Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| After Alexander, Philip's son, the Macedonian ruler who set out from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius king of the Persians and Medes, he took the throne in his place, having earlier reigned over Greece.
2| He waged many wars, captured strongholds, and slaughtered kings,
3| and he marched onward as far as the earth's farthest edges, plundering countless nations; the world fell silent before him, and his pride swelled, and his heart grew arrogant.
4| He gathered a very powerful army and ruled over countries and nations and rulers, and they became tributary to him.
5| After this he took to his bed and knew that he was dying.
6| So he called his honored servants, who had been raised with him from youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still living.
7| Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died.
8| His servants took control, each in his own place;
9| and after he died they all put on diadems, and their sons after them for many years, and they multiplied evils on the earth.
10| From them sprang a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, whose father Antiochus had been king and who himself had once been held hostage in Rome; he took the throne in the one hundred thirty-seventh year of Greek rule.
11| In those days lawless men emerged from Israel and won many over, urging, "Come, let's form an alliance with the surrounding nations, since ever we kept apart from them, misfortune after misfortune has struck us."
12| This proposal pleased them,
13| and some of the people were eager for it and went to the king, who gave them authority to observe the ordinances of the nations.
14| So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to the customs of the nations,
15| and they underwent surgery to disguise their circumcision, forsook the sacred covenant, allied themselves with the nations, and gave themselves over to wrongdoing.
16| When the kingdom was secure before Antiochus, he undertook to become king over the land of Egypt as well, so that he might reign over both kingdoms.
17| He entered Egypt with a heavy force, with chariots and elephants and cavalry and a great fleet,
18| and he made war on Ptolemy king of Egypt; and Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many fell wounded.
19| They captured the walled cities throughout Egypt, and he carried off Egypt's plunder.
20| After defeating Egypt, Antiochus withdrew in the one hundred forty-third year, then marched on Israel and Jerusalem at the head of a massive army.
21| He entered the sanctuary in arrogance and took the golden altar, and the lampstand of light with all its equipment,
22| and the table of the presence, and the libation vessels and the bowls and the golden censers and the curtain and the crowns and the golden ornamentation on the front of the temple, and he stripped it all off.
23| He carried off the silver, the gold, and the costly vessels, along with whatever hidden treasures he could find.
24| Having taken everything, he departed to his own land. He committed bloody murder, and spoke with great arrogance.
25| There was great mourning over Israel in every place of theirs,
26| and rulers and elders groaned, young women and young men grew weak, and the beauty of the women was disfigured.
27| Every bridegroom took up lamentation; she who sat in the bridal chamber was in mourning.
28| The land shook over its inhabitants, and the whole house of Jacob was clothed with shame.
29| After two full years the king sent an officer of tribute to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a heavy force.
30| He spoke peaceable words to them deceitfully, and they believed him, and he fell upon the city suddenly, and struck it with a great blow, and destroyed many people from Israel.
31| He took the spoil of the city and set it on fire, and tore down its houses and its walls all around,
32| and they took captive the women and the children, and seized the livestock for themselves.
33| Then they fortified the City of David with a massive, sturdy rampart and towering bastions, turning it into their own stronghold.
34| There they installed a sinful nation, lawless men, and they entrenched themselves in it.
35| They stored up weapons and food, and gathering the spoils of Jerusalem they deposited them there, and it became a great snare,
36| a lurking threat against the sanctuary, a wicked foe to Israel without end.
37| They shed innocent blood all around the sanctuary, and defiled the sanctuary.
38| Because of them the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled, and it became a home for strangers; it became a stranger to its own offspring, and its own children abandoned it.
39| Its sanctuary was made desolate like a wilderness; its feasts were turned into mourning, its sabbaths into reproach, its honor into contempt.
40| As great as its glory had been, so its disgrace multiplied, and its exaltation was turned into mourning.
41| Then the king sent word throughout his entire realm that everyone was to become a single people,
42| and that each should abandon his own customs. All the nations accepted the king's command,
43| and many from Israel were pleased with his worship, and sacrificed to idols, and profaned the sabbath.
44| The king sent letters by the hand of messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow customs foreign to the land,
45| and forbid whole burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, and profane the sabbaths and feasts,
46| and defile the sanctuary and the holy people,
47| that they should build altars and sacred precincts and idol-shrines, and sacrifice swine and common animals,
48| and leave their sons uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with every unclean and profane thing,
49| so that they would forget the law and change all its ordinances.
50| Whoever did not act according to the word of the king was to die.
51| In accordance with all these words he wrote to his whole kingdom, and he appointed overseers over all the people, and commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city.
52| Many from the people gathered to them, everyone who forsook the law, and they did evil in the land,
53| and drove Israel into hiding, into every place of refuge they had.
54| On the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected the desolating sacrilege on top of the altar, and throughout the surrounding cities of Judah they set up altars of their own,
55| and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets.
56| Any scrolls of the law they came across they ripped to shreds and set ablaze.
57| Wherever a book of the covenant was found in anyone's possession, and if anyone consented to the law, the king's decree put him to death.
58| By their power they did this to Israel, to those found month after month in the cities.
59| On the twenty-fifth day of the month they sacrificed on the altar that was upon the altar of burnt offering.
60| The women who had circumcised their children they put to death according to the decree,
61| and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks, together with their households, and those who had circumcised them.
62| Many in Israel were hanged to death; yet they held firm among themselves, resolved not to eat unclean food,
63| and they chose to die rather than be defiled by the food, or profane the holy covenant; and they died.
64| And there came exceedingly great wrath upon Israel.