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chapter 10
1
Now in
the hundred and sixtieth year Alexander the son of Antiochus, surnamed the
Illustrious, came up and took Ptolemais, and they received him, and he reigned
there.
2 And king Demetrius heard of it, and gathered together
an exceeding great army, and went forth against him to fight.
3 And Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan with
peaceable words, to magnify him.
4 For he said: Let us first make a peace with him,
before he make one with Alexander against us.
5 For he will remember all the evils that we have done
against him, and against his brother, and against his nation.
6 And he gave him authority to gather together an army,
and to make arms, and that he should be his confederate: and the hostages that
were in the castle, he commanded to be delivered to him.
7 And Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letters
in the hearing of all the people, and of them that were in the castle.
8 And they were struck with great fear, because they
heard that the king had given him authority to gather together an army.
9 And the hostages were delivered to Jonathan, and he
restored them to their parents.
10 And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build,
and to repair the city.
11 And he ordered workmen to build the walls, and mount
Sion round about with square stones for fortification: and so they did.
12 And the strangers that were in the strong holds,
which Bacchides had built, fled away.
13 And every man left his place, and departed into his
own country:
14 Only in Bethsura there remained some of them, that
had forsaken the law, and the commandments of God: for this was a place of
refuge for them.
15 And king Alexander heard of the promises that
Demetrius had made Jonathan: and they told him of the battles, and the worthy
acts that he, and his brethren had done, and the labours that they had endured.
16 And he said: Shall we find such another man? now
therefore we will make him our friend and our confederate.
17 So he wrote a letter, and sent it to him according
to these words, saying:
18 King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, greeting.
19 We have heard of thee, that thou art a man of great
power, and fit to be our friend:
20 Now therefore we make thee this day high priest of
thy nation, and that thou be called the king's friend, (and he sent him a
purple robe, and a crown of gold,) and that thou be of one mind with us in our
affairs, and keep friendship with us.
21 Then Jonathan put on the holy vestment in the
seventh month, in the year one hundred and threescore, at the feast day of the
tabernacles: and he gathered together an army, and made a great number of arms.
22 And Demetrius heard these words, and was exceeding
sorry, and said:
23 What is this that we have done, that Alexander hath
prevented us to gain the friendship of the Jews to strengthen himself?
24 I also will write to them words of request, and
offer dignities, and gifts: that they may be with me to aid me.
25 And he wrote to them in these words: King Demetrius
to the nation of the Jews, greeting.
26 Whereas you have kept covenant with us, and have
continued in our friendship, and have not joined with our enemies, we have
heard of it, and are glad.
27 Wherefore now continue still to keep fidelity
towards us, and we will reward you with good things, for what you have done in
our behalf.
28 And we will remit to you many charges, and will give
you gifts.
29 And now I free you, and all the Jews from tributes,
and I release you from the customs of salt, and remit the crowns, and the
thirds of the seed:
30 And the half of the fruit of trees, which is my
share, I leave to you from this day forward, so that it shall not be taken of
the land of Juda, and of the three cities that are added thereto out of Samaria
and Galilee, from this day forth and for ever:
31 And let Jerusalem be holy and free, with the borders
thereof: and let the tenths, and tributes be for itself.
32 I yield up also the power of the castle that is in
Jerusalem, and I give it to the high priest, to place therein such men as he
shall choose to keep it.
33 And every soul of the Jews that hath been carried
captive from the land of Juda in all my kingdom, I set at liberty freely, that
all be discharged from tributes even of their cattle.
34 And I will that all the feasts, and the sabbaths,
and the new moons, and the days appointed, and three days before the solemn
day, and three days after the solemn day, be all days of immunity and freedom,
for all the Jews that are in my kingdom:
35 And no man shall have power to do any thing against
them, or to molest any of them, in any cause.
36 And let there be enrolled in the king's army to the
number of thirty thousand of the Jews: and allowance shall be made them as is
due to all the king's forces, and certain of them shall be appointed to be in
the fortresses of the great king:
37 And some of them shall be set over the affairs of
the kingdom, that are of trust, and let the governors be taken from among
themselves, and let them walk in their own laws, as the king hath commanded in
the land of Juda.
38 And the three cities that are added to Judea, out of
the country of Samaria, let them be accounted with Judea: that they may be
under one, and obey no other authority but that of the high priest:
39 Ptolemais, and the confines thereof, I give as a
free gift to the holy places, that are in Jerusalem, for the necessary charges
of the holy things.
40 And I give every year fifteen thousand sicles of
silver out of the king's accounts, of what belongs to me:
41 And all that is above, which they that were over the
affairs the years before, had not paid, from this time they shall give it to the
works of the house.
42 Moreover the five thousand sicles of silver which
they received from the account of the holy places, every year, shall also
belong to the priests that execute the ministry.
43 And whosoever shall flee into the temple that is in
Jerusalem, and in all the borders thereof, being indebted to the king for any
matter, let them be set at liberty, and all that they have in my kingdom, let
them have it free.
44 For the building also, or repairing the works of the
holy places, the charges shall be given out of the king's revenues:
45 For the building also of the walls of Jerusalem, and
the fortifying thereof round about, the charges shall be given out of the
king's account, as also for the building of the walls in Judea.
