Second Book of Maccabees 14

¹ Three years after this, Judas and his men learned that Demetrius son of Seleucus had landed at the port of Tripolis with a strong army and a fleet,

² and that he had occupied the country and had killed Antiochus and his tutor Lysias.

³ A certain Alcimus, a former high priest, had wilfully incurred defilement at the time of the insurrection; realising that whichever way he turned there was no security for him, nor any further access to the holy altar,

⁴ he went to King Demetrius in about the year one hundred and fifty-one and presented him with a golden crown and a palm, together with the traditional olive branches from the Temple; there, for that day, he let the matter rest.

⁵ Presently he found an opportunity that suited his perverse purpose. When Demetrius called him into his council and questioned him about the dispositions and intentions of the Jews, he replied,

⁶ ‘Those Jews called Hasidaeans, who are led by Judas Maccabaeus, are warmongers and rebels who are preventing the kingdom from finding stability.

⁷ That is why, after being deprived of my hereditary dignity, I mean the high-priesthood, I have come here now,

⁸ first, out of genuine concern for the king’s interests, and secondly, out of a regard for our own fellow citizens, because the irresponsible behaviour of those I have mentioned has brought great degradation on our entire race.

⁹ When your majesty has taken note of all these points, may it please you to make provision for the welfare of our country and our oppressed nation, as befits the gracious benevolence you extend to all;

¹⁰ for as long as Judas remains alive the state will never enjoy peace.’

¹¹ When Alcimus had finished this speech, the rest of the Friends of the King, who hated Judas, seized the occasion to arouse Demetrius’ anger against him.

¹² He at once selected Nicanor, who had been commander of the elephants, promoted him military commissioner for Judaea and despatched him

¹³ with instructions to dispose of Judas, disperse his followers and install Alcimus as high priest of the greatest of temples.

¹⁴ The pagans in Judaea, who had fled before Judas, flocked to join Nicanor, thinking that the misfortunes and troubles of the Jews would be to their own advantage.

¹⁵ When the Jews heard that Nicanor was coming and that the pagans were about to attack, they sprinkled dust over themselves and made supplication to him who had established his people for ever and had never failed to support his own heritage by his direct intervention.

¹⁶ On their leader’s orders they at once left the place where they were and came upon the enemy at the village of Dessau[*a].

¹⁷ Simon, brother of Judas, had engaged Nicanor, but because of the unexpected arrival of his adversaries had suffered a slight check.

¹⁸ However, Nicanor had heard how brave Judas and his men were and how resolutely they always fought for their country, and he did not dare allow bloodshed to decide the issue.

¹⁹ And so he sent Posidonius, Theodotus and Mattathias to offer the Jews pledges of friendship and to accept theirs.

²⁰ After careful consideration of his terms, the leader communicated them to his troops, and since they were all clearly of one mind they agreed to the treaty.

²¹ A day was fixed on which the respective leaders were to meet privately on neutral ground: a litter came out from either side and seats were set up.

²² Judas had posted armed men on the alert in advantageous positions in case of a sudden treacherous move by the enemy. The leaders held their conference and reached agreement.

²³ Nicanor took up residence in Jerusalem and did nothing out of place there; he even sent away the crowds that had flocked to join him.

²⁴ He kept Judas constantly with him, becoming deeply attached to him

²⁵ and he encouraged him to marry and have children. Judas married, settled down and led a normal life.

²⁶ When Alcimus saw how friendly the two men had become, he went to Demetrius with a copy of the treaty they had signed and told him that Nicanor was holding ideas against the interests of the state, and was planning that Judas, an enemy of the realm, should fill the next vacancy among the Friends of the King.

²⁷ The king flew into a rage; roused by the calumnies of this arch-villain, he wrote to Nicanor, telling him of his strong displeasure at the treaty and ordering him to send Maccabaeus to Antioch in chains immediately.

²⁸ When the letter reached Nicanor he was very much upset, for it went against the grain with him to break his agreement with a man who had done nothing wrong.

²⁹ However, there was no question of opposing the king, so he waited for an opportunity to carry out the order by a stratagem.

³⁰ Maccabaeus began to notice that Nicanor was treating him more sharply and that his manner of speaking to him was more abrupt than it had been, and he concluded that such severity could have no very good motive. He therefore collected a considerable number of his followers and withdrew from Nicanor.

³¹ The latter, realising that the man had well and truly outmanoeuvred him, went to the great and holy Temple at a time when the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and ordered them to surrender Judas.

³² When they protested on oath that they did not know where the wanted man could be,

³³ he stretched out his right hand towards the Temple and swore this oath, ‘If you do not hand Judas over to me as prisoner, I will raze this sanctuary of God to the ground, I will demolish the altar, and on this very spot I will erect a splendid temple to Dionysus’.

³⁴ With these words he left them. The priests stretched out their hands to heaven, calling on him who has at all times done battle for our nation; this was their prayer:

³⁵ ‘O Lord, you who stand in need of nothing at all, it has pleased you that there should be in our midst a Temple for your dwelling place.

³⁶ Now therefore, holy Lord of all holiness, preserve for ever from all profanation this house, so newly purified.’

³⁷ Now, a certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor. He was a man who loved his countrymen and stood high in their esteem, and he was known as the father of the Jews because of his kindness.

³⁸ In the earlier days of the insurrection he had been convicted of Judaism, and he had risked both body and life for Judaism with the utmost zeal.

³⁹ By way of demonstrating the enmity he had for the Jews, Nicanor sent over five hundred soldiers to arrest him,

⁴⁰ reckoning that if he eliminated this man he would be dealing them a severe blow.

⁴¹ When the troops were on the point of capturing the tower and were forcing the courtyard gate and calling for fire to set the doors alight, Razis, finding himself completely surrounded, fell on his own sword,

⁴² nobly resolving to die rather than fall into the clutches of these villains and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth.

⁴³ But in the heat of conflict he missed his thrust, and while the troops swarmed in through the doorways, he ran up with alacrity on to the wall and bravely threw himself down among the troops.

⁴⁴ But as they instantly drew back some distance, he fell into the middle of the empty space.

⁴⁵ Still breathing, and blazing with anger, he struggled to his feet, blood spurting in all directions, and despite his terrible wounds ran right through the crowd; then, taking his stand on a steep rock,

⁴⁶ although he had now lost every drop of blood, he tore out his entrails and taking them in both hands flung them among the troops, calling on the Master of his life and spirit to give them back to him one day. Such was the manner of his passing.