1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees 3

Judas Maccabeus

1 Then his son Judas, called Maccabeus, rose up in his place. 2 All his brothers helped him, and so did all who had joined his father, and they fought Israel’s war with gladness.

3 He spread his people’s glory far.

He put on his breastplate like a giant

and buckled on his weapons of war;

he fought battle after battle,

shielding the camp with his sword.

4 In his deeds he was like a lion,

like a lion’s cub roaring over its prey.

5 He hunted the lawless down and searched them out,

and burned up the men who troubled his people.

6 The lawless shrank back for fear of him;

all the workers of lawlessness were thrown into panic;

and rescue prospered in his hand.

7 He made many kings bitter,

but Jacob glad with his deeds,

and his memory is a blessing forever.

8 He passed through the cities of Judah,

destroying the godless out of the land;

he turned wrath away from Israel.

9 He was renowned to the ends of the earth,

and he gathered together those who were perishing.

Apollonius and Seron Defeated

10 Then Apollonius gathered the nations, and a great force from Samaria, to make war on Israel. 11 Judas learned of it and marched out to meet him; he struck him down and killed him. Many fell wounded, and the rest fled. 12 They took their plunder, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius; he fought with it the rest of his life.

13 When Seron, commander of the army of Syria, heard that Judas had gathered a band, an assembly of the faithful who marched out with him to war, 14 he said, “I will make a name for myself and win honor in the kingdom. I will make war on Judas and those with him, who despise the word of the king.” 15 And once more a strong army of the godless went up with him, to help him take vengeance on the sons of Israel.

16 As he neared the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a handful of men. 17 But when they saw the army coming toward them, they said to Judas, “How can we fight a force this size, this strong, when we are so few — and worn out besides? We have had nothing to eat all day.”

18 Judas answered: “It is easy for many to be trapped in the hands of a few, and to Heaven it makes no difference, saving by many or saving by few — 19 for victory in battle does not lie in the size of the army: strength comes from Heaven. 20 They come against us swollen with insolence and lawlessness, to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to strip us bare. 21 But we are fighting for our lives and for our ways, 22 and he himself will crush them before our eyes. Do not be afraid of them.”

23 As soon as he had finished speaking, he sprang at them without warning, and Seron and his army were shattered before him. 24 They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon as far as the plain. About eight hundred of them fell, and the rest fled to the land of the Philistines. 25 Then the fear of Judas and his brothers began to fall on the nations all around them, and dread with it. 26 His name reached the king himself, and every nation told the story of Judas and his battles.

The King Divides His Forces

27 When King Antiochus heard these reports, he was furious. He sent out orders and gathered all the forces of his kingdom — a very strong army. 28 He opened his treasury and gave the troops a year’s pay, and he commanded them to be ready for whatever might be needed. 29 But he saw that the silver in his treasuries was running out, and that the tribute of the region had fallen — because of the strife and the ruin he had brought on the land by destroying the ways that had stood from the earliest days — 30 and he feared that he would not have enough, as he had had time and again, for his expenses and for the gifts he used to hand out with a lavish hand — for he had outdone all the kings before him. 31 Deeply at a loss, he decided to go to Persia, take the tribute of those regions, and gather much silver.

32 He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal blood, in charge of the king’s affairs from the river Euphrates to the border of Egypt, 33 and to bring up his son Antiochus until his own return. 34 He handed over to him half of the forces, and the elephants, and gave him orders about everything he wanted done — including the people of Judea and Jerusalem: 35 he was to send an army against them to break and blot out the strength of Israel and what was left of Jerusalem, to wipe even their memory from the place, 36 to settle foreigners in all their territory, and to parcel out their land by lot. 37 Then the king took the remaining half of the forces and set out from Antioch, his royal city, in the 147th year. He crossed the river Euphrates and marched through the upper provinces.

38 Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias — powerful men among the king’s friends — 39 and sent forty thousand foot soldiers and seven thousand cavalry with them, to invade the land of Judah and lay it waste, as the king had ordered. 40 They set out with their whole force, and they came and camped near Emmaus, in the low plain country. 41 The merchants of the region heard the news of them and came to the camp with a great weight of silver and gold — and with shackles — to buy the sons of Israel as slaves. And troops from Syria and from the land of the Philistines joined them.

The Assembly at Mizpah

42 Judas and his brothers saw that the evils had multiplied and that the armies were camped inside their borders; and they learned of the king’s orders, the commands to destroy the people and finish them. 43 And they said to one another, “Let us raise our people up from their ruin. Let us fight for our people and for the holy place.” 44 So the gathering came together, to be ready for battle — and to pray, and to ask for mercy and compassion.

45 Jerusalem stood empty as a wilderness;

not one of her children went in or out.

The sanctuary was trampled down,

and foreigners held the citadel;

the nations made their lodging there.

Joy was gone from Jacob;

the flute and the harp fell silent.

46 So they gathered and came to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Mizpah had been a place of prayer for Israel in earlier days. 47 They fasted that day. They put on sackcloth, threw ashes on their heads, and tore their clothes. 48 They spread open the book of the law, to search it for the answers the nations seek from the images of their idols. 49 They brought the priests’ garments, the first of the harvest, and the tenths; and they brought forward the *nazirs* who had completed their days. 50 And they cried aloud toward Heaven:

“What shall we do with these?

Where shall we take them?

51 Your holy place is trampled and treated as common;

your priests are in mourning and misery.

52 And look — the nations have gathered against us to destroy us.

You know what they plan against us.

53 How can we stand against them

unless you help us?”

54 Then they sounded the trumpets and gave a great shout. 55 After that, Judas appointed leaders over the people — commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 56 And those who were building houses, or were newly betrothed, or were planting vineyards, or were afraid — he told them to go home, every one of them, as the law directs. 57 Then the camp moved out, and they took up their position south of Emmaus.

58 And Judas said, “Arm yourselves and be men of courage. Be ready at dawn to fight these nations that have massed against us to destroy us and our holy place. 59 Better for us to die in battle than to stand and watch the evils that come on our nation and on the holy place. 60 But whatever the will of Heaven may be, so he will do.”