2 Maccabees 13

In the hundred and forty-ninth year, Judas was told that Antiochus Eupator was coming into Judea with a great army.

1In the hundred forty and ninth year it was told Judas, that Antiochus Eupator was coming with a great power into Judea,

NoteThe date counts from the start of the Seleucid kingdom, the Greek dynasty that ruled Syria after Alexander's empire broke up. The hundred and forty-ninth year is roughly 163 BC. Judas is Judas Maccabeus, leader of the Jewish revolt. Antiochus Eupator is Antiochus V, a boy king who had just succeeded his father Antiochus IV.

2With him came Lysias, the man who had raised him and who ran the business of his kingdom. Each of them had a Greek force: a hundred and ten thousand foot soldiers, five thousand three hundred horsemen, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots fitted with blades.

2And with him Lysias his protector, and ruler of his affairs, having either of them a Grecian power of footmen, an hundred and ten thousand, and horsemen five thousand and three hundred, and elephants two and twenty, and three hundred chariots armed with hooks.

NoteWar elephants were the heavy armor of the age: each carried a wooden tower on its back with fighting men inside, which is what makes the elephant in verse 15 worth killing. The chariots had blades fixed to their axles to cut down infantry as they drove through. "Either of them" in the King James means each of the two men, not one or the other.

3Menelaus also joined them. He put on a great show of loyalty and urged Antiochus on, not to keep the country safe, but because he expected to be made governor.

3Menelaus also joined himself with them, and with great dissimulation encouraged Antiochus, not for the safeguard of the country, but because he thought to have been made governor.

NoteMenelaus was a Jew who had bought the office of high priest from the Greek king and had held it for years, as the earlier chapters of this book describe. He was not fighting for Judea; he expected the invaders to install him as governor of it.

4But the King of kings turned Antiochus against this wicked man. Lysias told the king that this man was the cause of all the trouble, so the king ordered that he be taken to Berea and put to death in the way that is customary there.

4But the King of kings moved Antiochus’ mind against this wicked wretch, and Lysias informed the king that this man was the cause of all mischief, so that the king commanded to bring him unto Berea, and to put him to death, as the manner is in that place.

Note"The King of kings" here is a title for God, not for Antiochus. Berea, or Beroea, was a Syrian city near Antioch, well outside Judea, so Menelaus was taken far from home to die.

5In that place there was a tower fifty cubits high, full of ashes. Around it ran a rim shaped in a circle, sloping down on every side into the ashes.

5Now there was in that place a tower of fifty cubits high, full of ashes, and it had a round instrument which on every side hanged down into the ashes.

NoteA cubit was about eighteen inches, roughly the length of a forearm, so the tower stood about seventy-five feet high. The description is of a known Persian method of execution: the tower was filled with ash, and a sloping rim ran around the top so that anyone pushed over it slid down into the ash and suffocated.

6Anyone found guilty of robbing holy things, or of any other serious crime, was pushed off it by the crowd to his death.

6And whosoever was condemned of sacrilege, or had committed any other grievous crime, there did all men thrust him unto death.

NoteRobbing a temple was treated as a capital crime throughout the ancient world, Greek and Jewish alike, because the goods belonged to a god rather than to a person.

7That was the death that wicked man died. He did not even get a grave in the ground, and this was completely just.

7Such a death it happened that wicked man to die, not having so much as burial in the earth; and that most justly:

NoteBeing left without a grave was a heavy disgrace in the ancient world, a punishment added on top of death, since burial was owed even to enemies.

8He had committed many sins at the altar, whose fire and ashes were holy, and so he met his death in ashes.

8For inasmuch as he had committed many sins about the altar, whose fire and ashes were holy, he received his death in ashes.

NoteAsh from the altar was not ordinary refuse: it was holy, and the priests carried it away to a clean place outside the camp under set rules. Menelaus had plundered the temple and its sacred vessels, and the writer is pointing at the match between the crime and the manner of death.

9Now the king was coming in a savage and arrogant mood, meaning to do far worse to the Jews than had been done in his father's time.

9Now the king came with a barbarous and haughty mind to do far worse to the Jews, than had been done in his father’s time.

NoteHis father was Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had outlawed Jewish worship, desecrated the temple, and executed those who kept the law, as told earlier in this book.

10When Judas learned this, he told the people to call on the Lord night and day. If ever he had helped them at any other time, let him help them now, when they were about to be stripped of their law, their country, and the holy temple.

10Which things when Judas perceived, he commanded the multitude to call upon the Lord night and day, that if ever at any other time, he would now also help them, being at the point to be put from their law, from their country, and from the holy temple:

11He asked that God would not let the people, who had only just begun to recover, fall under the power of nations that insulted God.

11And that he would not suffer the people, that had even now been but a little refreshed, to be in subjection to the blasphemous nations.

Note"Nations" translates the word for Gentiles, that is, non-Jews. The point is not their nationality but that they did not honor the God of Israel and had profaned his temple.

12So they all did this together. They begged the merciful Lord with weeping and fasting, lying face down on the ground for three days. Then Judas urged them on and ordered them to be ready.

12So when they had all done this together, and besought the merciful Lord with weeping and fasting, and lying flat upon the ground three days long, Judas, having exhorted them, commanded they should be in a readiness.

NoteFasting and lying face down on the ground were the standard bodily signs of urgent public petition and mourning, the posture of a suppliant before a king.

13Judas met privately with the elders and decided that, before the king's army could enter Judea and take the city, they would go out and settle the matter by fighting, with the Lord's help.

