Chapter 5

Jason’s Revolt. ¹ About this time Antiochus sent his second expedition^[a] into Egypt.^{(A) 2 (B)}It then happened that all over the city, for nearly forty days, there appeared horsemen, clothed in garments of a golden weave, charging in midair—companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords; ³ squadrons of cavalry in battle array, charges and countercharges on this side and that, with brandished shields and bristling spears, flights of arrows and flashes of gold ornaments, together with armor of every sort. ⁴ Therefore all prayed that this vision might be a good omen.

⁵ But when a false rumor circulated that Antiochus was dead, Jason^[b] gathered at least a thousand men and suddenly attacked the city. As the defenders on the walls were forced back and the city was finally being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel. ⁶ For his part, Jason continued the merciless slaughter of his fellow citizens, not realizing that triumph over one’s own kindred is the greatest calamity; he thought he was winning a victory over his enemies, not over his own people. ⁷ Even so, he did not gain control of the government, but in the end received only disgrace for his treachery, and once again took refuge in the country of the Ammonites. ⁸ At length he met a miserable end. Called to account before Aretas,^[c] ruler of the Arabians, he fled from city to city, hunted by all, hated as an apostate from the laws, abhorred as the executioner of his country and his compatriots. Driven into Egypt, ⁹ he set out by sea for the Lacedaemonians, among whom he hoped to find protection because of his relations with them. He who had exiled so many from their country perished in exile; ¹⁰ and he who had cast out so many to lie unburied went unmourned and without a funeral of any kind, nor any place in the tomb of his ancestors.

Revenge by Antiochus. ^11 (C)When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. ¹² He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. ¹³ There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of young women and infants. ¹⁴ In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.

¹⁵ Not satisfied with this, the king dared to enter the holiest temple in the world; Menelaus, that traitor both to the laws and to his country, served as guide. ¹⁶ He laid his impure hands on the sacred vessels and swept up with profane hands the votive offerings made by other kings for the advancement, the glory, and the honor of the place. ¹⁷ Antiochus became puffed up in spirit, not realizing that it was because of the sins of the city’s inhabitants that the Sovereign Lord was angry for a little while: hence the disregard of the place.^{(D) 18} If they had not become entangled in so many sins, this man, like that Heliodorus sent by King Seleucus to inspect the treasury, would have been flogged and turned back from his presumptuous act as soon as he approached. ¹⁹ The Lord, however, had not chosen the nation for the sake of the place, but the place for the sake of the nation. ²⁰ Therefore, the place itself, having shared in the nation’s misfortunes, afterward participated in their good fortune; and what the Almighty had forsaken in wrath was restored in all its glory, once the great Sovereign Lord became reconciled.

^21 (E)Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple and hurried back to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could make the land navigable and the sea passable on foot, so carried away was he with pride. ²² He left governors to harass the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by birth,^[d] and in character more barbarous than the man who appointed him;^{(F) 23} at Mount Gerizim,^[e] Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens more than the others. Out of hatred for the Jewish citizens, ^24 (G)the king sent Apollonius,^[f] commander of the Mysians, at the head of an army of twenty-two thousand, with orders to kill all the grown men and sell the women and children into slavery. ²⁵ When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peacefully disposed and waited until the holy day of the sabbath; then, finding the Jews refraining from work, he ordered his men to parade fully armed. ²⁶ All those who came out to watch, he massacred, and running through the city with armed men, he cut down a large number of people.

²⁷ But Judas Maccabeus and about nine others withdrew to the wilderness to avoid sharing in defilement; there he and his companions lived like the animals in the hills, eating what grew wild.^(H)

Chapter 6

Abolition of Judaism. ^1 (I)Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator^[g] to force the Jews to abandon the laws of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God, ² also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus,^[h] and the one on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Host to Strangers, as the local inhabitants were wont to be.^{(J) 3} This was a harsh and utterly intolerable evil. ⁴ The Gentiles filled the temple with debauchery and revelry; they amused themselves with prostitutes and had intercourse with women even in the sacred courts. They also brought forbidden things into the temple,^{(K) 5} so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws.

