1 Maccabees 13:41-14:19
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
41 Thus in the one hundred and seventieth year,[a] the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel, 42 and the people began to write in their records and contracts, “In the first year of Simon, great high priest, governor, and leader of the Jews.”
Simon Captures Gazara. 43 (A)In those days Simon besieged Gazara[b] and surrounded it with troops. He made a siege machine, brought it up against the city, and attacked and captured one of the towers. 44 Those in the siege machine leaped down into the city and a great tumult arose there. 45 Those in the city, together with their wives and children, went up on the wall, with their garments rent, and cried out in loud voices, begging Simon to grant them terms of peace. 46 They said, “Treat us not according to our evil deeds but according to your mercy.” 47 So Simon came to terms with them and did not attack them. He expelled them from the city, however, and he purified the houses in which there were idols. Then he entered the city with hymns and songs of praise. 48 After removing from it everything that was impure, he settled there people who observed the law. He improved its fortifications and built himself a residence.
Simon Captures the Citadel. 49 The people in the citadel in Jerusalem were prevented from going out into the country and back to buy or sell; they suffered greatly from hunger, and many of them died of starvation. 50 They finally cried out to Simon, and he gave them terms of peace. He expelled them from the citadel and cleansed it of impurities. 51 On the twenty-third day of the second month,[c] in the one hundred and seventy-first year, the Jews entered the citadel with shouts of praise, the waving of palm branches, the playing of harps and cymbals and lyres, and the singing of hymns and canticles, because a great enemy of Israel had been crushed.(B) 52 Simon decreed that this day should be celebrated every year with rejoicing. He also strengthened the fortifications of the temple mount alongside the citadel, and he and his people dwelt there. 53 Seeing that his son John[d] was now a grown man, Simon made him commander of all his soldiers, and he dwelt in Gazara.
Chapter 14
Capture of Demetrius II. 1 In the one hundred and seventy-second year,[e] King Demetrius assembled his army and marched into Media to obtain help so that he could fight Trypho. 2 When Arsaces,[f] king of Persia and Media, heard that Demetrius had entered his territory, he sent one of his generals to take him alive. 3 The general went forth and attacked the army of Demetrius; he captured him and brought him to Arsaces, who put him under guard.
Praise of Simon
4 The land was at rest all the days of Simon,
who sought the good of his nation.
His rule delighted his people
and his glory all his days.(C)
5 As his crowning glory he took Joppa for a port
and made it a gateway to the isles of the sea.(D)
6 He enlarged the borders of his nation
and gained control of the country.
7 He took many prisoners of war
and made himself master of Gazara, Beth-zur, and the citadel.
He cleansed the citadel of its impurities;
there was no one to withstand him.
8 The people cultivated their land in peace;
the land yielded its produce,
the trees of the field their fruit.(E)
9 Old men sat in the squares,
all talking about the good times,
while the young men put on the glorious raiment of war.(F)
10 He supplied the cities with food
and equipped them with means of defense,
till his glorious name reached the ends of the earth.
11 He brought peace to the land,
and Israel was filled with great joy.(G)
12 Every one sat under his vine and fig tree,
with no one to disturb them.(H)
13 No attacker was left in the land;
the kings in those days were crushed.
14 He strengthened all the lowly among his people
and was zealous for the law;
he destroyed the lawless and the wicked.
15 The sanctuary he made splendid
and multiplied its furnishings.
Alliance with Rome and Sparta. 16 When people in Rome and even in Sparta heard that Jonathan had died, they were deeply grieved.[g] 17 But when they heard that his brother Simon had become high priest in his place and was master of the territory and its cities, 18 they sent him inscribed tablets of bronze to renew with him the friendship and alliance that they had established with his brothers Judas and Jonathan.(I) 19 These were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.
Footnotes
- 13:41 The one hundred and seventieth year: March, 142, to April, 141 B.C., by the Temple calendar.
- 13:43 Gazara: ancient Gezer, a key position in the Shephelah, fortified by Bacchides in 160 B.C.; cf. 9:52.
- 13:51 The twenty-third day of the second month: June 3, 141 B.C.
- 13:53 John: John Hyrcanus, who was to succeed his father as ruler and high priest; cf. 16:23–24.
- 14:1 The one hundred and seventy-second year: 141/140 B.C. The expedition began most probably in the spring of 140.
- 14:2 Arsaces: Arsaces VI, also called Mithridates I, the Parthian king (171–138 B.C.). Parthians had overrun Persia and now held Babylonia, both of which had hitherto belonged to the Seleucid empire. The Greeks and Macedonians in these countries had appealed to Demetrius for help.
- 14:16 The embassy to Rome and Sparta was sent soon after Simon’s accession to power, and the replies were received before Demetrius’ expedition (vv. 1–3), probably in 142 B.C.
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