2 Maccabees 12 - New Catholic Bible (NCB)

Chapter 12

Judas Punishes Joppa and Jamnia. ¹ After these agreements had been concluded, Lysias returned to the king and the Jews reapplied themselves to their farming. ² However, some of the governors in the region—Timothy and Apollonius, the son of Gennaeus,^[a] as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, and Nicanor, the commander of the Cyprians—would not allow the Jews to live quietly and in peace.

³ The people of Joppa committed a particularly wicked atrocity: they invited the Jews who lived among them, together with their wives and children, to set out on boats that they had provided. There was no indication of any animosity toward the Jews.^{[b] 4} There had been a public vote of the city in this regard, and the Jews accepted, since they suspected no treachery and wished to live in peace. The people of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned at least two hundred of them.

⁵ As soon as Judas learned of this act of cruelty perpetrated against his compatriots, he issued orders to his men, ⁶ and after calling upon God, the just judge, he attacked the murderers of his kindred. He set fire to the harbor during a nighttime attack, burned the boats, and put to the sword those who had taken refuge there. ⁷ Then, because the gates of the town were closed, he withdrew, intending to return later and wipe out the entire community of Joppa.

⁸ However, after learning that the people of Jamnia planned to deal in the same way with the Jews who lived among them, ⁹ he attacked the Jamnians by night and set fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the flames was visible as far off as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.^[c]

¹⁰ Judas Intervenes in Galaad.^[d] When the Jews had proceeded more than a mile from there in their campaign against Timothy, they were attacked by at least five thousand Arab infantrymen supported by five hundred horsemen. ¹¹ After a fierce struggle, Judas and his companions were victorious with the help of God. The defeated nomads begged Judas to make a pact of friendship with them, and they promised to supply the Jews with cattle and to help them in every other way possible. ¹² Realizing that they might indeed be useful in many ways, Judas agreed to make peace with them, and after assurances of friendship had been exchanged, the Arabs withdrew to their tents.

¹³ Judas also attacked a town named Caspin, which was fortified by earthworks and ramparts and inhabited by a mixed population of Gentiles. ¹⁴ Confident in the strength of their walls and their stock of provisions, the besieged treated Judas and his men with contempt, insulting them and uttering blasphemies and profanity. ¹⁵ However, Judas and his men invoked the great Sovereign of the world who, without battering ram or engines of war, had overthrown Jericho in the days of Joshua. Then they stormed the wall with a savage assault. ¹⁶ They captured the town by the will of God, inflicting such an indescribable slaughter that the adjoining lake, a quarter of a mile in width, appeared to be overflowing with blood.

¹⁷ The Battle of Carnaim. When they had advanced from there about ninety-five miles, they came to Charax, which was inhabited by those Jews known as Toubiani.^{[e] 18} However, they did not find Timothy in that region, for by then he had departed from there without accomplishing anything, aside from leaving behind a very strong garrison in one place. ¹⁹ But Dositheus and Sosipater, two of the generals of Maccabeus, marched out and destroyed the force that Timothy had left behind in the stronghold, a force that numbered more than ten thousand men. ²⁰ Meanwhile, Maccabeus divided his army into cohorts, with a commander in charge of each cohort,^[f] and hurried in pursuit of Timothy, whose troops numbered one hundred and twenty thousand infantry and twenty-five hundred cavalry. ²¹ When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent off the women and the children and also the baggage to a place called Carnaim, which was hard to besiege and difficult to approach because of the narrowness of the passages of entry.

²² However, after the first cohort of Judas appeared, the enemy was stricken with terror and fear at the manifestation of the All-seeing One. In headlong flight, they scattered in every direction, so that frequently they were injured by their own comrades and run through by the points of their swords. ²³ Judas pressed the pursuit vigorously, putting the sinners to the sword and slaying as many as thirty thousand men.

²⁴ Timothy himself fell into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater and their men, but with considerable cunning, he begged them to let him go unharmed, the reason being that he had the parents and relatives of many of them in his power and their fate was in his hands. ²⁵ When he made a solemn pledge to return those hostages unharmed, they set him free for the sake of saving their kindred. ²⁶ Judas then marched against Car-naim and the temple of Atargatis,^[g] where he slaughtered twenty-five thousand people.

²⁷ Judas Returns to Jerusalem. After the defeat and destruction of these, he led his army against Ephron, a fortified town where Lysias dwelt with people of various nationalities. Stalwart young men took up their posts in defense of the walls and made a spirited stand, while inside there were large supplies of engines of war and missiles. ²⁸ However, the Jews, having invoked the Sovereign whose power shatters the strength of his enemies, gained control of the town and killed about twenty-five thousand of the people inside. ²⁹ Then they set out from there and pushed on to Scythopolis,^[h] seventy-five miles from Jerusalem. ³⁰ But when the Jews who lived there testified to the goodwill that the people of Scythopolis had shown them, and to their kind treatment of them during times of misfortune, ³¹ Judas and his men thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future also. Finally, since the Feast of Weeks^[i] was close at hand, they proceeded to Jerusalem.