13And Judas, being apart with the elders, determined, before the king’s host should enter into Judea, and get the city, to go forth and try the matter in fight by the help of the Lord.

14He put the whole outcome in the hands of the Creator of the world. He urged his soldiers to fight bravely, even to the death, for the laws, the temple, the city, the country, and their common life as a people. Then he made camp near Modin.

14So when he had committed all to the Creator of the world, and exhorted his soldiers to fight manfully, even unto death, for the laws, the temple, the city, the country, and the commonwealth, he camped by Modin:

Note"Their common life as a people" renders a Greek word for the whole ordered life of a community under its own laws and institutions, closer to "our way of life and self-government" than to any single law. Modin was the home village of the Maccabee family, in the low hills northwest of Jerusalem.

15He gave the men with him a password: "Victory belongs to God." With the bravest and best of the young men, he went by night into the king's tent. He killed about four thousand men in the camp, and the leading elephant along with everyone on it.

15And having given the watchword to them that were about him, Victory is of God; with the most valiant and choice young men he went in into the king’s tent by night, and slew in the camp about four thousand men, and the chiefest of the elephants, with all that were upon him.

NoteA watchword or password let men identify each other in a night raid. The Greek says he struck at the king's pavilion, the enclosed royal tent and the ground around it, rather than necessarily getting inside it. Manuscripts differ on the numbers: some read two thousand killed rather than four thousand. The men on the elephant were riding in the tower strapped to its back.

16In the end they filled the camp with fear and confusion, and they left having done well.

16And at last they filled the camp with fear and tumult, and departed with good success.

17This was finished just as day was breaking, because the Lord's protection was helping him.

17This was done in the break of the day, because the protection of the Lord did help him.

18Now that the king had tasted the courage of the Jews, he tried to take their strongholds by clever tactics.

18Now when the king had taken a taste of the manliness of the Jews, he went about to take the holds by policy,

Note"By clever tactics" translates a word for maneuver and stratagem: having failed to frighten the Jews into surrender, he set about reducing their fortresses by siegecraft and negotiation instead of open battle.

19He marched against Bethsura, a strong fortress of the Jews. But he was driven back, he failed, and he lost men.

19And marched toward Bethsura, which was a strong hold of the Jews: but he was put to flight, failed, and lost of his men:

NoteBethsura, or Beth-zur, was a fortress about fifteen miles south of Jerusalem that guarded the main road up from Idumea, the natural gateway for an army approaching from the south.

20Judas had sent in to the people inside everything they needed.

20For Judas had conveyed unto them that were in it such things as were necessary.

21But Rhodocus, who was in the Jewish army, gave away their secrets to the enemy. He was hunted down, and when they caught him they shut him up in prison.

21But Rhodocus, who was in the Jews’ host, disclosed the secrets to the enemies; therefore he was sought out, and when they had gotten him, they put him in prison.

22The king made terms with them at Bethsum a second time. He gave them his hand and took theirs, then left, fought Judas, and was beaten.

22The king treated with them in Bethsum the second time, gave his hand, took their’s, departed, fought with Judas, was overcome;

NoteThe King James spells the same fortress two ways, Bethsura in verse 19 and Bethsum here; it is one place. Giving and taking the hand was the formal gesture that sealed a pledge, the ancient equivalent of signing a treaty.

23He heard that Philip, who had been left in charge of affairs in Antioch, had turned reckless. He was thrown into confusion. He asked the Jews for peace, gave way to them, and swore to fair terms for them all. He came to an agreement with them, offered a sacrifice, showed honor to the temple, and treated the place kindly.

23Heard that Philip, who was left over the affairs in Antioch, was desperately bent, confounded, intreated the Jews, submitted himself, and sware to all equal conditions, agreed with them, and offered sacrifice, honoured the temple, and dealt kindly with the place,

NoteAntioch was the Seleucid capital, in Syria. Philip had been left as regent there while the king campaigned, and a reckless regent in the capital meant the throne itself was at risk, which is why the king suddenly wanted peace. That a Gentile king offered a sacrifice at the temple was a recognized way of showing public respect for a people's god.

24He received Maccabeus warmly, and made him chief governor of the region from Ptolemais as far as the Gerrhenians.

24And accepted well of Maccabeus, made him principal governor from Ptolemais unto the Gerrhenians;

NoteMaccabeus is Judas. Ptolemais is the coastal city known later as Acre, on the bay north of Mount Carmel. The Gerrhenians are hard to place; the name may point to a district near the Egyptian border, and the text is uncertain here. The Greek is also read another way: that the king left a man named Hegemonides as governor of that stretch of coast, rather than appointing Judas to it.

25He came to Ptolemais. The people there were upset about the agreements. They were furious, and they wanted to cancel the terms.

25Came to Ptolemais: the people there were grieved for the covenants; for they stormed, because they would make their covenants void:

Note"The agreements" are the terms of the treaty just sworn. Ptolemais was a Greek city with a long-standing hostility to its Jewish neighbors, and its citizens wanted the treaty annulled.

26Lysias stepped up to the speaker's platform. He said everything that could be said in defense of the agreement. He won them over, calmed them down, and made them friendly again, and then he went back to Antioch. That is how it went with the king's coming and his going.

26Lysias went up to the judgment seat, said as much as could be in defence of the cause, persuaded, pacified, made them well affected, returned to Antioch. Thus it went touching the king’s coming and departing.

NoteThe King James "judgment seat" is the bema, the raised stone platform in a Greek city from which officials addressed the assembled citizens. Lysias is speaking to a city meeting, not presiding over a trial.