1367 verses about Persecution

and when these forthwith were heated, he commanded to cut out the tongue of him that had been their spokesman, and to scalp him, and to cut off his extremities, the rest of his kindred and his mother looking on.

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:

And when the first had died after this manner, they brought the second to the mocking; and they pulled off the skin of his head with the hair and asked him, Wilt you eat, before your body be punished in every limb?

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 when he was at the last gasp, he said, You, miscreant, do release us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise up us, who have died for his laws, to an eternal renewal of life.

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 when he too was dead, they shamefully handled and tortured the fourth in like manner.

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 hold you on your way, and behold his sovereign majesty, how it will torture you and your seed.

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.

But Antiochus, thinking himself to be despised, and suspecting the reproachful voice, while the youngest was yet alive did not only make his appeal to him by words, but also at the same time promised with oaths that he would enrich him and raise him to high estate, if he would turn from the customs of his fathers, and that he would take him for his Friend and intrust him with affairs.

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.

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.

Don’t be afraid of this butcher, but, proving yourself worthy of your kindred, accept your death, that in the mercy of God I may receive you again with your kindred.

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.

Let it then suffice to have said thus much concerning the enforcement of sacrificial feasts and the king’s exceeding barbarities.

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 they called upon the Lord, beseeching him to look upon the people that was oppressed by all; and to have compassion on the sanctuary also that had been profaned by the ungodly men;

And Ptolemy quickly appointed Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of the king’s Chief Friends, and sent him, in command of no fewer than twenty thousand of all nations, to destroy the whole race of Judea; and with him he joined Gorgias also, a captain and one that had experience in matters of war.

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.

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 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 they kept eight days with gladness in the manner of the feast of tabernacles, remembering how that not long before, during the feast of tabernacles, they were wandering in the mountains and in the caves after the manner of wild beasts.

But now will we declare what came to pass under Antiochus named Eupator, who proved himself a true son of that ungodly man, and will gather up briefly the successive evils of the wars.

But Gorgias, when he was made governor of the district, maintained a force of mercenaries, and at every turn kept up war with the Jews.

And together with him the Idumaeans also, being masters of important strongholds, harassed the Jews; and receiving to them those that had taken refuge there from Jerusalem, they assayed to keep up war.

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.

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.

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.

collected about fourscore thousand footmen and all his horsemen and came against the Jews, thinking to make the city a place for Greeks to dwell in,

we, having heard that the Jews do not consent to our father’s purpose to turn them to the customs of the Greeks, but choose rather their own manner of living, and make request that the customs of their law be allowed to them,—

that the Jews use their own proper meats and observe their own laws, even as heretofore; and none of them shall be in any way molested for the things that have been ignorantly done.

But certain of the governors of districts, Timotheus and Apollonius the son of Gennaeus, and Hieronymus also and Demophon, and beside them Nicanor the governor of Cyprus, would not suffer them to enjoy tranquillity and live in peace.

And men of Joppa perpetrated this great impiety: they invited the Jews that lived among them to go with their wives and children into the boats which they had provided, as though they had no ill will towards them;

and when the Jews, relying on the common decree of the city, accepted the invitation, as men desiring to live in peace and suspecting nothing, they took them out to sea and drowned them, in number not less than two hundred.

But when Judas heard of the cruelty done to his fellow-countrymen, giving command to the men that were with him

In the hundred forty and ninth year tidings were brought to Judas and his company that Antiochus Eupator was coming with great multitudes against Judea,

Now the king, infuriated in spirit, was coming with intent to inflict on the Jews the very worst of the sufferings that had befallen them in his father’s time.

Those of the Jews that he called Hasidaeans, whose leader is Judas Maccabaeus, keep up war, and are seditious, not suffering the kingdom to find tranquillity.

For as long as Judas remains alive, it is impossible that the state should find peace.

giving him written instructions to make away with Judas himself and to scatter those who were with him, and to set up Alcimus as high priest of the great temple.

And those in Judea that had before driven Judas into exile thronged to Nicanor in flocks, supposing that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would be successes to themselves.

But when the Jews heard of Nicanor’s inroad and the assault of the heathen, they sprinkled earth upon their heads and made solemn supplication to him who had established his own people for evermore, and who always, making manifest his presence, upholdeth those who are his own portion.

