1 Maccabees 2

Wycliffe Bible

2 In those days Mattathias, the son of John, son of Simeon, and he was a priest of the sons of Joarib, rose from Jerusalem, and sat in the hill Modin. [In those days Mattathias rose, the son of John, son of Simeon, he a priest of the sons of Joarib, of Jerusalem, and sat in the hill Modin.]

² And he had five sons; John was named Gaddis;

³ and Simon, that was named Thassis;

⁴ and Judas, that was called Maccabeus;

⁵ and Eleazar, that was named Avaran; and Jonathan, that was named Apphus.

⁶ These saw the evils that were done in (or to) the people of Judea and Jerusalem.

⁷ And Mattathias said, Woe to me! whereto am I born, for to see the destroying [or (the) constriction] of my people, and the defouling (or the defiling) of the holy city, and for to sit there, when it is given into the hands of (our) enemies? Holy things be made in the hand of strangers (The Temple is given into the hands of strangers);

⁸ the temple thereof (is) as a man unnoble;

⁹ (the) vessels of glory thereof be led away captive. Eld men thereof be slain in (the) streets [or Old men be slain in streets thereof], and young men thereof fell down by (the) sword of (the) enemies.

¹⁰ What folk inherited not the kingdom thereof, and wielded not (the) preys thereof?

¹¹ All (the) adorning thereof is borne away; she that was free, is made the handmaiden.

¹² And lo! our holy thing, and our fairness, and our clarity, is desolate, and heathen men defouled it. (And lo! our Temple, yea, our beauty, and our glory, is made desolate, and the heathen men have defiled it.)

¹³ What therefore is it to us for to live (any longer)? [What therefore yet to us for to live?]

¹⁴ And Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes, and covered them(selves) with hair-shirts, and wailed greatly.

¹⁵ And they that were sent of (or by) king Antiochus, came thither, for to constrain them that fled together into the city of Modin, for to offer and burn incenses, and for to depart from the law of God.

¹⁶ And many of the people of Israel consented, and came to them; but Mattathias and his sons stood steadfastly.

¹⁷ And they answered, that were sent of (or by) Antiochus, and said to Mattathias, Thou art (a) prince, and most clear (or glorious), and great in this city, and adorned with sons and brethren.

¹⁸ Therefore go thou the former (or be the first), and do the commandment of the king, as all (the) folks have done, and (the) men of Judea, and they that (be) left in Jerusalem. And thou shalt be, and thy sons, among (the) friends of the king, and made large in silver and gold, and many gifts.

¹⁹ And Mattathias answered, and said with (a) great (or with a loud) voice, Though all (the) folks obey to king Antiochus, (so) that they go away each man from the service of the law of his fathers, and consent to his commandments,

²⁰ I, and my sons, and my brethren shall obey to the law of our fathers.

²¹ God be helpful to us; it is not profitable to us for to forsake the law, and (the) rightfulnesses of God.

²² We shall not hear the words of king Antiochus, neither shall make sacrifice/s to idols, and break the commandments of our law, that we go by another way.

²³ And as he ceased for to speak these words, some Jew went to, before the eyes of all men, for to sacrifice to idols on the altar, in the city of Modin, by [or after] (the) commandment of the king.

²⁴ And Mattathias saw, and sorrowed, and his reins trembled together, and his madness, that is, great wrath by (or because of) (his) fervent love, was kindled by [or after] (the) doom of the law; and he leaped in, and slew him on the altar.

²⁵ But and (or also) he slew in that time the man whom king Antiochus sent, which compelled (them) for to offer, and he destroyed the altar.

²⁶ And he loved fervently the law, as Phinehas did to Zimri, son of Salu.

²⁷ And Mattathias cried with (a) great (or with a loud) voice in the city, and said, Each man that hath fervent love of (or for) the law, ordain a testament, that is, a covenant, and go he out after me.

²⁸ And he flew (or fled), and his sons, into (the) mountains, and left whatever things they had in the city.

²⁹ Then many seeking doom and rightwiseness, went down into (the) desert, that they should sit there,

³⁰ they and the sons of them, and (the) women of them, and (the) beasts of them; for evils were hard on them.

³¹ And it was told to men of the king, and to the host, that were in Jerusalem, [in] the city of David, that some men went away, that destroyed the commandment of the king, into privy places in (the) desert; and many had gone after them.

³² And anon (or at once) they went to (or after) them, and ordained against them battle, in the day of sabbaths;

³³ and said to them, Against-stand ye also now yet? go ye out, and do after the word of king Antiochus, and ye shall live.

³⁴ And they said, We shall not go out, neither [we] shall do the word of the king, that we defoul (or defile) the day of sabbaths.

³⁵ And (so then) they stirred (the) battle against them.

