1   And it came to passe, as ^note the Gentils round about heard that the altar was builded vp, & the sanctuarie as before, they were exceding angrie: ^note

2   and they thought to take away the stocke of Iacob, that were among them, & they began to kil of the people, and to persecute.

3   And Iudas fought against ^notethe children of Esau in Idumea, and them that were in Acrabathane: because they besette the Israelites round about, and he stroke them with a great plague.

4   And he remembred the malice of the children ^note of Bean, which were to the people a snare and a scandal, lying in waite for them in the way.

5   And they were shut vp by him in towres, & he came nere to them, & ^note anathematized them, & burnt their towres with fyre, with al that were in them.

6   and he passed to the children ^note of Ammon, and found a strong band, and a copious people, and Timothee their captaine:

7   & he made manie battels with them, and they were discomfited in their sight, and he stroke them:

8   and he tooke Gazer the citie, & her ^note daughters, and returned into Iewrie.

9   And the Gentils that are ^note in Galaad, gathered together agaynst the Israelites, that were in their costs to dispatch them: and they fled into the fortresse of Batheman.

10   And they sent letters to Iudas, & his bretheren, saying: The heathen round about are gathered together against vs, to dispatch vs:

11   and they prepare to come, and to occupie the fortresse into which we are fled: and Timothee is the captayne of their host.

12   Now therfore come, & deliuer vs, out of their handes, because a multitude of vs is fallen.

13   And al our bretheren, that were in the places of Tubin, are slaine: & they led away their wiues captiues, and the children, and the spoiles, and they haue slaine there almost a thousand men.

14   And the epistles were yet in reading, and loe other messengers came our of Galilee

their coates rent reporting according to these wordes:

15   saying that there were assembled against them from Ptolemais, and Tyre, and Sidon, and al Galilee is replenished with alienes, to consume vs.

16   And as Iudas and the people heard these wordes, a great assemblie assembled together to consider what they should doe for their bretheren, that were in tribulation, and were expugned of them.

17   And Iudas sayd to Simon his brother: Choose thee men, and goe, and deliuer thy bretheren in ^noteGalilee: and I, and my brother Ionathas wil goe into the countrie of Galaad.

18   And he left Ioseph the sonne of zacharie, and Azarias captaynes of the people with the residue of the armie in Iurie to keepe it:

19   and he commanded them, saying: Be ye ouer this people: & make no battel against the heathen, til we returne.

20   And there were parted to Simon three thousand men, to goe into Galilee: but to Iudas eight thousand to goe into the countrie of Galaad.

21   And Simon went into Galilee, and made manie battels with the heathen: & the heathen were discomfited before his face, and he pursewed them euen to the gate of Ptolemais.

22   And there fel of the heathen almost three thousand men, & he tooke the spoiles of them,

23   and he toke them that were in Galilee & in Arbatis with their wiues, and children, & al thinges that they had, and he brought them into Iurie with great ioy.

24   And Iudas Machabeus, and Ionathas his brother passed ouer Iordan, and went three dayes iorney through the desert.

25   And the Nabutheians mette them, and receiued them peaceably, and told them al thinges, that had happened to their bretheren in the countrie of Galaad,

26   and that manie of them were comprehended in Barasa, and Bosor, and in Alimis, and in Casphor, and Mageth, and Carnaim, al these cities fensed, and great.

27   Yea and in the rest of the cities of Galaad they are held captiue, & on the morow they appoynted to remoue the armie nere to these cities, and to take them, & to dispatch them in one day.

28   And Iudas turned, and his armie the way into Bosor sodenly, and tooke the citie: and he slew euerie male in the edge of the sword, and tooke al their spoiles, and burnt it with fire.

29   And they arose thence by night, and went euen to the fortresse.

30   And it came to passe early in the morning, when they had lifted vp their eyes, and behold much people, wherof there was no number, carying ladders, and engins, to take the fortresse, and they expugned them.

31   And Iudas saw that the battel began,

and the crie of the battel ascended to heauen as a trumpet, and a great crie out of the citie:

32   and he sayd to his host: Fight ye to day for your bretheren.

33   And he came with three rankes behind them, and they cried out with trumpets, and cried in prayer.

34   And the campe of Timothee vnderstood that it was Machabeus, and they fled backe from his presence: and they stroke them with a great plague: and there fel of them in that day almost eight thousand men.

