2 Maccabees 5

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 About this time Antiochus sent his second expedition into Egypt.	1 At about this time, Antiochus was preparing for his second attack on Egypt.
2 It then happened that all over the city, for nearly forty days, there appeared horsemen charging in midair, clad in garments interwoven with gold--companies fully armed with lances	2 It then happened that al over the city for nearly forty days there were apparitions of horsemengalloping through the air in cloth of gold, troops of lancers ful y armed,
3 and drawn swords; squadrons of cavalry in battle array, charges and countercharges on this side and that, with brandished shields and bristling spears, flights of arrows and flashes of gold ornaments, together with armor of every sort.	3 squadrons of cavalry in order of battle, attacks and charges this way and that, a flourish of shields, aforest of pikes, a brandishing of swords, a hurling of missiles, a glittering of golden accoutrements and armour of al kinds.
4 Therefore all prayed that this vision might be a good omen.	4 So everyone prayed that this manifestation might prove a good omen.
5 But when a false rumor circulated that Antiochus was dead, Jason gathered fully a thousand men and suddenly attacked the city. As the defenders on the walls were forced back and the city was finally being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.	5 Then, on the strength of a false report that Antiochus was dead, Jason took at least a thousand menand launched an unexpected attack on the city. When the wal s had been breached and the city was final y onthe point of being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the Citadel.
6 Jason then slaughtered his fellow citizens without mercy, not realizing that triumph over one's own kindred was the greatest failure, but imagining that he was winning a victory over his enemies, not his fellow countrymen.	6 Jason, however, made a pitiless slaughter of his fel ow-citizens, oblivious of the fact that successagainst his own countrymen was the greatest of disasters, but rather picturing himself as winning trophies fromsome enemy, and not from his fel ow- countrymen.
7 Even so, he did not gain control of the government, but in the end received only disgrace for his treachery, and once again took refuge in the country of the Ammonites.	7 Even so, he did not manage to seize power; and, in the end, his machinations brought him nothing butshame, and he took refuge once more in Ammanitis.
8 At length he met a miserable end. Called to account before Aretas, king of the Arabs, he fled from city to city, hunted by all men, hated as a transgressor of the laws, abhorred as the butcher of his country and his countrymen. After being driven into Egypt,	8 His career of wickedness was thus brought to a halt: imprisoned by Aretas, the Arab despot, escapingfrom his town, hunted by everyone, detested for having overthrown the laws, abhorred as the butcher of hiscountry and his countrymen, he drifted to Egypt.
9 he crossed the sea to the Spartans, among whom he hoped to find protection because of his relations with them. There he who had exiled so many from their country perished in exile;	9 He who had exiled so many from their fatherland, himself perished on foreign soil, having travel ed toSparta, hoping that, for kinship's sake, he might find harbour there.
10 and he who had cast out so many to lie unburied went unmourned himself with no funeral of any kind or any place in the tomb of his ancestors.	10 So many carcases he had thrust out to lie unburied; now he himself had none to mourn him, nofuneral rites, no place in the tomb of his ancestors.
11 When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm.	11 When the king came to hear of what had happened, he concluded that Judaea was in revolt. Hetherefore marched from Egypt, raging like a wild beast, and began by storming the city.
12 He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses.	12 He then ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy everyone they encountered, and to butcher allwho took refuge in their houses.
13 There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants.	13 It was a massacre of young and old, a slaughter of women and children, a butchery of young girls andinfants.
14 In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.	14 There were eighty thousand victims in the course of those three days, forty thousand dying byviolence and as many again being sold into slavery.
15 Not satisfied with this, the king dared to enter the holiest temple in the world; Menelaus, that traitor both to the laws and to his country, served as guide.	15 Not content with this, he had the audacity to enter the holiest Temple in the entire world, withMenelaus, that traitor to the laws and to his country, as his guide;
16 He laid his impure hands on the sacred vessels and gathered up with profane hands the votive offerings made by other kings for the advancement, the glory, and the honor of the Place.	16 with impure hands he seized the sacred vessels; with impious hands he seized the offeringspresented by other kings for the aggrandisement, glory and dignity of the holy place.
17 Puffed up in spirit, Antiochus did not realize that it was because of the sins of the city's inhabitants that the Lord was angry for a little while and hence disregarded the holy Place.	17 Holding so high an opinion of himself, Antiochus did not realise that the Lord was temporarily angry atthe sins of the inhabitants of the city, hence his unconcern for the holy place.
18 If they had not become entangled in so many sins, this man, like Heliodorus, who was sent by King Seleucus to inspect the treasury, would have been flogged and turned back from his presumptuous action as soon as he approached.	18 Had they not been entangled in many sins, Antiochus too, like Heliodorus when King Seleucus senthim to inspect the Treasury, would have been flogged the moment he arrived and checked in his presumption.
19 The Lord, however, had not chosen the people for the sake of the Place, but the Place for the sake of the people.	19 The Lord, however, had not chosen the people for the sake of the holy place, but the holy place forthe sake of the people;
20 Therefore, the Place itself, having shared in the people's misfortunes, afterward participated in their good fortune; and what the Almighty had forsaken in his anger was restored in all its glory, once the great Sovereign became reconciled.	20 and so the holy place itself, having shared the disasters that befel the people, in due course alsoshared their good fortune; having been abandoned by the Almighty in his anger, once the great Sovereign wasplacated it was reinstated in al its glory.
21 Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried back to Antioch. In his arrogance he planned to make the land navigable and the sea passable on foot, so carried away was he with pride.	21 Antiochus, having extracted eighteen hundred talents from the Temple, hurried back to Antioch; in hispride he would have undertaken to make the dry land navigable and the sea passable on foot, so high hisarrogance soared.
22 But he left governors to harass the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by birth, and in character more cruel than the man who appointed him;	22 But he left officials behind to plague the nation: in Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by race, and bynature more barbarous than the man who appointed him;
23 at Mount Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. Out of hatred for the Jewish citizens,	23 on Mount Gerizim, Andronicus; and, besides these, Menelaus, who lorded it over his countrymenworse than al the others. In his rooted hostility to the Jews,
24 the king sent Appollonius, commander of the Mysians, at the head of an army of twenty-two thousand men, with orders to kill all the grown men and sell the women and young men into slavery.	24 the king also sent the Mysarch Apollonius at the head of an army twenty-two thousand strong, withorders to put to death al men in their prime and to sel the women and children.
25 When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peacefully disposed and waited until the holy day of the sabbath; then, finding the Jews refraining from work, he ordered his men to parade fully armed.	25 Arriving in Jerusalem and posing as a man of peace, this man waited until the holy day of the Sabbathand then, taking advantage of the Jews as they rested from work, ordered his men to parade ful y armed;
26 All those who came out to watch, he massacred, and running through the city with armed men, he cut down a large number of people.	26 al those who came out to watch he put to the sword; then, rushing into the city with his armed troops,he cut down an immense number of people.
27 But Judas Maccabeus and about nine others withdrew to the wilderness, where he and his companions lived like wild animals in the hills, continuing to eat what grew wild to avoid sharing the defilement.	27 Judas, also known as Maccabaeus, however, with about nine others, withdrew into the desert. Helived like the wild animals in the hil s with his companions, eating nothing but wild plants to avoid contractingdefilement.