2 Maccabees 12
An Offering Made for Those Who Had Fallen
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The Treachery of the People of Joppa
12:1When these agreements had been made, Lysias went away to the king, and the Jews turned to farming.
12:2But among the local governors, Timothy and Apollonius son of Gennaeus, as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, and besides them Nicanor, commander of Cyprus, would not allow them to remain settled and live quietly.
12:3The people of Joppa committed this great impiety. They invited the Jews living among them to board boats that they had provided, with their wives and children, as though there were no hostility toward them,
12:4in accordance with the city’s common decree. The Jews accepted, wishing to live peaceably and suspecting nothing; but the people took them out to sea and drowned no fewer than two hundred.
12:5When Judas learned of the cruelty committed against his fellow countrymen, he gave orders to the men with him.
12:6Calling upon God, the righteous Judge, he came against his brothers’ murderers. By night he burned the harbor and set the boats ablaze, and stabbed those who had fled there.
12:7Since the town was shut, he withdrew, intending to return and uproot the whole community of Joppa.
Jamnia Burned
12:8Learning also that the people of Jamnia intended to act in the same way toward the Jews living among them,
12:9he attacked the Jamnites by night and set fire to the harbor with its fleet. The radiance of the blaze was visible in Jerusalem, two hundred forty stadia away.
The Arabs and the Town of Caspin
12:10After they had withdrawn nine stadia from there, on their way toward Timothy, Arabs attacked him, no fewer than five thousand, with five hundred horsemen.
12:11A fierce battle took place, and Judas’s men succeeded through God’s help. Defeated, the nomads asked Judas to give them pledges, promising to give livestock and assist them in other matters.
12:12Judas, thinking that they could indeed be useful in many ways, agreed to make peace with them. They received pledges and departed to their tents.
12:13He also attacked a city strong with earthworks and enclosed by walls, inhabited by a mixture of nations, and named Caspin.
12:14Those inside trusted in the strength of the walls and the stock of provisions. They treated Judas’s men rudely, insulting them, and moreover blaspheming and saying things that were unlawful.
12:15Judas’s men called upon the great Sovereign of the world, who in Joshua’s time threw down Jericho without battering rams or mechanical engines, and rushed like wild animals against the wall.
12:16Taking the city by God’s will, they carried out indescribable slaughter, so that the adjacent lake, two stadia wide, appeared filled with flowing blood.
The Defeat of Timothy at Carnion
12:17After withdrawing seven hundred fifty stadia from there, they reached Charax, among the Jews called Toubiani.
12:18They did not find Timothy in those regions, for he had then left without accomplishing his purpose, but had left a very strong garrison in one place.
12:19Dositheus and Sosipater, commanders under Maccabeus, marched out and destroyed those whom Timothy had left in the stronghold, more than ten thousand men.
12:20Maccabeus arranged his army in companies, placed those men over the companies, and rushed against Timothy, who had with him one hundred twenty thousand infantry and twenty-five hundred horsemen.
12:21When Timothy learned of Judas’s advance, he sent the women, children and remaining baggage ahead to the place called Carnion, for the place was difficult to besiege and difficult to approach because of the narrowness of all the approaches.
12:22When Judas’s first company appeared, dread came upon the enemy. Fear fell upon them through the manifestation of the One who watches all things, and they rushed into flight, scattering in different directions, so that they were often injured by their own men and pierced by the points of their swords.
12:23Judas pursued them with greater vigor, stabbing the accursed men and destroying about thirty thousand.
12:24Timothy himself fell into the hands of Dositheus’s and Sosipater’s men. With much deceitful persuasion he begged them to release him unharmed, because he held the parents of many and the brothers of some, and these would come to be disregarded.
12:25After he had guaranteed in many ways his undertaking to restore them unharmed, they released him for their brothers’ deliverance.
12:26Judas went out against Carnion and the sanctuary of Atargatis and slaughtered twenty-five thousand people.
12:27After their defeat and destruction, he also marched against Ephron, a fortified city where Lysias and mixed multitudes lived. Strong young men stood before the walls and defended themselves vigorously; there were also large stores of engines and missiles there.
12:28Calling upon the Sovereign who powerfully shatters the strength of enemies, they brought the city under their control and struck down about twenty-five thousand of those inside.
Scythopolis and the March to Jerusalem
12:29Departing from there, they rushed toward Scythopolis, six hundred stadia from Jerusalem.
12:30The Jews living there testified to the goodwill the Scythopolitans had shown them and their humane treatment in times of misfortune.
12:31They thanked them and further urged them to remain favorable to their people in future, then came to Jerusalem as the Festival of Weeks drew near.
Gorgias and the Battle in the Plain
12:32After the festival called Pentecost, they rushed against Gorgias, governor of Idumea.
12:33He came out with three thousand infantry and four hundred horsemen.
12:34When they drew up for battle, a few of the Jews happened to fall.
12:35A certain Dositheus, one of Bacenor’s men, a strong cavalryman, caught hold of Gorgias. Grasping his cloak, he dragged him forcefully, wishing to capture the accursed man alive. But one of the Thracian horsemen rushed upon him and struck away his shoulder, and Gorgias escaped to Marisa.
12:36When Esdris’s men had been fighting for a long time and were exhausted, Judas called upon the Lord to appear as their ally and leader of the war.
12:37Beginning the cry with hymns in their ancestral language, he rushed unexpectedly upon Gorgias’s forces and put them to flight.
The Offering for the Dead
12:38Judas took his army and came to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was approaching, they purified themselves according to custom and observed the Sabbath there.
12:39On the following day, when it had become necessary, Judas’s men came to recover the bodies of the fallen and place them with their kinsmen in the ancestral tombs.
12:40Under the tunics of each of the dead they found sacred objects of the idols from Jamnia, things from which the law excludes the Jews. It became clear to everyone that these men had fallen for this reason.
12:41They all therefore blessed the deeds of the Lord, the righteous Judge who makes hidden things manifest,
12:42and turned to supplication, asking that the sin committed might be completely blotted out. The noble Judas urged the multitude to keep themselves free from sin, having seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.
12:43He took up a collection from each man, amounting to about two thousand silver drachmas, and sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice for sin. He acted very well and nobly, considering the resurrection.
12:44For if he did not expect those who had fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead.
12:45But if he was looking to the finest reward laid up for those who fall asleep in piety, the thought was holy and devout. Therefore he made propitiation for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.