The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Maccabees 14
1 In the one hundred seventy-second
year,† King Demetrius gathered his forces
together, and went into Media to get help,
that he might fight against Tryphon.
2 When Arsaces, the king of Persia and
Media, heard that Demetrius had come
into his borders, he sent one of his princes
to take him alive.
3 He went and struck the army of
Demetrius, and seized him and brought
him to Arsaces, who put him under guard.
4 The land had rest all the days of Simon.
He sought the good of his nation. His
authority and his honor was pleasing to
them all his days.
5 Amid all his honors, he took Joppa for
a harbor, and made it an entrance for the
islands of the sea.
6 He enlarged the borders of his nation
and took possession of the country.
7 He gathered together a great number
of captives, and took control of Gazara,
Bethsura, and the citadel, and he removed
its uncleannesses from it. There was no
one who resisted him.
8 They tilled their land in peace, and the
land gave her increase, and the trees ofthe
plains gave their fruit.
9 The old men sat in the streets; they all
conversed together about good things. The
young men put on glorious and warlike
apparel.
10 He provided food for the cities and
furnished them with means of defense,
until the glory of his name was known to
the end of the earth.
11 He made peace in the land, and Israel
rejoiced with great joy.
12 Each mansatunderhis vine andhisfig
tree, and there was no one to make them
afraid.
13 No one was left in the land who fought
against them. The kings were defeated in
those days.
14 He strengthened allthose of his people
who were humble. He searched out the
law, and every lawless and wicked person
he took away.
15 He glorified the sanctuary, and added
to the vessels of the temple.
16 It was heard at Rome that Jonathan
was dead, and even in Sparta, and they
were exceedingly grieved.
17 But as soon as they heard that his
brother Simon was made high priest in his place,
and ruled the country and the cities in it,
18 they wrote to him on brass tablets to
renew with him the friendship and the
alliance which they had confirmed with
his brothers Judas and Jonathan.
19 These were read before the congregation at Jerusalem.
20 This is the copy ofthe letters which the
Spartans sent: “The rulers and the city of the Spartans,
to Simon the high priest, to the elders, the
priests, and the rest of the people of the
Jews, our kindred, greetings.
21 The ambassadors who were sent to
our people reported to us about your glory
and honor. We were glad for their coming,
22 and we registered the things that were
spoken by them in the public records‡ as
follows: ‘Numenius son of Antiochus, and
Antipater son of Jason, the Jews’ ambassadors,
came to us to renew the friendship
they had with us.
23 It pleased the people to entertain the
men honorably, and to put the copy of
their words in the public records,§ to the
end that the people of the Spartans might
have a record of them. Moreover they
wrote a copy of these things to Simon the
high priest.
24 After this, Simon sent Numenius to
Rome with a great shield of gold of weighing
one thousand minas,† in order to confirm
the alliance with them.
25 But when the people heard these
things, they said, “What thanks shall we
give to Simon and his sons?
26 For he and his brothers and the house
of his father have made themselves strong,
and have fought and chased away Israel’s
enemies, and confirmed liberty to Israel.‡”
27 So they wrote on tablets of brass, and
set them on pillars on mount Zion. This is
the copy of the writing: “On the eighteenth
day of Elul, in the one hundred seventy-
second year,§ which is the third year of
Simon the high priest,
28 in Asaramel, in a great congregation
of priests and people and princes of the
nation, and of the elders of the country, it
was proclaimed to us:†
29 ‘Since wars oftenoccurredinthe country, Simon
the son of Mattathias, the son of the sons of Joarib,
and his brothers, put themselves in jeopardy and
withstood the enemies of their nation, that
their sanctuary and the law might be
established, and glorified their nation
with great glory.
30 Jonathan rallied the nation, became
their high priest, and was gathered to his
people.
31 Their enemies planned to invade
their country, that they might destroy
their country utterly, and stretch out their
hands against their sanctuary.
32 Then Simon rose up and fought for his
nation. He spent much of his own money
to arm the valiant men of his nation and
give them wages.
33 He fortified the cities of Judea and
Bethsura that lies on the borders of Judea,
where the weapons of the enemies were
had been stored, and there he placed a
garrison of Jews.
34 He fortified Joppa which is upon the
sea, and Gazara which is upon the borders
of Azotus, where the enemies used to live,
and placed Jews there, and set in there all
things necessary for their restoration.
35 The people saw Simon’s faith,‡ and the
glory which he resolved to bring to his
nation, and they made him their leader and
high priest, because he had done all these
things, and for the justice and the faith
which he kept to his nation, and because
he sought by all means to exalt his people.
36 In his days, things prospered in his
hands, so that the Gentiles were taken
away out of their country, and they also
who were in the city of David, those who
were in Jerusalem, who had made themselves
a citadel, out of which they used
to go, and polluted everything around the
sanctuary, and did great damage to its purity.
37 He placed Jews in it and fortified it for
the safety of the country and the city, and
made high the walls of Jerusalem.
38 King Demetrius confirmed to him the
high priesthood according to these things,
39 and made him one of his friends,§ and
honored him with great honor;
40 for he had heard that the Jews had
been called by the Romans friends, allies,
and kindred, and that they had met the
ambassadors of Simon honorably;
41 and that the Jews and the priests were
well pleased that Simon should be their
leader and high priest forever, until there
should arise a faithful prophet;
42 and that he should be governor over
them, and should take charge of the sanctuary,
to set them over their works, and
over the country, and over the weapons,
and over the strongholds; and that he
should take charge of the sanctuary,
43 and that he should be obeyed by all,
and that all contracts in the country should
be written in his name, and that he should
be clothed in purple, and wear gold;
44 and that it should not be lawful for
any of the people or of the priests to nullify
any of these things, or to oppose the words
that he should speak, or to gather an assembly
inthe country withouthim, or tobe
clothed in purple, or wear a buckle of gold;
45 but whoever should do otherwise, or
nullify any of these things, he will be liable
to punishment.
46 All the people consented to ordain for
Simon that he should do according to these
words.
47 So Simon accepted this, and consented
to be high priest, and to be captain and
governor† of the Jews and of the priests,
and to be protector of all.
48 They commanded to put this writing
on tablets of brass, and to set them up
within the precinct of the sanctuary in a
conspicuous place,
49 and moreover to put copies of them
in the treasury, so that Simon and his sons
might have them.