1 Maccabees 10 — Greek text and reception

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In the one hundred and sixtieth year Alexander Epiphanes, son of Antiochus, came up and seized Ptolemais. They received him, and he reigned there.

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King Demetrius heard of it, gathered very large forces, and went out to meet him in battle.

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Demetrius sent letters to Jonathan with peaceful words, intending to exalt him.

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For he said, “Let us be first to make peace with them before he makes an agreement with Alexander against us.

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He will remember all the evils we have committed against him, his brothers, and the nation.”

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He gave him authority to gather forces, prepare weapons, and be his ally. He ordered that the hostages in the citadel be handed over to him.

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Jonathan came to Jerusalem and read the letters in the hearing of all the people and those in the citadel.

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They were greatly afraid when they heard that the king had given him authority to gather a force.

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Those in the citadel handed over the hostages to Jonathan, and he returned them to their parents.

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Jonathan settled in Jerusalem and began rebuilding and renewing the city.

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He told the workers to build the walls and the enclosure around Mount Zion with four-foot stones for fortification, and they did so.

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The foreigners in the strongholds that Bacchides had built fled.

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Each abandoned his place and went to his own land.

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Only at Beth-zur did some who had abandoned the law and the decrees remain, for it was a place of refuge.

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King Alexander heard all the promises Demetrius had sent Jonathan. They recounted to him the battles and brave deeds that he and his brothers had performed, and the hardships they had endured.

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He said, “Could we find another man like this? Now we will make him our friend and ally.”

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He wrote letters and sent them to him in these words:

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“King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greetings.

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We have heard about you, that you are a man mighty in strength and suitable to be our friend.

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Now, therefore, today we have appointed you high priest of your nation and to be called the king's Friend”—and he sent him a purple robe and a golden crown—“to be concerned for our interests and maintain friendship with us.”

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Jonathan put on the holy robe in the seventh month of the one hundred and sixtieth year, at the Festival of Booths. He gathered forces and prepared many weapons.

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Demetrius heard these things and was grieved. He said,

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“What have we done, that Alexander has anticipated us in securing friendship with the Jews for support?

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I too will write them words of encouragement, honor, and gifts, so that they may be with me to help.”

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He sent to them in these words: “King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings.

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We have heard that you have kept your agreements with us, remained in our friendship, and not joined our enemies, and we rejoiced.

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Now continue to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good things for what you do with us.

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We will grant you many remissions and give you gifts.

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Now I release you and exempt all the Jews from tribute, the salt charge, and crown payments.

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I relinquish from today onward the right to receive the third of the grain crop and the half of the fruit of the trees that fall to me, from the land of Judah and the three districts added to it from Samaria and Galilee, from this day and for all time.

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Let Jerusalem and its territory be holy and exempt, free of tithes and dues.

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I also relinquish authority over the citadel in Jerusalem and give it to the high priest, so that he may appoint in it men of his own choosing to guard it.

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Every Jewish person taken captive from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom I release freely, without payment. Let all remit their taxes, including those upon their livestock.

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Let all festivals, sabbaths, new moons, and appointed days, and the three days before a festival and the three after it, all be days of exemption and release for all Jews in my kingdom.

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No one shall have authority to exact payment from or trouble any of them concerning any matter.

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Let up to thirty thousand men of the Jews be enrolled in the king's forces, and let allowances be given to them, as is proper for all the king's forces.

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Some of them shall be stationed in the king's great strongholds, and some shall be appointed to positions of trust in the kingdom. Their supervisors and commanders shall be from among them, and they shall follow their own laws, as the king has also decreed in the land of Judah.

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Let the three districts added to Judea from the region of Samaria be attached to Judea, so that they may be reckoned under one authority and obey no other authority except the high priest.

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I have given Ptolemais and the territory belonging to it as a gift to the holy places in Jerusalem, for the expenses proper to the holy places.

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I myself give every year fifteen thousand shekels of silver from the king's accounts, from the appropriate places.

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All the excess that they did not pay from the revenues as in former years they shall from now on give for the works of the house.

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Besides these, the five thousand shekels of silver that they used to take from the revenues of the holy place from its account each year are also remitted, because they belong to the priests who minister.

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All who flee to the temple in Jerusalem and anywhere within its precincts, owing royal dues or any other obligation, shall be released, together with all they possess in my kingdom.

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The cost of rebuilding and renewing the works of the holy places shall be given from the king's account.

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The cost of rebuilding Jerusalem's walls and fortifying it all around shall be given from the king's account, and likewise for rebuilding walls in Judea.”

