King James Version · Under the Greeks
1 Maccabees 16
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is.
1Then came up from , and told his what had done. 2Wherefore called his two eldest sons, and , and said unto them, I, and my brethren, and ’s house, have ever from my youth unto this day fought against the of Israel; and things have prospered so well in our hands, that we have Israel oftentimes. 3But now I am old, and ye, by ’s mercy, are of a sufficient age: be ye instead of me and my brother, and go and fight for our nation, and the help from be with you. 4So he chose out of the country twenty thousand men of war with horsemen, who went out against , and rested that night at . 5And when as they rose in the morning, and went into the plain, behold, a mighty great host both of footmen and horsemen came against them: howbeit there was a water brook betwixt them. 6So he and his people pitched over against them: and when he saw that the people were afraid to go over the water brook, he went first over himself, and then the men seeing him passed through after him. 7That done, he divided his men, and set the horsemen in the midst of the footmen: for the ’ horsemen were very many. 8Then sounded they with the : whereupon and his host were put to flight, so that many of them were slain, and gat them to the strong hold. 9At that time was ’s brother wounded; but still followed after them, until he came to Cedron, which had built. 10So they fled even unto the towers in the fields of ; wherefore he burned it with : so that there were slain of them about two thousand men. Afterward he returned into the land of in peace. 11Moreover in the plain of was the son of Abubus made captain, and he had abundance of silver and gold: 12For he was the ’s son in law. 13Wherefore being lifted up, he thought to get the country to himself, and thereupon consulted deceitfully against and his sons to destroy them. 14Now was visiting the cities that were in the country, and taking care for the good ordering of them; at which time he came down himself to with his sons, and , in the hundred threescore and seventeenth year, in the eleventh month, called Sabat: 15Where the son of Abubus receiving them deceitfully into a little hold, called Docus, which he had built, made them a great banquet: howbeit he had hid men there. 16So when and his sons had drunk largely, and his men rose up, and took their weapons, and came upon into the banqueting place, and slew him, and his two sons, and certain of his servants. 17In which doing he committed a great treachery, and recompensed evil for good. 18Then wrote these things, and sent to the king, that he should send him an host to aid him, and he would him the country and cities. 19He sent others also to to kill : and unto the tribunes he sent letters to come unto him, that he might give them silver, and gold, and rewards. 20And others he sent to take , and the mountain of . 21Now one had run afore to and told that his and brethren were slain, and, quoth he, hath sent to thee also. 22Hereof when he heard, he was sore astonished: so he laid hands on them that were come to destroy him, and slew them; for he knew that they sought to make him away. 23As concerning the rest of the acts of , and his wars, and worthy deeds which he did, and the building of the walls which he made, and his doings, 24Behold, these are written in the chronicles of his priesthood, from the time he was made after his .
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.