1 Machabees 7

¹In the year an hundreth fifty first went forth Demetrius the son of Seleucus from the city of Rome, and he ascended with few men into a city by the sea side, & reigned there.

²And it came to pass, as he entered into the house of the kingdom of his fathers, the army took Antiochus, and Lysias, to bring them unto him.

³And the king was known to him: & he said: Shew me not their face.

⁴And the army slew them. And Demetrius sat upon the seat of his kingdom:

⁵and there came to him the wicked and impious men of Israel: and Alcimus the captain of them, who would be made the Priest.

⁶And they accused the people to the king, saying: Judas and his brethren have destroyed all thy friends, & us he hath destroyed out of our land.

⁷Now therefore send a man, whom thou doest credit, that he may go, and see all the destruction, that he hath done to us, and to the king's countries: and let him punish all his friends, & their aiders.

⁸And the king chose of his friends Bacchides, that ruled beyond the great river in the kingdom, and was faithful to the king: & he sent him,

⁹to see the destruction that Judas hath made: and Alcimus the impious man he appointed to the Priesthood, and gave him in commandment to make revenge upon the children of Israel.

¹⁰And they arose, and came with a great army into the land of Juda: and they sent messengers, and spake to Judas, and his brethren with peaceable words in guile.

¹¹And they attended not to their words: for they saw that they came with a great army.

¹²And there assembled to Alcimus and Bacchides a congregation of the scribes to require the things that are just:

¹³and first, the Assideans that were in the children of Israel, and they sought peace of them.

¹⁴for they said: A man that is a Priest of the seed of Aaron is come, he will not deceive us.

¹⁵And he spake with them peaceable words: and he sware to them, saying: We will do you no harm, nor your friends.

¹⁶And they believed him. And he took of them threescore men, & slew them in one day, according to the word that is written:

¹⁷The flesh of thy saints, and the blood of them they have shed round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.

¹⁸And there fell fear, and trembling upon all the people, because they said: There is no truth and judgement in them: for they have transgressed the appointment & the oath which they sware.

¹⁹And Bacchides removed the camp from Jerusalem, and approached to Bethzecha: and he sent, and took many of them that were fled from him, and certain of the people he killed, & threw them into a great pit.

²⁰And he committed the country to Alcimus, and left with him aid to help him. And Bacchides went away to the king:

²¹& Alcimus did what he could for the principality of his Priesthood:

²²and there gathered together unto him all that disturbed their people, & they obtained the land of Juda, & made a great plague in Israel.

²³And Judas saw all the evils that Alcimus did, and they that were with him, to the children of Israel, much more than the Gentiles.

²⁴And he went out into all the coasts of Jurie round about, & did vengeance upon the men that revolted, & they ceased to go forth any more into the country.

²⁵But Alcimus saw that Judas prevailed, & they that were with him: & he knew that he could not stand with them, and he went back to the king, & accused them of many crimes.

²⁶And the king sent Nicanor, one of his nobler princes: that practised enmities against Israel: and he commanded him to destroy the people.

²⁷And Nicanor came into Jerusalem with a great army, and he sent to Judas & to his brethren in peaceable words with guile,

²⁸saying: Let there be no fighting between me and you: I will come with few men, to see your faces with peace.

²⁹And he came to Judas, & they saluted one another peaceably: & the enemies were ready to catch Judas.

³⁰And the thing was known to Judas that he was come with guile: and he was sore afraid of him, and would not see his face any more.

³¹And Nicanor knew that his counsel was disclosed: and he went forth to Judas into battle beside Capharsalama.

³²And there fell of Nicanor's army almost five thousand men, & they fled into the city of David.

³³And after these words Nicanor went up into mount Sion: and there went forth of the Priests of the people to salute him in peace, and to shew him the holocausts, that were offered for the king.

³⁴And scorning he contemned them, & polluted them: and he spake proudly,

³⁵and sware with anger, saying: Unless Judas be delivered, & his army into my hands, incontinent when I shall return in peace I will burn this house. And he went out with great anger:

³⁶and the Priests entered in, and stood before the face of the altar and the temple: and weeping they said:

³⁷Thou o Lord hast chosen this house for thy name to be invocated therein, that it might be a house of prayer, and obsecration for thy people.

³⁸Take vengeance upon this man, and his army, and let them fall by the sword: remember their blasphemies, and grant not unto them to be permanent.

³⁹And Nicanor went out from Jerusalem, & moved the camp, near to Bethhoron: and the army of Syria met him.

⁴⁰And Judas approached in Adarsa with three thousand men: and Judas prayed, and said:

⁴¹They that were sent by king Sennacherib, o Lord, because they blasphemed thee, an angel came forth, and struck of them an hundred eighty five thousand:

⁴²so destroy this army in our sight today, and let the rest know that he hath spoken it upon the holy places: and judge thou him according to his malice.

⁴³And the armies joined battle the thirteenth day of the month Adar: and the camp of Nicanor was discomfited, & himself was slain first in the battle.

⁴⁴And as his army saw that Nicanor was slain, they threw away their weapons, & fled:

⁴⁵and they pursued them one day's journey from Adazer, even till ye come into Gazara, & with trumpets they sounded after them with significations.

⁴⁶And they went forth out of all the towns of Jurie round about, and they pushed them with the horns, and they turned again to them, and they were all slain with the sword, and there was not left of them so much as one.

⁴⁷And they took the spoils of them for a prey: and Nicanor's head they cut off, and his right hand, which he had proudly stretched forth, & they brought it, & hung it up against Jerusalem.

⁴⁸And the people rejoiced exceedingly, & they spent that day in great gladness.

⁴⁹And he ordained that this day should be kept every year the thirteenth of the month Adar.

⁵⁰And the land of Juda was quiet for a few days.