Second Book of Maccabees 15

¹ Nicanor heard that Judas and his men were in the neighbourhood of Samaria, so he decided to attack them, at no risk to himself, on the day of rest.

² Those Jews who had been compelled to follow him said, ‘You must not massacre them in such a savage, barbarous way, but give its proper honour to the day on which the All-seeing has conferred a special holiness’.

³ At this the triple-dyed scoundrel asked if there was in heaven a sovereign who had ordered the keeping of the sabbath day.

⁴ When they answered, ‘It is the living Lord himself, the heavenly sovereign, who has ordered the observance of the seventh day’,

⁵ he retorted, ‘And it is I myself as sovereign on earth who order you to take up arms and carry through this business of the king’. For all that, he never managed to carry through his savage plan.

⁶ While Nicanor, in his unlimited boastfulness and pride, was planning to erect a public trophy with the spoils taken from Judas and his men,

⁷ Maccabaeus remained firm in his confident conviction that the Lord would stand by him.

⁸ He urged his men not to be dismayed by the attacks of the pagans but, keeping in mind the help that had come to them from heaven in the past, to be confident that this time also victory would be theirs with the help of the Almighty.

⁹ He put fresh heart into them, citing the Law and the Prophets, and by stirring up memories of the battles they had already won he filled them with new enthusiasm.

¹⁰ Having thoroughly roused their courage, he ended his speech by detailing the treachery of the heathen and their violation of their oaths.

¹¹ Having armed each one of them not so much with the safety given by shield and lance as with that confidence that springs from noble language, he encouraged them all by describing to them a convincing dream-a vision, as it were.

¹² What he had seen was this: Onias, the former high priest, that paragon of men, modest of bearing and gentle of manners, suitably eloquent and trained from boyhood in the practice of every virtue – Onias was stretching out his hands and praying for the whole nation of the Jews.

¹³ Next there appeared a man equally remarkable for his great age and dignity and invested with a marvellous and impressive air of majesty.

¹⁴ Onias began to speak: ‘This is a man’ he said ‘who loves his brothers and prays much for the people and the Holy City-Jeremiah, the prophet of God’.

¹⁵ Jeremiah then stretched out his right hand and presented Judas with a golden sword, saying as he gave it,

¹⁶ ‘Take this holy sword as a gift from God; with it you shall strike down enemies’.

¹⁷ Encouraged by the noble words of Judas, which had the power to inspire valour and give the young the spirit of grown men, they decided not to pitch camp but to make a spirited attack and settle the matter fighting hand to hand with all their courage, since the city, their holy religion and the Temple were in danger.

¹⁸ Their concern for their wives and children, their brothers and relatives, had shrunk to minute importance; their chief and greatest fear was for the consecrated Temple.

¹⁹ Those left behind in the city felt a similar anxiety, alarmed as they were about the forthcoming encounter in the open country.

²⁰ Everyone now awaited the coming issue. The enemy had already concentrated their forces and stood formed up in order of battle, with the elephants drawn up in a strategic position and the cavalry disposed on the wings.

²¹ Maccabaeus took note of these masses confronting him, the glittering array of armour and the fierce aspect of the elephants; then, raising his hands to heaven, he called on the Lord who works miracles, in the knowledge that it is not by force of arms, but as he sees fit to decide, that victory is granted by him to such as deserve it.

²² His prayer was worded thus: ‘You, Master, sent your angel in the days of Hezekiah king of Judaea, and destroyed no less than one hundred and eighty-five thousand of Sennacherib’s army;

²³ now once again, Sovereign of heaven, send a good angel before us to spread terror and dismay.

²⁴ May these men be struck down by the might of your arm, since they have come with blasphemy on their lips to attack your holy people.’ With this, he brought his prayer to an end.

²⁵ Nicanor and his men advanced to the sound of trumpets and war songs,

²⁶ but the men of Judas closed with the enemy uttering invocations and prayers.

²⁷ Fighting with their hands and praying to God in their hearts, they cut down at least thirty-five thousand men and were greatly cheered by this divine manifestation.

²⁸ When the engagement was ended and they were withdrawing in triumph they recognised Nicanor, lying dead in full armour.

²⁹ With shouting and confusion all around, they blessed the sovereign Master in the language of their ancestors.

³⁰ The man who had devoted himself entirely, body and soul, to the service of his countrymen, and had always preserved the love he had felt even in youth for those of his own race, gave orders for Nicanor’s head to be cut off, together with his arm and shoulder, and taken to Jerusalem.

³¹ When he arrived there himself, he called together his countrymen and the priests; then standing in front of the altar he sent for the people from the Citadel.

³² He showed them the head of the infamous Nicanor, and the hand which the blasphemer had stretched out so insolently against the holy house of the Almighty.

³³ Then, cutting out the tongue of the godless Nicanor, he gave orders for it to be fed piecemeal to the birds, and for the reward of his folly to be hung up in sight of the Temple.

³⁴ At this everyone sent blessings heavenward to the glorious Lord, saying, ‘Blessings on him who has preserved his own dwelling from pollution!’

³⁵ He hung Nicanor’s head from the Citadel[*a], a clear and evident sign to all of the help of the Lord.

³⁶ They all passed a decree by unanimous vote never to let that day go by unobserved, but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in Aramaic, the eve of the day of Mordecai[*b].

³⁷ So ends the episode of Nicanor, and as, since then, the city has remained in the possession of the Hebrews, I shall bring my own work to an end here too. If it is well composed and to the point, that is just what I wanted.

³⁸ If it is trashy and mediocre, that is all I could manage.

³⁹ Just as it is injurious to drink wine by itself, or again water, whereas wine mixed with water is pleasant and produces a delightful sense of well-being, so skill in presenting the incidents is what delights the understanding of those who read the story. On that note I will close.