Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible Part 46

1 Mac 14:48 So they commanded that this writing should be put in tables of bra.s.s, and that they should be set up within the compa.s.s of the sanctuary in a conspicuous place;

1 Mac 14:49 Also that the copies thereof should be laid up in the treasury, to the end that Simon and his sons might have them.

1 Mac 15:1 Moreover Antiochus son of Demetrius the king sent letters from the isles of the sea unto Simon the priest and prince of the Jews, and to all the people;

1 Mac 15:2 The contents whereof were these: King Antiochus to Simon the high priest and prince of his nation, and to the people of the Jews, greeting:

1 Mac 15:3 Forasmuch as certain pestilent men have usurped the kingdom of our fathers, and my purpose is to challenge it again, that I may restore it to the old estate, and to that end have gathered a mult.i.tude of foreign soldiers together, and prepared ships of war;

1 Mac 15:4 My meaning also being to go through the country, that I may be avenged of them that have destroyed it, and made many cities in the kingdom desolate:

1 Mac 15:5 Now therefore I confirm unto thee all the oblations which the kings before me granted thee, and whatsoever gifts besides they granted.

1 Mac 15:6 I give thee leave also to coin money for thy country with thine own stamp.

1 Mac 15:7 And as concerning Jerusalem and the sanctuary, let them be free; and all the armour that thou hast made, and fortresses that thou hast built, and keepest in thine hands, let them remain unto thee.

1 Mac 15:8 And if anything be, or shall be, owing to the king, let it be forgiven thee from this time forth for evermore.

1 Mac 15:9 Furthermore, when we have obtained our kingdom, we will honour thee, and thy nation, and thy temple, with great honour, so that your honour shall be known throughout the world.

1 Mac 15:10 In the hundred threescore and fourteenth year went Antiochus into the land of his fathers: at which time all the forces came together unto him, so that few were left with Tryphon.

1 Mac 15:11 Wherefore being pursued by king Antiochus, he fled unto Dora, which lieth by the sea side:

1 Mac 15:12 For he saw that troubles came upon him all at once, and that his forces had forsaken him.

1 Mac 15:13 Then camped Antiochus against Dora, having with him an hundred and twenty thousand men of war, and eight thousand hors.e.m.e.n.

1 Mac 15:14 And when he had compa.s.sed the city round about, and joined ships close to the town on the sea side, he vexed the city by land and by sea, neither suffered he any to go out or in.

1 Mac 15:15 In the mean season came Numenius and his company from Rome, having letters to the kings and countries; wherein were written these things:

1 Mac 15:16 Lucius, consul of the Romans unto king Ptolemee, greeting:

1 Mac 15:17 The Jews' amba.s.sadors, our friends and confederates, came unto us to renew the old friendship and league, being sent from Simon the high priest, and from the people of the Jews:

1 Mac 15:18 And they brought a shield of gold of a thousand pound.

1 Mac 15:19 We thought it good therefore to write unto the kings and countries, that they should do them no harm, nor fight against them, their cities, or countries, nor yet aid their enemies against them.

1 Mac 15:20 It seemed also good to us to receive the shield of them.

1 Mac 15:21 If therefore there be any pestilent fellows, that have fled from their country unto you, deliver them unto Simon the high priest, that he may punish them according to their own law.

1 Mac 15:22 The same things wrote he likewise unto Demetrius the king, and Attalus, to Ariarathes, and Arsaces,

1 Mac 15:23 And to all the countries and to Sampsames, and the Lacedemonians, and to Delus, and Myndus, and Sicyon, and Caria, and Samos, and Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Halicarna.s.sus, and Rhodus, and Aradus, and Cos, and Side, and Aradus, and Gortyna, and Cnidus, and Cyprus, and Cyrene.

1 Mac 15:24 And the copy hereof they wrote to Simon the high priest.

1 Mac 15:25 So Antiochus the king camped against Dora the second day, a.s.saulting it continually, and making engines, by which means he shut up Tryphon, that he could neither go out nor in.

