PREFACE TO FIRST MACCABEES 12:21—14:17 The header indicates this page contains both the conclusion of Tobit and the start of the Maccabees introduction.

...I ascend to Him who sent me. And you, write down all these things that have happened and were fulfilled. ²¹ And it was written in the book. And they saw him no more. ²² They gave thanks for the works and the great deeds of God, and how the Angel of the Lord had appeared to them.

13 And Tobit wrote a prayer of rejoicing, and said: Blessed is God who lives forever and his kingdom; ² for He scourges and has mercy, He leads down to the underworld Hades|The realm of the dead, equivalent to the Hebrew 'Sheol' and brings up; and there is no one who can escape from His hands. ³ Confess Him, children of Israel, before the nations; ⁴ for He has scattered you among them. Declare His greatness, exalt Him before all the living, for He is our Lord God. God is our Father for all eternity. ⁵ He will punish us for all our iniquities; and again He will have mercy on us, and will gather us from all the nations among whom we were scattered. ⁶ If you turn to Him with all your heart and with all your soul, to do the truth before Him, then He will turn to you and will not hide His face from you. ⁶ The verse numbering follows the Armenian manuscript tradition, which repeats verse 6 for the second part of the exhortation. And you shall see what He will do for you; and you shall confess Him with all your mouths. And bless the Lord who is righteous, and exalt the King of the ages. ⁷ I, in the land of my captivity, give thanks to Him, and I will show His power and His greatness to a nation of sinners. And now, turn, you sinners, and do righteousness before Him; for who knows if He will be pleased and have mercy upon you? ⁹ But I will bless my God, and my soul [blesses] the King of heaven, and I will rejoice in His greatness. ¹⁰ Let all nations speak of this, and confess Him in Jerusalem, the holy city. ¹¹ And He will discipline the children of your people, and He will turn and have mercy on the children of the righteous. ¹² You shall give thanks to the Lord of goodness, and you shall bless the King of the ages; for His tabernacle shall be rebuilt in you with joy. ¹³ And those who were captives shall rejoice in you, and those who were wretched shall love you among all nations forever. ¹⁴ Many nations shall come from afar; in the name of the Lord God Most High they shall bring their offerings in their hands, to present them to the Heavenly King; and they shall give you joy from generation to generation. ¹⁶ And cursed shall be all who hate you, and blessings shall come upon those who love you. ¹⁷ Rejoice and be glad over the children of the righteous; for they shall be gathered together, and they shall bless the Lord of righteousness together. ¹⁸ Blessed are those who love you, and they shall rejoice in your peace; and blessed are those who were grieved over your destruction, for they shall rejoice in you, seeing all your glory, and they shall be glad forever. ¹⁹ My soul blesses God, the great King. ²¹ For Jerusalem shall be built with precious stones, with sapphire and emerald original: "սոստակէ" (sostakē), likely referring to a beryl or emerald-like gem, and with other precious stones; your walls and towers, your battlements of pure gold. ²² And all the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl and turquoise and sardonyx. ²³ And they shall say in all the streets of Jerusalem: Hallelujah! And they shall bless and say: Blessed is God who has exalted all the world forever.

