Battles with Surrounding Nations
1 Maccabees 5, verse 1. When the surrounding nations heard the altar was repaired and the sanctuary renewed as before, they were extremely angry. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 2. So they resolved to kill the race of Jacob who lived among them, and they began to kill and destroy the people. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 3. Thus Judas waged war on the sons of Esau in Idumea at Acrabattene, for they were besieging Israel. He struck them a great blow, humbled them, and took spoils from them. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 4. He also recalled the evil acts by the sons of Baean, who trapped and snared the people in ambush out on the roads. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 5. He shut them up in their towers and encamped around them, vowing to destroy them. So he set their towers on fire with everyone inside. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 6. Then he crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and found a strong army and many people, with Timothy as their leader. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 7. He fought many battles against them until he struck them down, and they were crushed before him. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 8. Then he overpowered Jazer and its villages and came back to Judea. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 9. Now the foreigners in Gilead assembled against the Israelites living within their borders, to destroy them. But they fled into the fortress of Dathema 1 Maccabees 5, verse 10. and sent letters to Judas and his brothers, saying, “The Gentiles have gathered against us and surrounded us to destroy us. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 11. They have made ready to come here and overpower the fortress where we have taken refuge, and Timothy is in charge of their army. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 12. Now therefore, come and deliver us from their hand, for many of our men have perished. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 13. All our brothers in the region of Tob have been put to death, and they took their wives and children captive, along with their possessions; and they destroyed about a thousand men there.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 14. While their letters were being read, behold, other envoys arrived from Galilee with torn garments and reported similar words, 1 Maccabees 5, verse 15. saying that those from Ptolemais, Tyre, Sidon, and all Galilee of the Gentiles had assembled themselves together, “to destroy us.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 16. So when Judas and the people heard these words, a great assembly was gathered to decide what to do for their brothers who were in trouble and were being attacked by adversaries. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 17. So Judas told Simon his brother, “Choose men for yourself and go and save your brothers in Galilee, while my brother Jonathan and I go to Gilead.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 18. He left Joseph, the son of Zachariah, and Azariah, a leader of the people, with the rest of the army in Judea, to guard it. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 19. He ordered them, saying, “Take charge of this people, but do not go into battle against the Gentiles until we return.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 20. Then three thousand troops were chosen for Simon to go to Galilee, and eight thousand men for Judas to take to Gilead.
Victories in Galilee and Gilead
1 Maccabees 5, verse 21. Thus Simon went into Galilee and fought many battles with the Gentiles, and crushed the Gentiles before him. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 22. He chased them to the gates of Ptolemais, and three thousand Gentiles perished, and he took their spoils. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 23. So he took the Israelites of Galilee and Arbatta, along with their wives and children and everything they possessed, and brought them with great joy to Judea. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 24. Meanwhile, Judas Maccabeus and Jonathan his brother crossed over the Jordan and journeyed three full days into the desert. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 25. They came upon the Nabateans, who met them peacefully and told them everything that had happened to their brothers in Gilead: 1 Maccabees 5, verse 26. “Many have been imprisoned in Bozrah and Bosor in Alema, Chaspho, Maked, and Carnaim (all these cities were fortified and strong), 1 Maccabees 5, verse 27. and some have been imprisoned in the remaining cities of Gilead. Tomorrow your foes will attack the strongholds to destroy and capture all of them in one day.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 28. Judas and his forces returned at once to Bozrah by the desert road; and he captured the city, killed all the males by the edge of the sword, took all the spoils, and set the city on fire. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 29. He marched from there by night, and they kept going until they reached the fortress of Dathema. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 30. Then at daybreak they looked up and beheld many people, too many to count, carrying ladders and engines of war to take the fortress and strike the Israelites inside. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 31. When Judas saw the battle had started, an outcry went up from the city to heaven with trumpets and loud shouts. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 32. So he said to his army of men, “Fight today for the sake of our brothers!” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 33. Then he came up behind them in three companies, and they sounded the trumpets and cried aloud in prayer. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 34. When Timothy's army saw that they faced Maccabeus, they fled before him. He struck them a great blow, and on that day eight thousand of them perished. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 35. Judas then made his way to Alema. He waged war and captured it, taking its spoils and setting the city on fire. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 36. He marched on from there and captured Chaspho, Maked, and Bosor, and the remaining cities of Gilead. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 37. Timothy, however, called together more troops and set up camp opposite Raphon across the stream. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 38. Judas dispatched soldiers to scout the camp, and they returned to him, saying, “All the foreigners have gathered around us, and a very large army is with him. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 39. Further, they have hired Arab mercenaries to help, and they are also camped on the other side of the stream, prepared to come against you in battle.” So Judas went out to face them. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 40. Timothy told the officers of his army while Judas and his camp drew near the stream, “If he crosses the stream against us first, we will be unable to withstand him, for he is strong enough to defeat us. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 41. But if he is frightened and sets up camp across the stream, we will pass over against him and crush him.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 42. But as Judas approached the water, he stationed the scribes of the troops near the stream and ordered them, “Do not allow anyone to stay in camp, but make all of them join the battle.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 43. So Judas crossed over to meet them first, with all the men behind him. Then all the Gentiles were crushed by them. They dropped their weapons and fled into the sacred regions of Carnain. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 44. So Judas captured the city and set the sacred precinct on fire, along with all those residing there. Thus Carnain was defeated, for they were not able to stand against Judas. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 45. After this, Judas assembled all the Jews living in Gilead, from small to great, along with their wives and children and their possessions, a great entourage, to return to the land of Judah. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 46. They came as far as Ephron, an expansive and fortified city on the highway. They could not pass through, either to the right or the left. The only way to go was through the middle of town. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 47. But the men of the city closed it off and barricaded the gates with stones. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 48. So Judas sent them a peaceful word, saying, “Let us pass through your land to go to our land. No one will harm you. Merely we will come through on foot.” But they refused to open to him. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 49. So Judas gave orders to proclaim to the troops that each man make camp where he was. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 50. Then the soldiers in the army made camp, and he fought the men of Ephron all day and all night, and the city was given over into his hand. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 51. He killed every male with the edge of the sword, destroyed the city completely, and took its spoils. So he passed through the city, stepping over those who were killed. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 52. Then they came to the Jordan, crossing over into the great plain facing Beth-shan; 1 Maccabees 5, verse 53. and Judas gathered the stragglers and encouraged the men along the way until they entered Judah. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 54. They marched up to Mount Zion and sacrificed whole burnt offerings, and offered whole burnt offerings with joy and gladness of heart, because not one of them was lost before they returned home in peace. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 55. While Judas and Jonathan had been in Gilead, and Simon his brother was in Galilee facing Ptolemais, 1 Maccabees 5, verse 56. Joseph the son of Zacharias, and Azariah, officers of the army, got word of their courageous acts and the victorious battles they fought. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 57. They spoke, saying, “Let us make a name for ourselves as well and take on the Gentiles who live around us.” 1 Maccabees 5, verse 58. Thus they gave a command to those from the army with them, and they marched to Jamnia. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 59. But Gorgias and his army went out from the city to face them in battle, 1 Maccabees 5, verse 60. and Joseph and Azariah were routed and chased as far as the boundaries of Judea. That day about two thousand men of Israel perished. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 61. It was a great defeat for the people; for expecting to act heroically, they did not follow the orders of Judas and his brothers. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 62. And they did not belong to the seed of those men through whom Israel received the gift of deliverance. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 63. So Judas and his brothers were honored greatly throughout all Israel and even by the Gentiles, where their name was being heard. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 64. People assembled around them and gave them praise. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 65. Then Judas went out with his brothers and fought the sons of Esau in the land to the south, and attacked Hebron and its towns, and pulled down its many fortresses and set on fire its towers round about. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 66. He also marched into the country of the Philistines, and then on to Marisa. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 67. Some priests that day who wanted to show their courage perished in battle, for they went out to fight recklessly. 1 Maccabees 5, verse 68. But Judas turned aside to Azotus, the country of the Philistines. He destroyed their altars, set the carved idols of their gods on fire, and took spoils in the cities. Then he came back to the land of Judah.