2 Maccabees 12
The New Consensus Bible is an AI-generated contemporary rendering, built from seven public-domain translations and the 20-tradition consensus. See all the work behind this chapter.
1When these agreements were concluded, Lysias went away to the king, and the Jews devoted themselves to their farming. 2But some of the local commanders, Timotheus and Apollonius son of Gennaeus, as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, and besides them Nicanor the governor of Cyprus, would not allow them to live in peace and quiet. 3The men of Joppa perpetrated this kind of wicked act: they invited the Jews who lived among them to board boats they had provided, along with their wives and children, as though they bore them no ill will. 4Since this was agreed to by a public decree of the city, they consented, suspecting nothing because they wanted peace. But when they were taken out to sea, they drowned no fewer than two hundred of them. 5When Judas heard of this cruelty done to his compatriots, he gave orders to the men who were with him, and calling upon God the just judge, 6he attacked the murderers of his brothers, and set the harbor on fire at night, burned the boats, and put to the sword those who had fled there. 7When the town was shut tight, he departed, intending to return again and root out the entire community of the Joppites. 8But learning that the people of Jamnia also planned to do the same to the Jews who lived among them, 9he attacked the Jamnites by night and set fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the fire was seen at Jerusalem, two hundred and forty stadia away. 10When they had gone nine stadia from there, marching against Timotheus, five thousand Arab foot soldiers and five hundred cavalry attacked him. 11After a fierce battle, Judas and his men, with the help of God, were victorious; and the defeated nomads begged Judas to grant them pledges, promising to give him livestock and to help him in other ways. 12Judas, realizing that they could indeed be useful in many ways, agreed to make peace with them; and after pledges were given, they departed to their tents. 13He also laid siege to a certain fortified city, enclosed by earthworks and walls, and inhabited by a mixed multitude of Gentiles; its name was Caspin. 14Those inside, trusting in the strength of their walls and their supply of provisions, behaved very arrogantly toward Judas, insulting him and even blaspheming, saying things that are not lawful to say. 15But Maccabeus, calling upon the great Sovereign of the world, who without battering rams or siege engines brought down the walls of Jericho in the days of Joshua, fiercely assaulted the wall. 16Taking the city by the will of God, he caused an unspeakable slaughter, so that a nearby lake, two stadia wide, appeared to be overflowing with blood. 17From there they marched seven hundred and fifty stadia and came to Charax, to the Jews who are called Toubiani. 18They did not find Timotheus in that region, for he had by then departed from the area without accomplishing anything, having left a very strong garrison in a certain stronghold. 19But Dositheus and Sosipater, who were captains under Maccabeus, marched out and destroyed those whom Timotheus had left in the stronghold, more than ten thousand men. 20Maccabeus arranged his army in divisions, set men in command of the divisions, and hurried after Timotheus, who had with him one hundred twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand five hundred cavalry. 21When Timotheus learned of the approach of Judas, he sent the women and children and the rest of the baggage ahead to a stronghold called Carnaim; for it was impregnable and difficult to access because of the narrowness of all the approaches. 22But when Judas's first division appeared, terror and panic fell upon the enemy by the manifestation of him who oversees all things. They rushed off in flight, swept away this way and that, so that they were often injured by their own men and pierced by the points of their own swords. 23Judas pressed the pursuit with utmost vigor, putting the sinners to the sword, and destroyed thirty thousand men. 24Timotheus himself fell into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater and their men. With great deceit he pleaded with them to let him go in safety, because he held the parents and brothers of many of them, and if he died, it could happen they would be disregarded. 25When he had fully pledged himself to the agreement to restore them unharmed, they let him go for the sake of saving their brothers. 26Then Judas marched against Carnaim and the shrine of Atargatis, and slaughtered twenty-five thousand people. 27After he routed and destroyed them, he marched against Ephron, a fortified city where a multitude of people of all nationalities dwelt. Stalwart young men stationed before the walls fought vigorously, and there were great reserves of war engines and missiles. 28But the Jews called upon the Sovereign, who forcefully shatters the strength of his enemies, and they captured the city, striking down twenty-five thousand of those inside. 29Setting out from there, they marched against Scythopolis, which is six hundred stadia from Jerusalem. 30But when the Jews who lived there testified to the goodwill that the Scythopolitans had shown them, and their humane treatment during times of misfortune, 31they thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future as well. Then they went up to Jerusalem, as the Festival of Weeks was close at hand. 32After the festival called Pentecost, they hurried against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea, 33who came out with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred cavalry. 34When they joined battle, it happened that a few of the Jews fell. 35But a certain Dositheus, one of Bacenor's men, who was on horseback and was a strong man, caught hold of Gorgias, and grasping his cloak, was dragging him off by force, wishing to take the accursed man alive. But one of the Thracian cavalry rode down on him and chopped off his shoulder; and Gorgias escaped to Marisa. 36As Esdris and his men had been fighting for a long time and were exhausted, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle. 37Striking up the battle cry in the ancestral language, along with hymns, he unexpectedly charged Gorgias's men and put them to flight. 38Then Judas gathered his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom and kept the Sabbath there. 39On the following day, since the need had become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the fallen and to bring them back to lie with their kin in the tombs of their ancestors. 40Then under the tunic of each one of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. It became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen. 41So they all blessed the ways of the just judge, the Lord, who makes hidden things known, 42and they turned to prayer, begging that the sin that had been committed might be completely blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the multitude to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. 43He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. 44For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 45And if he was taking note of the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. 46Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin.
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