1 Maccabees 1

1 It happened after Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, had marched out of the land of Kittim and struck down Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes: he became king in his place, having first been king of Greece. [a] 2 He fought many wars, captured strongholds, and slaughtered the kings of the earth. 3 He pressed on to the ends of the earth and took plunder from a multitude of nations. The earth fell silent before him — and he was exalted, and his heart grew proud. 4 He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and rulers, and they paid him tribute.

5 After all this he took to his bed, and he knew that he was dying. 6 So he called his officers, the nobles who had been brought up with him from his youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. 7 Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died, 8 and his officers took power, each in his own place. 9 After his death they all put on crowns, and their sons after them for many years — and they multiplied evils on the earth.

10 Out of them came a sinful root: Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, who had been a hostage in Rome. He became king in the 137th year of the kingdom of the Greeks. [b]

11 In those days lawless men came out of Israel, and they won many over, saying, “Let us go and make a covenant with the nations around us — for since we separated ourselves from them, evil after evil has found us.” 12 The proposal seemed good in their eyes, 13 and some of the people were so eager for it that they went to the king, and he gave them authority to live by the rules of the nations. 14 So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, after the ways of the nations, 15 and they made themselves uncircumcised again and abandoned the holy covenant. They yoked themselves to the nations and sold themselves to do evil.

16 When his kingdom was firmly established, Antiochus set his mind on becoming king of Egypt as well, so that he might reign over both kingdoms. 17 He entered Egypt with a massive force — with chariots and elephants and horsemen and a great fleet — 18 and made war on Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many fell wounded. 19 They captured the fortified cities of Egypt, and he took the plunder of the land of Egypt.

20 After he had struck Egypt, Antiochus turned back in the 143rd year and marched up against Israel — up to Jerusalem — with a massive force. [c] 21 In his arrogance he entered the sanctuary. He took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light with all its vessels, 22 the table of the bread of the Presence, the cups for the drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the golden ornament on the front of the temple. He stripped it all bare. 23 He took the silver and the gold and the precious vessels, and he took whatever hidden treasures he found. 24 When he had taken it all, he went away to his own land.

29 Two full years later the king sent a chief collector of tribute to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a massive force. 30 He spoke peaceable words to them — but it was all deceit. When they trusted him, he fell on the city without warning, struck it a great blow, and destroyed many of the people of Israel. 31 He plundered the city and burned it with fire; he tore down its houses and the walls around it. 32 The women and children they took captive, and the livestock they seized.

33 Then they rebuilt the city of David with a great strong wall and mighty towers, and it became their citadel. [d] 34 They stationed a sinful nation there, lawless men, and they entrenched themselves inside it. 35 They stocked it with weapons and provisions; they gathered up the plunder of Jerusalem and stored it there. And they became a great snare:

41 Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, 42 and that everyone should give up his own ways. And all the nations accepted the word of the king. 43 Even many from Israel welcomed his worship: they sacrificed to the idols and treated the Sabbath as common.

44 The king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. They were to follow ways foreign to the land: 45 to stop the burnt offerings and sacrifice and drink offering in the sanctuary; to treat Sabbaths and feasts as common; 46 to defile the sanctuary and the holy ones; 47 to build pagan altars and sacred precincts and idol-temples, and to sacrifice pigs and unclean animals; [e] 48 to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to make their souls detestable with everything unclean and common — 49 so that they would forget the law and change all the rules. 50 And whoever would not do according to the word of the king was to die.

51 In words like these he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and he ordered the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city. 52 Many of the people rallied to them — everyone who was abandoning the law — and they did evil in the land. 53 They drove Israel into hiding, into every refuge they had.

54 On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the 145th year, he built on the altar a detestable thing that makes desolate; and in the cities of Judah on every side they built pagan altars. [f] 55 They burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. 56 Whatever books of the law they found, they tore to pieces and burned. 57 Wherever a book of the covenant was found in anyone’s keeping, or if anyone held to the law, the king’s sentence put him to death. 58 Month after month, by brute strength, they dealt this way with the Israelites found in the cities. 59 And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the pagan altar that stood on top of the altar. [h]

60 The women who had circumcised their children they put to death, as the decree required, 61 with the babies hung from their mothers’ necks; and they killed their households too, and the men who had performed the circumcisions. 62 Yet many in Israel stood firm and steeled themselves not to eat anything unclean. 63 They chose to die rather than be defiled by the food, rather than treat the holy covenant as common — and die they did. 64 And very great wrath came upon Israel.