⁶ No one could keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit to being a Jew. ⁷ Moreover, at the monthly celebration of the king’s birthday the Jews, from bitter necessity, had to partake of the sacrifices, and when the festival of Dionysus^[i] was celebrated, they were compelled to march in his procession, wearing wreaths of ivy.^(L)

⁸ Following upon a vote of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to adopt the same measures, obliging the Jews to partake of the sacrifices ⁹ and putting to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster had come upon them. ¹⁰ Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall.^{(M) 11} Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the seventh day in secret, were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death. In their respect for the holiness of that day, they refrained from defending themselves.^(N)

God’s Purpose. ^12 (O)Now I urge those who read this book not to be disheartened by these misfortunes, but to consider that these punishments were meant not for the ruin but for the correction of our nation. ¹³ It is, in fact, a sign of great kindness to punish the impious promptly instead of letting them go for long. ^14 (P)Thus, in dealing with other nations, the Sovereign Lord patiently waits until they reach the full measure of their sins before punishing them; but with us he has decided to deal differently, ¹⁵ in order that he may not have to punish us later, when our sins have reached their fullness. ¹⁶ Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he does not abandon his own people. ¹⁷ Let these words suffice for recalling this truth. Without further ado we must go on with our story.

Martyrdom of Eleazar. ^18 [j]Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man advanced in age and of noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork.^{(Q) 19} But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture, ²⁰ spitting out the meat as they should do who have the courage to reject food unlawful to taste even for love of life.

²¹ Those in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside, because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring his own provisions that he could legitimately eat, and only to pretend to eat the sacrificial meat prescribed by the king. ²² Thus he would escape death, and be treated kindly because of his old friendship with them. ²³ But he made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he had lived from childhood. Above all loyal to the holy laws given by God, he swiftly declared, “Send me to Hades!”

²⁴ “At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense; many of the young would think the ninety-year-old Eleazar had gone over to an alien religion. ²⁵ If I dissemble to gain a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring defilement and dishonor on my old age. ²⁶ Even if, for the time being, I avoid human punishment, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hand of the Almighty. ²⁷ Therefore, by bravely giving up life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age, ²⁸ and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.”

He spoke thus, and went immediately to the instrument of torture. ²⁹ Those who shortly before had been kindly disposed, now became hostile toward him because what he had said seemed to them utter madness.^{(R) 30} When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned, saying: “The Lord in his holy knowledge knows full well that, although I could have escaped death, I am not only enduring terrible pain in my body from this scourging, but also suffering it with joy in my soul because of my devotion to him.” ³¹ This is how he died, leaving in his death a model of nobility and an unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation.

Chapter 3

The Hidden Counsels of God^[a]

A. On Suffering^[b]

Chapter 13

A Call to Repentance.^{[a] 1} At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate^[b] had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. ² He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?^{(A) 3} By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent,^(B) you will all perish as they did! ⁴ Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them^[c]—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵ By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.^{[d] 6 (C)}And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, ⁷ he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ ⁸ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; ⁹ it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

Cure of a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath.^{[e] 10} He was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. ¹¹ And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” ¹³ He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. ^14 (D)But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” ^15 [f]The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?^{(E) 16 [g]}This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”^{(F) 17} When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed.^{(G) 18 [h]}Then he said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.’”^(H)

The Parable of the Yeast.^{(I) 20} Again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹ It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed [in] with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

The Narrow Door; Salvation and Rejection.^{[i] 22} He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. ²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, ^24 (J)“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.^{(K) 25} After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’^{(L) 26} And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ ^27 (M)Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ ^28 (N)And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. ²⁹ And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.^{(O) 30} For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”^(P)

Herod’s Desire to Kill Jesus. ³¹ At that time some Pharisees came to him and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” ³² He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.^{[j] 33 [k]}Yet I must continue on my way today,^(Q) tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’

The Lament over Jerusalem.^{(R) 34} “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! ³⁵ Behold, your house will be abandoned. [But] I tell you, you will not see me until [the time comes when] you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”^(S)