Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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The Fall of Alexander Epiphanes
1 King Ptolemy the Sixth of
Egypt assembled an army of
soldiers more numerous than the
grains of sand along the seashore,
and he also gathered a great fleet of
ships. He intended to trap Alexander,
take his kingdom, and add it
to his own,
2 so he went to Syria with
promises of peace, and the citizens
opened their gates to him and welcomed
him. King Alexander had ordered
them to do this because Ptolemy
was his father-in-law.
3 But as
Ptolemy moved north, he stationed a
detachment of troops in each town.
4 When he reached Ashdod, the people
there showed him the burned
ruins of the temple of Dagon and all
the destruction in the city and the
surrounding towns. There were
corpses everywhere. The bodies of
the men Jonathan had burned to
death during the battle were now
stacked up along Ptolemy's route.
5 The people told him what Jonathan
had done, hoping that he would hold
him responsible, but Ptolemy said
nothing.
6 Jonathan, with all the
proper ceremony, went to Joppa to
meet him. They exchanged greetings
and spent the night there.
7 Jonathan
accompanied him as far as the Eleutherus
River before returning to Jerusalem.
8 In this way King Ptolemy,
-- --
in his plot against Alexander, took
control of the towns along the coast
as far north as Seleucia-by-the-sea.
9 From there King Ptolemy sent
this message to King Demetrius:
“Let's make a treaty. My daughter is
now Alexander's wife, but I will take
her back and give her to you and let
you rule over your father's kingdom.
10 I regret that I ever gave her to
Alexander, because he has tried to
kill me.”
11 Ptolemy made this accusation
against Alexander because he
wanted to take over his kingdom.
12 So he took his daughter away
from Alexander and gave her to Demetrius;
he broke off all relations
with Alexander, and they became
open enemies.
13 Then Ptolemy entered
Antioch and assumed the
crown of Syria; so he wore both the
crown of Egypt and the crown of
Syria.
14 King Alexander was in Cilicia at
the time because the people of that
region were in a state of rebellion.
15 But when he heard what Ptolemy
had done, he moved to attack him.
Ptolemy met him with a large force
and won a decisive victory.
16 While
Ptolemy reached the peak of his
power, Alexander fled to Arabia to
find protection,
17 but an Arab
named Zabdiel cut off his head and
sent it to Ptolemy.
18 Two days later
Ptolemy himself died, and the troops
he had left in the fortresses were
then killed by the local citizens.
19 So
in the year 167 note Demetrius the Second
became king.
Jonathan Wins the Favor of
Demetrius the Second
20 About that time Jonathan gathered
the men of Judea to attack the
fort in Jerusalem. They built many
siege platforms to use in the attack.
21 But some traitorous Jews who
hated their own nation went to King
Demetrius the Second and told him
that Jonathan was laying siege to
the fort in Jerusalem.
22 When Demetrius
heard this, he was furious
and immediately moved his headquarters
to Ptolemais. He wrote to
Jonathan and ordered him to lift the
siege and to meet him for a conference
in Ptolemais without a moment's
delay.
23 When Jonathan got the message,
he gave orders for the siege to
continue, and then chose some Jewish
leaders and some priests to go
with him. At the risk of his life,
24 he
went to the king in Ptolemais, taking
along robes, silver and gold, and
many other gifts. He made a good
impression on the king.
25 Although
some lawless traitors of his own nation
had made accusations against
Jonathan,
26 the king still treated him
just as his predecessors had done.
He honored him in the presence of
all his advisers,
27 and confirmed him
as High Priest, restoring all his former
honors and appointing him to
the highest rank among the “Friends
of the King.”
28 Jonathan asked the king to release
the territory of Judea and the
three regions of Samaria note from the
payment of taxes, promising that if
Demetrius would do that, he would
pay him a lump sum of 22,000
pounds of silver.
29 The king agreed
and wrote a letter to Jonathan to
confirm all this:
30 “King Demetrius to King
Jonathan and to the Jewish nation,
greetings.
31 “For your information I am
sending a copy of the letter I
have written to the Honorable
Lasthenes about you:
32 “‘King Demetrius to the
Honorable Lasthenes, greetings.
33 I have decided to grant the
Jewish nation certain benefits
because they are our loyal allies
and keep their treaty obligations.
34 I confirm their rights to
the land of Judea and the three
regions of Ephraim, Lydda, and
Arimathea, which are hereby
annexed to Judea from Samaria
with all the lands belonging to
them. This will be of benefit to
-- --
everyone who goes to Jerusalem
to offer sacrifice, since payments
of the annual tax on produce
and fruit from these lands
will no longer be made to the
king, but to the Temple. note
35 And I
also grant them relief from the
payment of revenues now due
me from tithes, tolls, salt taxes,
and special taxes.
36 None of the
provisions mentioned in this letter
shall ever be canceled in the
future.
