2 Maccabees 8

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Judas, otherwise known as Maccabaeus, and his companions made their way secretly among thevil ages, ral ying their fellow-countrymen; they recruited those who remained loyal to Judaism and assembledabout six thousand.	1 have from heaven, but for the laws of God I now despise them: because I hope to receive them again from him.
2 They cal ed on the Lord to have regard for the people oppressed on al sides, to take pity on theTemple profaned by the godless,	2 But one of them, who was the eldest, said thus: What wouldst thou ask, or learn of us? we are ready to die rather than to transgress the laws of God, received from our fathers.
3 to have mercy on the city now being destroyed and level ed to the ground, to hear the blood of thevictims that cried aloud to him,	3 Then the king being angry commanded fryingpans, and brazen caldrons to be made hot: which forthwith being heated,
4 to remember too the criminal slaughter of innocent babies and to avenge the blasphemies perpetratedagainst his name.	4 He commanded to cut out the tongue of him that had spoken first: and the skin of his head being drawn off, to chop off also the extremities of his hands and feet, the rest of his brethren, and his mother, looking on.
5 As soon as Maccabaeus had an organised force, he at once proved invincible to the foreigners, theLord's anger having turned into compassion.	5 And when he was now maimed in all parts, he commanded him, being yet alive, to be brought to the Are, and to be fried in the fryingpan: and while he was suffering therein long torments, the rest, together with the mother, exhorted one another to die manfully,
6 Making surprise attacks on towns and villages, he fired them; he captured favourable positions andinflicted very heavy losses on the enemy,	6 Saying: The Lord God will look upon the truth, and will take pleasure in us, as Moses declared in the profession of the canticle: And In his servants he will take pleasure.
7 general y availing himself of the cover of night for such enterprises. The fame of his valour spread farand wide.	7 So when the first was dead after this manner, they brought the next to make him a, mocking stock: and when they had pulled off the skin of his head with the hair, they asked him if he would eat, before he were punished throughout the whole body in every limb.
8 When Philip saw Judas was making steady progress and winning more and more frequent successes,he wrote to Ptolemy, the general officer commanding Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, asking for reinforcements inthe royal interest.	8 But he answered in his own language, and said: I will not do it. Wherefore Ire also in the next place, received the torments of the first:
9 Ptolemy chose Nicanor son of Patroclus, one of the king's First Friends, and sent him without delay atthe head of an international force of at least twenty thousand men to exterminate the entire Jewish race. As hisassociate he appointed Gorgias, a professional general of wide military experience.	9 And when he was at the last gasp, he said thus: Thou indeed, O most wicked man, destroyest us out of this present life: but the King of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the resurrection of eternal life.
10 Nicanor for his part proposed, by the sale of Jewish prisoners of war, to raise the two thousand talentsof tribute money owed by the king to the Romans.	10 After him the third was made a mocking stock, and when he was required, he quickly put forth his tongue, and courageously stretched out his hands:
11 He lost no time in sending the seaboard towns an invitation to come and buy Jewish manpower,promising delivery of ninety head for one talent; but he did not reckon on the judgement from the Almighty thatwas soon to overtake him.	11 And said with confidence: These
12 When news reached Judas of Nicanor's advance, he warned his men of the enemy's approach,	12 So that the king, and they that were with him, wondered at the young man's courage, because he esteemed the torments as nothing.
13 whereupon the cowardly ones and those who lacked confidence in the justice of God took to theirheels and ran away.	13 And after he was thus dead, they tormented the fourth in the like manner
14 The rest sold al their remaining possessions, at the same time praying the Lord to deliver them fromthe godless Nicanor, who had sold them even in advance of any encounter-	14 And when he was now ready to die, he spoke thus: It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him: for, as to thee thou shalt have no resurrection unto life.
15 if not for their own sakes, then at least out of consideration for the covenants made with theirancestors, and because they themselves bore his sacred and majestic name.	15 And when they had brought the fifth, they tormented him. But he looking upon the king,
16 Maccabaeus marshal ed his men, who numbered about six thousand, and exhorted them not to bedismayed at the enemy or discouraged at the vast horde of gentiles wickedly advancing against them, but tofight bravely,	16 Said: Whereas thou hast power among men, though thou art corruptible, thou dost what thou wilt: but think not that our nation is forsaken by God.
17 keeping before their eyes the outrage committed by them against the holy place and the infamous andscornful treatment inflicted on the city, not to mention the destruction of their traditional way of life.	17 But stay patiently a while, and thou shalt see his great power, in what manner he will torment thee and thy seed.
18 'They may put their trust in their weapons and their exploits,' he said, 'but our confidence is in almightyGod, who is able with a single nod to overthrow both those marching on us and the whole world with them.'	18 After him they brought the sixth, and he being ready to die, spoke thus: Be not deceived without cause: for we suffer these things for ourselves, having sinned against our God, and things worthy of admiration are done to us:
19 He reminded them of the occasions on which their ancestors had received help: that time when, underSennacherib, a hundred and eighty-five thousand men had perished;	19 But do not think that thou s escape unpunished, for that thou attempted to fight against God.
