A   When these couena&ubar;tes were made Lysias went vnto the kyng, ∧ the Iewes tylled their grounde. But Timotheus, Apollonius þe; sonne of Gemel, Ierome ∧ Demophon þe; proude, Nicanor þe; captayne of Cypers, ∧ they that laye in those places: wolde not lett th&ebar; lyue in rest ∧ peace. They of Ioppa also dyd euen soch a shamefull dede. They prayed the Iewes þt; dwelt amonge them, to go with their wyues ∧ childr&ebar; into þe; shyppes whych they had prepared, and dyd wyth th&ebar;, as though they had ought them no euell wyll. For so moch th&ebar; as there was gone forth a general proclamacyon thorow the cytye because of peace, they c&obar;s&ebar;ted therto, ∧ suspecte noth&ibar;g: but when they were gone forth into þe; depe, they drowned no lesse then .ii.C. of them.

Wh&ebar; Iudas knew of this cruelte shewed vnto his people, he commaunded those that were with h&ibar; to make th&ebar; ready, exhortyng them to call vp&obar; God the ryghteous iudge: went forth agaynst those murthurers of his brethren, set fyre in the hau&ebar; by nyght, brent vp the shyppes, and those that escaped from the fyre, he slewe with þe; swearde. B   And when he had done thys, he departed as though he wolde come agayne, and rote out all th&ebar; of Ioppa. But when he had gott&ebar; worde, that þe; Iamnites were mynded to do in lyke maner vnto þe; Iewes whych dwelt am&obar;ge th&ebar;, he came vpon the Iamnites by nyght, ∧ sett fyre on the hauen wyth the shyppes: so that the lyght of the fyre was sene at Ierusalem vpon a .ii.C. and .xl. furlonges.

Now when they were gone from thence ix. furlonges, in their iourney towarde Timotheus .v. thousande men of fote and .v. hundreth horsmen of the Arabians, fought with him. So when þe; battell was earnest, ∧ prospered wyth Iudas thorow the helpe of God: the resydue of the Arabi&abar;s beynge ouercome, besought Iudas to be at one with them, ∧ promysed to geue hym certayne pastures, and to do him good in other thinges. Iudas thinckynge that they shulde in dede be profytable concernynge many thynges, promised them peace: whervpon they shoke handes, and so they departed to their tentes Iudas wente also vnto a cytie, whych was very faste kepte with brydges, fensed round aboute with walles, and dyuerse kyndes of people dwellinge therin, called Caspin.

C   They that were within it, put soch trust in the str&ebar;gth of the walles, ∧ in their stoare of vitailes: that they were þe; slacker in their doynges, cursynge and reuylinge Iudas &wt; blasphemyes, and speakynge soch wordes as it becommeth not. But Machabeus callynge vpon the great Prynce of the worlde (which without any battayll r&abar;mes, or ordynaunce of warre, dyd ^note cast downe þe; walles of Iericho, in þe; tyme of Iosue) fell manfully vp&obar; þe; walles, toke the cyte, (∧ thorow the helpe of the Lord) made an exceadynge greate slaughter: In so moch þt; a lake of two fourlonges brode whych laye therby, semed to flowe wyth the bloude of the slayne.

Then departed they from thence .vii.C. ∧ L. furlonges, and came to Taraca vnto the Iewes that are called Tubianei. But as for Timotheus, they coulde not get him there: for (not one matter dyspatched) he was departed from thence, and had lefte certayne men in a very strong holde. But Dositheus ∧ Sosipater, whych were Captaynes with Machabeus, slewe those þt; Timotheus had lefte in the house of defence, euen .x.M. men. And Machabeus prepared him with the .vi M. men þt; were aboute hym, set th&ebar; in ordre by companyes, and w&ebar;te forth agaynst Timotheus, whych had wyth hym an .C. ∧ .xx.M. men of fote .ii.M. and .v.C. horsmen.