37 “‘You are required to see
that a complete copy of this decree
is made and given to Jonathan,
to be posted in a prominent
place on the Temple hill.’”
Jonathan Helps Demetrius the Second
38 When King Demetrius saw that
the land was peaceful under his rule
and there was no further resistance,
he disbanded his whole army and
sent everyone home, except the soldiers
he had hired from the Greek
islands. This made all the soldiers
who had served under his predecessors
hate him because they had
lost their source of income.
39 One of
Alexander's former supporters,
Trypho, saw that all the soldiers
were complaining about Demetrius,
so he went to Imalkue, the Arab who
was responsible for bringing up
Alexander's young son Antiochus.
40 Trypho stayed there for a long
time and kept urging Imalkue to
hand the boy over to him, so that he
could make him king in place of his
father. He also told Imalkue about
the decrees of Demetrius and how
the soldiers hated him.
41 Jonathan sent a message to King
Demetrius asking him to remove his
troops from the fort in Jerusalem
and from the fortresses in Judea,
since they kept harassing the Jews.
42 Demetrius replied: “I will do what
you request, and when the opportunity
presents itself, I will bestow
upon you and your nation the highest
honors.
43 But now you can help
me by sending soldiers to fight for
me, because all of my troops have
revolted.”
44 So Jonathan sent 3,000 trained
soldiers to Antioch. The king was
delighted when they arrived,
45 because
a mob of 120,000 had gathered
in the city determined to kill him.
46 But he escaped to the palace while
the mob took control of the streets
and began to riot.
47 Then the king
called on the Jewish soldiers for
help, and they all rushed to his aid.
They went through the whole city
and killed at least 100,000 people.
48 They saved the king's life, but they
plundered and burned the city.
49 When the people saw that the
Jews had complete control of the
city, they lost courage and appealed
to the king, requesting
50 him to arrange
a truce and stop the Jewish attack.
51 The rebels threw down their
arms and surrendered. The king and
everyone in his kingdom now had
great respect for the Jews, who returned
to Jerusalem with a great
deal of loot.
52 Demetrius was firmly
established as king, and the country
was at peace under his rule,
53 but he
broke all his promises and turned
against Jonathan. He did not reward
him for his loyal service, but instead
continued to harass him.
Jonathan Supports Antiochus the Sixth
54 Some time later, Trypho returned
with the young boy Antiochus
and crowned him king.
55 All
the soldiers that Demetrius had dismissed
then came to the support of
the young king. They defeated Demetrius,
and he fled.
56 Trypho captured
the elephants and took control
of Antioch.
57 The young King Antiochus
wrote to Jonathan and confirmed
him as High Priest and as
ruler over the four regions and gave
him the title “Friend of the King.”
58 He sent him a set of gold tableware
and authorized him to drink
from gold cups, to wear a royal robe,
and to wear the gold shoulder
buckle awarded to “Relatives of the
King.”
59 He also appointed Jonathan's
brother Simon as governor of
the territory from the Phoenician
coast to the Egyptian border.
-- --
60 Jonathan then marched with his
army through the towns of Greater
Syria, and all the Syrian forces
joined him as allies. He went to Ashkelon,
where the people welcomed
him with great honors.
61 Then he
went to Gaza, but the people there
barred their gates against him. So he
laid siege to the city and burned and
looted the surrounding area.
62 The
people of Gaza then asked for peace,
and Jonathan arranged a truce. He
took the sons of the leaders and sent
them to Jerusalem as hostages. After
that he marched on as far as Damascus.
63 Jonathan learned that the officers
of Demetrius had come to Kedesh
in Galilee with a large army, intending
to keep him from carrying
out his plan.
64 So he left his brother
Simon in Judea and set out to meet
them in battle.
65 Then Simon laid
siege to Bethzur and fought against
it for a long time.
66 The people
asked for peace terms, and Simon
agreed. He then took over the town,
drove the people out, and stationed a
detachment of troops there.
67 Jonathan and his army set up
camp by Lake Galilee. Early the next
morning he marched his troops to
the plain of Hazor,
68 where the main
force of the foreign army was advancing
to meet him. Unknown to
Jonathan, they had left a detachment
of troops in ambush in the
mountains,
69 and when the men in
ambush came out and attacked,
70 Jonathan's entire army turned and
ran. No one was left, except two
officers, Mattathias son of Absalom
and Judas son of Chalphi.
71 Jonathan
was humiliated, so he tore his
clothes, threw dust on his head, and
prayed.
72 Then he turned back to the
battle, crushed the enemy, and put
them to flight.
73 When his own fleeing
soldiers saw this, they turned
back and joined him in pursuit. They
chased the enemy all the way back
to their camp at Kedesh and then
took over the camp.
74 At least 3,000
enemy soldiers were killed that day.
Jonathan then returned to Jerusalem.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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