2 Maccabees 12

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 These agreements once concluded, Lysias returned to the king and the Jews went back to theirfarming.	1 A short time after this Lysias the king's lieutenant, and cousin, and who had chief charge over all the affairs, being greatly displeased with what had happened,
2 Among the local generals, Timotheus and Apol onius son of Gennaeus, as also Hieronymus andDemophon, and Nicanor the Cypriarch as wel , would not allow the Jews to live in peace and quiet.	2 Gathered together fourscore thousand men, and all the horsemen, and came against the Jews, thinking to take the city, and make it a habitation of the Gentiles :
3 The people of Joppa committed a particularly wicked crime: they invited the Jews living among themto go aboard some boats they had lying ready, taking their wives and children. There was no hint of any intentionto harm them;	3 And to make a gain of the temple, as of the other temples of the Gentiles, and to set the high priesthood to sale every year:
4 there had been a public vote by the citizens, and the Jews accepted, as wel they might, beingpeaceable people with no reason to suspect anything. But once out in the open sea they were al sent to thebottom, a company of at least two hundred.	4 Never considering the power of God, but puffed up in mind, and trusting in the multitude of his foot soldiers, and the thousands of his horsemen, and his fourscore elephants.
5 When Judas heard of the cruel fate of his countrymen, he issued his orders to his men	5 So he came into Judea, and approaching to Bethsura, which was in a narrow place, the space of five furlongs from Jerusalem, he laid siege to that fortress.
6 and after invoking God, the just judge, he attacked his brothers' murderers. Under cover of dark heset fire to the port, burned the boats and put to the sword everyone who had taken refuge there.	6 But when Machabeus and they that were with him, understood that the strong holds were besieged, they and all the people besought the Lord with lamentations and tears, that he would send a good angel to save Israel.
7 As the town gates were closed, he withdrew, intending to come back and wipe out the wholecommunity of Joppa.	7 Then Machabeus himself, first taking his arms, exhorted the rest to expose themselves together with him, to the danger, and to succour their brethren.
8 But hearing that the people of Jamnia were planning to treat their resident Jews in the same way,	8 And when they were going forth together with a willing mind, there appeared at Jerusatem a horseman going before them in white clothing, with golden armour, shaking a spear.
9 he made a night attack on the Jamnites and fired the port with its fleet; the glow of the flames wasseen as far off as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.	9 Then they all together blessed merciful Lord, and took great courage, being ready to break through not only men, but also the fiercest beasts, walls of iron.
10 When they had left the town barely a mile behind them in their advance on Timotheus, Judas wasattacked by an Arab force of at least five thousand foot soldiers, with five hundred cavalry.	10 So they went on courageously, having a helper from Peaven, and the who shewed mercy to them.
11 A fierce engagement fol owed, and with God's help Judas' men won the day; the defeated nomadsbegged Judas to offer them the right hand of friendship, and promised to surrender their herds and makethemselves general y useful to him.	11 And rushing violently upon the my, like lions, they slew of them eleven thousand footmen, and one thousand hundred horsemen:
12 Realising that they might indeed prove valuable in many ways, Judas consented to make peace withthem and after an exchange of pledges the Arabs withdrew to their tents.	12 And put all the rest to flight: many of them being wounded, escaped naked: yea and Lysias himself fled away shamefully, and escaped.
13 Judas also attacked a certain fortified town, closed by ramparts and inhabited by a medley of races;its name was Caspin.	13 And as he was a man of understanding considering with himself, the loss he had suffered, and perceiving that the Hebrews could not be overcome, because they relied upon the help of the Almighty God, he sent to them:
14 Confident in the strength of their wal s and their stock of provisions, the besieged adopted aninsolent attitude to Judas and his men, reinforcing their insults with blasphemies and profanity.	14 And promised that he would agree to all things that are just, and that he would persuade the king to be their friend.
15 But Judas and his men invoked the great Sovereign of the world who without battering-ram or siege-engine had overthrown Jericho in the days of Joshua; they then made a fierce assault on the wall.	15 Then Machabeus consented to the request of Lysias, providing for the common Food in all things, and whatsoever Machabeus wrote to Lysias concerning the Jews, the king allowed of.
16 By God's wil , having captured the town, they made such indescribable slaughter that the nearbylake, a quarter of a mile across, seemed fil ed to overflowing with blood.	16 For there were letters written to the Jews from Lysias, to this effect: Lysias to the people of the Jews, greeting.
17 Ninety-five miles further on from there, they reached the Charax, in the country of Jews known asTubians.	17 John and Abesalom who were sent from you, delivering your writings, requested that I would accomplish those things which were signified by them.
18 They did not find Timotheus himself in that neighbourhood; he had already left the district, havingachieved nothing apart from leaving a very strong garrison at one point.	18 Therefore whatsoever things could be reported to the king I have represented to him: and he hath granted as much as the matter permitted.
19 Dositheus and Sosipater, two of the Maccabaean generals, marched out and destroyed the forceTimotheus had left behind in the fortress, amounting to more than ten thousand men.	19 If therefore you will keep yourselves loyal in affairs, hereafter also I will endeavour to be a means of your good.
20 Maccabaeus himself divided his army into cohorts to which he assigned commanders, and thenhurried in pursuit of Timotheus, whose troops numbered one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twothousand five hundred cavalry.	20 But as concerning other particulars, I have given orders by word both to these, and to them that are sent by me, to commune with you.
