1 Now when Simon heard that Tryphon had gathered together a great host to invade the land of Judea, and destroy it,
2 And saw that the people was in great trembling and fear, he went up to Jerusalem, and gathered the people together,
3 And gave them exhortation, saying, Ye yourselves know what great things I, and my brethren, and my father's house, have done for the laws and the sanctuary, the battles also and troubles which we have seen.
4 By reason wher all my brethren are slain for Israel's sake, and I am left alone.
5 Now therefore be it far from me, that I should spare mine own life in any time of trouble: for I am no better than my brethren.
6 Doubtless I will avenge my nation, and the sanctuary, and our wives, and our children: for all the heathen are gathered to destroy us of very malice.
7 Now as soon as the people heard these words, their spirit revived.
8 And they answered with a loud voice, saying, Thou shalt be our leader instead of Judas and Jonathan thy brother.
9 Fight thou our battles, and whatsoever, thou commandest us, that will we do.
10 So then he gathered together all the men of war, and made haste to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it round about.
11 Also he sent Jonathan the son of Absolom, and with him a great power, to Joppa: who casting out them that were therein remained there in it.
12 So Tryphon removed from Ptolemaus with a great power to invade the land of Judea, and Jonathan was with him in ward.
13 But Simon pitched his tents at Adida, over against the plain.
14 Now when Tryphon knew that Simon was risen up instead of his brother Jonathan, and meant to join battle with him, he sent messengers unto him, saying,
15 Whereas we have Jonathan thy brother in hold, it is for money that he is owing unto the king's treasure, concerning the business that was committed unto him.
16 Wherefore now send an hundred talents of silver, and two of his sons for hostages, that when he is at liberty he may not revolt from us, and we will let him go.
17 Hereupon Simon, albeit he perceived that they spake deceitfully unto him yet sent he the money and the children, lest peradventure he should procure to himself great hatred of the people:
18 Who might have said, Because I sent him not the money and the children, therefore is Jonathan dead.
19 So he sent them the children and the hundred talents: howbeit Tryphon dissembled neither would he let Jonathan go.
20 And after this came Tryphon to invade the land, and destroy it, going round about by the way that leadeth unto Adora: but Simon and his host marched against him in every place, wheresoever he went.
21 Now they that were in the tower sent messengers unto Tryphon, to the end that he should hasten his coming unto them by the wilderness, and send them victuals.
22 Wherefore Tryphon made ready all his horsemen to come that night: but there fell a very great snow, by reason wher he came not. So he departed, and came into the country of Galaad.
23 And when he came near to Bascama he slew Jonathan, who was buried there.
24 Afterward Tryphon returned and went into his own land.
25 Then sent Simon, and took the bones of Jonathan his brother, and buried them in Modin, the city of his fathers.
26 And all Israel made great lamentation for him, and bewailed him many days.
27 Simon also built a monument upon the sepulchre of his father and his brethren, and raised it aloft to the sight, with hewn stone behind and before.
28 Moreover he set up seven pyramids, one against another, for his father, and his mother, and his four brethren.
29 And in these he made cunning devices, about the which he set great pillars, and upon the pillars he made all their armour for a perpetual memory, and by the armour ships carved, that they might be seen of all that sail on the sea.
30 This is the sepulchre which he made at Modin, and it standeth yet unto this day.
31 Now Tryphon dealt deceitfully with the young king Antiochus, and slew him.
32 And he reigned in his stead, and crowned himself king of Asia, and brought a great calamity upon the land.
33 Then Simon built up the strong holds in Judea, and fenced them about with high towers, and great walls, and gates, and bars, and laid up victuals therein.
34 Moreover Simon chose men, and sent to king Demetrius, to the end he should give the land an immunity, because all that Tryphon did was to spoil.
35 Unto whom king Demetrius answered and wrote after this manner:
36 King Demetrius unto Simon the high priest, and friend of kings, as also unto the elders and nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting:
37 The golden crown, and the scarlet robe, which ye sent unto us, we have received: and we are ready to make a stedfast peace with you, yea, and to write unto our officers, to confirm the immunities which we have granted.
38 And whatsoever covenants we have made with you shall stand; and the strong holds, which ye have builded, shall be your own.
39 As for any oversight or fault committed unto this day, we forgive it, and the crown tax also, which ye owe us: and if there were any other tribute paid in Jerusalem, it shall no more be paid.
