Demetrius, Alcimus, and Bacchides
1In the one hundred and fifty-first year Demetrius son of Seleucus set out from Rome. He came up with a few men to a town by the sea, and there he began to reign. 2As he was entering the royal house of his ancestors, the army arrested Antiochus and Lysias, meaning to deliver them to him. 3When the matter was made known to him, he said, “Do not show me their faces.” 4So the army killed them, and Demetrius took his seat on the throne of his kingdom. 5Then every lawless and ungodly man of Israel came to him, and Alcimus led them, eager to serve as priest. 6They brought charges against the people before the king: “Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends, and they have scattered us from our own land. 7So now send a man you trust. Let him go and see all the ruin he has brought on us and on the king’s territory, and let him punish them and all who come to their aid.” 8The king picked Bacchides, one of the king’s Friends, who governed the province Beyond the River — a great man in the kingdom, and loyal to the king. 9He sent him out, together with the ungodly Alcimus, on whom he conferred the priesthood, and he ordered him to take vengeance on the Israelites. 10They set out and entered the land of Judah with a large force, and he sent envoys to Judas and his brothers with peaceful words, full of guile. 11They paid no heed to those words, for they saw that the men had come with a large force. 12Then a body of scribes gathered before Alcimus and Bacchides to seek just terms. 13The Hasideans were the first among the Israelites to ask them for peace, 14for they said, “A priest of Aaron’s line has come with the forces; he will do us no wrong.” 15He spoke peaceable words with them and gave them his oath: “We will seek no harm against you or against your friends.” 16They trusted him. But he seized sixty of them and killed them in a single day, in keeping with the word that was written: 17“The flesh of your faithful ones, and their blood, they poured out around Jerusalem, and no one was there to bury them.” 18Fear and dread of them came over the whole people, for they said, “In them there is neither truth nor justice. They have broken the pact and the oath they swore.” 19Bacchides left Jerusalem and encamped at Beth-zaith. He sent and arrested many of the men who had gone over to him, and some of the people too, and he butchered them and flung them into the great well. 20He put the country in the hands of Alcimus and left a force with him to support him. Then Bacchides went back to the king. 21Alcimus fought hard for the high priesthood. 22All who were stirring up trouble among their own people flocked to him. They made themselves masters of the land of Judah and dealt Israel a great blow. 23Judas saw all the harm that Alcimus and those with him had done among the Israelites, more than the Gentiles had done, 24and he went out all around the territory of Judea, taking vengeance on the deserters, and they were kept from moving out into the countryside. 25When Alcimus saw that Judas and his men had grown strong, and knew he was no match for them, he returned to the king and laid wicked charges against them.
Nicanor Threatens the House
26The king sent Nicanor, one of his distinguished officials, a man who hated Israel and was its enemy, and he ordered him to wipe out the people. 27Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a large force, and he sent treacherous words of peace to Judas and his brothers: 28“Let there be no war between you and me. I will come with a small company, so as to see your faces in peace.” 29He came to Judas, and they greeted one another peaceably; but the enemy stood ready to seize Judas. 30Word reached Judas that the man had come to him with treachery. He was alarmed by him and would not see his face again. 31When Nicanor realized that his plan had been found out, he marched out to meet Judas in battle near Caphar-salama. 32About five hundred of Nicanor’s men fell, and they ran for the city of David. 33After this Nicanor went up to Mount Zion, and out of the holy place came some of the priests and some of the elders of the people, to greet him in peace and to show him the burnt offering being offered on the king’s behalf. 34But he jeered at them and mocked them; he defiled them, and he spoke with arrogance. 35In a rage he swore, “Unless Judas and his army are handed over to me this time, then, if I come back safe, I will burn this house down.” And out he went in a great fury. 36The priests went in and stood facing the altar and the temple, and in tears they said: 37“You chose this house for your name to be called over it, to be a house of prayer and entreaty for your people. 38Execute vengeance on this man and on his army, and let them fall to the sword. Keep their blasphemies in mind, and do not let them endure.”
The Victory at Adasa
39Nicanor went out from Jerusalem and encamped at Beth-horon, and a force from Syria joined him there. 40Judas encamped at Adasa with three thousand men. Then Judas prayed: 41“When those from the king spoke blasphemy, your angel came forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand of them. 42Crush this army in the same way before us today. Let the rest know that he has spoken evil against your holy place, and judge him as his wickedness deserves.” 43The armies clashed on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. Nicanor’s army was crushed, and he himself fell first in the fighting. 44Seeing that Nicanor had fallen, his army flung away their weapons and fled. 45They chased them for a day’s march, from Adasa as far as Gezer, sounding the signal trumpets behind them. 46People came out from all the villages of Judea round about and outflanked them, turning them back toward their pursuers. All of them fell by the sword; not a single one of them was left. 47They took the spoils and the plunder. They cut off Nicanor’s head, and the right hand he had stretched out so arrogantly, and they brought them and stretched them out beside Jerusalem. 48The people rejoiced greatly, and they held that day as a great day of gladness. 49They established that this day would be kept each year, on the thirteenth of Adar. 50And the land of Judah was at rest for a few days.
