King James Version · Under the Greeks
1 Maccabees 15
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1Moreover son of the king sent letters from the isles of the sea unto the priest and prince of the , and to all the people; 2The contents whereof were these: King to the and prince of his nation, and to the people of the , greeting: 3Forasmuch as certain pestilent men have usurped of our fathers, and my purpose is to challenge it again, that I may restore it to the old estate, and to that end have gathered a multitude of foreign soldiers together, and prepared ships of war; 4My meaning also being to go through the country, that I may be of them that have destroyed it, and made many cities in desolate: 5Now therefore I confirm unto thee all the oblations which the kings before me granted thee, and whatsoever gifts besides they granted. 6I give thee leave also to coin money for thy country with thine own stamp. 7And as concerning and , let them be free; and all the armour that thou hast made, and fortresses that thou hast built, and keepest in thine hands, let them unto thee. 8And if anything be, or shall be, owing to the king, let it be forgiven thee from this time forth for evermore. 9Furthermore, when we have obtained our kingdom, we will thee, and thy nation, and thy temple, with great , so that your shall be known throughout the world. 10In the hundred threescore and fourteenth year went into the land of his fathers: at which time all the forces came together unto him, so that few were left with . 11Wherefore being pursued by king , he fled unto , which lieth by the sea side: 12For he saw that troubles came upon him all at once, and that his forces had forsaken him. 13Then camped against , having with him an hundred and twenty thousand men of war, and eight thousand horsemen. 14And when he had compassed the city round about, and joined ships close to the town on the sea side, he vexed the city by land and by sea, neither suffered he any to go out or in. 15In the mean season came and his company from , having letters to the kings and countries; wherein were written these things: 16Lucius, consul of the unto king , greeting: 17The ’ ambassadors, our friends and confederates, came unto us to renew the old friendship and league, being sent from the , and from the people of the : 18And they brought a shield of gold of a thousand pound. 19We thought it good therefore to write unto the kings and countries, that they should do them no harm, nor fight against them, their cities, or countries, nor yet aid their against them. 20It seemed also good to us to receive the shield of them. 21If therefore there be any pestilent fellows, that have fled from their country unto you, them unto the , that he may punish them according to their own law. 22The same things wrote he likewise unto the king, and Attalus, to Ariarathes, and , 23And to all the countries and to Sampsames, and the , and to Delus, and Myndus, and Sicyon, and Caria, and Samos, and Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Halicarnassus, and Rhodus, and Aradus, and , and Side, and Aradus, and Gortyna, and , and , and Cyrene. 24And the copy hereof they wrote to the . 25So the king camped against the second day, assaulting it continually, and making engines, by which means he shut up , that he could neither go out nor in. 26At that time sent him two thousand chosen men to aid him; silver also, and gold, and much armour. 27Nevertheless he would not receive them, but brake all the which he had made with him afore, and became strange unto him. 28Furthermore he sent unto him , one of his friends, to commune with him, and say, Ye withhold and ; with the tower that is in , which are cities of my realm. 29The borders thereof ye have wasted, and done great hurt in the land, and got the of many places within my kingdom. 30Now therefore the cities which ye have taken, and the tributes of the places, whereof ye have gotten without the borders of : 31Or else give me for them five hundred of silver; and for the harm that ye have done, and the tributes of the cities, other five hundred : if not, we will come and fight against you 32So the king’s friend came to : and when he saw the of , and the cupboard of gold and silver plate, and his great attendance, he was astonished, and told him the king’s message. 33Then answered , and said unto him, We have neither taken other men’s land, nor holden that which appertaineth to others, but the of our fathers, which our had wrongfully in possession a certain time. 34Wherefore we, having opportunity, hold the of our fathers. 35And whereas thou demandest and , albeit they did great harm unto the people in our country, yet will we give thee an hundred for them. Hereunto answered him not a word; 36But returned in a rage to the king, and made report unto him of these speeches, and of the of , and of all that he had seen: whereupon the king was exceeding wroth. 37In the mean time fled by ship unto Orthosias. 38Then the king made captain of the sea coast, and gave him an host of footmen and horsemen, 39And commanded him to remove his host toward ; also he commanded him to build up Cedron, and to fortify the , and to war against the people; but as for the king himself, he pursued . 40So came to and began to provoke the people and to invade , and to take the people prisoners, and them. 41And when he had built up Cedrou, he set horsemen there, and an host of footmen, to the end that issuing out they might make outroads upon the ways of , as the king had commanded him.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under the Greeks, 332 BC to 63 BC ›
Alexander's conquest and the kingdoms of his successors. Greek language and custom press in everywhere, and the crisis under Antiochus IV provokes the Maccabean revolt.
- The successors
- Alexander dies at thirty-two and his generals carve up the empire. Judea sits on the border between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, and is fought over by both for a century and a half, which is the ordinary condition of the corridor.
- Hellenism
- Not just conquest but a culture: the gymnasium, the theatre, Greek names, Greek dress, Greek as the language of anyone with ambitions. Some Jews embraced it, some resisted it, and the argument between them is the real subject of the Maccabean books. In Alexandria the Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek, producing the Septuagint, which is the Bible most New Testament writers quote.
- The crisis
- Antiochus IV bans the practice of Judaism, plunders the temple, and sets up a pagan altar in it in 167 BC. The revolt under the Maccabees wins, the temple is rededicated in 164 BC, which is the origin of Hanukkah, and Judea has about eighty years of independence under the Hasmoneans before Rome arrives.
- Further afield
- Rome fights Carthage three times and ends up master of the Mediterranean. Euclid writes the Elements and Archimedes does his work at Syracuse. In China the Qin unify the country in 221 BC and the Han follow, opening what becomes the Silk Road.