1Maccabees:10
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In the hundred and sixtieth year Alexander ,
the son of Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes ,
went up and took Ptolemais :
for the people had received him ,
by means whereof he reigned there ,
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Now when king Demetrius heard thereof ,
he gathered together an exceeding great host ,
and went forth against him to fight .
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Moreover Demetrius sent letters unto Jonathan with loving words ,
so as he magnified him .
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For said he ,
Let us first make peace with him ,
before he join with Alexander against us :
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Else he will remember all the evils that we have done against him ,
and against his brethren and his people .
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Wherefore he gave him authority to gather together an host ,
and to provide weapons ,
that he might aid him in battle :
he commanded also that the hostages that were in the tower should be delivered him .
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Then came Jonathan to Jerusalem ,
and read the letters in the audience of all the people ,
and of them that were in the tower :
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Who were sore afraid ,
when they heard that the king had given him authority to gather together an host .
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Whereupon they of the tower delivered their hostages unto Jonathan ,
and he delivered them unto their parents .
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This done ,
Jonathan settled himself in Jerusalem ,
and began to build and repair the city .
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And he commanded the workmen to build the walls and the mount Sion and about with square stones for fortification ;
and they did so .
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Then the strangers ,
that were in the fortresses which Bacchides had built ,
fled away ;
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Insomuch as every man left his place ,
and went into his own country .
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Only at Bethsura certain of those that had forsaken the law and the commandments remained still :
for it was their place of refuge .
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Now when king Alexander had heard what promises Demetrius had sent unto Jonathan :
when also it was told him of the battles and noble acts which he and his brethren had done ,
and of the pains that they had endured ,
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He said ,
Shall we find such another man ?
now therefore we will make him our friend and confederate .
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Upon this he wrote a letter ,
and sent it unto him ,
according to these words ,
saying ,
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King Alexander to his brother Jonathan sendeth greeting :
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We have heard of thee ,
that thou art a man of great power ,
and meet to be our friend .
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Wherefore now this day we ordain thee to be the high priest of thy nation ,
and to be called the king '
s friend ; (
and therewithal he sent him a purple robe and a crown of gold :)
and require thee to take our part ,
and keep friendship with us .
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So in the seventh month of the hundred and sixtieth year ,
at the feast of the tabernacles ,
Jonathan put on the holy robe ,
and gathered together forces ,
and provided much armour .
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Whereof when Demetrius heard ,
he was very sorry ,
and said ,
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What have we done ,
that Alexander hath prevented us in making amity with the Jews to strengthen himself ?
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I also will write unto them words of encouragement ,
and promise them dignities and gifts ,
that I may have their aid .
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He sent unto them therefore to this effect :
King Demetrius unto the people of the Jews sendeth greeting :
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Whereas ye have kept covenants with us ,
and continued in our friendship ,
not joining yourselves with our enemies ,
we have heard hereof ,
and are glad .
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Wherefore now continue ye still to be faithful unto us ,
and we will well recompense you for the things ye do in our behalf ,
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And will grant you many immunities ,
and give you rewards .
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And now do I free you ,
and for your sake I release all the Jews ,
from tributes ,
and from the customs of salt ,
and from crown taxes ,
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And from that which appertaineth unto me to receive for the third part or the seed ,
and the half of the fruit of the trees ,
I release it from this day forth ,
so that they shall not be taken of the land of Judea ,
nor of the three governments which are added thereunto out of the country of Samaria and Galilee ,
from this day forth for evermore .
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Let Jerusalem also be holy and free ,
with the borders thereof ,
both from tenths and tributes .
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And as for the tower which is at Jerusalem ,
I yield up authority over it ,
and give the high priest ,
that he may set in it such men as he shall choose to keep it .
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Moreover I freely set at liberty every one of the Jews ,
that were carried captives out of the land of Judea into any part of my kingdom ,
and I will that all my officers remit the tributes even of their cattle .
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Furthermore I will that all the feasts ,
and sabbaths ,
and new moons ,
and solemn days ,
and the three days before the feast ,
and the three days after the feast shall be all of immunity and freedom for all the Jews in my realm .
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Also no man shall have authority to meddle with or to molest any of them in any matter .
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I will further ,
that there be enrolled among the king '
s forces about thirty thousand men of the Jews ,
unto whom pay shall be given ,
as belongeth to all king '
s forces .
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And of them some shall be placed in the king '
s strong holds ,
of whom also some shall be set over the affairs of the kingdom ,
which are of trust :
and I will that their overseers and governors be of themselves ,
and that they live after their own laws ,
even as the king hath commanded in the land of Judea .
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And concerning the three governments that are added to Judea from the country of Samaria ,
let them be joined with Judea ,
that they may be reckoned to be under one ,
nor bound to obey other authority than the high priest '
s .
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As for Ptolemais ,
and the land pertaining thereto ,
I give it as a free gift to the sanctuary at Jerusalem for the necessary expences of the sanctuary .
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Moreover I give every year fifteen thousand shekels of silver out of the king '
s accounts from the places appertaining .
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And all the overplus ,
which the officers payed not in as in former time ,
from henceforth shall be given toward the works of the temple .
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And beside this ,
the five thousand shekels of silver ,
which they took from the uses of the temple out of the accounts year by year ,
even those things shall be released ,
because they appertain to the priests that minister .
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And whosoever they be that flee unto the temple at Jerusalem ,
or be within the liberties hereof ,
being indebted unto the king ,
or for any other matter ,
let them be at liberty ,
and all that they have in my realm .
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For the building also and repairing of the works of the sanctuary expences shall be given of the king '
s accounts .
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Yea ,
and for the building of the walls of Jerusalem ,
and the fortifying thereof round about ,
expences shall be given out of the king '
s accounts ,
as also for the building of the walls in Judea .