1 Mac 15:26 At that time Simon sent him two thousand chosen men to aid him; silver also, and gold, and much armour.

1 Mac 15:27 Nevertheless he would not receive them, but brake all the covenants which he had made with him afore, and became strange unto him.

1 Mac 15:28 Furthermore he sent unto him Athen.o.bius, one of his friends, to commune with him, and say, Ye withhold Joppa and Gazera; with the tower that is in Jerusalem, which are cities of my realm.

1 Mac 15:29 The borders thereof ye have wasted, and done great hurt in the land, and got the dominion of many places within my kingdom.

1 Mac 15:30 Now therefore deliver the cities which ye have taken, and the tributes of the places, whereof ye have gotten dominion without the borders of Judea:

1 Mac 15:31 Or else give me for them five hundred talents of silver; and for the harm that ye have done, and the tributes of the cities, other five hundred talents: if not, we will come and fight against you

1 Mac 15:32 So Athen.o.bius the king's friend came to Jerusalem: and when he saw the glory of Simon, and the cupboard of gold and silver plate, and his great attendance, he was astonished, and told him the king's message.

1 Mac 15:33 Then answered Simon, and said unto him, We have neither taken other men's land, nor holden that which appertaineth to others, but the inheritance of our fathers, which our enemies had wrongfully in possession a certain time.

1 Mac 15:34 Wherefore we, having opportunity, hold the inheritance of our fathers.

1 Mac 15:35 And whereas thou demandest Joppa and Gazera, albeit they did great harm unto the people in our country, yet will we give thee an hundred talents for them. Hereunto Athen.o.bius answered him not a word;

1 Mac 15:36 But returned in a rage to the king, and made report unto him of these speeches, and of the glory of Simon, and of all that he had seen: whereupon the king was exceeding wroth.

1 Mac 15:37 In the mean time fled Tryphon by ship unto Orthosias.

1 Mac 15:38 Then the king made Cendebeus captain of the sea coast, and gave him an host of footmen and hors.e.m.e.n,

1 Mac 15:39 And commanded him to remove his host toward Judea; also he commanded him to build up Cedron, and to fortify the gates, and to war against the people; but as for the king himself, he pursued Tryphon.

1 Mac 15:40 So Cendebeus came to Jamnia and began to provoke the people and to invade Judea, and to take the people prisoners, and slay them.

1 Mac 15:41 And when he had built up Cedrou, he set hors.e.m.e.n there, and an host of footmen, to the end that issuing out they might make outroads upon the ways of Judea, as the king had commanded him.

1 Mac 16:1 Then came up John from Gazera, and told Simon his father what Cendebeus had done.

1 Mac 16:2 Wherefore Simon called his two eldest sons, Judas and John, and said unto them, I, and my brethren, and my father's house, have ever from my youth unto this day fought against the enemies of Israel; and things have prospered so well in our hands, that we have delivered Israel oftentimes.

1 Mac 16:3 But now I am old, and ye, by G.o.d's mercy, are of a sufficient age: be ye instead of me and my brother, and go and fight for our nation, and the help from heaven be with you.

1 Mac 16:4 So he chose out of the country twenty thousand men of war with hors.e.m.e.n, who went out against Cendebeus, and rested that night at Modin.

1 Mac 16:5 And when as they rose in the morning, and went into the plain, behold, a mighty great host both of footmen and hors.e.m.e.n came against them: howbeit there was a water brook betwixt them.

1 Mac 16:6 So he and his people pitched over against them: and when he saw that the people were afraid to go over the water brook, he went first over himself, and then the men seeing him pa.s.sed through after him.

1 Mac 16:7 That done, he divided his men, and set the hors.e.m.e.n in the midst of the footmen: for the enemies' hors.e.m.e.n were very many.