21 Timotheus' first move on learning of Judas' advance was to send away the women and children andthe rest of the baggage train to the place called the Carnaim, since it was an impregnable position, difficult ofaccess owing to the narrowness of al the approaches.	21 Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the four and twentieth day of the month of Dioscorus.
22 Judas' cohort came into sight first. The enemy, seized with fright and panic-stricken by themanifestation of the Al -seeing, began to flee, one running this way, one running that, often wounding oneanother in consequence and running on the points of one another's swords.	22 But the king's letter contained these words: King Antiochus to Lysias his brother, greeting.
23 Judas pursued them with a wil , cutting the sinners to pieces and kil ing something like thirtythousand men.	23 Our father being translated amongst the gods, we are desirous that they that are in our realm should live quietly, and apply themselves diligently to their own concerns,
24 Timotheus himself, having fal en into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater and their men, verycraftily pleaded with them to let him go with his life, on the grounds that he had the relatives and even thebrothers of many of them in his power, and that these could otherwise expect short shrift.	24 And we have heard that the Jews would not consent to my father to turn to the rites of the Greeks, but that they would keep to their own manner of living, and therefore that they request us to allow them to live after their own laws.
25 When at long last he convinced them that he would honour his promise and return these people safeand sound, they let him go for the sake of saving their brothers.	25 Wherefore being desirous that this nation also should be at rest, we have ordained and decreed, that the temple should be restored to them, and that they may live according to the custom of their ancestors.
26 Reaching the Carnaim and the Atargateion, Judas slaughtered twenty-five thousand men.	26 Thou shalt do well therefore to send to them, and grant them peace, that our pleasure being known, they may be of good comfort, and look to their own affairs.
27 Having defeated and destroyed them, he led his army against Ephron, a fortified town, whereLysanias was living. Stalwart young men drawn up outside the walls offered vigorous resistance, while insidethere were quantities of war-engines and missiles in reserve.	27 But the king's letter to the Jews was in this manner: King Antiochus to the senate of the Jews, and to the rest of the Jews, greeting.
28 But the Jews, having invoked the Sovereign who by his power shatters enemies' defences, gainedcontrol of the town and cut down nearly twenty-five thousand of the people inside.	28 If you are well, you are as we desire, we ourselves also are well.
29 Moving off from there, they pressed on to Scythopolis,	29 Menelaus came to us, saying that you desired to come down to your countrymen, that are with us.
30 seventy-five miles from Jerusalem. But as the Jews who had settled there assured Judas that thepeople of Scythopolis had always treated them wel and had been particularly kind to them when times were attheir worst,	30 We grant therefore a safe conduct to all that come and go, until the thirtieth day of the month of Xanthicus,
31 he and his men thanked them and urged them to extend the same friendship to his race in the future.They reached Jerusalem shortly before the feast of Weeks.	31 That the Jews may use their own Bind of meats, and their own laws as before, and that none of them any manner of ways be molested for things which have been done by ignorance.
32 After Pentecost, as it is cal ed, they marched against Gorgias, the general commanding Idumaea.	32 And we have sent also Menelaus to speak to you.
33 He came out at the head of three thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry;	33 Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth day of the month of Xanthicus.
34 in the course of the ensuing battle a few Jews lost their lives.	34 The Romans also sent them a letter, to this effect. Quintus Memmius, and Titus Manilius, ambassadors of the Romans, to the people of the Jews, greeting.
35 A man called Dositheus, a horseman of the Tubian contingent, a valiant man, overpowered Gorgiasand, gripping him by the cloak, was forcibly dragging him along, intending to take the accursed man alive, butone of the Thracian cavalry, hurling himself on Dositheus, slashed his shoulder, and Gorgias escaped to Marisa.	35 Whatsoever Lysias the king's cousin hath granted you, we also have granted.
36 Meanwhile, since Esdrias and his men had been fighting for a long time and were exhausted, Judascal ed on the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in battle.	36 But touching such things as he thought should be referred to the king, after you have diligently conferred among yourselves, send some one forthwith, that we may decree as it is convenient for you: for we are going to Antioch.
37 Then, chanting the battle cry and hymns at the top of his voice in his ancestral tongue, by a surpriseattack he routed Gorgias' troops.	37 And therefore make haste to write back, that we may know of what mind you are.
38 Judas then ral ied his army and moved on to the town of Adul am where, as it was the seventh day ofthe week, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the Sabbath.	38 Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth day of the month of Xanthicus.
39 Next day, they came to find Judas (since the necessity was by now urgent) to have the bodies of thefal en taken up and laid to rest among their relatives in their ancestral tombs.
40 But when they found on each of the dead men, under their tunics, objects dedicated to the idols ofJamnia, which the Law prohibits to Jews, it became clear to everyone that this was why these men had lost theirlives.
41 Al then blessed the ways of the Lord, the upright judge who brings hidden things to light,
42 and gave themselves to prayer, begging that the sin committed might be completely forgiven. Next,the valiant Judas urged the soldiers to keep themselves free from al sin, having seen with their own eyes theeffects of the sin of those who had fal en;
43 after this he took a col ection from them individual y, amounting to nearly two thousand drachmas,and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an action altogether fine and noble, prompted by hisbelief in the resurrection.
44 For had he not expected the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to prayfor the dead,
45 whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense reserved for those who make a pious end, thethought was holy and devout. Hence, he had this expiatory sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they might bereleased from their sin.