1In the one hundred and fifty-first year, Demetrius son of Seleucus departed from Rome, and he went up with a few men to a coastal city and reigned there.
2And it happened that as he was entering his ancestral royal palace, the armed forces seized Antiochus and Lysias to bring them to him.
3And the matter became known to him, and he said, “Do not show me their faces.”
4So the armed forces killed them, and Demetrius sat on his royal throne.
5Then all the lawless and impious men from Israel came to him, with Alcimus leading them, desiring to be high priest.
6And they accused the people before the king, saying, “Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends, and they have scattered us from our own land.
7Now therefore, send a man whom you trust, and let him go and see all the destruction he has wrought on us and on the king’s country, and let him punish them and all who help them.”
8So the king chose Bacchides, one of the Friends of the King, who was ruler in the region Beyond the River, a great man in the kingdom and faithful to the king.
9And he sent him and Alcimus the impious, and he established the priesthood for Alcimus and commanded Bacchides to take vengeance on the sons of Israel.
10So they departed and came with a great force into the land of Judah. And he sent messengers to Judas and his brothers with deceitful words of peace.
11But they paid no attention to their words, for they saw that they had come with a great force.
12And an assembly of scribes gathered before Alcimus and Bacchides to seek just terms.
13The Hasideans were the first among the sons of Israel to seek peace from them,
14for they said, “A priest from the seed of Aaron has come with the armed forces; he will not wrong us.”
15And he spoke peaceful words to them and swore an oath to them, saying, “We will not seek to harm you or your friends.”
16And they trusted him. But he seized sixty of their men and killed them in a single day, according to the word that was written:
17“The flesh of your devout ones and their blood they have poured out around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.”
18And fear and trembling of them fell upon all the people, for they said, “There is no truth or justice in them, for they have transgressed the agreement and the oath that they swore.”
19Then Bacchides departed from Jerusalem and encamped in Bezeth. And he sent out and seized many of the men who had deserted, along with some of the people, and slaughtered them in the great cistern.
20He entrusted the country to Alcimus and left a force with him to help him; then Bacchides departed to the king.
21And Alcimus struggled to maintain his high priesthood.
22And all those who were troubling their people gathered to him, and they gained control of the land of Judah and inflicted a great blow on Israel.
23When Judas saw all the evil that Alcimus and those with him had done among the sons of Israel—more than the Gentiles had done—
24he went out into all the surrounding regions of Judea and took vengeance on the men who had deserted, and they were prevented from going out into the countryside.
25But when Alcimus saw that Judas and those with him had grown strong, and realized that he was not able to withstand them, he returned to the king and made wicked accusations against them.
26Then the king sent Nicanor, one of his honored commanders, a man who hated and was hostile to Israel, and commanded him to destroy the people.
27So Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a great force, and he sent to Judas and his brothers deceitful words of peace, saying,
28“Let there be no battle between me and you. I will come with a few men to see you in peace.”
29And he came to Judas, and they greeted one another peacefully, but the enemy was ready to seize Judas.
30But the plan became known to Judas—that he had come to him with deceit. And he was afraid of him and was no longer willing to see his face.
31And Nicanor realized that his plan had been revealed, and he went out to meet Judas at Capharsalama.
32And about five thousand of Nicanor’s men fell, and the rest fled into the city of David.
33After these events, Nicanor went up to Mount Zion. And some of the priests from the sanctuary and some of the elders of the people came out to greet him peacefully and to show him the whole burnt offering being made on behalf of the king.
34And he mocked them, ridiculed them, defiled them, and spoke arrogantly.
35And he swore an oath in anger, saying, “If Judas and his army are not handed over to me now, then if I return in peace, I will burn down this house.” And he went out in a rage.
36Then the priests went in and stood before the altar and the temple, and they wept and said,
37“You chose this house for your name to be called upon it, to be a house of prayer and supplication for your people.
38Execute vengeance on this man and on his army, and let them fall by the sword. Remember their blasphemies, and grant them no reprieve.”
39And Nicanor departed from Jerusalem and encamped at Beth-horon, and a force from Syria met him there.
40And Judas encamped at Adasa with three thousand men. And Judas prayed and said,
41“When those sent from the king blasphemed, your angel went out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand of them.
42So crush this army before us today, and let the rest know that he has spoken evil against your sanctuary. And judge him according to his wickedness.”
43And the armies joined in battle on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and Nicanor’s army was crushed. He himself was the first to fall in the battle.
44And when his army saw that Nicanor had fallen, they threw down their weapons and fled.
45And they pursued them a day’s journey, from Adasa to Gazara, and they sounded the signal trumpets behind them.
46And people came out from all the surrounding villages of Judea and outflanked them. The fugitives were turned back to their pursuers, and they all fell by the sword; not a single one of them was left.
47And they took the spoils and the plunder, and they cut off Nicanor’s head and his right hand, which he had stretched out so arrogantly. And they brought them and displayed them near Jerusalem.
48And the people rejoiced greatly, and they celebrated that day as a day of great gladness.
49And they established that this day should be celebrated annually on the thirteenth of Adar.
50And the land of Judah had rest for a short time.
Open in the interactive reader →