The Second Book of Maccabees, Chapter 5ΜΑΚΚΑΒΑΙΩΝ Β′ Ε′

περὶ δὲ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον τὴν δευτέραν ἔφοδον ὁ Ἀντίοχος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐστείλατο

About that time Antiochus launched his second expedition against Egypt.

συνέβη δὲ καθ' ὅλην τὴν πόλιν σχεδὸν ἐφ' ἡμέρας τεσσαράκοντα φαίνεσθαι διὰ τῶν ἀέρων τρέχοντας ἱππεῖς διαχρύσους στολὰς ἔχοντας καὶ λόγχας σπειρηδὸν ἐξωπλισμένους καὶ μαχαιρῶν σπασμοὺς

And it happened that for nearly forty days there appeared through the air over the whole city horsemen rushing about, wearing garments shot with gold and armed in companies with spears, and with brandishings of swords.

καὶ ἴλας ἵππων διατεταγμένας καὶ προσβολὰς γινομένας καὶ καταδρομὰς ἑκατέρων καὶ ἀσπίδων κινήσεις καὶ καμάκων πλήθη καὶ βελῶν βολὰς καὶ χρυσέων κόσμων ἐκλάμψεις καὶ παντοίους θωρακισμούς

There were also squadrons of cavalry drawn up, attacks and counterattacks from both sides, movements of shields, masses of pikes, flights of missiles, flashes of golden ornaments, and every kind of armor.

διὸ πάντες ἠξίουν ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν γεγενῆσθαι

Therefore everyone prayed that the apparition might turn out for good.

γενομένης δὲ λαλιᾶς ψευδοῦς ὡς μετηλλαχότος Ἀντιόχου τὸν βίον παραλαβὼν ὁ Ἰάσων οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν χιλίων αἰφνιδίως ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν συνετελέσατο ἐπίθεσιν τῶν δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ τείχει συνελασθέντων καὶ τέλος ἤδη καταλαμβανομένης τῆς πόλεως ὁ Μενέλαος εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἐφυγάδευσεν

When a false rumor spread that Antiochus had passed from life, Jason took no fewer than a thousand men and suddenly launched an assault on the city. When those on the wall had been driven back and the city was at last already being taken, Menelaus fled to the citadel.

ὁ δὲ Ἰάσων ἐποιεῖτο σφαγὰς τῶν πολιτῶν τῶν ἰδίων ἀφειδῶς οὐ συννοῶν τὴν εἰς τοὺς συγγενεῖς εὐημερίαν δυσημερίαν εἶναι τὴν μεγίστην δοκῶν δὲ πολεμίων καὶ οὐχ ὁμοεθνῶν τρόπαια καταβάλλεσθαι

But Jason kept carrying out merciless slaughter among his own fellow citizens, not realizing that success against kinsmen is the greatest disaster, thinking that he was setting up trophies over enemies and not over men of his own nation.

τῆς μὲν ἀρχῆς οὐκ ἐκράτησεν τὸ δὲ τέλος τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς αἰσχύνην λαβὼν φυγὰς πάλιν εἰς τὴν Αμμανῖτιν ἀπῆλθεν

He did not gain control of the government, but in the end of his plot he received disgrace and departed again as a fugitive into Ammonitis.

πέρας οὖν κακῆς καταστροφῆς ἔτυχεν ἐγκληθεὶς πρὸς Ἀρέταν τὸν τῶν Ἀράβων τύραννον πόλιν ἐκ πόλεως φεύγων διωκόμενος ὑπὸ πάντων στυγούμενος ὡς τῶν νόμων ἀποστάτης καὶ βδελυσσόμενος ὡς πατρίδος καὶ πολιτῶν δήμιος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐξεβράσθη

So he met the end of a wicked catastrophe: brought to account before Aretas, the ruler of the Arabs, fleeing from city to city, hunted by all, hated as an apostate from the laws, abhorred as the public executioner of his homeland and fellow citizens, he was driven out into Egypt.

καὶ ὁ συχνοὺς τῆς πατρίδος ἀποξενώσας ἐπὶ ξένης ἀπώλετο πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἀναχθεὶς ὡς διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν τευξόμενος σκέπης

And the man who had driven many from their homeland perished on foreign soil, having sailed off to the Lacedaemonians as though he would find shelter there because of kinship.