35   And Iudas turned aside into Maspha, and expugned, and tooke it, and he slew euerie male therof, and he tooke the spoiles therof, and burnt it with fyre.

36   From thence he marched, and tooke Casbon, and Mageth, and Bosor, and the rest of the cities of Galaad.

37   But after these wordes Timothee gathered an other armie, & camped against Raphon beyond the torrent.

38   And Iudas sent to vewe the armie: and they reported vnto him, saying: That al the nations, that are round about vs, are assembled against vs, an armie exceding great:

39   and they haue hyred the Arabians to helpe them, and they haue camped beyond the torrent, being readie to come vnto thee into battel. And Iudas went to meete them.

40   And Timothee sayd to the princes of his armie: When Iudas shal approch, and his armie to the torrent of water: if he passe ouer vnto vs first, we shal not be able to sustaine him: because preuayling he wil preuaile against vs.

41   but if he be afrayd to passe ouer, and campe without the riuer, let vs passe ouer to them, and we shal preuaile against him.

42   But as Iudas approched to the torrent of water, he set the scribes of the people by the torrent, and commanded them, saying: Leaue not a man: but let al come into the battel.

43   And he passed ouer to them first, and al the people after him, and al the heathen were discomfited at their presence, and they threw away their weapons, and fled to the temple, that was in Carnaim.

44   And he tooke ^note the citie itself, and the temple he burnt with fire, with al thinges that were therein: & Carnaim was subdewed, and could not stand against the face of Iudas.

45   And Iudas gathered together al the Israelites, that were in the countrie of Galaad, from the least euen to the greatest, and their wiues, and children, and an armie exceding great, to come into the land of Iuda.

46   And they came as far as ^note Ephron, and this citie was great situate in the entrance, fenced excedingly, and there was no meanes to decline from it on the right hand or on the left, but the way was through the middes.

47   And

they that were in the citie, shut in themselues, and stopped the gates with stones: and Iudas sent to them in peaceable wordes,

48   saying: Let vs passe through your land, and goe into our countrie: and no man shal hurt you, onlie on foote we wil passe. And they would not open vnto them.

49   And Iudas commanded proclamation to be made in the campe, that they should approch euerie man in the place wherein he was.

50   and the men of strength approched, and he assaulted that citie al the day, and al the night, and the citie was deliuered into his hand: and they slew euerie male in the edge of the sword, and he rooted it vp, and tooke the spoiles therof, and passed through al the citie vpon the slaine.

52   And they passed ouer Iordan in the great playne, against the face of Bethsan.

53   And Iudas gathered together ^note the hinmost, and he ^note exhorted the people throughout al the way, til they came into the land of Iuda:

54   and they went vp into mount Sion with ioy, and gladnes, & offered holocausts because none of them was fallen til they returned in peace.

55   And in the dayes, that Iudas and Ionathas were in the land of Galaad, and Simon his brother in Galilee against the face of Ptolomais,

56    ^noteIoseph the sonne of Zacharie heard, and Azarias, the princes of the band, the thinges wel atcheiued, and the battels that were made,

57   and he sayd: Let vs also make vs a name, and let vs goe fight against the heathen, that are round about vs.

58   And he commanded them that were in his armie, and they went to Iamnia.

59   And Gorgias went forth out of the citie, and his men to meete them into battel.

60   And Ioseph and Azarias were chased in flight euen vnto the borders of Iurie: and there fel that day of the people of Israel about two thousand men, and there was made a great tumult in the people:

61   because they heard not Iudas, and his bretheren, thinking that they should doe manfully.

62   But they were not of the seede of those men by whom saluation was made in Israel.

63   And the men of Iuda were magnified excedingly in the sight of al Israel, and of al nations where their name was heard.

64   And they came together vnto them, with acclamations for their good successe.

65   And Iudas went out, and his bretheren, and they expugned the children of ^note Esau in the land, that is toward the South, and they stroke Chebron, and her daughters: and the walles therof and the towres he burnt with fyre round about.

66   And he remoued the campe to goe into the land of

the aliens, and he walked through ^note Samaria.

67   In that day fel the priests in battel, whiles they wil doe manfully, whiles they goe forth without counsel into battel.

68   And Iudas declined ^noteto Azotus into the land of the aliens, and he threw downe their altars, and the sculptils of their goddes he burnt with fyre: and he tooke the spoiles of the cities, and returned into the land of Iuda.

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