2049 verses about Courage

And he said to Jonathan, Why have you put all this people to trouble, seeing there is no war between us?

And now send them away to their homes, but choose for yourself a few men who shall be with you, and come you with me to Ptolemais, and I will give it up to you, and the rest of the strongholds and the rest of the forces, and all the king’s officers: and I will return and depart; for this is the cause of my coming.

And they perceived that he was taken and had perished, and those who were with him; and they encouraged one another, and went on their way close together, prepared to fight.

And those who followed upon them saw that they were ready to fight for their lives, and turned back again.

And Simon heard that Tryphon had gathered together a mighty army to come into the land of Judah, and destroy it utterly.

And he saw that the people trembled and was in great fear; and he went up to Jerusalem, and gathered the people together;

and he encouraged them, and said to them, You⌃ yourselves know all the things that I, and my kindred, and my father’s house, have done for the laws and the sanctuary, and the battles and the distresses which we have seen:

And now be it far from me, that I should spare my own life in any time of affliction; for I am not better than my kindred.

Howbeit I will take vengeance for my nation, and for the sanctuary, and for our wives and children; because all the Gentiles are gathered to destroy us of very hatred.

And the spirit of the people revived, as soon as they heard these words.

And they answered with a loud voice, saying, You are our leader instead of Judas and Jonathan your brother.

Fight you our battles, and all that you shall say to us, that will we do.

And he gathered together all the men of war, and made haste to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it round about.

And he sent Jonathan the son of Absalom, and with him a great army, to Joppa: and he cast out those who were therein, and abode there in it

And Simon chose men, and sent to king Demetrius, to the end he should give the country an immunity, because all that Tryphon did was to plunder.

And those who were in the engine leaped forth into the city; and there was a great uproar in the city:

And Simon saw that John his son was a valiant man, and he made him leader of all his forces: and he lived in Gazara.

and he went and struck the army of Demetrius, and took him, and brought him to Arsaces; and he put him in ward.

and he gathered together a great number of captives, and got the dominion of Gazara, and Bethsura, and the citadel, and he took away from it its uncleannesses; and there was none that resisted him.

for he and his kindred and the house of his father have made themselves strong, and have chased away in fight the enemies of Israel from them, and confirmed liberty to Israel.

Forasmuch as oftentimes there have been wars in the country, but Simon the son of Mattathias, the son of the sons of Joarib, and his kindred, put themselves in jeopardy, and withstood the enemies of their nation, that their sanctuary and the law might be established, and glorified their nation with great glory:

then rose up Simon, and fought for his nation, and spent much of his own substance, and armed the valiant men of his nation, and gave them wages:

and he fortified the cities of Judea, and Bethsura that lies upon the borders of Judea, where the arms of the enemies were aforetime, and set there a garrison of Jews:

and he fortified Joppa which is upon the sea, and Gazara which is upon the borders of Azotus, wherein the enemies lived aforetime, and placed Jews there, and set therein all things convenient for the reparation thereof:

In the hundred and seventy and fourth year went Antiochus forth into the land of his fathers; and all the forces came together to him, so that there were few men with Tryphon.

And Simon sent him two thousand chosen men to fight on his side; and silver, and gold, and instruments of war in abundance.

And the king appointed Cendebaeus chief captain of the sea coast, and gave him forces of foot and horse:

And Simon called his two oldest sons, Judas and John, and said to them, I and my kindred and my father’s house have fought the battles of Israel from our youth, even to this day; and things have prospered in our hands, that we should deliver Israel oftentimes.

But now I am old, and you⌃ moreover, by his mercy, are of a sufficient age: be you⌃ instead of me and my brother, and go forth and fight for our nation; but let the help which is from heaven be with you.

And he chose out of the country twenty thousand men of war and horsemen, and they went against Cendebaeus, and slept at Modin.

And rising up in the morning, they went into the plain, and, behold, a great army came to meet them, of footmen and horsemen: and there was a brook between them.

And he encamped near them, he and his people: and he saw that the people were afraid to pass over the brook, and he passed over first, and the men saw him, and passed over after him.

And he divided the people, and set the horsemen in the midst of the footmen: but the enemies’ horsemen were exceeding many.

