1 Maccabees 10

1 In the 160th year, Alexander, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, went up and took Ptolemais. The people welcomed him, and he began his reign there. [a] 2 When King Demetrius heard of it, he gathered a very large army and marched out to meet him in battle. 3 And Demetrius sent Jonathan a letter full of peaceable words, raising him high in honor — 4 for he said, “Let us move first and make peace with them, before he makes peace with Alexander against us; 5 for he will remember all the evils we have done to him, and to his brothers, and to his nation.”

6 So he gave him authority to gather an army and to make weapons and to be his ally, and he ordered the hostages in the citadel handed over to him. 7 Jonathan came to Jerusalem and read the letter in the hearing of all the people, and of the men of the citadel. 8 They were struck with great fear when they heard that the king had given him authority to gather an army. 9 And the men of the citadel handed the hostages over to Jonathan, and he returned them to their parents.

10 Then Jonathan settled in Jerusalem and began to build and restore the city. 11 He told the workmen to build the walls, and to wall Mount Zion all around with squared stones for its defense; and they did so. 12 The foreigners in the fortresses that Bacchides had built fled; 13 each man left his post and went back to his own land. 14 Only at Beth-zur did a few remain of those who had abandoned the law and the decrees, for it was their place of refuge.

15 Now King Alexander heard of all the promises Demetrius had sent to Jonathan. He was told, too, of the battles and the brave deeds that Jonathan and his brothers had done, and of the hardships they had endured, 16 and he said, “Will we ever find another man like this one? Let us make him our friend and ally now.” 17 So he wrote a letter and sent it to him, in these words:

18 “King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greetings. 19 We have heard about you — that you are a man mighty in strength, and a fit man to be our friend. 20 So today we appoint you chief priest of your nation, and give you the title of the king’s friend” — and he sent him a purple robe and a gold crown — “to take our side, and to keep friendship with us.” [b]

21 So in the seventh month of the 160th year, at the Feast of Tents, Jonathan put on the holy robe. And he gathered forces and made many weapons. [c]

22 When Demetrius heard of these things, he was grieved, and said, 23 “What have we done, that Alexander has gotten ahead of us in winning the friendship of the Jews to strengthen himself? 24 I too will write them words of encouragement, of honor and of gifts, so that they will stand with me and help me.”

25 So he sent them a message in these words: “King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings. 26 We have heard how you have kept your agreements with us and stayed in our friendship and have not gone over to our enemies, and we are glad. 27 Continue still to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good for what you do for us. 28 We will grant you many exemptions, and we will give you gifts.

29 I now release you, and set every Jew free, from the tribute, from the salt tax, and from the crown taxes; 30 and the third of the grain, and the half of the fruit of the trees, that falls to me to collect — I give it up from this day forward, and will not take it from the land of Judah, or from the three districts joined to it from the country of Samaria and Galilee, from this day on and for all time. 31 Let Jerusalem and its territory be holy and free — its tenths and its tolls with it. 32 I also give up authority over the citadel in Jerusalem, and I grant it to the chief priest, to station in it whatever men he chooses to guard it. 33 Every Jew carried captive out of the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom I set free without payment; and let everyone cancel the taxes on them, even the taxes on their livestock.

34 All the feasts, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed days, and the three days before a feast and the three days after — let them all be days of exemption and release for every Jew in my kingdom, 35 and no one shall have authority to exact anything from any of them, or to trouble any of them in any matter.

36 Let Jews be enrolled in the king’s forces, up to thirty thousand men, and let them be paid what is due to all the king’s forces. 37 Some of them shall be stationed in the king’s great strongholds, and some shall be set over the affairs of the kingdom that call for trust. Let their overseers and commanders come from their own ranks, and let them live by their own laws, just as the king has ordered in the land of Judah. 38 As for the three districts added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be joined to Judea and counted as under one man, obeying no other authority than the chief priest’s.

39 Ptolemais and the land that goes with it I have given as a gift to the holy place in Jerusalem, for the expenses proper to the holy place. 40 And I give fifteen thousand shekels of silver every year out of the king’s revenues, from the places that yield it. [d] 41 And all the surplus from the revenues that they have not been paying in, as they did in the first years — from now on they shall pay it toward the work of the house. 42 Besides this, the five thousand shekels of silver that used to be taken from the income of the holy place out of the yearly account — this too is given up, because it belongs to the priests who serve there. 43 And whoever takes refuge in the temple in Jerusalem, or anywhere within its bounds, owing money to the king or owing any other debt — let him go free, with everything he owns in my kingdom. 44 The cost of building and restoring the works of the holy place shall also be paid from the king’s revenues; 45 and the cost of building the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it all around, and of building the walls in Judea — that too shall be paid from the king’s revenues.”

