And a wicked ruler arose, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of Antiochus the king, who had been a hostage at Rome, and he reigned in the hundred and thirty and seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.
And the kingdom was well ordered in the sight of Antiochus, and he thought to reign over Egypt, that he might reign over the two kingdoms. And he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots, and with elephants, and with horsemen, and with a great navy; and he made war against Ptolemy king of Egypt; and Ptolemy was put to shame before him, and fled; and many fell wounded to death. And they got possession of the strong cities in the land of Egypt; and he took the spoils of Egypt.
And Antiochus, after he had smitten Egypt, returned in the hundred and forty and third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude, and entered presumptuously into the sanctuary, and took the golden altar, and the candlestick, and all that pertained thereto, and the table of the showbread, and the cups, and the bowls, and the golden censers, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornaments which were before the temple, and he pulled them all off. And he took [{421}] the silver and the gold and the precious vessels; and he took the hidden treasures which he found. And when he had taken all, he went away into his own land, having made a great massacre.
And after two full years the king sent a chief collector of tribute unto the cities of Judah, and he came unto Jerusalem with a great multitude. And he spoke peaceable words unto them, but all was deceit: for when they believed him he fell upon the city suddenly, and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people out of Israel. And he took the spoils of the city, and set it on fire, and pulled down the houses thereof and the walls thereof on every side. And they led captive the women and the children, and the cattle they took in possession. And they builded the city of David with a great and strong wall, with strong towers, and it became unto them a citadel. And they put there a garrison of cruel soldiers, transgressors of the law, and they strengthened themselves therein. And they stored up arms and provisions, and gathering together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there. And they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary, and defiled the sanctuary. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them; and she became a habitation of strangers, and she became strange to them that were born in her, and her children forsook her. Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach, her honor into contempt. According to her glory, so was her dishonor multiplied, and her high estate was turned into mourning.
And King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and that each should forsake his own laws. And all the nations agreed according to the word of the king; and many of Israel consented to his worship, and sacrificed to the idols and profaned the Sabbath. And the king sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow laws strange to the land, and should forbid whole burnt offerings and sacrifice and drink offerings in the sanctuary; and should profane the Sabbaths and feasts, and pollute the sanctuary and them that were holy; that they should build altars, and temples, and shrines for idols, and should sacrifice swine's flesh and unclean beasts. And whosoever shall not do according to the word of the king, he shall die. According to all these words wrote he to his whole kingdom; and he appointed overseers over all the people, and he commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city. And from the people were gathered together unto them many, everyone that had forsaken the law; and they did evil things in the land; and they made the Israelites to hide themselves in every place of refuge which they had.
III.
How Mattathias the Priest and His Five Sons Rebelled Against the Authority of the King, and Fled to the Mountains.
In those days rose up Mattathias the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest from Jerusalem; and he dwelt at Modin. And he had five sons, John, who was surnamed [{423}] Gaddis; Simon, who was called Thassi; Judas, who was called Maccabaeus; Eleazar, who was called Avaran; Jonathan, who was called Apphus.
And he saw the blasphemies that were committed in Judah and in Jerusalem, and he said,--
"Woe is me! wherefore was I born to see the destruction of my people, and the destruction of the holy city, and to dwell there, when it was given into the hand of the enemy, the sanctuary into the hand of aliens? Her temple is become as a man without glory: her vessels of glory are carried away into captivity, her infants are slain in her streets, her young men with the sword of the enemy. What nation hath not inherited her palaces, and gotten possession of her spoils? her adorning is all taken away; instead of a free woman she is become a bond woman: and, behold, our holy things and our beauty and our glory are laid waste, and the Gentiles have profaned them. Wherefore should we live any longer?"