1102 verses about Money

And he opened his treasury, and gave his forces pay for a year, and commanded them to be ready for every need.

And he saw that the money failed from his treasures, and that the tributes of the country were small, because of the dissension and plague which he had brought upon the land, to the end that he might take away the laws which had been from the first days;

and he feared that he should not have enough as at other times for the charges and the gifts which he gave aforetime with a liberal hand, and he abounded above the kings that were before him.

And he was exceedingly perplexed in his mind, and he determined to go into Persia, and to take the tributes of the countries, and to gather much money.

And the merchants of the country heard the fame of them, and took silver and gold exceeding much, with fetters, and came into the camp to take the children of Israel for servants: and there were added to them the forces of Syria and of the land of the Philistines.

And Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they got much gold, and silver, and blue, and sea purple, and great riches.

and what things they did in the land of Spain, that they might become masters of the mines of silver and gold which were there;

and to those who make war upon them they shall not give, neither supply, food, arms, money, or ships, as it has seemed good to Rome, and they shall keep their ordinances without taking anything therefore.

and to those who are confederates with their foes there shall not be given food, arms, money, or ships, as it has seemed good to Rome; and they shall keep these ordinances, and that without deceit.

And now do I free you, and release all the Jews, from the tributes, and from the customs of salt, and from the crowns.

And let Jerusalem be holy and free, and her borders; the tenths and the tolls also.

As for Ptolemais, and the land pertaining thereto, I have given it as a gift to the sanctuary that is at Jerusalem, for the expenses that befit the sanctuary.

And I give every year fifteen thousand shekels of silver from the king’s revenues from the places that are convenient.

And all the overplus, which those who manage the king’s affairs paid not in as in the first years, they shall give from henceforth toward the works of the house.

And beside this, the five thousand shekels of silver, which they received from the uses of the sanctuary from the revenue year by year, this also is released, because it appertains to the priests that minister.

And for the building and renewing of the works of the sanctuary the expense shall be given also out of the king’s revenue.

And he went with pomp to Ptolemais, and met the two kings, and gave them and their Friends silver and gold, and many gifts, and found favor in their sight.

and taking silver and gold and raiment and various presents besides, went to Ptolemais to the king. And he found favor in his sight.

And Jonathan requested of the king, that he would make Judea free from tribute, and the three provinces, and the country of Samaria; and promised him three hundred talents.

And as for the other things that pertain to us from henceforth, of the tenths and the tolls that pertain to us, and the saltpits, and the crowns that pertain to us, all these we will bestow upon them.

It is for money which Jonathan your brother owed to the king’s treasure, by reason of the offices which he had, that we hold him fast.

And now send a hundred talents of silver, and two of his sons for hostages, that when he is set at liberty he may not revolt from us, and we will set him at liberty.

And Simon knew that they spoke to him deceitfully; and he sends the money and the children, lest perhaps he should procure to himself great hatred of the people,

and they should say, Because I sent him not the money and the children, he perished.

And he sent the children and the hundred talents. And he dealt falsely, and did not set Jonathan at liberty.

After this Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a great shield of gold of a thousand pound weight, in order to confirm the confederacy with them.

and I give you leave to coin money for your country with your own stamp,

and everything owing to the king, and the things that shall be owing to the king from henceforth and for evermore, let them be remitted to you:

moreover they brought a shield of gold of a thousand pound.

or else give me for them five hundred talents of silver; and for the harm that you⌃ have done, and the tributes of the cities, other five hundred talents: or else we will come and subdue you.

But as touching Joppa and Gazara, which you demand, they did great harm among the people throughout our country, we will give a hundred talents for them. And he answered him not a word,

And Ptolemy the son of Abubus had been appointed captain for the plain of Jericho, and he had much silver and gold;

And he sent others to Gazara to make away with John: and to the captains of thousands he sent letters to come to him, that he might give them silver and gold and gifts.

For Antiochus, on the pretense that he would marry her, came into the place, he and his Friends that were with him, that they might take a great part of the treasures in name of a dowry.

insomuch that even Seleucus the king of Asia of his own revenues bare all the costs belonging to the services of the sacrifices.

