1 Maccabees 1

Alexander and the Kingdoms After Him

1It came about that Alexander the Macedonian, son of Philip, marched out from the land of Kittim, struck down Darius, who was king over the Persians and the Medes, and reigned in his place; before that he had ruled over Greece. 2He waged many wars, seized fortresses, and slaughtered the kings of the earth. 3He pressed on to the farthest limits of the earth, and he took spoils from a great many nations. The earth grew quiet before him. He rose high, and his heart rose with him. 4He mustered an army of enormous strength and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they paid him tribute. 5After this he took to his bed, and he knew that he was dying. 6So he summoned his officers, the men of rank who had grown up alongside him since boyhood, and while he was still alive he shared out his kingdom among them. 7Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died. 8His officers took power, each in his own place, 9and after his death every one of them put on a diadem, and their sons after them for many years; and they multiplied evils upon the earth. 10Out of them came a sinful root: Antiochus Epiphanes, a son of Antiochus the king and once a hostage in Rome. He came to the throne of the Greek kingdom in its one hundred and thirty-seventh year.

Those in Israel Who Went Over to the Gentiles

11In those days there came out of Israel men who broke the law, and they won many over with this: “Come, let us bind ourselves by covenant to the Gentiles around us. Ever since we cut ourselves off from them, evils without number have found us.” 12The proposal seemed good in their eyes. 13Some of the people were eager for it, and they made their way to the king, who granted them authority to adopt the ordinances of the Gentiles. 14So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, after the manner of the Gentiles. 15They removed the marks of their circumcision, turned away from the holy covenant, yoked themselves with the Gentiles, and sold themselves to do evil. 16When the kingdom stood firm before Antiochus, he set his mind on ruling the land of Egypt, so that he might be king over two kingdoms. 17He entered Egypt with a heavy force, with chariots and elephants, with cavalry and a great fleet. 18He made war on Ptolemy king of Egypt, and Ptolemy turned back before him and fled, and many fell dead. 19They captured the fortified cities of Egypt, and he carried Egypt’s spoil away.

Antiochus Plunders the Sanctuary

20After he had struck Egypt down, in the one hundred and forty-third year, Antiochus turned back and marched against Israel. He went up to Jerusalem with a heavy force. 21He entered the sanctuary in his arrogance and took the golden altar, the lampstand of the light, and all its furnishings, 22and the table of the bread of the Presence, the libation vessels, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the wreaths, and the golden ornament on the front of the temple. He stripped it all bare. 23He took silver, gold, and the vessels men covet; and the hidden treasures he came upon, he took those too. 24Taking everything, he went back to his own country; he made a slaughter of men, and he spoke with enormous arrogance. 25Great mourning came over Israel, in every one of their places. 26Rulers and elders groaned; young women and young men grew faint, and the women’s beauty was altered. 27Every bridegroom took up a dirge, and she who sat in the bridal chamber was in mourning. 28The land shook for those who lived in it, and the whole house of Jacob was clothed with shame.

The Citadel and the Ruin of Jerusalem

29Two full years later the king sent into the cities of Judah an officer in charge of tribute, and he reached Jerusalem with a heavy force. 30He spoke words of peace to them, all of it deceit, and they trusted him. Then he fell on the city without warning, struck it a great blow, and destroyed many of the people of Israel. 31He carried off the spoils of the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and the walls round about. 32They took the women and children captive and claimed the livestock as their own. 33Then they rebuilt the city of David, ringing it with a great, strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel. 34There they installed a sinful nation, men who broke the law, and they made themselves strong inside it. 35They stocked it with weapons and provisions, and they gathered the spoils of Jerusalem and stored them there. So it became a great snare. 36It lay in ambush against the sanctuary, a wicked adversary to Israel without end. 37They shed innocent blood all around the sanctuary, and they defiled the sanctuary. 38Because of them the people who lived in Jerusalem fled. She became a dwelling of strangers and a stranger to her own offspring, and her children forsook her. 39Her sanctuary was made desolate as a desert; her festivals were turned to mourning, her Sabbaths to reproach, her honor to contempt. 40In the measure of her glory her dishonor grew, and her high standing was turned to mourning.

The King’s Decree Against the Law

41Then the king wrote throughout his kingdom that everyone was to become one people 42and that each was to abandon his own customs. All the Gentiles fell in with the king’s word, 43and many in Israel took pleasure in his worship: they sacrificed to idols and profaned the Sabbath. 44The king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, ordering them to follow customs foreign to the land: 45to put a stop to burnt offering and sacrifice and drink offering in the sanctuary, to profane Sabbaths and festivals, 46to defile the sanctuary and the holy ones, 47to build pagan altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, 48to leave their sons uncircumcised, to make themselves loathsome with every kind of uncleanness and profanation, 49so that they would forget the law and change every ordinance in it. 50And whoever did not act according to the king’s word would die. 51He wrote all of this throughout his kingdom. He set inspectors over the whole people and ordered the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city. 52Many of the people joined them — everyone who forsook the law — and they did evil in the land. 53They drove Israel into hiding, into every place of refuge the people had.

The Desolating Abomination

54On the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they built a desolating abomination on the altar; and in the cities of Judah all around they built pagan altars. 55At the house doors and in the open squares they burned incense. 56The books of the law that they found they tore up and burned in the fire. 57If a book of the covenant was found in anyone’s keeping, or if anyone held to the law, the king’s sentence put him to death. 58Month after month they used their power against the Israelites who were found in the towns. 59On the twenty-fifth of the month they sacrificed on the pagan altar that stood over the altar. 60The women who had had their children circumcised they put to death, as the decree required, 61and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks, and their households with them, and whoever had circumcised them. 62Yet many in Israel stood firm and resolved within themselves not to eat anything unclean. 63They chose to die rather than be defiled by food or profane the holy covenant — and they died. 64A very great wrath came upon Israel.