And they sounded with the trumpets; and Cendebaeus and his army were put to the rout, and there fell of them many wounded to death, but those who were left fled to the stronghold:

at that time was Judas John’s brother wounded: but John pursued after them, till he came to Kidron, which Cendebaeus had built;

And the rest of the acts of John, and of his wars, and of his valiant deeds which he did, and of the building of the walls which he built, and of his doings,

Now the things concerning Judas Maccabaeus and his kindred, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar,

and further the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes, and Eupator his son,

and the manifestations that came from heaven to those that vied with one another in manful deeds for the religion of the Jews; so that, being but a few, they rescued the whole country, and chased the barbarous multitudes,

But when they perceived the assault of Lysimachus, some caught up stones, others logs of wood, and some took handfuls of the ashes that lay near, and they flung them all pell-mell upon Lysimachus and those who were with him;

and drawing of swords; and on the other side squadrons of horse in array; and encounters and pursuits of both armies; and shaking of shields, and multitudes of lances, and casting of darts, and flashing of golden trappings, and girding on of all sorts of armor.

But Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, with nine others or thereabout, withdrew himself, and with his company kept himself alive in the mountains after the manner of wild beasts; and they continued feeding on such poor herbs as grew there, that they might not be partakers of the threatened pollution.

And others, that had run together into the caves near by to keep the seventh day secretly, being betrayed to Philip were all burned together, because they scrupled to defend themselves, from regard to the honor of that most solemn day.

Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well stricken in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh.

But he, welcoming death with renown rather than life with pollution, advanced of his own accord to the instrument of torture, but first spat forth the flesh,

coming forward as men ought to come that are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste.

But he, having formed a high resolve, and one that became his years, and the dignity of old age, and the gray hairs which he had reached with honor, and his excellent education from a child, or rather that became the holy laws of God’s ordaining, declared his mind accordingly, bidding them quickly send him to Hades.

For it becomes not our years to dissemble, said he, that through this many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, the man of fourscore years and ten, had gone over to an alien religion;

Wherefore, by manfully parting with my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age,

and leave behind a noble ensample to the young to die willingly and nobly a glorious death for the reverend and holy laws. And when he had said these words, he went straightway to the instrument of torture.

So this man also died after this manner, leaving his death for an ensample of nobleness and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the great body of his nation.

But one of them made himself the spokesman and said, What would you ask and learn of us? for we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.

And when he was utterly maimed, the king commanded to bring him to the fire, being yet alive, and to fry him in the pan. And as the vapor of the pan spread far, they and their mother also exhorted one another to die nobly, saying thus:

But he answered in the language of his fathers and said to them, No. Wherefore he also underwent the next torture in succession, as the first had done.

And after him was the third made a mocking-stock. And when he was required, he quickly put out his tongue, and stretched forth his hands courageously,

and nobly said, From heaven I possess these; and for his laws’ sake I contemn these; and from him I hope to receive these back again:

insomuch that the king himself and those who were with him were astonished at the young man’s soul, for that he nothing regarded the pains.

And next after him they brought the fifth, and shamefully handled him.

But he looked toward the king and said, Because you have authority among men, though you are yourself corruptible, you do what you will; yet think not that our race has been forsaken of God;

But above all was the mother marvelous and worthy of honorable memory; for when she looked on seven sons perishing within the space of one day, she bare the sight with a good courage for the hopes that she had set on the Lord.

And she exhorted each one of them in the language of their fathers, filled with a noble temper and stirring up her womanish thought with manly passion, saying to them,

But when the young man would in no wise give heed, the king called to him his mother, and exhorted her that she would counsel the lad to save himself.

And when he had exhorted her with many words, she undertook to persuade her son.

But bending toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, she spoke thus in the language of her fathers: My son, have pity upon me that carried you nine months in my womb, and gave you suck three years, and nourished and brought you up to this age, and sustained you.

But before she had yet ended speaking, the young man said, Whom wait you⌃ for? I obey not the commandment of the king, but I hearken to the commandment of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses.

But I, as my kindred, give up both body and soul for the laws of our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become gracious to the nation; and that you amidst trials and plagues may confess that he alone is God;

But the king, falling into a rage, handled him worse than all the rest, being exasperated at his mocking.

But Judas, who is also called Maccabaeus, and those who were with him, making their way privily into the villages, called to them their kinsfolk; and taking to them such as had continued in the Jews’ religion, gathered together as many as six thousand.

And when Maccabaeus had trained his men for service, the heathen at once found him irresistible, for that the wrath of the Lord was turned into pity.

And coming unawares he set fire to cities and villages. And in winning back the most important positions, putting to flight no small number of the enemies,

he specially took advantage of the nights for such assaults. And his courage was loudly talked of everywhere.

