1 Machabees 15

¹And king Antiochus the son of Demetrius sent epistles from the isles of the sea to Simon the priest, and prince of the nation of the Jews, and to all the nation:

²and they contained this tenure: King Antiochus to Simon the grand-Priest, and to the nation of the Jews greeting.

³Because certain pestilent men have obtained the kingdom of our fathers, and I mean to challenge the kingdom, and to restore it as it was before: and I have chosen a great army, and have made ships of war.

⁴And I will march through the country, that I may take revenge of them, that have destroyed our country, and that have made many cities desolate in my realm.

⁵Now therefore I establish unto thee all the oblations, which all the kings before me remitted unto thee, & what other gifts soever they remitted thee:

⁶and I permit thee to make a coin of thy own money in thy country:

⁷and Jerusalem to be holy and free, and all the armour that is made, and the fortresses which thou hast built, and which thou dost hold, let them remain to thee.

⁸And all that is due to the king, and the things that are to be the king's hereafter, from this present and for all time, they are remitted to thee.

⁹And when we shall have obtained our kingdom, we will glorify thee, and thy nation, & the temple with great glory, so that your glory shall be made manifest in all the earth.

¹⁰In the year an hundreth seventy four went forth Antiochus into the land of his fathers, and all the hosts assembled unto him, so that there were few left with Tryphon.

¹¹And Antiochus the king pursued him, and he came to Dora flying by the sea coast.

¹²For he knew that evils were heaped upon him, and the army forsook him.

¹³And Antiochus camped upon Dora with an hundred twenty thousand men of war, & eight thousand horsemen:

¹⁴and he compassed the city, and the ships approached to the sea: & they vexed the city by land & by sea, and suffered none to come in, or to go out.

¹⁵And Numenius came, and they that had been with him, from the city of Rome, having epistles written to kings, and countries, wherein were contained these words:

¹⁶Lucius the Consul of the Romans, to Ptolemee the king greeting.

¹⁷The Ambassadors of the Jews our friends came to us, renewing the old amity, and society, being sent from Simon the prince of the priests, and the people of the Jews.

¹⁸And they brought also a buckler of gold of a thousand pounds.

¹⁹It hath pleased us therefore to write to the kings, & countries, that they do them no harm, nor impugn them, & their cities, and their countries: and that they give no aid to them that fight against them.

²⁰And it hath seemed good unto us to take the buckler of them.

²¹If therefore any pestilent men are fled out of their country to you, deliver them to Simon the Prince of the Priests, that he may punish them according to their law.

²²These self same things were written to Demetrius the king, and to Attalus, and to Ariarathes, and to Arsaces,

²³and into all countries: and to Lampsaces, & to the Spartiates, and to Delus, and to Myndus, and to Sicyon, & to Caria, and to Samus, & Pamphilia, and Lycia, and Alicarnassus, and Coo, & Siden, & A radon, and Rhodes, and Phaselis, & Gortyna, and Gnidus, and Cypres, & Cyrenee.

²⁴And a copy thereof they wrote to Simon the prince of the priests and people of the Jews.

²⁵But king Antiochus moved his camp unto Dora the second time, setting hands always upon it, and making engines: & he shut up Tryphon, that he could not go forth.

²⁶And Simon sent unto him two thousand chosen men for aid, and silver, & gold, and aboundance of furniture.

²⁷And he would not take them, but brake all things that he covenanted with him before, and alienated himself from him.

²⁸And he sent to him Athenobius one of his friends, to treat with him, saying: You hold Joppe, and Gazara, and the castle, that is in Jerusalem, cities of my kingdom:

²⁹their borders you have made desolate, and you have made a great plague in the land, and have ruled in many places in my kingdom.

³⁰Now therefore deliver the cities, that you have taken, and the tributes of the places, wherein you have ruled without the borders of Jury.

³¹But if not, give you for them five hundred talents of silver, and for the destruction, that you have made, & the tributes of cities other five hundred talents: but if not, we will come and expugn you.

³²And Athenobius the king's friend came into Jerusalem, and saw the glory of Simon, and his magnificence in gold, and silver, and furniture aboundant, and he was astonished, & told him the king's words.

³³And Simon answered him, and said to him: Neither have we taken other men's land, neither do we hold that is other men's: but the inheritance of our fathers, which was a certain season unjustly possessed of our enemies.

³⁴But we having opportunity challenge the inheritance of our fathers.

³⁵For concerning Joppe, and Gazara, that thou complainest they made a great plague among the people, and in our country: for these we given an hundred talents. And Athenobius answered him not a word.

³⁶But with anger returning to the king, he reported unto him these words, and the glory of Simon, and all things that he saw, and the king was wrath with great anger.

³⁷And Tryphon fled by ship to Orthosias

³⁸And the king appointed Cendebæus captain by the sea coast, and gave him an army of foot men and horsemen.

³⁹And he commanded him to move the camp against the face of Jurie: and he commanded him to build Cedron, and to fortify the gates of the city, and to conquer the people. But the king pursued Tryphon.

⁴⁰And Cendebæus came to Jamnia, and began to provoke the people, and to conculcate Jurie, & to take the people captive, and to kill, and to build Cedron.

⁴¹And he placed there horsemen, and an host: that going forth they might walk by the way of Jurie, as the king appointed him.