1
4and this was done by public vote of the city. When they accepted, because they wished to live peaceably and suspected nothing, the people of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned them, at least two hundred.
5When Judas heard of the cruelty visited on his compatriots, he gave orders to his men
6 distant.
The Campaign in Gilead10 from there on their march against Timothy, at least five thousand Arabs with five hundred cavalry attacked them.
11After a hard fight, Judas and his companions, with God’s help, were victorious. The defeated nomads begged Judas to grant them pledges of friendship, promising to give him livestock and to help his people in all other ways.
12Judas, realizing that they might indeed be useful in many ways, agreed to make peace with them, and after receiving his pledges they went back to their tents.
13He also attacked a certain town that was strongly fortified with earthworks and walls and inhabited by all sorts of nations. Its name was Caspin.
14Those who were within, relying on the strength of the walls and on their supply of provisions, behaved most insolently toward Judas and his men, railing at them and even blaspheming and saying unholy things.
15 wide, appeared to be running over with blood.
Judas Defeats Timothy’s Army17When they had gone ninety-five miles from there, they came to a stockade, to the Jews who are called Toubiani.
18 in command of the divisions, and hurried after Timothy, who had with him one hundred twenty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry.
21When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent off the women and the children and also the baggage to a place called Carnaim, for that place was hard to besiege and difficult to access because of the narrowness of all the approaches.
22 marched against Carnaim and the temple of Atargatis and slaughtered twenty-five thousand people.
27 Stalwart young men took their stand before the walls and made a vigorous defense, and great stores of war engines and missiles were there.
28 called upon the Sovereign who with power shatters the might of his enemies, and they got the town into their hands and killed as many as twenty-five thousand of those who were in it.
29Setting out from there, they hastened to Scythopolis, which is seventy-five miles from Jerusalem.
30But when the Jews who lived there bore witness to the goodwill that the people of Scythopolis had shown them and their kind treatment of them in times of misfortune,
31 who was on horseback and was a strong man, caught hold of Gorgias and, grasping his cloak, was dragging him off by main strength, wishing to take the accursed man alive, when one of the Thracian cavalry bore down on him and cut off his arm, so Gorgias escaped and reached Marisa.
36As Esdris and his men had been fighting for a long time and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle.
372 Macc 7.8In the language of their ancestors he raised the battle cry, with hymns; then he charged against Gorgias’s troops when they were not expecting it and put them to flight.
Prayers for Those Killed in Battle38 Num 31.19; 2 Macc 8.27 Then Judas assembled his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom and kept the Sabbath there.
39On the next day, as had now become necessary, Judas and his men went to take up the bodies of the fallen and to bring them back to lie with their kindred in the tombs of their ancestors.
40v 8; Deut 7.25, 26Then under the tunic of each one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was the reason these men had fallen.
41v 6; 1 Cor 4.5So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous judge, who reveals the things that are hidden,
42and they turned to supplication, praying that the sin that had been committed might be wholly blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened as the result of the sin of those who had fallen.
43Lev 4.2–35; 2 Macc 4.19He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a purification offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection.
44For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead.
45v 43But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin.
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