1 Machabees 1

¹And it came to pass, after that Alexander Philip's son the Macedonian, that first reigned in Greece, being gone out of the land of Cethim, struck Darius king of the Persians and the Medes:

²he made many battles, and obtained the munition of all, & slew the kings of the earth:

³and he passed through even to the ends of the earth: and took the spoils of the multitude of the Gentiles: & the earth was silent in his sight.

⁴And he gathered power, and an army exceeding strong: and his heart was exalted and elevated:

⁵and he obtained the regions of the Gentiles, & the tyrants: and they were made tributaries to him.

⁶And after these things, he fell down in his bed, and he knew that he should die.

⁷And he called his servants the Nobles, that were brought up with him from his youth: & he divided his kingdom to them, when he yet lived.

⁸And Alexander reigned twelve years, & he died.

⁹And his servants possessed the kingdom, every one in his place:

¹⁰and they did all put crowns on them after his death, & their sons after them many years, & evils were multiplied in the earth.

¹¹And there came forth of them a sinful root Antiochus Illustre, the son of king Antiochus, that had been at Rome an hostage: & he reigned in the hundredth & seven & thirtieth year of the kingdom of the Greeks.

¹²In those days there went forth of Israel wicked children, & persuaded many, saying: Let us go, and make a covenant with the Gentiles, that are about us: because since we departed from them many evils have found us.

¹³And the talk seemed good in their eyes.

¹⁴And some of the people determined, & went to the king: & he gave them leave to do the justice of the Gentiles.

¹⁵And they built a school in Jerusalem, according to the laws of the Nations:

¹⁶and they made to themselves prepuces, and revolted from the holy testament, and were joined to the Nations, and were sold to do evil.

¹⁷And the kingdom was prepared in the sight of Antiochus, and he began to reign in the land of Ægypt, that he might reign over two kingdoms.

¹⁸And he entered into Ægypt with great multitude, with chariots, and elephants, & horsemen, and a copious multitude of ships:

¹⁹And he made war against Ptolomee the king of Ægypt, & Ptolomee was afraid at his presence, and fled, and many fell wounded.

²⁰And he took the fenced cities in the land of Ægypt: and he took the spoils of the land of Ægypt.

²¹And Antiochus turned, after he struck Ægypt in the hundredth and three and fortieth year: and he went up to Israel,

²²and went up to Jerusalem with a great multitude.

²³And he entered into the sanctification with pride, & took the golden altar, & the candlestick of light, & all the vessels thereof, & the table of proposition, and the libatories, and the phials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, & the crowns, and the golden ornament, that was in the face of the temple: & he brake all into pieces.

²⁴And he took the silver and gold, & the desiderable vessels: and he took the hidden treasures which he found: & carrying away he departed into his own land.

²⁵And he made a slaughter of men, and spake in great pride.

²⁶And great lamentation was made in Israel, and in every place of theirs:

²⁷and the princes, and the ancients mourned, and the young men, and the virgins were weakened, & the beautifulness of the women was changed.

²⁸Every husband took lamentation: and the women that sat in the marriage bed mourned:

²⁹and the land was moved upon the inhabitants therein, & all the house of Jacob did put on confusion.

³⁰And after two years of days the king sent a Prince of tributes into the cities of Juda, and he came to Jerusalem with a great multitude.

³¹And he spake unto them peaceable words in guile: and they believed him.

³²And he fell upon the city suddenly, and struck it with a great plague, & destroyed much people in Israel.

³³And he took the spoils of the city, and burnt it with fire, and destroyed the houses thereof, and the walls thereof round about:

³⁴and they led the women captive, and the children, and the cattle they possessed.

³⁵And they built the city of David with a great wall, and a strong, and with firm towers, and it was made a castle for them:

³⁶and they placed there a sinful nation, wicked men, & they waxed strong therein: And they laid armour, and victuals, and gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem:

³⁷and laid them up there: & they became a great snare.

³⁸And this was made for an embushment of the sanctification, and to be an ill devil in Israel.

³⁹And they shed innocent blood round about the sanctification, and contaminated the sanctification.

⁴⁰And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled by reason of them, and it became the habitation of strangers, and she became stranger to her own seed, and her children forsook her.

⁴¹Her sanctification was desolate as a wilderness, her festival days were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, her honours into naught.

⁴²According to her glory was her ignominy multiplied, and her highness was turned into mourning.

⁴³And king Antiochus wrote to all his kingdom, that all the people should be one: and every one should leave his own law.

⁴⁴And all Nations consented according to the word of king Antiochus,

⁴⁵& many of Israel consented to his service, & they sacrificed to idols, & defiled the sabbath.

⁴⁶And the king sent books by the hands of messengers into Jerusalem, & into all the cities of Juda: that they should follow the law of the Nations of the earth,

⁴⁷and should prohibit holocausts & sacrifices, & placations to be made in the temple of God,

⁴⁸and should prohibit the sabbath to be celebrated, & the solemn days.

⁴⁹And he commanded the holy places to be defiled, & the holy people of Israel.

⁵⁰And he commanded altars to be built, and temples, and idols, & swine's flesh to be immolated, and common beasts,

⁵¹and to leave their children uncircumcised, and their souls to be contaminated in all uncleannesses, and abominations, so that they should forget the law, and should change all the justifications of God.

⁵²And whosoever had not done according to the word of king Antiochus, they should die.

⁵³According to all these words wrote he to all his kingdom: & he appointed princes over the people, that should force these things to be done.

⁵⁴And they commanded the cities of Juda to sacrifice.

⁵⁵And many of the people were gathered to them, they that had forsaken the law of our Lord: and they did evils upon the land:

⁵⁶and they chased forth the people of Israel in hidden corners, and in the secret places of fugitives.

⁵⁷The fifteenth day of the month Casleu, the hundredth five and fortieth year king Antiochus built the abominable idol of desolation upon the altar of God, and throughout all the cities of Juda round about they builded altars:

⁵⁸and before the gates of houses, and in the streets they burnt frankincense, and sacrificed.

⁵⁹and the books of the law of God they burnt with fire, cutting them:

⁶⁰and with whomsoever were found the books of the testament of our Lord, and whomsoever observed the law of our Lord, they murdered him, according to the edict of the king.

⁶¹In their power did they these things to the people of Israel, that was found in every month & month in the cities:

⁶²And the five and twentieth day of the month they sacrificed upon the altar that was against the altar.

⁶³And the women that circumcised their children, were murdered according to the commandment of king Antiochus,

⁶⁴and they hang up the children by the necks throughout all their houses, and those that had circumcised them, they murdered.

⁶⁵And many of the people of Israel determined with themselves, that they would not eat the unclean things: and they chose rather to die, than to be defiled with unclean meats:

⁶⁶and they would not break the holy law of God, and they were murdered,

⁶⁷and there was made great wrath upon the people exceedingly.