³² An Engagement That Ends Badly. After the Feast of Pentecost, they marched against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea, ³³ who confronted them with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen. ³⁴ In the course of the ensuing battle, a small number of Jews lost their lives. ³⁵ However, a man named Dositheus, one of Bacenor’s cavalry forces^[j] and an individual of great strength, caught hold of Gorgias by his cloak and forcibly dragged him along, intending to take the accursed man alive. But a Thracian horseman bore down on Dositheus and cut off his arm at the shoulder, enabling Gorgias to escape to Marisa.

³⁶ Meanwhile, inasmuch as Esdris and his men were exhausted after engaging in battle for a long time, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle. ³⁷ Then, raising a battle cry in his ancestral tongue, along with hymns, he launched a surprise attack and put the forces of Gorgias to flight. ³⁸ Thereupon Judas rallied his forces and advanced to the town of Adullam. Inasmuch as the seventh day of the week was at hand, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the Sabbath there.

³⁹ The Sacrifice for the Dead.^[k] On the following day, since the need had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to collect the bodies of those who had fallen and to bury them with their kindred in their ancestral tombs. ⁴⁰ However, under the tunic of each of the dead, they found amulets that were sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. Thus it was clear to everyone that this was the reason that these men had been slain. ⁴¹ And so they all praised the acts of the Lord, the just judge who reveals things that are hidden, ⁴² and they turned to supplication, praying that the sin that had been committed might be completely blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, since they had seen with their own eyes what had happened as a result of the sin of those who had fallen.

⁴³ Then he took up a collection from all of his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this, he acted in a suitable and honorable way, guided by his belief in the resurrection.^{[l] 44} For if he had not expected those who had fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. ⁴⁵ However, if he was focusing on the splendid reward reserved for those whose death was marked by godliness, his thought was holy and devout. ⁴⁶ Therefore, he had this expiatory sacrifice offered for the dead so that they might be delivered from their sin.

Footnotes

1. 2 Maccabees 12:2 Apollonius, the son of Gennaeus: distinct from the Apollonius mentioned in 2 Mac 4:21, who was the son of Menestheus. Nicanor: distinct from the general spoken of in 2 Mac 8:9; 14:2.
2. 2 Maccabees 12:3 The enmity of the inhabitants of Joppa toward the Jews continues even after the death of Judas (see 1 Mac 10:75; 12:33f; 13:11).
3. 2 Maccabees 12:9 Thirty miles away: the distance is approximated; from Jerusalem to the ancient port of Jamnia was a distance of some thirty-five miles.
4. 2 Maccabees 12:10 This campaign, which has no connection with the preceding episode, is recounted with greater precision and coherence in 1 Mac 5:9-68.
5. 2 Maccabees 12:17 Toubiani: Jews from the land of Tob (see 1 Mac 5:13).
6. 2 Maccabees 12:20 Commander in charge of each cohort: that is, Dositheus over one and Sosipater over the other.
7. 2 Maccabees 12:26 Atargatis: a Syrian goddess whose symbol was the body of a fish.
8. 2 Maccabees 12:29 Scythopolis: the Greek name for Beth-shan (see 1 Mac 5:52).
9. 2 Maccabees 12:31 Feast of Weeks: Greek name for Pentecost, so called because it was celebrated seven weeks after the Passover.
10. 2 Maccabees 12:35 One of Bacenor’s cavalry forces: some ancient witnesses to the text have “one of the Toubiani” (see v. 17). Cloak: a short cloak attached to the chest or a shoulder by a buckle. It was very common with officials of the Hellenistic armies. Marisa: ancient Canaanite city, about thirteen miles west of Hebron on the road that descends along the Philistine coast.
11. 2 Maccabees 12:39 Judas has a sacrifice of expiation celebrated that God may pardon the sins of the dead. From the viewpoint of the faith, this passage is of great importance. First of all, it bears witness in an explicit manner to belief in the resurrection of the dead. Secondly, it gives weight to the conviction of the Church concerning a purification after death, that is, during that provisional condition in which the deceased—before living fully in God—expiate their sins and can be aided by the prayer of the living. Thirdly, the passage also offers testimony on behalf of the communion of saints, that is, that spiritual exchange that unites all the faithful with one another.
12. 2 Maccabees 12:43 The ancient ritual (Lev 4:1-5, 13; 6:17-23) provided various forms of sacrifices of expiation according to the status of the persons and the gravity of the sin committed. In this case, it was two thousand silver drachmas.