I Maccabees 16

¹And Joon stiede fro Gasara, and telde to Symount, his fader, what thingis Cendebius dide in the puple of hem.

²And Symount clepide his tweyne eldere sones, Judas and Joon, and seide to hem, Y, and my britheren, and the hous of my fadir, han ouercomun the enemyes of Israel, fro yongthe til in to this dai; and it hadde prosperite in oure hondis, for to delyuere Israel sum times.

³Forsothe now Y haue eldid, but be ye in my stide, and of my brother, and go ye out, and fiyte for oure folc; forsothe helpe of heuene be with you.

⁴And he chees of the cuntrei twenti thousynde of fiytinge men, and horse men; and thei wenten out to Cendebeus, and slepten in Modyn.

⁵And thei risiden eerli, and wenten in to the feeld, and lo! a copiouse oost cam in to metyng of hem, of foot men and horse men; and a rennynge flood was bitwixe the myddis of hem.

⁶And he and his puple mouede the scheltruns ayens the face of hem, and he siy the puple tremblynge to passe ouer the streeme of water, and he passide ouer the firste; and men siyen hym, and passiden aftir hym.

⁷And he departide the puple and horse men in the myddil of foot men; forsothe the multitude of horse men of aduersaries was ful plenteuouse.

⁸And thei crieden an hiy with hooli trumpis; and Cendebeus was turned in to fliyt, and his oost, and many of hem fellen woundid; sotheli the residues fledden in to strengthe.

⁹Thanne Judas, the brother of Joon, was woundid; forsothe Joon pursuede hem, til Cendebeus cam to Cedrona, which he bildide.

¹⁰And thei fledden til to touris, that weren in the feeldis of Azotus, and he brente hem with fier; and ther fellen of hem two thousynde of men, and he turnede ayen in to Judee in pees.

¹¹And Tolome, the sone of Abobi, was ordeyned duyk in the feld of Jerico, and hadde myche siluer and gold;

¹²for he weddid the douyter of the hiyeste preest.

¹³And the herte of hym was reisid, and he wolde welde the cuntre; and he thouyte gile ayens Symount and his sones, for to do awei hem.

¹⁴Forsothe Symount walkide bi citees that weren in the cuntre of Judee, and bar bisynesse of hem, and cam doun in to Jerico, he, and Matatias, his sone, and Judas, in the hundrid yeer and seuene and seuentithe, in the enleuenthe monethe; this is the monethe Sabath.

¹⁵And the sone of Abobi resseyuede him in to a litil strengthe, that is clepid Doth, with gile, which he bildide; and made to hem a greet feeste, and hidde men ther.

¹⁶And whanne Symount was ful of drynk, and hise sones, Tolome roos with his, and token her armeris, and entriden in to the feeste, and slowen hym, and hise twei sones, and summe children of hym.

¹⁷And he dide a greet disseit in Israel, and yeldide yuels for goodis.

¹⁸And Tolome wroot these thingis, and sente to the kyng, for to sende to hym an oost in to help, and he schulde bitake to hym the cuntre and citees of hem, and tributis.

¹⁹And he sente othere in to Gasara, for to do awei Joon; and to the tribunes he sente epistlis, that thei schulden come to hym, and he schulde yyue to hem siluer, and gold, and yiftis.

²⁰And he sente other men, for to ocupie Jerusalem, and the mount of the temple.

²¹And sum man ran bifore, and told to Joon in Gasara, for that his fadir perischide, and his britheren, and that he sente that thou also be slayn.

²²Forsothe as he herde, he wondride greetli; and he cauyte the men that camen for to leese hym, and he slow hem; for he knew, that thei souyten for to leese hym.

²³And othere thingis of Joons wordis, and of his batels, and good vertues, in whiche he dide strongli, and of bildyng of wallis, whiche he fulli made, and of thingis don of him, lo!

²⁴these ben writun in book of daies of his presthod, sithen he was maad prince of prestis aftir his fadir.

I Maccabees 16

¹Then came up John from Gazera, and told Simon his father what Cendebeus had done.

²Wherefore Simon called his two eldest sons, Judas and John, and said unto them, I, and my brethren, and my father’s house, have ever from my youth unto this day fought against the enemies of Israel; and things have prospered so well in our hands, that we have delivered Israel oftentimes.

³But now I am old, and ye, by God’s mercy, are of a sufficient age: be ye instead of me and my brother, and go and fight for our nation, and the help from heaven be with you.

⁴So he chose out of the country twenty thousand men of war with horsemen, who went out against Cendebeus, and rested that night at Modin.

⁵And when as they rose in the morning, and went into the plain, behold, a mighty great host both of footmen and horsemen came against them: howbeit there was a water brook betwixt them.

⁶So he and his people pitched over against them: and when he saw that the people were afraid to go over the water brook, he went first over himself, and then the men seeing him passed through after him.

⁷That done, he divided his men, and set the horsemen in the midst of the footmen: for the enemies’ horsemen were very many.

⁸Then sounded they with the holy trumpets: whereupon Cendebeus and his host were put to flight, so that many of them were slain, and the remnant gat them to the strong hold.

⁹At that time was Judas John’s brother wounded; but John still followed after them, until he came to Cedron, which Cendebeus had built.

¹⁰So they fled even unto the towers in the fields of Azotus; wherefore he burned it with fire: so that there were slain of them about two thousand men. Afterward he returned into the land of Judea in peace.

¹¹Moreover in the plain of Jericho was Ptolemeus the son of Abubus made captain, and he had abundance of silver and gold:

¹²For he was the high priest’s son in law.

¹³Wherefore his heart being lifted up, he thought to get the country to himself, and thereupon consulted deceitfully against Simon and his sons to destroy them.

¹⁴Now Simon was visiting the cities that were in the country, and taking care for the good ordering of them; at which time he came down himself to Jericho with his sons, Mattathias and Judas, in the hundred threescore and seventeenth year, in the eleventh month, called Sabat:

¹⁵Where the son of Abubus receiving them deceitfully into a little hold, called Docus, which he had built, made them a great banquet: howbeit he had hid men there.

¹⁶So when Simon and his sons had drunk largely, Ptolemee and his men rose up, and took their weapons, and came upon Simon into the banqueting place, and slew him, and his two sons, and certain of his servants.

¹⁷In which doing he committed a great treachery, and recompensed evil for good.

¹⁸Then Ptolemee wrote these things, and sent to the king, that he should send him an host to aid him, and he would deliver him the country and cities.

¹⁹He sent others also to Gazera to kill John: and unto the tribunes he sent letters to come unto him, that he might give them silver, and gold, and rewards.

²⁰And others he sent to take Jerusalem, and the mountain of the temple.

²¹Now one had run afore to Gazera and told John that his father and brethren were slain, and, quoth he, Ptolemee hath sent to slay thee also.

²²Hereof when he heard, he was sore astonished: so he laid hands on them that were come to destroy him, and slew them; for he knew that they sought to make him away.

²³As concerning the rest of the acts of John, and his wars, and worthy deeds which he did, and the building of the walls which he made, and his doings,

²⁴Behold, these are written in the chronicles of his priesthood, from the time he was made high priest after his father.