40 And look who are meet among you to be in our court, let then be enrolled, and let there be peace betwixt us.
41 Thus the yoke of the heathen was taken away from Israel in the hundred and seventieth year.
42 Then the people of Israel began to write in their instruments and contracts, In the first year of Simon the high priest, the governor and leader of the Jews.
43 In those days Simon camped against Gaza and besieged it round about; he made also an engine of war, and set it by the city, and battered a certain tower, and took it.
44 And they that were in the engine leaped into the city; whereupon there was a great uproar in the city:
45 Insomuch as the people of the city rent their clothes, and climbed upon the walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, beseeching Simon to grant them peace.
46 And they said, Deal not with us according to our wickedness, but according to thy mercy.
47 So Simon was appeased toward them, and fought no more against them, but put them out of the city, and cleansed the houses wherein the idols were, and so entered into it with songs and thanksgiving.
48 Yea, he put all uncleanness out of it, and placed such men there as would keep the law, and made it stronger than it was before, and built therein a dwellingplace for himself.
49 They also of the tower in Jerusalem were kept so strait, that they could neither come forth, nor go into the country, nor buy, nor sell: wherefore they were in great distress for want of victuals, and a great number of them perished through famine.
50 Then cried they to Simon, beseeching him to be at one with them: which thing he granted them; and when he had put them out from thence, he cleansed the tower from pollutions:
51 And entered into it the three and twentieth day of the second month in the hundred seventy and first year, with thanksgiving, and branches of palm trees, and with harps, and cymbals, and with viols, and hymns, and songs: because there was destroyed a great enemy out of Israel.
52 He ordained also that that day should be kept every year with gladness. Moreover the hill of the temple that was by the tower he made stronger than it was, and there he dwelt himself with his company.
53 And when Simon saw that John his son was a valiant man, he made him captain of all the hosts; and he dwelt in Gazera.
1 Et audivit Simon quod congregavit Tryphon exercitum copiosum ut veniret in terram Juda, et attereret eam.
2 Videns quia in tremore populus est, et in timore, ascendit Jerusalem, et congregavit populum:
3 et adhortans dixit: Vos scitis quanta ego, et fratres mei, et domus patris mei, fecimus pro legibus et pro sanctis, prlia, et angustias quales vidimus:
4 horum gratia perierunt fratres mei omnes propter Isral, et relictus sum ego solus.
5 Et nunc non mihi contingat parcere anim me in omni tempore tribulationis: non enim melior sum fratribus meis.
6 Vindicabo itaque gentem meam, et sancta, natos quoque nostros, et uxores: quia congregat sunt univers gentes conterere nos inimiciti gratia.
7 Et accensus est spiritus populi simul ut audivit sermones istos:
8 et responderunt voce magna, dicentes: Tu es dux noster loco Jud, et Jonath fratris tui:
9 pugna prlium nostrum: et omnia, qucumque dixeris nobis, faciemus.
10 Et congregans omnes viros bellatores, acceleravit consummare universos muros Jerusalem, et munivit eam in gyro.
11 Et misit Jonathan filium Absalomi, et cum eo exercitum novum in Joppen, et ejectis his qui erant in ea, remansit illic ipse.
12 Et movit Tryphon a Ptolemaida cum exercitu multo, ut veniret in terram Juda, et Jonathas cum eo in custodia.
13 Simon autem applicuit in Addus contra faciem campi.
14 Et ut cognovit Tryphon quia surrexit Simon loco fratris sui Jonath, et quia commissurus esset cum eo prlium, misit ad eum legatos,
15 dicens: Pro argento, quod debebat frater tuus Jonathas in ratione regis propter negotia qu habuit, detinuimus eum.
16 Et nunc mitte argenti talenta centum, et duos filios ejus obsides, ut non dimissus fugiat a nobis, et remittemus eum.
17 Et cognovit Simon quia cum dolo loqueretur secum: jussit tamen dari argentum et pueros, ne inimicitiam magnam sumeret ad populum Isral, dicentem:
18 Quia non misit ei argentum, et pueros, propterea periit.
19 Et misit pueros, et centum talenta: et mentitus est, et non dimisit Jonathan.
20 Et post hc venit Tryphon intra regionem, ut contereret eam: et gyraverunt per viam qu ducit Ador: et Simon et castra ejus ambulabant in omnem locum quocumque ibant.
21 Qui autem in arce erant, miserunt ad Tryphonem legatos, ut festinaret venire per desertum, et mitteret illis alimonias.
