp by his sword.
4 He was like a lion in his deeds, like a lion's cub roaring for prey.
5 He searched out and pursued those who broke the law; he burned those who troubled his people.
6 Lawbreakers shrank back for fear of him; all the evildoers were confounded; and deliverance prospered by his hand.
7 He embittered many kings, but he made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed forever.
8 He went through the cities of Judah; he destroyed the ungodly out of the land; thus he turned away wrath from Israel.
9 He was renowned to the ends of the earth; he gathered in those who were perishing.
10 Apollonius now gathered together Gentiles and a large force from Samaria to fight against Israel.
11 When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him, and he defeated and killed him. Many were wounded and fell, and the rest fled.
12 Then they seized their spoils; and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and used it in battle the rest of his life.
13 When Seron, the commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had gathered a large company, including a body of faithful soldiers who stayed with him and went out to battle,
14 he said, "I will make a name for myself and win honor in the kingdom. I will make war on Judas and his companions, who scorn the king's command."
15 Once again a strong army of godless men went up with him to help him, to take vengeance on the Israelites.
16 When he approached the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a small company.
17 But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, "How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and so strong a multitude? And we are faint, for we have eaten nothing today."
18 Judas replied, "It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, for in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few.
19 It is not on the size of the army that victory in battle depends, but strength comes from Heaven.
20 They come against us in great insolence and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to despoil us;
21 but we fight for our lives and our laws.
22 He himself will crush them before us; as for you, do not be afraid of them."
23 When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly against Seron and his army, and they were crushed before him.
24 They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain; eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.
25 Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell on the Gentiles all around them.
26 His fame reached the king, and the Gentiles talked of the battles of Judas.
27 When King Antiochus heard these reports, he was greatly angered; and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.
28 He opened his coffers and gave a year's pay to his forces, and ordered them to be ready for any need.
29 Then he saw that the money in the treasury was exhausted, and that the revenues from the country were small because of the dissension and disaster that he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days.
30 He feared that he might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the gifts that he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings.
31 He was greatly perplexed in mind; then he determined to go to Persia and collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund.
32 He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal lineage, in charge of the king's affairs from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt.
33 Lysias was also to take care of his son Antiochus until he returned.
34 And he turned over to Lysias half of his forces and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wanted done. As for the residents of Judea and Jerusalem,
35 Lysias was to send a force against them to wipe out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem; he was to banish the memory of them from the place,
36 settle aliens in all their territory, and distribute their land by lot.
37 Then the king took the remaining half of his forces and left Antioch his capital in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the Euphrates river and went through the upper provinces.
38 Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, able men among the Friends of the king,
39 and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, as the king had commanded.
40 So they set out with their entire force, and when they arrived they encamped near Emmaus in the plain.
41 When the traders of the region heard what was said to them, they took silver and gold in immense amounts, and fetters, and went to the camp to get the Israelites for slaves. And forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines joined with them.
42 Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction.
43 But they said to one another, "Let us restore the ruins of our people, and fight for our people and the sanctuary."
44 So the congregation assembled to be ready for battle, and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.
45 Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness; not one of her children went in or out. The sanctuary was trampled down, and aliens held the citadel; it was a lodging place for the Gentiles. Joy was taken from Jacob; the flute and the harp ceased to play.
46 Then they gathered together and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Israel formerly had a place of prayer in Mizpah.
47 They fasted that day, put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads, and tore their clothes.
48 And they opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the Gentiles consulted the likenesses of their gods.
49 They also brought the vestments of the priesthood and the first fruits and the tithes, and they stirred up the nazirites who had completed their days;
50 and they cried aloud to Heaven, saying, "What shall we do with these? Where shall we take them?
51 Your sanctuary is trampled down and profaned, and your priests mourn in humiliation.
52 Here the Gentiles are assembled against us to destroy us; you know what they plot against us.
53 How will we be able to withstand them, if you do not help us?"
54 Then they sounded the trumpets and gave a loud shout.
55 After this Judas appointed leaders of the people, in charge of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens.
56 Those who were building houses, or were about to be married, or were planting a vineyard, or were fainthearted, he told to go home again, according to the law.