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Now when Jonathan and the people heard these words ,
they gave no credit unto them ,
nor received them ,
because they remembered the great evil that he had done in Israel ;
for he had afflicted them very sore .
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But with Alexander they were well pleased ,
because he was the first that entreated of true peace with them ,
and they were confederate with him always .
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Then gathered king Alexander great forces ,
and camped over against Demetrius .
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And after the two kings had joined battle ,
Demetrius '
host fled :
but Alexander followed after him ,
and prevailed against them .
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And he continued the battle very sore until the sun went down :
and that day was Demetrius slain .
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Afterward Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemee king of Egypt with a message to this effect :
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Forasmuch as I am come again to my realm ,
and am set in the throne of my progenitors ,
and have gotten the dominion ,
and overthrown Demetrius ,
and recovered our country ;
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For after I had joined battle with him ,
both he and his host was discomfited by us ,
so that we sit in the throne of his kingdom :
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Now therefore let us make a league of amity together ,
and give me now thy daughter to wife :
and I will be thy son in law ,
and will give both thee and her as according to thy dignity .
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Then Ptolemee the king gave answer ,
saying ,
Happy be the day wherein thou didst return into the land of thy fathers ,
and satest in the throne of their kingdom .
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And now will I do to thee ,
as thou hast written :
meet me therefore at Ptolemais ,
that we may see one another ;
for I will marry my daughter to thee according to thy desire .
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So Ptolemee went out of Egypt with his daughter Cleopatra ,
and they came unto Ptolemais in the hundred threescore and second year :
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Where king Alexander meeting him ,
he gave unto him his daughter Cleopatra ,
and celebrated her marriage at Ptolemais with great glory ,
as the manner of kings is .
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Now king Alexander had written unto Jonathan ,
that he should come and meet him .
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Who thereupon went honourably to Ptolemais ,
where he met the two kings ,
and gave them and their friends silver and gold ,
and many presents ,
and found favour in their sight .
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At that time certain pestilent fellows of Israel ,
men of a wicked life ,
assembled themselves against him ,
to accuse him :
but the king would not hear them .
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Yea more than that ,
the king commanded to take off his garments ,
and clothe him in purple :
and they did so .
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And he made him sit by himself ,
and said into his princes ,
Go with him into the midst of the city ,
and make proclamation ,
that no man complain against him of any matter ,
and that no man trouble him for any manner of cause .
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Now when his accusers saw that he was honored according to the proclamation ,
and clothed in purple ,
they fled all away .
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So the king honoured him ,
and wrote him among his chief friends ,
and made him a duke ,
and partaker of his dominion .
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Afterward Jonathan returned to Jerusalem with peace and gladness .
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Furthermore in the ;
hundred threescore and fifth year came Demetrius son of Demetrius out of Crete into the land of his fathers :
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Whereof when king Alexander heard tell ,
he was right sorry ,
and returned into Antioch .
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Then Demetrius made Apollonius the governor of Celosyria his general ,
who gathered together a great host ,
and camped in Jamnia ,
and sent unto Jonathan the high priest ,
saying ,
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Thou alone liftest up thyself against us ,
and I am laughed to scorn for thy sake ,
and reproached :
and why dost thou vaunt thy power against us in the mountains ?
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Now therefore ,
if thou trustest in thine own strength ,
come down to us into the plain field ,
and there let us try the matter together :
for with me is the power of the cities .
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Ask and learn who I am ,
and the rest that take our part ,
and they shall tell thee that thy foot is not able to to flight in their own land .
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Wherefore now thou shalt not be able to abide the horsemen and so great a power in the plain ,
where is neither stone nor flint ,
nor place to flee unto .
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So when Jonathan heard these words of Apollonius ,
he was moved in his mind ,
and choosing ten thousand men he went out of Jerusalem ,
where Simon his brother met him for to help him .
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And he pitched his tents against Joppa :
but ;
they of Joppa shut him out of the city ,
because Apollonius had a garrison there .
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Then Jonathan laid siege unto it :
whereupon they of the city let him in for fear :
and so Jonathan won Joppa .
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Whereof when Apollonius heard ,
he took three thousand horsemen ,
with a great host of footmen ,
and went to Azotus as one that journeyed ,
and therewithal drew him forth into the plain .
because he had a great number of horsemen ,
in whom he put his trust .
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Then Jonathan followed after him to Azotus ,
where the armies joined battle .
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Now Apollonius had left a thousand horsemen in ambush .
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And Jonathan knew that there was an ambushment behind him ;
for they had compassed in his host ,
and cast darts at the people ,
from morning till evening .
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But the people stood still ,
as Jonathan had commanded them :
and so the enemies '
horses were tired .
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Then brought Simon forth his host ,
and set them against the footmen , (
for the horsemen were spent )
who were discomfited by him ,
and fled .
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The horsemen also ,
being scattered in the field ,
fled to Azotus ,
and went into Bethdagon ,
their idol '
s temple ,
for safety .
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But Jonathan set fire on Azotus ,
and the cities round about it ,
and took their spoils ;
and the temple of Dagon ,
with them that were fled into it ,
he burned with fire .
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Thus there were burned and slain with the sword well nigh eight thousand men .
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And from thence Jonathan removed his host ,
and camped against Ascalon ,
where the men of the city came forth ,
and met him with great pomp .
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After this returned Jonathan and his host unto Jerusalem ,
having any spoils .
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Now when king ALexander heard these things ,
he honoured Jonathan yet more .
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And sent him a buckle of gold ,
as the use is to be given to such as are of the king '
s blood :
he gave him also Accaron with the borders thereof in possession .
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