46 Now when Jonathan, and the people heard these words,
they gave no credit to them nor received them: because they remembered the
great evil that he had done in Israel, for he had afflicted them exceedingly.
47 And their inclinations were towards Alexander,
because he had been the chief promoter of peace in their regard, and him they
always helped.
48 And king Alexander gathered together a great army,
and moved his camp near to Demetrius.
49 And the two kings joined battle, and the army of
Demetrius fled away, and Alexander pursued after him, and pressed them close.
50 And the battle was hard fought till the sun went down:
and Demetrius was slain that day.
51 And Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemee king of
Egypt, with words to this effect, saying:
52 Forasmuch as I am returned into my kingdom, and am
set in the throne of my ancestors and have gotten the dominion, and have
overthrown Demetrius, and possessed our country,
53 And have joined battle with him, and both he and his
army have been destroyed by us, and we are placed in the throne of his kingdom:
54 Now therefore let us make friendship one with
another: and give me now thy daughter to wife, and I will be thy son in law,
and I will give both thee and her gifts worthy of thee.
55 And king Ptolemee answered, saying: Happy is the day
wherein thou didst return to the land of thy fathers, and sattest in the throne
of their kingdom.
56 And now I will do to thee as thou hast written: but
meet me at Ptolemais, that we may see one another, and I may give her to thee as
thou hast said.
57 So Ptolemee went out of Egypt, with Cleopatra his
daughter, and he came to Ptolemais in the hundred and sixty-second year.
58 And king Alexander met him, and he gave him his
daughter Cleopatra: and he celebrated her marriage at Ptolemais, with great
glory, after the manner of kings.
59 And king Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should
come and meet him.
60 And he went honourably to Ptolemais, and he met
there the two kings, and he gave them much silver, and gold, and presents: and
he found favour in their sight.
61 And some pestilent men of Israel, men of a wicked
life, assembled themselves against him to accuse him: and the king gave no heed
to them.
62 And he commanded that Jonathan's garments should be
taken off, and that he should be clothed with purple: and they did so. And the
king made him sit by himself.
63 And he said to his princes: Go out with him into the
midst of the city, and make proclamation, that no man complain against him of
any matter, and that no man trouble him for any manner of cause.
64 So when his accusers saw his glory proclaimed, and
him clothed with purple, they all fled away.
65 And the king magnified him, and enrolled him amongst
his chief friends, and made him governor and partaker of his dominion.
66 And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with peace and
joy.
67 In the year one hundred and sixty-five Demetrius the
son of Demetrius came from Crete into the land of his fathers.
68 And king Alexander heard of it, and was much
troubled, and returned to Antioch.
69 And king Demetrius made Apollonius his general, who
was governor of Celesyria: and he gathered together a great army, and came to
Jamnia: and he sent to Jonathan the high priest,
70 Saying: Thou alone standest against us, and I am
laughed at, and reproached, because thou shewest thy power against us in the
mountains.
71 Now therefore if thou trustest in thy forces, come
down to us into the plain, and there let us try one another: for with me is the
strength of war.
72 Ask, and learn who I am, and the rest that help me,
who also say that your foot cannot stand before our face, for thy fathers have
twice been put to flight in their own land:
73 And now how wilt thou be able to abide the horsemen,
and so great an army in the plain, where there is no stone, nor rock, nor place
to flee to?
74 Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he
was moved in his mind: and he chose ten thousand men, and went out of
Jerusalem, and Simon his brother met him to help him.
75 And they pitched their tents near Joppe, but they
shut him out of the city: because a garrison of Apollonius was in Joppe, and he
laid siege to it.
76 And they that were in the city being affrighted,
opened the gates to him: so Jonathan took Joppe.
77 And Apollonius heard of it, and he took three
thousand horsemen, and a great army.
78 And he went to Azotus as one that was making a
journey, and immediately he went forth into the plain: because he had a great
number of horsemen, and he trusted in them. And Jonathan followed after him to
Azotus, and they joined battle.
79 And Apollonius left privately in the camp a thousand
horsemen behind them.
80 And Jonathan knew that there was an ambush behind
him, and they surrounded his army, and cast darts at the people from morning
till evening.
81 But the people stood still, as Jonathan had
commanded them: and so their horses were fatigued.
82 Then Simon drew forth his army, and attacked the
legion: for the horsemen were wearied: and they were discomfited by him, and
fled.
83 And they that were scattered about the plain, fled
into Azotus, and went into Bethdagon their idol's temple, there to save
themselves.
84 But Jonathan set fire to Azotus, and the cities that
were around it, and took the spoils of them, and the temple of Dagon: and all
them that were fled into it, he burnt with fire.
85 So they that were slain by the sword, with them that
were burnt, were almost eight thousand men.
86 And Jonathan removed his army from thence, and
camped against Ascalon: and they went out of the city to meet him with great
honour.
87 And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with his
people, having many spoils.
88 And it came to pass: When Alexander the king heard
these words, that he honoured Jonathan yet more.
89 And he sent him a buckle of gold, as the custom is,
to be given to such as are of the royal blood. And he gave him Accaron and all
the borders thereof in possession.
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