2 Maccabees 12

₁When the peace agreement between the Jews and the Syrians was completed, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews went back to their farming. ₂But some of the local governors, Timothy and Apollonius son of Gennaeus, as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, would not let them live in peace; and neither would Nicanor, the commander of the mercenaries from Cyprus.

₃About this time, the people of Joppa did a cruel thing to the Jews of their city. They pretended to be friendly to the Jews and invited them and their families to go sailing with them on ships they had provided. ₄Since all the people of the town had decided to do this, the Jews suspected nothing and accepted the invitation out of a feeling of good will. But when they were out at sea, the people of Joppa drowned all 200 of them.

₅As soon as Judas heard of this inhuman thing that had been done to his fellow-Jews, he informed his men. ₆After they had prayed to God, the just judge, they attacked the murderers. Under cover of darkness they set fire to the harbour, burning all the ships, and killing everyone they found hiding there. ₇The gates of the city were locked, so Judas withdrew; but he was determined to return at some other time and wipe out everyone living there.

₈Judas heard that the people of Jamnia had plans to kill the Jews of their city also. ₉So he attacked Jamnia at night, setting fire to its harbour and the ships there. The flames could be seen as far as Jerusalem, fifty kilometres away.

₁₀When Judas and his men were about two kilometres away from Jamnia on their way to meet Timothy in battle, they were attacked by more than 5,000 Arabs, supported by 500 cavalry. ₁₁It was a hard fight, but with the help of God they defeated those desert tribesmen, who then asked to be on friendly terms with the Jews, promising to give them some livestock and offering to help them in other ways as well. ₁₂Judas thought their friendship might prove useful in many ways, so he agreed to make peace with them; after that the Arabs returned to their tents.

₁₃Judas also attacked the heavily fortified walled city of Caspin. The people who lived there were a mixed population of Gentiles ₁₄who relied on the strength of their walls and felt confident that they had enough food stored up to last through a siege. So they made fun of Judas and his men, shouting out insults against them and profanities against their God. ₁₅But the Jews prayed to the Almighty Lord of the universe, who had torn down the walls of Jericho in the days of Joshua without using battering-rams or siege-weapons. Then they made a fierce attack against the wall ₁₆and because it was God's will, they captured the city. The Jews slaughtered so many people that a nearby lake, which was about a quarter of a mile wide, seemed to be overflowing with blood.

₁₇From the city of Caspin, Judas and his men marched about 150 kilometres, until they came to the Jewish settlement of Charax, near the city of Tob. ₁₈But they did not find Timothy there, because he had already left the region. He had been able to do nothing there except leave behind a strong garrison in one place. ₁₉Two of Judas' generals, Dositheus and Sosipater, attacked the garrison and killed all 10,000 men stationed there. ₂₀Then Judas divided his army into several divisions, placing Dositheus and Sosipater each in command of a division, and hurried after Timothy, who had a force of 120,000 infantry and 2,500 cavalry. ₂₁When Timothy found out that Judas was coming after him, he sent the women and children on ahead with the baggage to the city of Karnaim, which was almost impossible to besiege or even to reach, because of the narrow passes that led up to it. ₂₂But at the moment that Judas' first division came into sight, the enemy forces were thrown into panic by a vision sent by God, who sees everything. In their terror they began to run wildly about and many of them were wounded by the swords of their own men. ₂₃So Judas and his men pursued them as hard as they could, killing at least 30,000 of the enemy. ₂₄Timothy himself was captured by the troops of Dositheus and Sosipater. But he was very shrewd and managed to convince them that many of their relatives were his prisoners and would be put to death if anything happened to him. ₂₅Finally, after he had promised to send their relatives home safely, they let him go free.

₂₆Next, Judas attacked the city of Karnaim and the temple of the goddess Atargatis there, killing 25,000 people ₂₇and completely destroying both the city and the temple. Then he attacked the fortified city of Ephron where Lysias and people of all nationalities were living. Strong young men took up their positions in front of the walls and fought bravely, while inside the city were stored large quantities of military supplies and weapons. ₂₈But the Jews prayed for help to the Lord, who crushes the power of his enemies. So they captured the city and killed about 25,000 people. ₂₉From there they hurried on to the city of Beth Shan, 120 kilometres north of Jerusalem. ₃₀The Jews there told Judas how kindly the people of the city had treated them, especially during hard times. ₃₁So Judas and his men thanked the people and urged them to show the same good will towards the Jews in the future. Then they left for Jerusalem, where they arrived shortly before the Harvest Festival.

₃₂After Pentecost (as the Harvest Festival is called in Greek) Judas and his men quickly marched out against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea, ₃₃who met them with 3,000 infantry and 400 cavalry. ₃₄In the battle that followed, a few Jews were killed. ₃₅Then a Jew from the city of Tob, a powerful cavalry soldier by the name of Dositheus, grabbed Gorgias by his cloak and started dragging him away by brute force, intending to take the worthless man alive. But suddenly one from the Thracian cavalry rushed at Dositheus and chopped off his arm, allowing Gorgias to escape to the city of Marisa.

₃₆By now the Jewish men under the command of Esdrias had been fighting for a long time and were exhausted. So Judas prayed that the Lord would show that he was on their side and in command of their troops. ₃₇Then, while Judas sang a hymn in his native language as a battle-cry, the Jews made a surprise attack against Gorgias and his men and put them to flight.

₃₈After the battle Judas led his men to the town of Adullam. It was the day before the Sabbath, so they purified themselves according to Jewish custom and then observed the holy day. ₃₉By the following day it was urgent that they gather up the bodies of the men who had been killed in battle and bury them in their family tombs. ₄₀But on each of the dead, hidden under their clothes, they found small images of the gods worshipped in Jamnia, which the Law forbids Jews to wear. Everyone then knew why these men had been killed. ₄₁So they praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge, who reveals what is hidden, ₄₂and they begged him that this sin might be completely blotted out. Then, Judas, that great man, urged the people to keep away from sin, because they had seen for themselves what had happened to those men who had sinned. ₄₃He also took up a collection from all his men, totalling about two kilogrammes of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. Judas did this noble thing because he believed in the resurrection of the dead. ₄₄If he had not believed that the dead would be raised, it would have been foolish and useless to pray for them. ₄₅In his firm and devout conviction that all God's faithful people would receive a wonderful reward, Judas made provision for a sin offering to set free from their sin those who had died.