22 Et paravit Tryphon omnem equitatum, ut veniret illa nocte: erat autem nix multa valde, et non venit in Galaaditim.
23 Et cum appropinquasset Bascaman, occidit Jonathan et filios ejus illic.
24 Et convertit Tryphon, et abiit in terram suam.
25 Et misit Simon, et accepit ossa Jonath fratris sui, et sepelivit ea in Modin civitate patrum ejus.
26 Et planxerunt eum omnis Isral planctu magno, et luxerunt eum dies multos.
27 Et dificavit Simon super sepulchrum patris sui et fratrum suorum dificium altum visu, lapide polito retro et ante.
28 Et statuit septem pyramidas, unam contra unam, patri et matri, et quatuor fratribus:
29 et his circumposuit columnas magnas: et super columnas arma, ad memoriam ternam: et juxta arma naves sculptas, qu viderentur ab omnibus navigantibus mare:
30 hoc est sepulchrum, quod fecit in Modin usque in hunc diem.
31 Tryphon autem cum iter faceret cum Antiocho rege adolescente, dolo occidit eum:
32 et regnavit loco ejus, et imposuit sibi diadema Asi, et fecit plagam magnam in terra.
33 Et dificavit Simon prsidia Jud, muniens ea turribus excelsis, et muris magnis, et portis, et seris: et posuit alimenta in munitionibus.
34 Et elegit Simon viros, et misit ad Demetrium regem ut faceret remissionem regioni: quia actus omnes Tryphonis per direptionem fuerant gesti.
35 Et Demetrius rex ad verba ista respondit ei, et scripsit epistolam talem:
36 Rex Demetrius Simoni summo sacerdoti et amico regum, et senioribus, et genti Judorum, salutem.
37 Coronam auream, et bahem, quam misistis, suscepimus: et parati sumus facere vobiscum pacem magnam, et scribere prpositis regis remittere vobis qu indulsimus.
38 Qucumque enim constituimus, vobis constant: munitiones, quas dificastis, vobis sint:
39 remittimus quoque ignorantias et peccata usque in hodiernum diem, et coronam quam debebatis: et si quid aliud erat tributarium in Jerusalem, jam non sit tributarium.
40 Et si qui ex vobis apti sunt conscribi inter nostros, conscribantur, et sit inter nos pax.
41 Anno centesimo septuagesimo, ablatum est jugum gentium ab Isral.
42 Et cpit populus Isral scribere in tabulis, et gestis publicis, anno primo sub Simone summo sacerdote, magno duce, et principe Judorum.
43 In diebus illis applicuit Simon ad Gazam, et circumdedit eam castris, et fecit machinas, et applicuit ad civitatem, et percussit turrem unam, et comprehendit eam.
44 Et eruperant qui erant intra machinam in civitatem, et factus est motus magnus in civitate.
45 Et ascenderunt qui erant in civitate cum uxoribus et filiis supra murum, scissis tunicis suis, et clamaverunt voce magna, postulantes a Simone dextras sibi dari,
46 et dixerunt: Non nobis reddas secundum malitias nostras, sed secundum misericordias tuas.
47 Et flexus Simon, non debellavit eos: ejecit tamen eos de civitate, et mundavit des in quibus fuerant simulacra, et tunc intravit in eam cum hymnis benedicens Dominum:
48 et ejecta ab ea omni immunditia, collocavit in ea viros qui legem facerent: et munivit eam, et fecit sibi habitationem.
49 Qui autem erant in arce Jerusalem, prohibebantur egredi et ingredi regionem, et emere ac vendere: et esurierunt valde, et multi ex eis fame perierunt,
50 et clamaverunt ad Simonem ut dextras acciperent: et dedit illis: et ejecit eos inde, et mundavit arcem a contaminationibus:
51 et intraverunt in eam tertia et vigesima die secundi mensis, anno centesimo septuagesimo primo, cum laude, et ramis palmarum, et cinyris, et cymbalis, et nablis, et hymnis, et canticis, quia contritus est inimicus magnus ex Isral.
52 Et constituit ut omnibus annis agerentur dies hi cum ltitia.
53 Et munivit montem templi, qui erat secus arcem, et habitavit ibi ipse, et qui cum eo erant.
54 Et vidit Simon Joannem filium suum, quod fortis prlii vir esset: et posuit eum ducem virtutum universarum: et habitavit in Gazaris.