Jason’s Reforms

⁷ When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption,^{(A) 8} promising the king through a petition three hundred sixty talents of silver and from another source of revenue eighty talents.^{(B) 9} In addition to this he promised to pay one hundred fifty more if permission were given to establish by his authority a gymnasium and a body of youth for it and to enroll the people of Jerusalem as the Antiochenes in Jerusalem.^{(C) 10} When the king assented and Jason^[a] came to office, he at once shifted his compatriots over to the Greek way of life.^(D)

¹¹ He set aside the existing royal concessions to the Jews, secured through John the father of Eupolemus, who went on the mission to establish friendship and alliance with the Romans, and he destroyed the lawful ways of living and introduced new customs contrary to the law.^{(E) 12} He took delight in establishing a gymnasium right under the citadel, and he induced the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat.^{(F) 13} There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no true^[b] high priest,^{(G) 14} that the priests were no longer intent upon their service at the altar. Despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hurried to take part in the unlawful proceedings in the wrestling arena after the signal for the discus throwing,^{(H) 15} disdaining the honors prized by their ancestors and putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige. ¹⁶ For this reason heavy disaster overtook them, and those whose ways of living they admired and wished to imitate completely became their enemies and punished them.^{(I) 17} It is no light thing to show irreverence to the divine laws, a fact that later events will make clear.^(J)

Paul Sails for Rome

27 When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius.^{(A) 2} Embarking on a ship of Adramyttium that was about to set sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.^{(B) 3} The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for.^{(C) 4} Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵ After we had sailed across the sea that is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.^{(D) 6} There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us on board.^{(E) 7} We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind was against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. ⁸ Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹ Since much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous, because even the Fast had already gone by, Paul advised them,^{(F) 10} saying, “Men, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. ¹² Since the harbor was not suitable for spending the winter, the majority was in favor of putting to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, where they could spend the winter. It was a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest.

The Storm at Sea

¹³ When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. ¹⁴ But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete.^{[a](G) 15} Since the ship was caught and could not be turned head-on into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. ¹⁶ By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda^[b] we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. ¹⁷ After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and so were driven.^{(H) 18} We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard,^{(I) 19} and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

²¹ Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss.^{(J) 22} I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.^{(K) 23} For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,^{(L) 24} and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor, and, indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.’^{(M) 25} So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.^{(N) 26} But we will have to run aground on some island.”^(O)

Providential Significance of the Persecution

¹² Now I urge those who read this book not to be depressed by such calamities but to recognize that these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline our people.^{(A) 13} In fact, it is a sign of great kindness not to let the impious alone for long but to punish them immediately. ¹⁴ For in the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins, but he does not deal in this way with us,^{(B) 15} in order that he may not take vengeance on us afterward when our sins have reached their height. ¹⁶ Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with calamities, he does not forsake his own people.^{(C) 17} Let what we have said serve as a reminder; we must go on briefly with the story.^(D)

The Martyrdom of Eleazar

¹⁸ Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pig’s flesh.^{(E) 19} But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the rack of his own accord,^{(F) 20} spitting it out as all ought to go who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life.

²¹ Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside because of their long acquaintance with him and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing, proper for him to use, and to pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal that had been commanded by the king,^{(G) 22} so that by doing this he might be saved from death and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them.^{(H) 23} But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs that he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God-given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades.^(I)

²⁴ “Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life,” he said, “for many of the young might suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year had gone over to a foreign way of life,^{(J) 25} and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they would be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. ²⁶ Even if for the present I would avoid the punishment of mortals, yet whether I live or die I will not escape the hands of the Almighty.^{(K) 27} Therefore, by bravely giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age ²⁸ and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.”

When he had said this, he was dragged^[a] at once to the rack.^{(L) 29} Those who a little before had acted toward him with goodwill now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness.^{[b](M) 30} When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: “It is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him.”^(N)

³¹ So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.^(O)

²⁷ When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸ So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰ But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow,^{(A) 31} Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.

³³ Just before daybreak, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been in suspense and remaining without food, having eaten nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will help you survive, for none of you will lose a hair from your heads.”^{(B) 35} After he had said this, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.^{(C) 36} Then all of them were encouraged and took food for themselves.^{(D) 37} (We were in all two hundred seventy-six^[a] persons in the ship.) ³⁸ After they had satisfied their hunger, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.^(E)

The Shipwreck

³⁹ In the morning they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if they could.^{(F) 40} So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosened the ropes that tied the steering-oars; then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.^{(G) 41} But striking a reef,^[b] they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.^{(H) 42} The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none might swim away and escape;^{(I) 43} but the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land^{(J) 44} and the rest to follow, some on planks and others on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.^(K)