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When Jonathan and the people heard these words, they neither believed nor accepted them, because they remembered the great evil he had committed in Israel and how severely he had oppressed them.

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They favored Alexander, because he had been the first to speak peaceful words to them, and they remained his allies all his days.

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King Alexander gathered great forces and encamped opposite Demetrius.

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The two kings joined battle. Demetrius's army fled; Alexander pursued him and prevailed against them.

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He pressed the battle fiercely until the sun went down, and Demetrius fell that day.

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Alexander sent envoys to Ptolemy king of Egypt in these words:

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“I have returned to my kingdom, sat upon the throne of my fathers, and taken control of the government. I have crushed Demetrius and gained control of our country.

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I joined battle with him, and he and his army were crushed by us. We have sat upon the throne of his kingdom.

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Now let us establish friendship with one another. Give me your daughter as wife, and I will become your son-in-law and give you and her gifts worthy of you.”

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King Ptolemy answered, saying, “Good is the day on which you returned to the land of your fathers and sat upon the throne of their kingdom.

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Now I will do for you what you have written. But meet me at Ptolemais, so that we may see one another, and I will form a marriage alliance with you as you have said.”

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Ptolemy left Egypt with Cleopatra his daughter and came to Ptolemais in the one hundred and sixty-second year.

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King Alexander met him, and he gave him Cleopatra his daughter in marriage and celebrated her wedding at Ptolemais with great glory, as kings do.

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King Alexander wrote to Jonathan to come and meet him.

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He went in honor to Ptolemais and met the two kings. He gave them and their Friends silver, gold, and many gifts, and found favor before them.

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Pestilent men from Israel, lawless men, gathered against him to petition against him, but the king paid no attention to them.

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The king ordered them to remove Jonathan's garments and clothe him in purple, and they did so.

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The king seated him with himself and said to his commanders, “Go out with him into the midst of the city and proclaim that no one may petition against him concerning any matter, and that no one may trouble him concerning any charge.”

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When the accusers saw his honor as proclaimed and saw him clothed in purple, they all fled.

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The king honored him, enrolled him among the First Friends, and appointed him general and district governor.

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Jonathan returned to Jerusalem in peace and gladness.

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In the one hundred and sixty-fifth year, Demetrius son of Demetrius came from Crete into the land of his fathers.

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King Alexander heard of it, was greatly distressed, and returned to Antioch.

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Demetrius appointed Apollonius, who was over Coele-Syria. He gathered a great force and encamped against Jamnia, and sent to Jonathan the high priest, saying,

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“You alone are raising yourself against us, and because of you I have become an object of ridicule and reproach. Why are you exercising power against us in the mountains?

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Now, if you trust in your forces, come down to us into the plain, and let us measure ourselves against one another there, for a force from the cities is with me.

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Ask and learn who I am and who the others helping us are. They say, ‘There is no foothold for you before us, because your fathers were routed twice in their own land.’

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Now you will not be able to stand against the cavalry and such a force in the plain, where there is neither stone nor pebble nor a place to flee.”

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When Jonathan heard Apollonius's words, he was stirred in mind. He chose ten thousand men and went out from Jerusalem; Simon his brother met him to help him.

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He encamped against Joppa. The people of the city shut it against him, because Apollonius's garrison was in Joppa, and they attacked it.

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The people of the city became afraid and opened it, and Jonathan gained control of Joppa.

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Apollonius heard and brought three thousand cavalry and a large force into camp. He went toward Azotus as though passing through, while drawing forward into the plain because he had many cavalry and trusted in them.

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Jonathan pursued him toward Azotus, and the armies joined battle.

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Apollonius had secretly left a thousand cavalry behind them.

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Jonathan realized there was an ambush behind him. They surrounded his army and hurled missiles at the people from morning until evening.

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But the people stood firm, as Jonathan had commanded, and their enemies' horses grew weary.

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Simon drew out his force and engaged the phalanx, for the cavalry was exhausted. They were crushed by him and fled,

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and the cavalry scattered in the plain. They fled into Azotus and entered Beth-dagon, their idol shrine, for safety.

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Jonathan burned Azotus and its surrounding towns and took their spoils. He burned the temple of Dagon and those who had fled into it with fire.

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Those who had fallen by the sword, together with those burned, numbered about eight thousand men.

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Jonathan set out from there and encamped against Ascalon. The people of the city came out to meet him with great honor.

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Jonathan returned to Jerusalem with his men, carrying many spoils.

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When King Alexander heard these things, he honored Jonathan still more.

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He sent him a golden clasp, as is customarily given to the king's Kinsmen, and gave him Ekron and all its territory as an inheritance.