2 Maccabees 8:1-10:9

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

V. Victories of Judas and Purification of the Temple

Chapter 8

Resistance from Judas Maccabeus. ^1 (A)Judas Maccabeus and his companions entered the villages secretly, summoned their kindred, and enlisted others who had remained faithful to Judaism. Thus they assembled about six thousand men. ² They implored the Lord to look kindly upon this people, who were being oppressed by all; to have pity on the sanctuary, which was profaned by renegades; ³ to have mercy on the city, which was being destroyed and was about to be leveled to the ground; to listen to the blood that cried out to him; ⁴ to remember the criminal slaughter of innocent children and the blasphemies uttered against his name; and to manifest his hatred of evil.

^5 (B)Once Maccabeus got his men organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the Lord’s wrath had now changed to mercy. ⁶ Coming by surprise upon towns and villages, he set them on fire. He captured strategic positions, and put to flight not a few of the enemy. ⁷ He preferred the nights as being especially favorable for such attacks. Soon talk of his valor spread everywhere.

First Victory over Nicanor.^{[a] 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 interests.^{(C) 9 (D)}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 nation. With him he associated Gorgias, a general, experienced in the art of war.^{(E) 10} Nicanor planned to raise the two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans^[b] by selling captured Jews into slavery. 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^[c]—little anticipating the punishment that was to fall upon him from the Almighty.

¹² When Judas learned of Nicanor’s advance and informed his companions about the approach of the army, ¹³ those who were fearful and those who lacked faith in God’s justice deserted and got away. ¹⁴ But the others sold everything they had left, and at the same time entreated the Lord to deliver those whom the ungodly Nicanor had sold before even capturing them. ¹⁵ They entreated the Lord to do this, if not for their sake, at least for the sake of the covenants made with their ancestors, and because they themselves invoked his holy and glorious name. ¹⁶ Maccabeus assembled his forces, six thousand strong, and exhorted them not to be panic-stricken before the enemy, nor to fear the very large number of Gentiles unjustly attacking them, but to fight nobly. ¹⁷ They were to keep 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. ¹⁸ He said, “They trust in weapons and acts of daring, but we trust in almighty God, who can by a mere nod destroy not only those who attack us but even the whole world.” 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 perished,^{(F) 20} and the time of the battle in Babylonia against the Galatians,^[d] when only eight thousand Jews fought along with four thousand Macedonians; yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand, by the help they received from Heaven, destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand and took a great quantity of spoils. ^21 (G)With these words he encouraged them and made them ready to die for their laws and their country.

Then Judas divided his army into four, ²² placing his brothers, Simon, Joseph,^[e] and Jonathan, each over a division, assigning them fifteen hundred men apiece.^{(H) 23} There was also Eleazar.^[f] After reading to them from the holy book and giving them the watchword, “The help of God,” Judas himself took charge of the first division and joined in battle with Nicanor.^{(I) 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. 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, they were obliged to return by reason of the late hour. ²⁶ It was the day before the sabbath, and for that reason they could not continue the pursuit. ²⁷ They collected the enemy’s weapons 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 allotted them the beginning of his mercy. ²⁸ After the sabbath, they gave a share of the spoils to those who were tortured and to widows and orphans; the rest they divided among themselves and their children.^{(J) 29} When this was done, they made supplication in common, imploring the merciful Lord to be completely reconciled with his servants.

Other Victories. 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 considerable plunder, allotting half to themselves and the rest to victims of torture, orphans, widows, and the aged. ³¹ They collected the enemies’ weapons and carefully stored them in strategic places; the rest of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem. ³² They also killed the commander of Timothy’s forces, a most wicked man, who had done great harm to the Jews. 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.

^34 (K)The thrice-accursed Nicanor, who had brought the thousand slave dealers to buy the Jews, 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. ³⁶ So he who had promised to provide tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem proclaimed that the Jews had a champion, and that because they followed the laws laid down by him, they were unharmed.

Chapter 9

Punishment and Death of Antiochus IV.^{[g] 1 (L)}About that time Antiochus retreated in disgrace from the region of Persia. ² He had entered the city called Persepolis and attempted to rob the temples and gain control of the city. Thereupon the people had swift recourse to arms, and Antiochus’ forces were routed, so that in the end Antiochus was put to flight by the people of that region and forced to beat a shameful retreat. ³ On his arrival in Ecbatana, he learned what had happened to Nicanor and to Timothy’s forces. 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, because he said in his arrogance, “I will make Jerusalem the common graveyard of Jews as soon as I arrive there.”

⁵ So the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him down with an incurable and invisible blow; for scarcely had he uttered those words when he was seized with excruciating pains in his bowels and sharp internal torment,^{(M) 6} a fit punishment for him who had tortured the bowels of others with many barbarous torments. 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 speeding chariot, and every part of his body was racked by the violent fall. 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.^{(N) 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.^{(O) 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.

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. 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 equal to God.”^{(P) 13} Then this vile man vowed to him who would never again show him mercy, the Sovereign Lord, ¹⁴ that the holy city, toward which he had been hurrying with the intention of leveling it to the ground and making it a common graveyard, he would now set free; ¹⁵ that 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—all of them he would make equal to the Athenians; ¹⁶ that he would adorn with the finest offerings the holy temple which he had previously despoiled, restore all the sacred vessels many times over, and provide from his own revenues the expenses required for the sacrifices. ¹⁷ Besides all this, he would become a Jew himself and visit every inhabited place to proclaim there the power of God. ¹⁸ But since his sufferings were not lessened, for God’s just judgment had come upon him, he lost hope for himself and wrote the following letter to the Jews in the form of a supplication. It read thus:

^19 [h]“To the worthy Jewish citizens, Antiochus, king and general, sends hearty greetings and best wishes for their health and prosperity. 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. ²¹ Now that I am ill, I recall with affection your esteem and goodwill. 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 security of all. ²² I do not despair about my health, since I have much hope of recovering from my illness. ²³ Nevertheless, I know that my father, whenever he went on campaigns in the hinterland, would name his successor, 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. 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 what is written here. ²⁶ Therefore I beg and entreat each of you to remember the general and individual benefits you have received, and to continue to show goodwill toward me and my son. ²⁷ I am confident that, following my policy, he will treat you with equity and kindness in his relations with you.”

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. ²⁹ His foster brother^[i] Philip brought the body home; but fearing Antiochus’ son, he later withdrew into Egypt, to Ptolemy Philometor.^(Q)

Chapter 10

Purification of the Temple. ^1 (R)When Maccabeus and his companions, under the Lord’s leadership, had recovered the temple and the city, ² they destroyed the altars erected by the foreigners in the marketplace and the sacred shrines. ³ After purifying the temple, they made another altar. Then, with fire struck from flint, they offered sacrifice for the first time in two years,^[j] burned incense, and lighted lamps. They also set out the showbread. 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. ⁵ On the anniversary of the day on which the temple had been profaned by the foreigners, that is, the twenty-fifth of the same month Kislev, the purification of the temple took place. 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 the mountains and in caves. ⁷ Carrying rods entwined with leaves,^[k] beautiful branches and palms, they sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had successfully brought about the purification of his own place. ⁸ By public decree and vote they prescribed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these days every year. ⁹ Such was the end of Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes.