1 Maccabees 13

1And Simon heard that Tryphon was gathering a large force to come into the land of Judah and destroy it.

2And he saw that the people were trembling and afraid, and he went up to Jerusalem and assembled the people.

3And he encouraged them and said to them, “You yourselves know what I and my brothers and my father’s house have done for the laws and the holy things, and the wars and the distresses.”

4For this reason all my brothers were destroyed for the sake of Israel, and I alone was left.

5And now, far be it from me to spare my life in any time of distress; for I am not better than my brothers.

6But I will take vengeance for my nation, and for the sanctuary, and for our women and children, because all the nations have gathered to wipe us out out of hatred.

7and the spirit of his people was rekindled when they heard these words;

8And they answered with a loud voice, saying, “You are our leader in place of Judas and Jonathan your brother.”

9Fight our battle, and we will do everything that you tell us.

10And he gathered all the fighting men, and hastened to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and fortified it all around.

11And Jonathan son of Absalom sent a considerable force with him to Joppa, and he drove out those who were in it and remained there.

12And Tryphon set out from Ptolemais with a large force to enter the land of Judah, and Jonathan was with him in custody;

13But Simon encamped at Adida, opposite the plain.

14And Tryphon learned that Simon had arisen in place of Jonathan his brother, and that he was about to engage him in war; and he sent envoys to him, saying,

15As for the silver that your brother Jonathan owed to the royal treasury because of the needs he had, we have held him liable for it.

16And now send a hundred talents of silver, and two of his sons as hostages, so that, once released, he may not revolt from us; and we will release him.

17And Simon recognized that they were speaking deceitfully to him, yet he sent the money and the boys, lest he stir up great hostility against the people.

18saying, “Because I did not send him the silver and the servants, he perished.”

19And he sent the young men and the hundred talents, but he broke his word and did not release Jonathan.

20And after these things Tryphon came to enter the city and wipe it out, and he encircled the road to Adora; and Simon and his camp marched opposite him to every place where he went.

21But those in the citadel kept sending envoys and urgently pressing him to come to them through the wilderness and to send them provisions.

22And Tryphon prepared all his cavalry to come; but on that night there was a very great snowfall, and he did not come because of the snow. So he broke camp and went into the Gilead region.

23But when he came near to Baskama, he killed Jonathan, and he was buried there.

24And Tryphon turned back and went away to his own land.

25And Simon sent and took the bones of Jonathan his brother, and buried him in Modein, the city of his fathers.

26And all Israel made great mourning for him, and they mourned for him many days.

27And Simon built over the tomb of his father and his brothers, and he raised it high to be seen, with dressed stone at the back and at the front.

28And he set up seven pyramids, one opposite the other, for his father and mother and four brothers.

29And he made these as devices, setting up great pillars; and on the pillars he made suits of armor for an everlasting memorial, and beside the armor, ships engraved, to be seen by all who sail the sea.

30This is the tomb that he made in Modein, to this day.

31But Tryphon was acting deceitfully with Antiochus the younger king, and he killed him,

32And he reigned in his place, and put on the crown of Asia, and inflicted a great blow on the land.

33And Simon built up the stronghold of Judea, and he surrounded it with high towers and great walls and gates and bars, and he placed provisions in the strongholds.

34And Simon chose men and sent them to Demetrius the king to grant remission to the land, because all the acts of Tryphon were acts of plundering.

35And King Demetrius sent to him according to these words, and answered him, and wrote to him a letter like this:

36King Demetrius to Simon the high priest and friend of kings:

37And to the elders and the nation of the Jews, greetings. We have received the gold crown and the palm branch that you sent, and we are ready to make great peace with you and to write to the officials in charge to grant you remissions.

38And whatever we established with you stands, and the strongholds that you built shall remain yours.

39But we forgive you the oversights and the sins up to this present day, and the crown tax that you owed; and if anything else was being levied in Jerusalem, let it no longer be levied.

40And if any of you are fit to be enrolled among our people, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us.

41In the one hundred seventy-first year, the yoke of the nations was removed from Israel.

42And the people of Israel began to write in documents and contracts, “Year one of Simon, the great high priest and general and leader of the Jews.”

43In those days he encamped against Gaza and surrounded it with encampments, and he made a siege engine and brought it up to the city, and he struck one tower and captured it.

44And those in the siege tower went out into the city, and there was a great commotion in the city.

45And those in the city went up onto the wall with their wives and children, having torn their garments, and they cried out with a loud voice, asking Simon to give them his right hand.

46And they said, “Do not deal with us according to our wickedness, but according to your mercy.”

47And Simon came to terms with them and did not fight against them. He drove them out of the city and cleansed the houses in which the idols were, and so he entered it with hymns and blessings.

48And he drove out from it every impurity, and settled in it men who practice the law, and fortified it, and built for himself a residence in it.

49But those in the citadel at Jerusalem were prevented from going out into the country and from buying and selling; and they became very hungry, and many of them perished from famine.

50And they cried out to Simon to receive pledges of good faith, and he gave them to them, and he drove them out from there, and he cleansed the citadel from its defilements.

51And he entered it on the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, with praise and palm branches and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed out of Israel.

52And he established it as a yearly observance to celebrate this day. And he fortified the hill of the sanctuary beside the citadel, and he lived there, he and those with him.

53And Simon saw that John his son was a man, and he appointed him commander over all the forces; and he lived in Gazara.