Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Simon heard that Trypho had gathered a large force to come into the land of Judah and destroy it.
2| And he saw that the people were trembling and terrified, so he traveled to Jerusalem and called the people to assemble.
3| He encouraged them, saying to them: "You yourselves know all that I and my brothers and my father's whole household have accomplished on behalf of the laws and the sanctuary, and the wars and the hardships we have endured.
4| For this cause all my brothers have perished for Israel's sake, and I alone am left.
5| Now far be it from me to spare my own life in any time of distress, for I am no better than my brothers.
6| Instead I will stand up for my nation, our holy place, and our wives and little ones, because every surrounding nation has massed together to wipe us out in hatred."
7| And the spirit of the people was kindled again as they heard these words,
8| and they responded in a great shout, declaring, "You are our leader in place of Judas and your brother Jonathan.
9| Fight our battle, and whatever you tell us we will do."
10| So he gathered together all the fighting men, and hurried to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and fortified it all around.
11| He sent Jonathan son of Absalom to Joppa with a sufficient force, and he drove out those who were in it and remained there in it.
12| Then Trypho set out from Ptolemais with a large force to enter the land of Judah, and Jonathan was with him under guard.
13| Simon encamped at Adida, facing the plain.
14| When Trypho learned that Simon had risen up in place of his brother Jonathan, and that he intended to meet him in battle, he sent envoys to him, saying,
15| "It is over the silver which your brother Jonathan owed the royal treasury, on account of the obligations he had, that we are holding him.
16| Now send us a hundred talents' weight of silver, together with two of his sons as pledges, so that once freed he will not turn against us, and we will let him go."
17| Simon knew that they were speaking to him with deceit, but he sent the silver and the boys, so that he might not bring great hostility upon himself from the people,
18| who would say, "Because I did not send him the silver and the boys, he perished."
19| So he sent the boys and the hundred talents; but Trypho lied, and did not release Jonathan.
20| After this Trypho came to invade the land and destroy it, and circled around by the road to Adora; but Simon and his camp moved alongside him wherever he went.
21| Meanwhile those in the citadel kept sending envoys to Trypho, urging him to come to them by way of the desert and to send them provisions.
22| Trypho made ready all his cavalry to go; but that night there was very heavy snow, and he did not come because of the snow. So he set out and went into the region of Gilead.
23| And as he drew near Baskama, he killed Jonathan, and he was buried there.
24| Then Trypho turned back and went away to his own land.
25| Simon sent and took the bones of his brother Jonathan, and buried him at Modein, the city of his fathers.
26| All Israel mourned him with great mourning, and grieved for him many days.
27| And Simon built over the tomb of his father and his brothers, and raised it up to be seen, with polished stone on the back and on the front.
28| He set up seven pyramids, one facing another, honoring his father, his mother, and his four brothers.
29| For these he made elaborate structures, setting great columns around them, and on the columns he made suits of armor for an everlasting memorial, and beside the suits of armor carved ships, so that they could be seen by all who sail the sea.
30| This is the tomb which he made at Modein, and it stands to this day.
31| Now Trypho dealt treacherously with the young King Antiochus, and killed him,
32| and reigned in his place, and put on the crown of Asia, and inflicted a terrible disaster on that country.
33| Simon built up the strongholds of Judea, and surrounded them with high towers and great walls and towers and gates and bars, and stored provisions in the strongholds.
34| Simon also chose men and sent them to King Demetrius, to secure a release for the country, because all of Trypho's actions had been acts of plunder.
35| King Demetrius replied to him along these lines, and answered him, and wrote him a letter of this kind:
36| "King Demetrius to Simon, high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders and the nation of the Jews, greetings.
37| The golden crown and the palm branch which you sent have reached us, and we stand ready to establish a lasting peace with you, and to instruct the officials in charge to grant you release from tribute.
38| And whatever agreements we have made with you stand, and the strongholds which you have built shall remain yours.
39| We forgive you your unwitting offenses and your sins up to this present day, and the crown tax which you owed; and if any other tax was collected in Jerusalem, let it no longer be collected.
40| And if any of you are qualified to be enrolled among our own men, let their names be recorded, and let peace be established between us."
41| In the hundred and seventieth year the yoke of the nations was lifted from Israel,
42| and the people of Israel began to date their documents and contracts, "In the first year under Simon, high priest, general, and leader of the Jews."
43| In those days Simon encamped against Gaza, and surrounded it with his forces, and made a siege engine, and brought it up against the city, and struck one of its towers, and captured it.
44| Those inside the siege engine leapt into the city, and there was a great commotion in the city.
45| Those in the city went up onto the wall with their wives and children, with their garments torn, and cried out with a loud voice, begging Simon to grant them terms of peace.
46| They said, "Do not judge us by our offenses, but deal with us in your mercy."
47| So Simon came to terms with them and did not fight them; but he expelled them from the city, purified the buildings where the idols had stood, and then entered it with hymns and praise.
48| He removed every uncleanness from it, and settled in it men who observe the law; and he strengthened its fortifications, and built himself a residence there.
49| Those in the citadel at Jerusalem were prevented from going out into the countryside to buy and sell; and they grew very hungry, and many of them perished by famine.
50| They cried out to Simon to grant them terms, and he gave them terms, and drove them out from there, and cleansed the citadel from its defilements.
51| He entered it on the twenty-third day of the second month, in year one hundred seventy-one, with praise and palm branches, and with lyres and cymbals and harps, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.
52| And he ordained that this day be kept every year with celebration. He also strengthened the hill of the temple that lies beside the citadel, and he and his men lived there.
53| Simon saw that his son John was now a man, and he appointed him commander of all the forces; and he lived at Gazara.