57 Then the army marched out and encamped to the south of Emmaus.
58 And Judas said, "Arm yourselves and be courageous. Be ready early in the morning to fight with these Gentiles who have assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.
59 It is better for us to die in battle than to see the misfortunes of our nation and of the sanctuary.
60 But as his will in heaven may be, so shall he do."
Chapter 4
1 Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and one thousand picked cavalry, and this division moved out by night 2 to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides.
3 But Judas heard of it, and he and his warriors moved out to attack the king's force in Emmaus
4 while the division was still absent from the camp.
5 When Gorgias entered the camp of Judas by night, he found no one there, so he looked for them in the hills, because he said, "These men are running away from us."
6 At daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, but they did not have armor and swords such as they desired.
7 And they saw the camp of the Gentiles, strong and fortified, with cavalry all around it; and these men were trained in war.
8 But Judas said to those who were with him, "Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge.
9 Remember how our ancestors were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them.
10 And now, let us cry to Heaven, to see whether he will favor us and remember his covenant with our ancestors and crush this army before us today.
11 Then all the Gentiles will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel."
12 When the foreigners looked up and saw them coming against them,
13 they went out from their camp to battle. Then the men with Judas blew their trumpets
14 and engaged in battle. The Gentiles were crushed, and fled into the plain,
15 and all those in the rear fell by the sword. They pursued them to Gazara, and to the plains of Idumea, and to Azotus and Jamnia; and three thousand of them fell.
16 Then Judas and his force turned back from pursuing them,
17 and he said to the people, "Do not be greedy for plunder, for there is a battle before us;
18 Gorgias and his force are near us in the hills. But stand now against our enemies and fight them, and afterward seize the plunder boldly."
19 Just as Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared, coming out of the hills.
20 They saw that their army had been put to flight, and that the Jews were burning the camp, for the smoke that was seen showed what had happened.
21 When they perceived this, they were greatly frightened, and when they also saw the army of Judas drawn up in the plain for battle,
22 they all fled into the land of the Philistines.
23 Then Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they seized a great amount of gold and silver, and cloth dyed blue and sea purple, and great riches.
24 On their return they sang hymns and praises to Heaven—"For he is good, for his mercy endures forever."
25 Thus Israel had a great deliverance that day.
26 Those of the foreigners who escaped went and reported to Lysias all that had happened.
27 When he heard it, he was perplexed and discouraged, for things had not happened to Israel as he had intended, nor had they turned out as the king had ordered.
28 But the next year he mustered sixty thousand picked infantry and five thousand cavalry to subdue them.
29 They came into Idumea and encamped at Beth-zur, and Judas met them with ten thousand men.
30 When he saw that their army was strong, he prayed, saying, "Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, who crushed the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of your servant David, and gave the camp of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan son of Saul, and of the man who carried his armor.
31 Hem in this army by the hand of your people Israel, and let them be ashamed of their troops and their cavalry.
32 Fill them with cowardice; melt the boldness of their strength; let them tremble in their destruction.
33 Strike them down with the sword of those who love you, and let all who know your name praise you with hymns."
34 Then both sides attacked, and there fell of the army of Lysias five thousand men; they fell in action.
35 When Lysias saw the rout of his troops and observed the boldness that inspired those of Judas, and how ready they were either to live or to die nobly, he withdrew to Antioch and enlisted mercenaries in order to invade Judea again with an even larger army.
36 Then Judas and his brothers said, "See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it."
37 So all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion.
38 There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins.
39 Then they tore their clothes and mourned with great lamentation; they sprinkled themselves with ashes
40 and fell face down on the ground. And when the signal was given with the trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.
41 Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary.
42 He chose blameless priests devoted to the law,
43 and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place.
44 They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned.
45 And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar,
46 and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them.
47 Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.
48 They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts.
49 They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.
50 Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple.
51 They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
52 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-eighth year,
53 they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built.
54 At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals.
55 All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them.
56 So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving offering.
57 They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fitted them with doors.
58 There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed.
59 Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev.
60 At that time they fortified Mount Zion with high walls and strong towers all around, to keep the Gentiles from coming and trampling them down as they had done before.
61 Judas stationed a garrison there to guard it; he also fortified Beth-zur to guard it, so that the people might have a stronghold that faced Idumea.
No comments:
Post a Comment