But tidings came to Judas concerning the inroad of Nicanor; and when he communicated to those who were with him the presence of the army,

those who were cowardly and distrustful of the judgement of God ran away and left the country.

And Maccabaeus gathered his men together, six thousand in number, and exhorted them not to be stricken with dismay at the enemy, nor to fear the great multitude of the heathen who came wrongfully against them; but to contend nobly,

setting before their eyes the outrage that had been lawlessly perpetrated upon the holy place, and the shameful handling of the city that had been turned to mockery, and further the overthrow of the mode of life received from their ancestors.

For they, said he, trust to arms, and withal to deeds of daring; but we trust on the almighty God, since he is able at a beck to cast down those who are coming against us, and even the whole world.

And moreover he recounted to them the help given from time to time in the days of their ancestors, both the help given in the days of Sennacherib, how that a hundred fourscore and five thousand perished,

and the help given in the land of Babylon, even the battle that was fought against the Gauls, how that they came to the engagement eight thousand in all, with four thousand Macedonians, and how that, the Macedonians being hard pressed, the six thousand destroyed the hundred and twenty thousand, because of the succour which they had from heaven, and took great booty.

And when he had with these words made them of good courage, and ready to die for the laws and their country, he divided his army into four parts;

appointing his kindred to be with himself leaders of the several bands, to wit, Simon and Joseph and Jonathan, giving each the command of fifteen hundred men,

and moreover Eleazer also: then, having read aloud the sacred book, and having given as watchword, THE HELP OF GOD, leading the first band himself, he joined battle with Nicanor.

And, since the Almighty fought on their side, they killed of the enemy above nine thousand, and wounded and disabled the more part of Nicanor’s army, and compelled all to flee:

And having had an encounter with the forces of Timotheus and Bacchides, they killed above twenty thousand of them, and made themselves masters of strongholds exceeding high, and divided very much plunder, giving the maimed and orphans and widows, and moreover the aged also, an equal share with themselves.

And when they had gathered the arms of the enemy together, they stored them all up carefully in the most important positions, and the residue of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem.

For he had entered into the city called Persepolis, and he assayed to rob a temple and to hold down the city. Whereupon there was an onset of the multitudes, and Antiochus and his men turned to make defence with arms; and it came to pass that Antiochus was put to flight by the people of the country and broke up his camp with disgrace.

And Maccabaeus and those who were with him, the Lord leading them on, recovered the temple and the city;

But Maccabaeus and his men, having made solemn supplication and implored God to fight on their side, rushed upon the strongholds of the Idumaeans;

and assaulting them vigorously they made themselves masters of the positions, and kept off all that fought upon the wall, and killed those that fell in their way, and killed no fewer than twenty thousand.

Maccabaeus, having left Simon and Joseph, and Zacchaeus besides and those who were with him, a force sufficient to besiege them, departed himself to places where he was most needed.

But when word was brought to Maccabaeus of what was done, he gathered the leaders of the people together, and accused those men of having sold their kindred for money, by setting their enemies free to fight against them.

And prospering with his arms in all things he took in hand, he destroyed in the two strongholds more than twenty thousand.

Now Timotheus, who had been before defeated by the Jews, having gathered together foreign forces in great multitudes, and having collected the horsemen which belonged to Asia, not a few, came as though he would take Judea by force of arms.

But as he drew near, Maccabaeus and his men sprinkled earth upon their heads and girded their loins with sackcloth, in supplication to God,

And rising from their prayer they took up their arms, and advanced some distance from the city; and when they had come near to their enemies they halted.

And when the dawn was now spreading, the two armies joined battle; the one part having this, beside their virtue, for a pledge of success and victory, that they had fled to the Lord for refuge, the others making their passion their leader in the strife.

and taking Maccabaeus in the midst of them, and covering him with their own armor, guarded him from wounds, while on the adversaries they shot forth arrows and thunderbolts; by reason whereof they were blinded and thrown into confusion, and were cut to pieces, filled with bewilderment.

But Timotheus himself fled into a stronghold called Gazara, a fortress of exceeding strength, Chaereas being in command there.

But Maccabaeus and his men were glad and laid siege to the fortress four and twenty days.

But at dawn of the five and twentieth day certain young men of the company of Maccabaeus, inflamed with passion because of the blasphemies, assaulted the wall with masculine force and with furious passion, and cut down whoever came in their way.

And others climbing up in like manner, while the besieged were distracted with them that had made their way within, set fire to the towers, and kindling fires burned the blasphemers alive; while others broke open the gates, and, having given entrance to the rest of the band, occupied the city.