14 And when Tobit finished this [song of] blessing, ² he was fifty-eight years old when he lost his sight, and after eight years his eyes were opened again. And he gave alms, and continued to fear the Lord God and to confess Him. ⁴ And he became very old. ⁵ He called his son, and the sons of his son, and said to him: "My son, take your children, for behold I am old and near to death. Now, my son, go to the land of the Medes; ⁶ for I believe what the prophet Jonah spoke concerning Nineveh, that it shall be overthrown; but in the land of the Medes there shall be peace for a time. For our brothers shall be scattered from this good land, and Jerusalem shall be a ruin and a wilderness, and the house of God within it shall be burned and remain in ruins for a time. ⁷ And again God will have mercy on them and will return them to the land, and they shall build the house—not like the first one, until the times of the ages are fulfilled. And after this they shall return from their captivity and shall build Jerusalem in glory and with great honor, and the temple of God within it shall be built for all generations forever, a glorious building as the prophets spoke concerning it. ⁸ And all the Gentiles shall turn in truth to fear the Lord God; and they shall destroy and cast away their idols. ⁹ And all the Gentiles shall bless the Lord, and the people shall confess their God. And the Lord shall exalt His people; and all who love the Lord God in truth and righteousness shall rejoice, and you shall show mercy to your brothers. ¹⁰ And now, my son, depart from here, for that which the prophet Jonah spoke will surely come to pass. ¹¹ But you, keep the law and the commands; and be merciful and righteous, that it may be well with you. ¹² And bury me, and your mother with me, and do not stay any longer in Nineveh. My son, see what Adam The Armenian text reads "Adam," though this is likely a scribal variant of "Aman" or "Nadan" from the story of Ahikar did to Achiacharus who raised him; how he led him from light into darkness, and how much evil he made him suffer. But Achiacharus was saved, and the recompense was returned to the other, and he went down into darkness in his place. And Manasseh showed mercy and was saved from the snare of death which [the other] had hidden for him; but Adam fell into the trap and perished. ¹³ And now, my son, see what mercy does, or how righteousness delivers." And when he had said this, he gave up his spirit upon his bed; for he was one hundred and fifty years old. And his son buried him with glory and a good end. ¹⁴ And when Anna died, he buried her with his father. And Tobias went with his wife and his sons to Ecbatana of the Medes, to Raguel his father-in-law. ¹⁵ And he grew old with great honor, and he buried his father-in-law and mother-in-law with glory and honor; and he inherited their house and the house of his father Tobit. ¹⁶ And he died at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven in Ecbatana of the Medes. ¹⁷ And before he died, he heard of the destruction of Nineveh, which Nebuchadnezzar of the Assyrians had captured. And Tobias rejoiced over Nineveh before he died; he gave glory, thanking God, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST MACCABEES

From Adam until the second building of the wall of Jerusalem, and until the twelfth year of the reign of Nehemiah over the Jews, the Books of the Hebrews bring the chronology in order; but from then on, no more. For a period of two hundred (fifty) and five years after Nehemiah is the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, during which the history of the Maccabees takes place; and in this interval, taking from Josephus and Africanus Referring to the historians Flavius Josephus and Julius Africanus, the names of the high priests who ruled the people are indicated in the chronological canons. But since the events of the First Maccabees are concluded under Antiochus called "the Great," which is forty or more years before Antiochus Epiphanes, this [subject] is treated in the Third Maccabees; for under Antiochus the Great occurred the encounter with Ptolemy Philopator, under whom the events of the Third Maccabees took place. And as to why this is the reason, I cannot say; and further

[They] bring and present.
13.1 Voskan Refers to the 1666 Armenian Bible printed by Voskan Yerevantsi adds: and His kingdom throughout all ages. 4 Some [manuscripts]: For He scattered you. 8 Some: If you turn to them... 10 Voskan: And they shall confess Him. 12 Some: You shall give thanks to God the Benefactor. 14 Voskan adds for verse 15: For they shall call a great name in you, and a curse. 19 Voskan adds for verse 20: Blessed be if the remnants of my offspring should be there to see Jerusalem glorified. For it shall be built. 21 Some: And that Jerusalem shall be built from stones... and your battlements. 23 Some: And they shall say: Blessed is God who. 14.2 In the exemplar: He was 158 years old.

5 Some: And the sons of his son. 6 Some: From this good land. 7 In the exemplar [this] was missing: In glory and with great honor. 11 Some: With great glory and with honors. 13 Some: His spirit upon the bed. In the exemplar: 150 years. 14 In the exemplar [this] was missing: He buried her too. 16 In the exemplar: 127 years. 17 Others: And before his death... his [joy] over Nineveh. At the end, some [say]: The Book of Tobit was completed.