καὶ ὁ πλῆθος ἀτάφων ἐκρίψας ἀπένθητος ἐγενήθη καὶ κηδείας οὐδ' ἡστινοσοῦν οὔτε πατρῴου τάφου μετέσχεν

And he who had cast out multitudes unburied himself became unwept, and he shared in no funeral rites at all, nor in an ancestral tomb.

προσπεσόντων δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ περὶ τῶν γεγονότων διέλαβεν ἀποστατεῖν τὴν Ιουδαίαν ὅθεν ἀναζεύξας ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τεθηριωμένος τῇ ψυχῇ ἔλαβεν τὴν μὲν πόλιν δοριάλωτον

When reports of these events reached the king, he concluded that Judea was in revolt. So, raging like a wild beast in soul, he broke camp from Egypt and took the city by force of arms.

καὶ ἐκέλευσεν τοῖς στρατιώταις κόπτειν ἀφειδῶς τοὺς ἐμπίπτοντας καὶ τοὺς εἰς τὰς οἰκίας ἀναβαίνοντας κατασφάζειν

He ordered the soldiers to cut down without mercy those who fell in their way and to slaughter those who went up into the houses.

ἐγίνετο δὲ νέων καὶ πρεσβυτέρων ἀναίρεσις ἀνήβων τε καὶ γυναικῶν καὶ τέκνων ἀφανισμός παρθένων τε καὶ νηπίων σφαγαί

There was slaughter of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and killings of virgins and infants.

ὀκτὼ δὲ μυριάδες ἐν ταῖς πάσαις ἡμέραις τρισὶν κατεφθάρησαν τέσσαρες μὲν ἐν χειρῶν νομαῖς οὐχ ἧττον δὲ τῶν ἐσφαγμένων ἐπράθησαν

In all the three days eighty thousand perished, forty thousand in hand-to-hand fighting, and no fewer than those who were killed were sold into slavery.

οὐκ ἀρκεσθεὶς δὲ τούτοις κατετόλμησεν εἰς τὸ πάσης τῆς γῆς ἁγιώτατον ἱερὸν εἰσελθεῖν ὁδηγὸν ἔχων τὸν Μενέλαον τὸν καὶ τῶν νόμων καὶ τῆς πατρίδος προδότην γεγονότα

Not satisfied with these deeds, he dared to enter the most holy temple in all the earth, having as guide Menelaus, who had become a traitor both to the laws and to the homeland.

καὶ ταῖς μιαραῖς χερσὶν τὰ ἱερὰ σκεύη λαμβάνων καὶ τὰ ὑπ' ἄλλων βασιλέων ἀνατεθέντα πρὸς αὔξησιν καὶ δόξαν τοῦ τόπου καὶ τιμὴν ταῖς βεβήλοις χερσὶν συσσύρων

With polluted hands he took the sacred vessels, and with profane hands he swept together the things dedicated by other kings for the increase, glory, and honor of the place.

καὶ ἐμετεωρίζετο τὴν διάνοιαν ὁ Ἀντίοχος οὐ συνορῶν ὅτι διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας τῶν τὴν πόλιν οἰκούντων ἀπώργισται βραχέως ὁ δεσπότης διὸ γέγονεν περὶ τὸν τόπον παρόρασις

Antiochus was lifted up in mind, not perceiving that the Master had been angered for a little while because of the sins of those dwelling in the city; therefore neglect had come upon the place.

εἰ δὲ μὴ συνέβη προσενέχεσθαι πολλοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν καθάπερ ἦν ὁ Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ πεμφθεὶς ὑπὸ Σελεύκου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπὶ τὴν ἐπίσκεψιν τοῦ γαζοφυλακίου οὗτος προαχθεὶς παραχρῆμα μαστιγωθεὶς ἀνετράπη τοῦ θράσους

If it had not happened that they were entangled in many sins, then, just as Heliodorus had once been, when he was sent by King Seleucus to inspect the treasury, this man too would have been scourged immediately upon coming forward and turned back from his audacity.

ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τὸν τόπον τὸ ἔθνος ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἔθνος τὸν τόπον ὁ κύριος ἐξελέξατο

But the Lord did not choose the nation for the sake of the place; rather, the place for the sake of the nation.

διόπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τόπος συμμετασχὼν τῶν τοῦ ἔθνους δυσπετημάτων γενομένων ὕστερον εὐεργετημάτων ἐκοινώνησεν καὶ ὁ καταλειφθεὶς ἐν τῇ τοῦ παντοκράτορος ὀργῇ πάλιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ μεγάλου δεσπότου καταλλαγῇ μετὰ πάσης δόξης ἐπανωρθώθη

Therefore the place itself also, after sharing in the misfortunes that befell the nation, later shared in benefactions; and though abandoned in the wrath of the Almighty, it was restored again in all its glory when the great Master was reconciled.

ὁ γοῦν Ἀντίοχος ὀκτακόσια πρὸς τοῖς χιλίοις ἀπενεγκάμενος ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τάλαντα θᾶττον εἰς τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν ἐχωρίσθη οἰόμενος ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας τὴν μὲν γῆν πλωτὴν καὶ τὸ πέλαγος πορευτὸν θέσθαι διὰ τὸν μετεωρισμὸν τῆς καρδίας

So Antiochus, after carrying off from the temple eighteen hundred talents, departed as quickly as possible to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance to make the land navigable and the sea passable, because his heart was lifted up.

κατέλιπεν δὲ καὶ ἐπιστάτας τοῦ κακοῦν τὸ γένος ἐν μὲν Ιεροσολύμοις Φίλιππον τὸ μὲν γένος Φρύγα τὸν δὲ τρόπον βαρβαρώτερον ἔχοντα τοῦ καταστήσαντος

He also left behind overseers to mistreat the nation: in Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by race, and in character more barbarous than the one who appointed him.

ἐν δὲ Γαριζιν Ἀνδρόνικον πρὸς δὲ τούτοις Μενέλαον ὃς χείριστα τῶν ἄλλων ὑπερῄρετο τοῖς πολίταις ἀπεχθῆ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς πολίτας Ιουδαίους ἔχων διάθεσιν

And on Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who acted more wickedly than all the others toward the citizens, having a hateful disposition toward the Jewish citizens.

ἔπεμψεν δὲ τὸν Μυσάρχην Ἀπολλώνιον μετὰ στρατεύματος δισμυρίους δὲ πρὸς τοῖς δισχιλίοις προστάξας τοὺς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ πάντας κατασφάξαι τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς νεωτέρους πωλεῖν

He sent the Mysarch Apollonius with an army of twenty-two thousand, ordering him to slaughter all those in their prime and to sell the women and the younger ones.

οὗτος δὲ παραγενόμενος εἰς Ιεροσόλυμα καὶ τὸν εἰρηνικὸν ὑποκριθεὶς ἐπέσχεν ἕως τῆς ἁγίας ἡμέρας τοῦ σαββάτου καὶ λαβὼν ἀργοῦντας τοὺς Ιουδαίους τοῖς ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ἐξοπλησίαν παρήγγειλεν

When this man arrived in Jerusalem and pretended to be peaceful, he held back until the holy day of the Sabbath, and then, finding the Jews inactive, he ordered those under his command to arm themselves.

καὶ τοὺς ἐξελθόντας πάντας ἐπὶ τὴν θεωρίαν συνεξεκέντησεν καὶ εἰς τὴν πόλιν σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις εἰσδραμὼν ἱκανὰ κατέστρωσεν πλήθη

He cut down all who had gone out to the public spectacle, and running into the city with his weapons, he laid low large crowds.

Ιουδας δὲ ὁ καὶ Μακκαβαῖος δέκατός που γενηθεὶς καὶ ἀναχωρήσας εἰς τὴν ἔρημον θηρίων τρόπον ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν διέζη σὺν τοῖς μετ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν χορτώδη τροφὴν σιτούμενοι διετέλουν πρὸς τὸ μὴ μετασχεῖν τοῦ μολυσμοῦ

But Judas, who was also called Maccabaeus, becoming about the tenth, withdrew into the wilderness and lived in the mountains like the wild animals, together with those who were with him, and they kept feeding on plant food so as not to share in the defilement.