D   When Timotheus had knowledge of Iudas c&obar;mynge, he sent þe; women, chyldr&ebar; and the other baggage vnto a castell called Carnion. (For it coulde not be w&obar;ne, ∧ was harde to come vnto, the wayes of þe; same places were so narow) ∧ wh&ebar; Iudas c&obar;pany came first in syght, þe; enemyes were smytten with feare, thorow the presence of God, whych seyth all thynges: In so moch þt; they fleynge one here, another there, were rather disc&obar;fyted of their awne people, ^note and wo&ubar;ded &wt; þe; strokes of their awne sweardes. Iudas also was very earnest in folowynge vp&obar; them, punishinge those vngodly, ∧ slewe .xxx.M. m&ebar; of th&ebar;. Timotheus also him self fell into þe; handes of Dositheus and Sosipater, wh&obar; he besought with many prayers, to let hym go with his lyfe: because he had many of the Iewes fathers ∧ brethr&ebar; &ibar; preson, whych (yf they put h&ibar; to death) myght be disapointed. So wh&ebar; he had promysed faythfully to deliuer th&ebar; agayne accordyng to þe; c&obar;dicion made, they let hym go wythout harme, for the health of the brethr&ebar;. And when Iudas had slayne .xxv.M. he wente from Carnion.

E   Now after þt; he had chased awaye ∧ slayne his enemyes, he remoued þe; hoste towarde ^note Ephr&obar; a str&obar;ge cytie, wherin dwelt many diuerse people of the Heathen, ∧ the stronge yonge men kepte the walles, defendyng th&ebar;

mightely. In this cytie was moch ordina&ubar;ce and prouision of dartes. But wh&ebar; Iudas and his c&obar;pany had called vpon Almyghty God (whych wyth hys power breaketh the strength of the enemyes) they w&abar;ne the cytie, and slewe .xxv.M. of th&ebar;, þt; were within From thence wente they to the cytye of the Scythi&abar;s, whych lyeth .vi.C. furlonges fr&obar; Ierusalem. But when þe; Iewes whych were in the citye testifyed, that the cytesyns dealte louyngly with them, yee, and intreated them kyndly in the tyme of their aduersyte, Iudas and hys c&obar;pany gaue them th&abar;ckes, desyringe them to be fr&ebar;dly still vnto them: and so they came to Ierusalem the hye feast of the wekes beynge at hande. And after the feast of pentecost they went forth agaynst Gorgias the gouernoure of Idumea, wyth iii.M. men of fote ∧ .iiii.C. horsmen. Which when they met together, it chaunsed a fewe of þe; Iewes to be slayne. And Dositheus one of þe; Bachenors a mighty horsm&abar; toke hold of Gorgias, ∧ wolde haue tak&ebar; him quycke. But an horsman of Thracia fell vpon him, and smote of his arme, so þt; Gorgias escaped ∧ fled into Moresa. When they now þt; were of Gorgias side, had foughten longe ∧ were weary: Iudas called vp&obar; the Lorde, that he wolde be their helper, ∧ captayne of the felde: and with that, he beganne with a manly voyce to take vp a songe of prayse, ∧ a crye: In so moch þt; he made the enemyes afrayed, and Gorgias m&ebar; of warre toke their flight. So Iudas gathered his hoste, ∧ came into þe; cytie of Odolla. And when the seu&ebar;th daye came vpon th&ebar;, they clensed themselues (as the custome was) ∧ kepte the Sabboth in þe; same place. And vpon the daye folowynge, Iudas ∧ his c&obar;pany cam to take vp the bodies of th&ebar; that were slayne, and to bury th&ebar; in the fathers graues. Now vnder the cotes of certaine Iewes whych were slayne, they founde Iewels that they had taken out of þe; t&ebar;ple ∧ from the Idols of the ^note Iamniters: whych thynge is forbydden the Iewes by þe; lawe. Then euery man sawe, þt; this was the cause, wherfore they were slayne.

G   And so euery man gaue thanckes vnto þe; Lorde for hys ryghtuous iudgement, which had opened the thynge that was hyd. They fell downe also vnto theyr prayers, and besought God, þt; the fawte whych was made, myght be put out of rem&ebar;braunce. Besydes that, Iudas exhorted þe; people earnestly, to kepe th&ebar;selues from soch synne: for so moch as they sawe before their eyes: þt; these men were slayne for the same offence. So he gathered of euery one a certayne, in so moch þt; he brought together two thousande drachmas of syluer, which he sent vnto Ierusal&ebar;, that there myght a sacrifice be offred for the misdede. In the which place he dyd well and ryght: for he had some consideracyon ∧ pondryng of the lyfe that is after this time. For yf he had not thought that they, which were slayne, dyd yet lyue, it had bene superfluous and vayne, to make eny vowe or sacrifyce, for th&ebar;, that were deed. But for so moch as he sawe, that they whych dye in the fauoure ∧ beleue of God, are in good rest and ioye, he thought it to be good ∧ honorable for a rec&obar;cilynge, to do the same for those which were slayne, that the offence myght be forgeuen.

Previous section

Next section