First Book of Maccabees 14

¹ In the year one hundred and seventy-two King Demetrius assembled his forces and marched into Media to muster help, in order to fight Trypho.

² When Arsaces[*a] king of Persia and Media heard that Demetrius had entered his territory, he sent one of his generals to capture him alive.

³ The general went and defeated the army of Demetrius, seized him and brought him to Arsaces, who put him in prison.

⁴ The country was at peace throughout the days of Simon. He sought the good of his nation and they were well pleased with his authority, and his magnificence throughout his life.

⁵ And to crown all his magnificence he took Joppa and made it his harbour, gaining access to the islands of the sea.

⁶ He enlarged the frontiers of his nation, keeping his mastery over the homeland,

⁷ and resettled a host of the captives. He conquered Gezer, Bethzur, and the Citadel and cast out the unclean things from it; and no one could resist him.

⁸ They farmed their land in peace, the land gave its produce, the trees of the plain their fruit.

⁹ The elders sat at ease in the streets, all their talk was of their prosperity; the young men wore finery and armour.

¹⁰ He kept the towns supplied with provisions and furnished with fortifications; until his fame resounded to the ends of the earth.

¹¹ He established peace in the land, and Israel knew great joy.

¹² Each man sat under his own vine and his own fig tree, and there was no one to make them afraid.

¹³ No enemy was left in the land to fight them, and the kings in those days were crushed.

¹⁴ He gave strength to all the humble folk among his people and cleared away every renegade and wicked man. He strove to observe the Law,

¹⁵ and gave new splendour to the Temple, replenishing it with sacred vessels

¹⁶ When it became known in Rome and later in Sparta that Jonathan was dead, people were deeply grieved.

¹⁷ But as soon as they heard that his brother Simon had succeeded him as high priest and was master of the country and the cities in it,

¹⁸ they wrote to him on bronze tablets to renew the treaty of friendship and alliance which they had made with his brothers, Judas and Jonathan,

¹⁹ and the document was read out before the assembly in Jerusalem.

²⁰ This is the copy of the letter sent by the Spartans: ‘The rulers and the city of Sparta to Simon the high priest and to the elders and priests and the rest of the people of the Jews, greetings.

²¹ The ambassadors whom you sent to our people informed us of your glory and honour, and we were delighted by their visit.

²² We recorded their declarations in the minutes of our public assemblies, as follows ,”Numenius son of Antiochus, and Antipater son of Jason, ambassadors of the Jews, came to us to renew their friendship with us.

²³ And it was the people’s pleasure to receive these personages with honours and to deposit a copy of their statements in the public archives, so that the people of Sparta may preserve a record of them; they also made a copy for Simon the high priest.”‘

²⁴ After this Simon sent Numenius to Rome as the bearer of a large gold shield weighing a thousand minas, to confirm the alliance with them.

²⁵ When these events were reported to the people they said, ‘What mark of appreciation shall we give to Simon and his sons?

²⁶ He stood firm, he and his brothers and his father’s House; he fought off the enemies of Israel and secured its freedom.’ So they recorded an inscription on bronze tablets and set it up on pillars on Mount Zion.

²⁷ This is a copy of the text: ‘On the eighteenth of Elul in the year one hundred and seventy-two, which is the third year of Simon the great high priest, in Asaramel,

²⁸ in the grand assembly of priests and people, leaders of the nation and elders of the country, we were notified as follows:

²⁹ ‘When there was frequent fighting in the country, Simon, son of Mattathias, a scion of the line of Joarib, and his brothers courted danger and withstood the enemies of their nation to safeguard the integrity of their sanctuary and the Law, and so brought their nation great glory.

³⁰ Jonathan rallied his nation and became their high priest, and was then gathered to his people.

³¹ Their enemies planned to invade their country in order to devastate their territory and lay hands on their sanctuary.

³² Simon then arose to fight for his nation. He spent much of his own wealth on arming the nation’s fighting men and providing their pay;

³³ he fortified the cities of Judaea and Bethzur on the frontier of Judaea, where the enemy arsenal had formerly been, and stationed there a garrison of Jewish soldiers.

³⁴ He also fortified Joppa on the coast and Gezeron the borders of Azotus, a place formerly inhabited by the enemy; he founded a Jewish settlement there, providing everything they needed to set them on their feet.

³⁵ The people saw Simon’s faith and the glory he had resolved to win for his nation; they made him their leader and high priest because of all these achievements of his and the justice and faithfulness he had maintained towards his own nation, and because he sought every means to enhance the honour of his people.

³⁶ In his day and under his guidance they succeeded in rooting out the pagans from their country, including those in the City of David in Jerusalem, who had converted it into a citadel for their own use from which they would sally out to defile the surroundings of the sanctuary and violate its sacred character.

³⁷ He settled Jewish soldiers in it and fortified it as a protection for the country and city, and heightened the walls of Jerusalem.

³⁸ In consequence of this, King Demetrius confirmed him in the high-priestly office,

³⁹ made him one of his Friends and advanced him to high honours;

⁴⁰ he had heard that the Romans named the Jews friends, allies and brothers, and that they had given Simon’s ambassadors an honourable reception;

⁴¹ and further, that the Jews and the priests had agreed that Simon should be their perpetual leader and high priest until a trustworthy prophet should arise;

⁴² he was also to be their commissioner and to be responsible for the sanctuary and for the appointment of officials to supervise the fabric, to administer the country, and to control the arsenal and fortresses;

⁴³ he was to take charge of the sanctuary, and everyone had to obey him; all official documents in the country were to be drawn up in his name; he was to assume the purple and wear golden ornaments.

⁴⁴ No member of the public or the priesthood was to be allowed to set aside any one of these articles or contest his decisions, or convene a meeting anywhere in the country without his leave, or assume the purple or wear the golden brooch.

⁴⁵ Anyone contravening or rejecting any of these articles was to be liable at law.

⁴⁶ All the people consented to grant Simon the right to act on these decisions.

⁴⁷ And Simon accepted and consented to assume the high-priestly office and to act as military commissioner and ethnarch[*b] of the Jews and their priests, and to preside over all.’

⁴⁸ They ordered that this decree should be inscribed on bronze tablets and set up in the Temple precinct in a prominent place,

⁴⁹ and that copies should be deposited in the treasury, and made available to Simon and his sons.