1 Maccabees 13
The Yoke of the Nations Was Lifted from Israel
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Simon Takes His Brother’s Place
13:1Simon heard that Tryphon had gathered a large force to enter the land of Judah and crush it.
13:2He saw that the people were trembling and terrified. He went up to Jerusalem and gathered the people.
13:3He encouraged them and said, “You yourselves know all that I, my brothers, and my father’s house have done for the laws and the holy places, and the battles and hardships we have seen.
13:4For this cause all my brothers have perished for Israel, and I alone am left.
13:5Now far be it from me to spare my life in any time of distress, for I am no better than my brothers.
13:6I will avenge my nation, the holy places, your wives, and your children, for all the nations have gathered to crush us out of hatred.”
13:7The spirit of the people was rekindled as soon as they heard these words.
13:8They answered in a loud voice, saying, “You are our leader in place of Judas and Jonathan your brother.
13:9Fight our war, and we will do everything you tell us.”
13:10He gathered all the warriors, hastened to complete Jerusalem’s walls, and fortified it all around.
13:11He sent Jonathan son of Absalom and a sufficient force with him to Joppa. He expelled those who were in it and remained there.
The Deceit of Tryphon
13:12Tryphon set out from Ptolemais with a large force to enter the land of Judah, with Jonathan under guard.
13:13Simon encamped at Adida facing the plain.
13:14Tryphon learned that Simon had arisen in place of Jonathan his brother and was about to join battle with him. He sent envoys to him, saying,
13:15“We are holding Jonathan your brother because of money he owed to the royal treasury for the offices he held.
13:16Now send a hundred talents of silver and two of his sons as hostages, so that he will not revolt against us when released, and we will release him.”
13:17Simon knew that they were speaking deceitfully to him, yet sent to fetch the money and the children, lest he incur great hostility among the people
13:18if they said, “Because I did not send him the money and the children, he perished.”
13:19He sent the children and the hundred talents, but Tryphon proved false and did not release Jonathan.
13:20After this Tryphon came to invade the country and crush it. They went around by the road to Adora. Simon and his army moved opposite him wherever he went.
13:21Those in the citadel sent envoys to Tryphon, urging him to come to them through the wilderness and send them food.
13:22Tryphon prepared all his cavalry to go, but that night there was exceedingly heavy snow, and he did not go because of the snow. He set out and came to Gilead.
The Death of Jonathan
13:23When he approached Bascama, he killed Jonathan, and Jonathan was buried there.
13:24Tryphon turned and went away to his own land.
The Tomb at Modein
13:25Simon sent and took the bones of Jonathan his brother and buried him in Modein, the city of his fathers.
13:26All Israel lamented him with a great lament and mourned him for many days.
13:27Simon built over the tomb of his father and brothers and raised it high to be seen, with dressed stone at the back and front.
13:28He erected seven pyramids, one opposite another, for his father, his mother, and his four brothers.
13:29For these he made elaborate structures, setting great columns around them. On the columns he made full suits of armor for an everlasting name, and beside the armor he carved ships, to be seen by all who sailed the sea.
13:30This is the tomb he made in Modein, remaining to this day.
Tryphon Kills the Young Antiochus
13:31Tryphon dealt deceitfully with the young King Antiochus and killed him.
13:32He reigned in his place, put on the diadem of Asia, and inflicted a great blow upon the land.
13:33Simon rebuilt Judea’s strongholds, enclosed them with high towers and great walls, gates, and bars, and placed food in the strongholds.
The Letter of Demetrius to Simon
13:34Simon chose men and sent them to King Demetrius to secure remission for the country, because all Tryphon’s acts were plunder.
13:35King Demetrius sent to him in these words, replying with a letter of this form:
13:36“King Demetrius to Simon, high priest and Friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews, greetings.
13:37We have received the golden crown and the palm branch that you sent. We are ready to make a great peace with you and to write to the officials to grant you the remissions.
13:38Everything we have established with you stands, and the strongholds you have built shall be yours.
13:39We remit offenses of ignorance and sins up to this day, and the crown payment you owed. If any other levy was collected in Jerusalem, let it be collected no longer.
13:40If any of you are suitable to be enrolled among those around us, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us.”
The Yoke of the Nations Removed
13:41In the one hundred and seventieth year, the yoke of the nations was removed from Israel.
13:42The people began to write in their documents and contracts, “In the first year of Simon, great high priest, general, and leader of the Jews.”
The Taking of Gazara
13:43In those days he encamped against Gazara, surrounded it with camps, made a siege tower, brought it against the city, struck one tower, and took it.
13:44Those in the siege tower leaped into the city, and a great commotion arose in the city.
13:45The people of the city, with their wives and children, went up onto the wall with torn garments and cried in a loud voice, asking Simon to give them his right hand.
13:46They said, “Do not deal with us according to our wickedness, but according to your mercy.”
13:47Simon came to terms with them and did not fight them. He expelled them from the city and cleansed the houses in which the idols had been. Then he entered it, singing hymns and blessings.
13:48He removed every uncleanness from it, settled in it men who would carry out the law, further fortified it, and built himself a dwelling in it.
The Citadel Surrendered
13:49Those in the citadel in Jerusalem were prevented from going out and coming into the country to buy and sell. They became exceedingly hungry, and many of them perished from famine.
13:50They cried to Simon to receive a pledge of peace, and he gave it to them. He expelled them from there and cleansed the citadel from its defilements.
13:51They entered it on the twenty-third day of the second month in the one hundred and seventy-first year, with praise and palm branches, with lyres, cymbals, harps, hymns, and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed out of Israel.
13:52He established that this day should be celebrated every year with gladness. He further fortified the temple mountain beside the citadel, and he and his men lived there.
13:53Simon saw that his son John was a grown man, and appointed him commander of all the forces. He lived in Gazara.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.