THE FIRST BOOK OF MACCABEES 5.47–6.27

...of the city of Ephron. Ephron was a significant fortified city located on the main road east of the Jordan River. This was a large city situated in a very strong position directly on the road. There was no way to turn aside to the right or to the left; one had to pass right through the middle of the city. 47 When the people of the city saw the size of the army and the vast numbers in the camp, they shut the gates and blocked them with stones, refusing to let them pass. When Judas saw this, he sent a message of peace to them, saying: 48 "Let us pass through your land so that I may reach my own country. No one will do you any harm; we will only pass through on foot." But they were unwilling to open the gates for him. 49 Then Judas gave the order for a herald to announce through the camp: "Every man is to take his position where he is and prepare for battle." 50 So the soldiers took their positions, and they fought against the city all that day and all through the night, until the city was delivered into his hands. 51 There they put every male to the sword and completely uprooted the city. They took its spoils and marched through the middle of the city, passing over the bodies of the fallen. 52 Then they crossed the Jordan River into the great plain opposite Bethshan. Bethshan, also known as Scythopolis, was a major city at the junction of the Jordan Valley and the Jezreel Valley. 53 All along the journey, Judas gathered those who lagged behind and encouraged the people until they arrived in the land of Judea. 54 They went up to Mount Zion with gladness and joy, where they offered burnt offerings and sacrifices because not one of them had fallen; they had returned in peace to their own place. 55 During the days when Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, and their brother Simon was in the land of Galilee facing Ptolemais, 56 Joseph son of Zechariah and Azariah, the commanders of the remaining forces, heard of their heroic deeds in battle. 57 They said, "Let us also go and make a name for ourselves by fighting against the Gentiles who surround us." 58 So they gave orders to their troops and marched toward Jamnia. 59 But Gorgias and his men came out from the city to meet them in battle. 60 Joseph and Azariah were defeated and were pursued to the borders of Judea. About two thousand men of Israel fell that day. This was a great disaster for the people 61 because they had not listened to Judas and his brothers, thinking they could achieve heroics for themselves. 62 But they were not of the lineage of those men to whom the deliverance of Israel had been entrusted. 63 Meanwhile, the man Judas and his brothers were greatly honored in the eyes of all Israel and before all the Gentiles wherever their names were heard. 64 People gathered to them and praised them. 65 Then Judas and his brothers went out to war against the descendants of Esau The Edomites in the land to the south. He struck Hebron Original: "Kebron" and its surrounding villages, tearing down its fortifications and burning its towers everywhere he found them. 66 Then he marched into the land of the Philistines and reached the region of Marisa. 67 On that day, some priests fell in battle because they desired to perform a heroic deed by going out to fight without proper counsel. 68 Judas then turned toward Azotus Modern Ashdod in the land of the Philistines; he pulled down their altars, burned the carved images of their gods, and plundered their cities before returning to the land of Judea.

6

King Antiochus was traveling through the upper provinces Antiochus IV Epiphanes was campaigning in the eastern parts of the Seleucid Empire, modern-day Iran.

when he heard news that there was a city in the region of Elymais in Persia, a city of great fame, rich in gold and silver. 2 Its temple was very wealthy, containing golden coverings, breastplates, and shields left there by Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian king, who first reigned over the Greeks. 3 He went there and attempted to take the city and plunder it, but he was unable to do so because the citizens had been warned. 4 They stood against him in battle, and he was forced to flee. He departed in great distress to return to the land of Babylon. 5 While he was still in Persia, a messenger arrived with the news that the armies that had gone into the land of Judea had been defeated. 6 He learned that Lysias had first gone out with a powerful army but had been driven back by the Jews, who had grown strong in arms and resources from the spoils they took when they destroyed the camps. 7 He heard they had torn down the "abomination" The pagan altar he had built on the altar in Jerusalem, and that they had surrounded the sanctuary with high walls as it was before, and had also fortified Beth-zur. 8 When the king heard these reports, he was stunned and deeply shaken. He fell onto his bed and became sick with grief because his plans had not succeeded as he intended. 9 He remained there many days, as deep sorrow was renewed within him, and he realized he was dying. 10 He called all his friends and said to them, "Sleep has fled from my eyes, and my heart is broken with anxiety. 11 I said to myself: To what a depth of distress have I come, and into what a great flood of trouble am I now plunged! For I was once kind and beloved in my power. 12 But now I remember the evils I did in Jerusalem, how I took all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and how I sent orders to destroy the inhabitants of Judea without cause. 13 I know that it is because of these things that these evils have found me, and now I am perishing in great sorrow in a foreign land." 14 Then he called for Philip, one of his friends, and appointed him ruler over his whole kingdom. 15 He gave him his crown, his robe, and his signet ring, so that he might guide his son Antiochus and bring him up to be king. 16 So King Antiochus died there in the one hundred and forty-ninth year. The year 149 of the Seleucid Era corresponds to roughly 164 BCE.

17 When Lysias learned that the king was dead, he set up the king's son Antiochus to reign in his place—whom he had raised since he was a child—and he named him Eupator. 18 Meanwhile, the men in the Citadel The Acra, a fortress in Jerusalem held by a Seleucid garrison and Hellenized Jews were hemming in the Israelites around the sanctuary and were constantly seeking to do them harm and to support the Gentiles. 19 Judas decided to destroy them, and he called all the people together to besiege them. 20 They gathered together and besieged the Citadel in the one hundred and fiftieth year; he built siege-towers and engines of war. 21 But some of those under siege escaped, and they were joined by some godless Israelites. 22 They went to the king and said, "How long will you wait to do justice and avenge our brothers? 23 We were willing to serve your father, to follow his instructions, and to obey his commands. 24 Because of this, the children of our own people have become our enemies; they have killed as many of us as they could find and have seized our inheritances. 25 And they have not only turned their hands against us, but against all their neighbors as well. 26 And see! Today they have besieged the Citadel in Jerusalem to capture it and the sanctuary, and they have fortified Beth-zur. 27 Unless you act quickly to stop them, they will do even greater things..."