But one Simon of the tribe of Benjamin, having been made guardian of the temple, fell out with the high priest about the ruling of the market in the city.

and he brought him word how that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of untold sums of money, so that the multitude of the funds was innumerable, and that they did not pertain to the account of the sacrifices, but that it was possible that these should fall under the king’s power.

And when Apollonius met the king, he informed him of the money whereof he had been told; and the king appointed Heliodorus, who was his chancellor, and sent him with a commandment to accomplish the removal of the aforesaid money.

And the high priest explained to him that there were in the treasury deposits of widows and orphans,

and moreover some money belonging to Hyrcanus the son of Tobias, a man in very high place, and that the case was not as that impious Simon falsely alleged; and that in all there were four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold;

But Heliodorus, because of the king’s commandments given him, said that in any case this money must be confiscated for the king’s treasury.

And the priests, prostrating themselves before the altar in their priestly garments, and looking toward heaven, called upon him that gave the law concerning deposits, that he should preserve these treasures safe for those that had deposited them.

And such was the history of Heliodorus and the keeping of the treasury.

But the aforesaid Simon, he who had given information of the money, and had betrayed his country, slandered Onias, saying that it was he who had incited Heliodorus, and made himself the author of these evils.

having promised to the king at an audience three hundred and threescore talents of silver, and out of another fund eighty talents;

the vile Jason sent sacred envoys, as being Antiochians of Jerusalem, bearing three hundred drachmas of silver to the sacrifice of Hercules, which even the bearers thereof thought not right to use for any sacrifice, because it was not fit, but to expend on another charge.

And though in the purpose of the sender this money was for the sacrifice of Hercules, yet on account of present circumstances it went to the equipment of the galleys.

Now after a space of three years Jason sent Menelaus, the aforesaid Simon’s brother, to bear the money to the king, and to make reports concerning some necessary matters.

But he being commended to the king, and having glorified himself by the display of his authority, got the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.

Menelaus had possession of the office: but of the money that had been promised to the king nothing was duly paid, and that though Sostratus the governor of the citadel demanded it

(for to him appertained the gathering of the revenues); for which cause they were both called by the king to his presence.

Now when many sacrileges had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the consent of Menelaus, and when the bruit thereof was spread abroad outside, the people gathered themselves together against Lysimachus, after many vessels of gold had been already dispersed.

But Menelaus, seeing himself now defeated, promised much money to Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, that he might win over the king.

As for Antiochus, when he had carried away out of the temple a thousand and eight hundred talents, he departed in all haste to Antioch, weening in his arrogancy to make the land navigable and the sea passable by foot, because his heart was lifted up.

And Nicanor undertook by the sale of the captive Jews to make up for the king the tribute of two thousand talents which he was to pay to the Romans.

and they took the money of those that had come there to buy them. And after they had pursued them for some distance, they returned, being constrained by the time of the day;

But Simon and those who were with him, yielding to covetousness, were bribed by certain of those that were in the towers, and receiving seventy thousand drachmas let some of them slip away.

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 to levy tribute on the temple, as on the other sacred places of the nations, and to put up the high priesthood to sale every year;

And when he had made a collection man by man to the sum of two thousand drachmas of silver, he sent to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice for sin, doing therein right well and honorably, in that he took thought for a resurrection.

And he set a tax upon the people of a hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

Of such therefore as dwell in various places, let those who are in his own place help each one with gold, and with silver,

Now when Cyrus king of the Persians had brought them forth, he delivered them to Mithradates his treasurer,

And this was the number of them: A thousand golden cups, a thousand cups of silver, censers of silver twenty nine, vials of gold thirty, and of silver two thousand four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

So all the vessels of gold and of silver were brought up, even five thousand four hundred threescore and nine,

and it makes every heart rich, so that a man remembers neither king nor satrap; and it makes to speak all things by talents:

Likewise for those that are no soldiers, and have not to do with wars, but use husbandry, when they have reaped again that which they had sown, they bring it to the king, and compel one another to pay tribute to the king.

and that there should be yearly given twenty talents to the building of the temple, until the time that it were built;

four hundred thirty and five camels, seven thousand thirty and six horses, two hundred forty and five mules, five thousand five hundred twenty and five beasts of burden.

and to give into the holy treasury of the works a thousand pounds of gold, five thousand of silver, and a hundred priestly vestments.

