2 Maccabees 12

1After these agreements had been made, Lysias went away to the king, but the Jews occupied themselves with farming.

2But of the local commanders, Timotheus and Apollonius son of Gennaeus, and further Hieronymus and Demophon, and besides these Nicanor the Cypriarch, would not let them live in peace.

3But the people of Joppa committed such a great act of impiety: they invited the Jews living among them to embark, with their wives and children, in the boats provided by them, as though there were no hostility toward them at all;

4But after the common resolution of the city, and when these men had accepted it as though they wanted peace and had nothing suspicious in mind, they took them away and drowned them, no fewer than two hundred of them.

5But when Judas learned of the cruelty that had been committed against his own people, after giving orders to the men around him,

6And calling on God, the righteous judge, he came against the murderers of his brothers: by night he set the harbor on fire and burned the ships, and he stabbed those who had fled there.

7But when the place had been closed up, he withdrew, intending to come again and root out the entire citizen body of the people of Joppa.

8and after taking in hand also those in Jamnia who were wanting to carry out the same kind of action against the Jews living there,

9And making a night attack on the people of Jamnia, he set the harbor and the fleet on fire, so that the rays of the light were visible as far as Jerusalem, it being two hundred forty stadia away.

10From there, after they had gone nine stadia, while making their march against Timotheus, Arabs fell upon him, no fewer than five thousand, and five hundred horsemen.

11And when a fierce battle had taken place, and those with Judas had prevailed because of the help from God, the nomads, having been weakened, asked Judas to give them his right hand, promising both to provide pasture and to be useful to them in the future.

12But Judas, recognizing that they were truly useful to them in many ways, agreed to keep peace with them; and after giving right hands, they parted to their tents.

13He also advanced against a certain city of bridges, strongly fortified and enclosed with walls, inhabited by mixed peoples; its name was Caspin.

14But those inside, trusting in the strength of the walls and in the supply of provisions, treated Judas and his men more arrogantly, reviling them, and even blaspheming and speaking what is not lawful.

15But those around Judas, having called on the great Sovereign of the world—the one who, in the time of Joshua, brought down Jericho without rams or siege engines—assaulted the wall fiercely.

16And when they had taken the city by the will of God, they made an immeasurable slaughter, so that the nearby lake, having a width of two stadia, appeared to be overflowing, filled with blood.

17From there they marched seven hundred fifty stadia and came to Charax and to the Jews called Toubianoi.

18But they did not catch Timotheus in those places, for he had then withdrawn from the places without accomplishing anything, though he had left a garrison in a certain place, and a very strong one at that.

19But Dositheus and Sosipater, commanders under Maccabaeus, went out and destroyed those left behind by Timothy in the stronghold, more than ten thousand men.

20But Maccabeus, after arranging the troops around him in companies, stationed them over against the companies; and they charged against Timothy, who had around him twelve myriads of foot soldiers, two thousand horsemen, and besides these seven thousand more.

21But when Timothy learned of Judas’s advance, he sent the women and the rest of the baggage ahead to the place called Carnion, for the place was hard to besiege and difficult to approach because of the narrowness of all the surrounding terrain.

22But when Judas’s company first appeared, and dread came upon the enemies—fear also coming upon them from the appearing of the One who watches over all things—they rushed into flight, each man being driven a different way, so that they were often injured by their own men and run through by the points of their swords.

23But Judas pressed the pursuit more vigorously, and, striking down the wretches, he destroyed as many as three thousand men.

24But Timothy himself, having fallen into the hands of those with Dositheus and Sosipater, begged with much cunning to be let go unharmed, because he had the parents of many of them, and of others their brothers, and it would happen that these would be disregarded.

25But when he had assured them at length that he would restore these men unharmed, they released him for the safety of their brothers.

26Then he advanced against Carnion and Atargatis, and slaughtered twenty-five thousand men.

27But after the rout and destruction of these men, he marched also against Ephron, a fortified city, in which there were mixed multitudes; and strong young men, stationed before the walls, were fighting vigorously, while there were many stores of engines and missiles there.

28But after calling on the Sovereign, who with judgments shatters the forces of the enemies, they took the city under their control, and struck down twenty-five thousand of those inside.

29Then they broke camp from there and set out for the city of the Scythians, six hundred stadia from Jerusalem.

30And when the Jews who were settled there testified to the goodwill that the people of Scythopolis had toward them, and to their gentle treatment in times of misfortune,

31After giving thanks and urging them beforehand also in the future to be well-disposed toward the nation, they came to Jerusalem, as the feast of weeks was approaching.

32But after the so-called Pentecost, they moved out against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea.

33Then he went out with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen.

34And when they had joined battle, it happened that a few of the Jews fell.

35But a certain Dositheus, one of Bacenor’s men, a horseman and a strong man, had hold of Gorgias; and seizing his cloak, he was dragging him along forcefully, intending to take the accursed man alive, when one of the Thracian horsemen rushed upon him and cut off his shoulder, and Gorgias escaped to Marisa.

36But those with Esdrin were fighting for a longer time and were exhausted, so Judas called on the Lord to appear as an ally and as the leader of the battle.

37Beginning the battle cry in the language of his fathers, with hymns, he shook those around Gorgias by surprise and put them to flight.

38Then Judas, taking the army, came to the city of Odollam. And as the week was ending, they purified themselves there according to the custom and spent the Sabbath there.

39On the following day, the men with Judas came, when the need had arisen, to gather up the bodies of those who had fallen and to restore them with their relatives to the tombs of their fathers.

40But under the tunic of each of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to have; and it became clear to all that for this reason these men had fallen.

41So they all blessed the righteous Judge, the Lord, who makes the hidden things manifest,

42they turned to supplication, asking that the sin that had been committed might be completely blotted out. But the noble Judas urged the multitude to keep themselves free from sin, since they had seen before their eyes the things that had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.

43And after taking up a collection man by man, he sent two thousand silver drachmas to Jerusalem to provide a sin offering, acting very well and nobly, because he was reasoning about the resurrection.

44For if he were not expecting those who had fallen to rise again, it would be excessive and foolish to pray for the dead.

45for if he was looking to the splendid reward laid up for those who have fallen asleep in godliness, the thought was holy and devout. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be released from sin.