2 Maccabees 15
A Golden Sword Given in a Dream
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Nicanor Plans to Attack on the Sabbath
15:1Nicanor learned that Judas and his men were in the regions of Samaria and planned to attack them in complete security on the day of rest.
15:2The Jews who were compelled to accompany him said, “Do not destroy so savagely and barbarously, but assign honor to the day that the One who watches all things has especially honored with holiness.”
15:3The thrice-accursed man asked whether there was a Sovereign in heaven who had commanded the observance of the Sabbath day.
15:4They declared, “The living Lord Himself is the Sovereign in heaven, who commanded that the seventh day be observed.”
15:5But he said, “And I am a sovereign on earth, who commands that weapons be taken up and the king’s business carried out.” Nevertheless he did not succeed in accomplishing his cruel intention.
15:6Nicanor, holding his neck high in all arrogance, had determined to erect a common trophy over Judas and his men.
Judas Encourages His Men
15:7But Maccabeus remained continually confident, with every hope of receiving help from the Lord.
15:8He urged those with him not to fear the nations’ advance, but to remember the help they had previously received from heaven and now expect the victory that would come to them from the Almighty.
15:9Encouraging them from the law and the prophets, and reminding them also of the struggles they had completed, he made them more eager.
15:10Arousing their spirits, he gave orders while also pointing out the nations’ faithlessness and violation of their oaths.
The Vision of Onias and Jeremiah
15:11Arming each of them with the encouragement of good words more than with the security of shields and lances, he also related a trustworthy dream, a kind of waking vision, and gladdened them all.
15:12Its vision was as follows: Onias, the former high priest, a noble and good man, modest in his encounters, gentle in character, speaking fittingly, and practiced from childhood in everything belonging to virtue, stretched out his hands and prayed for the whole community of the Jews.
15:13Then another man appeared, distinguished by gray hair and glory, surrounded by a wondrous and most magnificent majesty.
15:14Onias spoke and said, “This is the lover of the brothers, who prays much for the people and the holy city: Jeremiah, God’s prophet.”
15:15Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and handed Judas a golden sword. As he gave it, he addressed him in these words:
15:16“Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you will shatter the adversaries.”
15:17Encouraged by Judas’s very fine words, which could incite them to virtue and strengthen the young men’s souls, they decided not to campaign, but to charge nobly and, engaging with all courage, decide the matter, because the city, the holy things and the temple were in danger.
15:18For concern for wives and children, and also brothers and kinsmen, occupied a lesser place with them; greatest and foremost was their fear for the consecrated temple.
15:19Those confined within the city also had no minor anguish, troubled about the attack in the open country.
The Battle Joined
15:20Everyone was now awaiting the coming decision. The enemy had already approached, the army had been drawn up, the beasts positioned at a suitable point, and the cavalry stationed on the wing.
15:21Maccabeus saw the arrival of the multitudes, their varied equipment of weapons, and the beasts’ savagery. Stretching his hands toward heaven, he called upon the wonder-working Lord, knowing that victory does not come through weapons, but that He obtains it for the worthy as He judges.
15:22He called upon Him in this way: “You, Master, sent Your angel in the time of Hezekiah, king of Judea, and he killed about one hundred eighty-five thousand in Sennacherib’s camp.
15:23Now also, Sovereign of the heavens, send a good angel before us to bring dread and trembling.
15:24By the greatness of Your arm, may those who come with blasphemy against Your holy people be struck with terror.” With these words he ended.
15:25Nicanor’s men advanced with trumpets and battle hymns.
15:26But Judas’s men met the enemy with invocation and prayers.
15:27Fighting with their hands and praying to God with their hearts, they struck down no fewer than thirty-five thousand, greatly gladdened by God’s manifestation.
The Death of Nicanor
15:28When they had finished the engagement and were returning with joy, they recognized that Nicanor had fallen in his full armor.
15:29Amid shouting and commotion, they blessed the Sovereign in their ancestral language.
15:30The man who had fought foremost for his fellow citizens with his whole body and soul, preserving the goodwill of his youth toward his countrymen, ordered Nicanor’s head and his hand with the shoulder to be cut off and carried to Jerusalem.
15:31When he arrived there, he called his fellow countrymen together, stationed the priests before the altar, and sent for those in the citadel.
15:32He displayed the defiled Nicanor’s head and the blasphemer’s hand, which he had stretched out against the holy house of the Almighty while boasting.
15:33He cut out the impious Nicanor’s tongue and said that it should be given piece by piece to the birds, and that the rewards of his folly should be hung opposite the temple.
15:34They all blessed the manifested Lord toward heaven, saying, “Blessed is He who has preserved His own place undefiled.”
15:35He hung Nicanor’s head from the citadel as an evident and visible sign to everyone of the Lord’s help.
The Day of Nicanor Decreed
15:36By a common vote they all decreed that this day must never be left unmarked, but that they should specially observe the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in the Syrian language, one day before Mordecai’s day.
The Words of the Abridger
15:37Since the matters concerning Nicanor unfolded in this way, and from that time the city was held by the Hebrews, I too will end my account here.
15:38If it is well composed and to the point, that is what I myself desired; if it is slight and mediocre, that is what I could achieve.
15:39For drinking wine by itself, and likewise water by itself, is harmful; but just as wine mixed with water is sweet and produces a delightful pleasure, so the arrangement of the account delights the ears of those who encounter the composition. Here shall be the end.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.