And they gave money to the masons and carpenters; and meat and drink,

whose height shall be sixty cubits, and the breadth sixty cubits, with three rows of hewn stones, and one row of new wood of that country; and the expenses therof to be given out of the house of king Cyrus:

and carry the gifts to the Lord of Israel to Jerusalem, which I and my friends have vowed; and that all the gold and silver that can be found in the country of Babylonia for the Lord in Jerusalem,

with that also which is given of the people for the temple of the Lord their God that is at Jerusalem, be collected: even the gold and silver for bullocks, rams, and lambs, and things thereto appertaining;

And whatever you and your kindred are minded to do with gold and silver, that perform, according to the will of your God.

and whatever thing else you shall remember for the use of the temple of your God, you shall give it out of the king’s treasury.

to the sum of a hundred talents of silver, likewise also of wheat even to a hundred measures, and a hundred firkins of wine, and salt in abundance.

I command you also, that no tax, nor any other imposition, be laid upon any of the priests, or Levites, or holy singers, or gatekeepers, or temple servants, or any that have employment in this temple, and that no man have authority to impose anything upon them.

And whoever shall transgress the law of your God, and of the king, shall be punished diligently, whether it be by death, or other punishment, by penalty of money, or by imprisonment.

and I weighed them the silver, and the gold, and the holy vessels of the house of our Lord, which the king, and his counselors, and the nobles, and all Israel, had given.

And when I had weighed it, I delivered to them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels of a hundred talents, and a hundred talents of gold,

and twenty golden vessels, and twelve vessels of brass, even of fine brass, glittering like gold.

Watch you⌃, and keep them till you⌃ deliver them to the chiefs of the priests and Levites, and to the principal men of the families of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of our Lord.

And when we had been there three days, the silver and gold was weighed and delivered in the house of our Lord on the fourth day to Marmoth the priest the son of Urias.

And all the weight of them was written up the same hour.

A fierce battle then took place; and the men of Antiochus prevailing, Arsinoe continually went up and down the ranks, and with dishevelled hair, with tears and entreaties, begged the soldiers to fight manfully for themselves, their children, and wives; and promised that if they proved conquerors, she would give them two minas of gold apiece.

By doing this, and by making donations to their temples, he inspired his subjects with confidence.

A nobler spirit, however, prompted the majority to cling to their religious observances, and by paying money that they might live unmolested, these sought to escape the registration:

So, having bestowed considerable sums of money upon the temples of the several cities, we proceeded even as far as Jerusalem; and went up to honor the temple of these wretched beings who never cease from their folly.

Whoever shall inform against the Jews, besides receiving the property of the person charged, shall be presented with two thousand drachmas from the royal treasury, shall be made free, and shall be crowned.

He that selleth, let him be as he that fleeth away: and he that buys, as one that will lose:

In the soul it is arrogance, and love of money, and vaingloriousness, and contention, and faithlessness, and the evil eye.

A man, therefore, who regulates his course by the law, even if he be a lover of money, straightway puts force upon his own disposition; lending to the needy without interest, and cancelling the debt of the incoming Sabbath.

For at a time when our fathers were in possession of undisturbed peace through obedience to the law, and were prosperous, so that Seleucus Nicanor, the king of Asia, both assigned them money for divine service, and accepted their form of government,

Having good will to the king’s affairs, I am come to inform you that infinite private wealth is laid up in the treasuries of Jerusalem which do not belong to the temple, but pertain to king Seleucus.

Apollonius, acquainting himself with the particulars of this, praised Simon for his care of the king’s interests, and going up to Seleucus informed him of the treasure;

he said that he came with the commands of the king that he should take the private money of the treasure.

And the nation, indignant at this proclamation, and replying to the effect that it was extremely unfair that those who had committed deposits to the sacred treasury should be deprived of them, resisted as well as they could.

who had made a covenant, if he would give him this authority, to pay yearly three thousand six hundred and sixty talents.

Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.