³⁶ And they answered not to them, neither threw a stone to (or at) them, neither stopped privy places,

³⁷ and said, Die we all in our simpleness (or in our innocence), and heaven and earth shall be witnesses on us (or for us), that unjustly ye lose (or destroy) us.

³⁸ And they gave to them battle in (or on) (the) sabbaths, and they were dead, and (the) wives of them, and (the) sons of them, and (the) beasts of them, till to a thousand persons of men.

³⁹ And Mattathias knew, and his friends; and they had mourning on them greatly.

⁴⁰ And a man said to his neighbor, If we all shall do as our brethren did, and shall not fight against (the) heathen men, for our lives, and our justifyings, the sooner they shall destroy us from (off) the earth.

⁴¹ And they thought in that day, and said, Each man whoever cometh to us in battle, in the day of sabbaths, fight we against him, and die we not all, as our brethren be dead in (the) privy places. [And they thought in that day, saying, Each man whoever shall come to us in battle, in day of sabbaths, fight we against him, and die we not all, as our brethren be dead in privy places.]

⁴² Then the synagogue of (the) Jews, strong in mights of Israel, was gathered to them. Every willful man in the law,

⁴³ and all that fled from evils, were added to them, and they were made to them to steadfastness.

⁴⁴ And they gathered an host, and smited sinners in their wrath, and wicked men in their indignation; and the others fled to (the) nations, for to escape.

⁴⁵ And Mattathias environed, and his friends, and destroyed (the) altars,

⁴⁶ and circumcised children uncircumcised, how many ever they found in the coasts of Israel, in strength.

⁴⁷ And they pursued the sons of pride, and the work had prosperity in their hands.

⁴⁸ And they got the law from (or out of) the hands of (the) heathen men, and from (or out of) the hands of kings, and gave not strength to the sinner.

⁴⁹ And (the) days of Mattathias of (or for) dying nighed (or approached), and he said to his sons, Now pride is comforted (or is strengthened), and chastising, and (the) time of destruction, and the wrath of indignation.

⁵⁰ Now therefore, sons, be ye (pur)suers, either lovers, of the law, and give ye your lives for the testament (or the covenant) of (our) fathers.

⁵¹ And bethink ye on the works of (our) fathers, which they did in their generations, and ye shall receive great glory, and (an) everlasting name.

⁵² Whether in temptation Abraham was not found true, either faithful, and it was areckoned to him to rightwiseness? [Whether Abraham in temptation was not found faithful, and it is areckoned to him to rightwiseness?]

⁵³ Joseph, in (the) time of his anguish, kept (the) commandment, and was made lord of Egypt.

⁵⁴ Phinehas, our father, in fervently loving the fervent love of God, took (the) testament (or received the covenant) of (an) everlasting priesthood.

⁵⁵ Jesus, either Joshua, while he [ful]filled the word, was made (a) duke in Israel.

⁵⁶ Caleb, while he witnessed [or he witnesseth] in the church (or before the congregation), took heritage (or received the inheritance).

⁵⁷ David, in (or for) his mercy, got the seat of (the) kingdom, into worlds (or forevermore).

⁵⁸ Elijah, while he fervently loved the fervent love of the law, was received into heaven.

⁵⁹ Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, believed, and were delivered from the flame. [Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, by believing be delivered of flame.]

⁶⁰ Daniel, in his simpleness (or in his integrity), was delivered from the mouth of lions.

⁶¹ And thus bethink ye by generation and generation, for all that hope into him be not made unsteadfast.

⁶² And dread ye not of the words of a man a sinner, for the glory of him is turd(s) and worm(s);

⁶³ today he is enhanced (or is exalted), and tomorrow he shall not be found, for he is (re)turned into his earth, and his thought shall perish.

⁶⁴ Therefore, ye sons, be comforted (or be strengthened), and do ye manly in the law; for when ye shall do those things that be bidden to you in the law of your Lord God [or in the law of the Lord your God], in it ye shall be glorious.

⁶⁵ And lo! Simon, your brother; I know, that he is a man of counsel, hear ye him (for)evermore, and he shall be (a) father to you.

⁶⁶ And Judas Maccabeus, strong in mights from his youth, be to you a prince in [or of] (the) knighthood, and he shall do (the) battle of (or for) the people.

⁶⁷ And ye shall bring to you all (the) doers of the law, and (a)venge ye the vengeance of your people.

⁶⁸ Yield ye yielding to (the) heathen men, and take ye attention to the behest(s) (or to the commandments) of the law.

⁶⁹ And he blessed them, and was put to his fathers.

⁷⁰ And he was dead in the hundred and six and fortieth year, and was buried of (or by) his sons into (the) sepulchre of his fathers in Modin; and all Israel wailed him with great wailing.