Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Antiochus, son of King Demetrius, sent letters from the islands of the sea to Simon, priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to the whole nation.
2| They ran along these lines: King Antiochus to Simon, high priest and ethnarch, and to the nation of the Jews, greeting.
3| Since certain pests have seized control of the kingdom of our fathers, and I intend to lay claim to the kingdom so as to restore it as it formerly was, and I have raised a large body of mercenary forces and built warships,
4| and I intend to land in the country so that I may deal with those who have ruined our country and those who have laid waste many cities in the kingdom,
5| now, then, I confirm to you all the tax remissions that the kings before me granted you, and whatever other remissions they granted you,
6| and I permit you to mint your own coinage as money for your country,
7| and Jerusalem and the sanctuary are to be free; and all the weapons you have made ready, and the fortresses you have built, which you now hold, shall remain yours.
8| And every debt owed to the crown, and every future debt to the crown, from now and for all time, is released to you.
9| And when we have established our kingdom, we will glorify you and your nation and the temple with great glory, so that your glory will become manifest in all the earth.
10| In the year one hundred and seventy-four Antiochus set out for the land of his fathers, and all the forces gathered to him, so that few remained with Tryphon.
11| And Antiochus the king pursued him, and he came to Dor, fleeing along the coast.
12| For he knew that troubles had gathered against him, and his forces abandoned him.
13| And Antiochus encamped against Dor, and with him a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men and eight thousand cavalry.
14| And he surrounded the city, and the ships closed in from the sea; and he pressed the city hard from both land and sea, and let no one go out or come in.
15| Meanwhile Numenius and his companions arrived from Rome bearing letters to the kings and to the countries, in which the following was written
16| Lucius, consul of the Romans, to King Ptolemy, greeting.
17| The envoys of the Jews came to us as our friends and allies, renewing the friendship and alliance from of old, sent by Simon the high priest and by the people of the Jews,
18| and they brought a golden shield weighing five thousand minas.
19| It has therefore seemed good to us to write to the kings and to the countries that they should seek no harm against them, nor make war on them or on their cities or their territories, and that they should not ally themselves with those who make war on them.
20| And it seemed good to us to accept the shield from them.
21| If, then, any troublemakers have fled from their country to you, hand them over to Simon the high priest, so that he can deal with them under the law of his own nation.
22| And he wrote the same to King Demetrius, and to Attalus, and to Ariarathes, and to Arsaces,
23| and likewise to every province: to Sampsames, to the Spartans, to Delos, to Myndos, to Sicyon, to Caria, to Samos, to Pamphylia, to Lycia, to Halicarnassus, to Cos, to Side, to Aradus, to Rhodes, to Phaselis, to Gortyna, to Cnidus, to Cyprus, and to Cyrene.
24| And a copy of these he wrote also to Simon the high priest.
25| Antiochus the king, meanwhile, was encamped against Dor a second time, continually pressing it with his forces and building siege engines, and he shut Tryphon in so that he could neither go out nor come in.
26| And Simon dispatched two thousand picked soldiers to fight beside him, together with silver, gold, and abundant supplies.
27| But he refused to accept them; instead he broke off everything he had earlier agreed with him, and turned against him.
28| And he sent to him Athenobius, one of his friends, to confer with him, saying, You hold Joppa and Gazara and the citadel in Jerusalem, cities of my kingdom.
29| You have laid waste their territories, done great harm to the land, and taken control of many places in my kingdom.
30| Now therefore hand over the cities you have seized, and the tribute of the places you have taken control of, which lie beyond the borders of Judea.
31| Otherwise, pay instead five hundred talents in silver; and, on account of the damage you inflicted plus the tribute owed by the cities, another five hundred talents besides. If you refuse, we will march against you in war.
32| So Athenobius, a friend of the king, arrived in Jerusalem, and he saw the splendor of Simon, and a cabinet of gold and silver vessels, and considerable state; and he was astonished, and he relayed to Simon what the king had said.
33| And Simon answered and said to him, We have neither taken foreign land nor seized what belongs to others, but only the inheritance of our fathers, which for a time was unjustly held by our enemies.
34| We, having now the opportunity, are holding fast to the inheritance of our fathers.
35| As for Joppa and Gazara, which you ask about, these were doing great harm among the people and to our land; for these we will give a hundred talents. And he gave him no other answer.
36| Athenobius returned to the king in anger, and reported to him these words and the splendor of Simon and all that he had seen; and the king was greatly enraged.
37| Tryphon boarded a ship and fled to Orthosia.
38| And the king appointed Cendebaeus commander-in-chief of the coastland, and gave him infantry and cavalry forces.
39| And he ordered him to encamp facing Judea, and he ordered him to build up Cedron and fortify the cities, and to make war on the people; and the king himself pursued Tryphon.
40| And Cendebaeus arrived at Jamnia, and set about harassing the population and pressing into Judea, seizing residents as captives and putting them to death.
41| And he built up Cedron, and stationed there cavalry and forces so that they could go out and patrol the roads of Judea, as the king had ordered him.