20 that time in Babylonia when in the battle with the Galatians the Jewish combatants numbered onlyeight thousand, with four thousand Macedonians, yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eightthousand had destroyed a hundred and twenty thousand, thanks to the help they had received from Heaven, andhad taken great booty as a result.	20 Now the mother was to be ad above measure, and worthy to be remembered by good men, who beheld seven sons slain in the space of one day, and bore it with a good courage, for the hope that she had in God:
21 Having so roused their courage by these words that they were ready to die for the laws and theircountry, he then divided his army into four,	21 And she bravely exhorted every o of them in her own language, being filled with wisdom: and joining a man's heart to a woman's thought,
22 putting his brothers, Simon, Joseph and Jonathan in command of one division each, and assigningthem fifteen hundred men apiece.	22 She said to them: I know not how you were formed in my womb: for I neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the limbs of every one of you.
23 Next, he ordered Esdrias to read the Holy Book aloud and gave them their watchword 'Help fromGod'. Then, putting himself at the head of the first division, he attacked Nicanor.	23 But the Creator of the world, that formed the nativity of man, and that found out the origin of all, he will restore to you again in his mercy, both breath and life, as now you despise yourselves for the sake of his laws.
24 With the Almighty for their ally they slaughtered over nine thousand of the enemy, wounded andcrippled the greater part of Nicanor's army and put them al to flight.	24 Now Antiochus, thinking himself despised, and withal despising the voice of the upbraider, when the youngest was yet alive, did not only exhort him by words, but also assured him with an oath, that he would make him a rich and a happy man, and, if he would turn from the laws of his fathers, would take him for a friend, and furnish him with things necessary.
25 The money of their prospective purchasers fell into their hands. After pursuing them for a good while,they turned back, since time was pressing:	25 But when the young man was not moved with these things, the king called the mother, and counselled her to deal with the young man to save his life.
26 it was the eve of the Sabbath, and for that reason they did not prolong their pursuit.	26 And when he had exhorted her with many words, she promised that she would counsel her son.
27 They col ected the enemy's weapons and stripped them of their spoils, and because of the Sabbatheven more heartily blessed and praised the Lord, who had saved them and who had chosen that day for the firstmanifestation of his compassion.	27 So bending herself towards him, mocking the cruel tyrant, she said her own language: My son, have pi upon me, that bore thee nine months my womb, and save thee suck years, and nourished thee, and b thee up unto this age.
28 When the Sabbath was over, they distributed some of the booty among the victims of the persecutionand the widows and orphans; the rest they divided among themselves and their children.	28 I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that God made the out of nothing, and mankind also:
29 They then joined in public supplication, imploring the merciful Lord to be ful y reconciled with hisservants.	29 So thou shalt not fear this tormentor, but being made a worthy partner with thy brethren, receive death, that in that mercy I may receive thee again with thy brethren.
30 They also chal enged the forces of Timotheus and Bacchides and destroyed over twenty thousand ofthem, gaining possession of several high fortresses. They divided their enormous booty into two equal shares,one for themselves, the other for the victims of the persecution and the orphans and widows, not forgetting theaged.	30 While she was yet speaking these words, the young man said: For whom do you stay ? I will not obey the commandment of the king, but the commandment of the law, which was given us by Moses.
31 They carefully col ected the enemy's weapons and stored them in suitable places. The rest of thespoils they took to Jerusalem.	31 But thou that hast been the author of all mischief against the Hebrews, shalt not escape the hand of God.
32 They kil ed the tribal chieftain on Timotheus' staff, an extremely wicked man who had done great harmto the Jews.	32 For we suffer thus for our sine.
33 In the course of their victory celebrations in Jerusalem, they burned the men who had fired the HolyGates; with Cal isthenes they had taken refuge in one smal house; so these received a fitting reward for theirsacrilege.	33 And though the Lord our God is angry with us a little while for our chastisement and correction: yet he will be reconciled again to his servants.
34 The triple-dyed scoundrel Nicanor, who had brought the thousand merchants to buy the Jews,	34 But thou, O wicked and of all men most flagitious, be not lifted up without cause with vain hopes, whilst thou art raging against his servants.
35 finding himself with the Lord's help humbled by men he had himself reckoned as of very little account,stripped off his robes of state, and made his way across country unaccompanied, like a runaway slave, reachingAntioch by a singular stroke of fortune, since his army had been destroyed.	35 For thou hast not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty God, who beholdeth all things.
36 Thus the man who had promised the Romans to make good their tribute money by sel ing theprisoners from Jerusalem, bore witness that the Jews had a defender and that they were in consequenceinvulnerable, since they fol owed the laws which that defender had ordained.	36 For my brethren, having now undergone a short pain, are under the covenant of eternal life: but thou by the judgment of God shalt receive just punishment for thy pride.
	37 But I, like my brethren, offer up my life and my body for the laws of our fathers: calling upon God to be speedily merciful to our nation, and that thou by torments and stripes mayst confess that he alone is God.
	38 But in me and in my brethren the wrath of the Almighty, which hath justly been brought upon all our nation, shall cease.
	39 Then the king being incensed with anger, raged against him more cruelly than all the rest, taking it grievously that he was mocked.
	40 So this man also died undefiled, wholly trusting in the Lord.
	41 And last of all after the sons the mother also was consumed.
	42 But now there is enough said of the sacrifices, and of the excessive cruelties.