46 When Jonathan and the people heard these words, they did not believe them and would not accept them, because they remembered the great evil he had done in Israel, and how bitterly he had oppressed them. 47 They sided with Alexander, because he had been the first to open words of peace with them, and they fought as his allies all his days.

48 Then King Alexander gathered great forces and camped opposite Demetrius. 49 The two kings joined battle, and the army of Demetrius fled; Alexander pursued him and prevailed over them. 50 He pressed the battle hard until the sun went down, and Demetrius fell that day.

51 Then Alexander sent envoys to Ptolemy king of Egypt with this message: 52 “Now that I have returned to my kingdom and taken my seat on the throne of my fathers and taken up the rule — for I crushed Demetrius and gained control of our country; 53 I met him in battle, and he and his army were crushed by us, and we now sit on the throne of his kingdom — 54 come, let us establish friendship with one another. Give me your daughter as my wife, and I will be your son-in-law, and I will give you — and her — gifts worthy of you.”

55 King Ptolemy answered: “Happy the day you returned to the land of your fathers and sat on the throne of their kingdom! 56 I will now do for you what you have written. But meet me at Ptolemais, so that we may see one another face to face, and I will make you my son-in-law, as you have said.” 57 So Ptolemy set out from Egypt, he and his daughter Cleopatra, and came to Ptolemais in the 162nd year. [e] 58 King Alexander met him there, and Ptolemy gave him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage; and he celebrated her wedding at Ptolemais with great splendor, as kings do.

59 King Alexander also wrote to Jonathan to come and meet him. 60 He went in state to Ptolemais and met the two kings; he gave them and their friends silver and gold and many gifts, and won their favor. 61 Then some troublemakers out of Israel, lawless men, banded together against him to accuse him; but the king paid them no attention. 62 Instead the king gave orders, and they took off Jonathan’s garments and clothed him in purple; and so it was done.

63 The king seated him at his side, and said to his officers, “Go out with him into the middle of the city, and proclaim that no one is to bring charges against him in any matter, and no one is to trouble him for any reason at all.” 64 And when his accusers saw the honor paid him, just as it was proclaimed, and saw him robed in purple, they all fled. 65 So the king honored him: he enrolled him among his First Friends, and made him a general and governor of a district. 66 And Jonathan returned to Jerusalem in peace and gladness.

67 In the 165th year, Demetrius son of Demetrius came from Crete to the land of his fathers. [f] 68 When King Alexander heard of it, he was deeply grieved, and returned to Antioch. 69 Demetrius gave command to Apollonius, the governor of Coele-Syria, who gathered a great army, camped at Jamnia, and sent this word to Jonathan the chief priest:

70 “You are the only one who rises up against us, and because of you I have become a laughingstock and a reproach. Why do you flaunt your power against us up in the mountains? 71 If you trust in your forces, then come down to us on the plain, and let us take each other’s measure there — for the power of the cities is with me. 72 Ask, and learn who I am, and who the others are who stand with us. Men will tell you that you cannot hold your ground before us, for your fathers were twice put to flight in their own land. 73 And now you will not be able to withstand the cavalry, and an army this size, on the plain — where there is no stone, no pebble, and no place to run.”

74 When Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, his spirit was stirred. He picked ten thousand men and marched out of Jerusalem, and his brother Simon met him to help him. 75 He camped against Joppa, but the men of the city shut it against him, since Apollonius had a garrison in Joppa. So they attacked it, 76 and the men of the city took fright and opened the gates, and Jonathan became master of Joppa.

77 When Apollonius heard of it, he readied three thousand horsemen and a large army, and moved on Azotus as though merely passing through — while at the same time pushing out into the plain, because he had a great number of horsemen and put his trust in them. [g] 78 Jonathan followed hard after him to Azotus, and the armies joined battle. 79 Now Apollonius had left a thousand horsemen hidden behind them, 80 and Jonathan learned that there was an ambush at his rear. The horsemen surrounded his army and shot their arrows into the people from morning until evening; 81 but the people stood firm, as Jonathan had ordered, and the enemy’s horses grew weary.

82 Then Simon drew out his force and engaged the phalanx — for the cavalry was spent — and the enemy were crushed by him and fled. 83 The cavalry scattered over the plain, and the fugitives fled to Azotus and went into Beth-dagon, their idol’s temple, to save themselves. 84 But Jonathan burned Azotus and the towns around it and took their plunder; and the temple of Dagon, with those who had fled into it, he burned with fire. 85 Those who fell by the sword, together with those who were burned, came to about eight thousand men.

86 From there Jonathan moved on and camped against Ascalon, and the people of the city came out to meet him with great honor. 87 Then Jonathan and his men returned to Jerusalem, loaded with plunder. 88 And when King Alexander heard of these things, he honored Jonathan still more: 89 he sent him a gold clasp, such as is customarily given to the Kinsmen of kings, and he gave him Ekron and all its territory as his possession. [h]