But the other, when he became aware that he had been bravely defeated by the stratagem of Judas, came to the great and holy temple, while the priests were offering the usual sacrifices, and commanded them to deliver up the man.

And when they declared with oaths that they had no knowledge where the man was whom he sought,

Now information was given to Nicanor against one Razis, an elder of Jerusalem, as being a lover of his countrymen and a man of very good report, and one called Father of the Jews for his good will toward them.

For in the former times when there was no mingling with the Gentiles he had been accused of cleaving to the Jews’ religion, and had jeoparded body and life with all earnestness for the religion of the Jews.

And Nicanor, wishing to make evident the ill will that he bare to the Jews, sent above five hundred soldiers to take him;

choosing rather to die nobly than to fall into the hands of the wicked wretches, and suffer outrage unworthy of his own nobleness:

when as his blood was now well near spent, he drew forth his bowels through the wound, and taking them in both his hands he shook them at the crowds; and calling upon him who is Lord of the life and the spirit to restore him these again, he thus died.

But Nicanor, hearing that Judas and his company were in the region of Samaria, resolved to set upon them with all security on the day of rest.

Ezra 4:7. But in the time of Artaxerxes king of the Persians Belemus, and Mithradates, and Tabellius, and Rathumus, and Beeltethmus, and Samellius the scribe, with the others that were in commission with them, dwelling in Samaria and other places, wrote to him against those who lived in Judea and Jerusalem the letter following:

Then king Artaxerxes his letters being read, Rathumus, and Samellius the scribe, and the rest that were in commission with them, removing in haste to Jerusalem with horsemen and a multitude of people in battle array, began to hinder the builders; and the building of the temple in Jerusalem ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of the Persians.

Ezra 2:1, etc. And these are they of Jewry that came up from the captivity, where they lived as strangers, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon.

And certain were gathered to them out of the other nations of the land, and they erected the altar upon its own place, because all the nations of the land were at enmity with them, and oppressed them; and they offered sacrifices according to the time, and burnt offerings to the Lord both morning and evening.

But the heathen of the land lying heavy upon the inhabitants of Judea, and holding them strait, hindered their building;

and by their secret plots, and popular persuasions and commotions, they hindered the finishing of the building all the time that King Cyrus lived: so they were hindered from building for the space of two years, until the reign of Darius.

Various were the prayers offered up by those who assembled in this place, on account of the unholy attempt of the king.

His purpose was to indict a public stigma upon our race; wherefore he erected a pillar at the tower-porch, and caused the following inscription to be engraved upon it:

That entrance to their own temple was to be refused to all those who would not sacrifice; that all the Jews were to be registered among the common people; that those who resisted were to be forcibly seized and put to death;

that those who were thus registered, were to be marked on their persons by the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and to be set apart with these limited rights.

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:

On discovering this, so incensed was the wicked king, that he no longer confined his rage to the Jews in Alexandria. Laying his hand more heavily upon those who lived in the country, he gave orders that they should be quickly collected into one place, and most cruelly deprived of their lives.

While this was going on, an invidious rumour was uttered abroad by men who had banded together to injure the Jewish race. The purport of their charge was, that the Jews kept them away from the ordinances of the law.

yet, as they worshipped God, and observed his law, they made certain distinctions, and avoided certain things. Hence some persons held them in odium;

who said much of the exclusiveness of the Jews with regard to their worship and meats; they alleged that they were men unsociable, hostile to the king’s interests, refusing to associate with him or his troops. By this way of speaking, they brought much odium upon them.

Nor was this unexpected uproar and sudden conflux of people unobserved by the Greeks who lived in the city, concerning men who had never harmed them: yet to aid them was not in their power, since all was oppression around; but they encouraged them in their troubles, and expected a favourable turn of affairs:

Now the king, elated with his prosperous fortune, and not regarding the superior power of God, but thinking to persevere in his present purpose, wrote the following letter to the prejudice of the Jews.

And thus, exhibiting their enmity against us, they alone among the nations lift up their heads against kings and benefactors, as men unwilling to submit to any thing reasonable.

have rejected the inestimable rights. Not only so, but by using speech, and by refraining from speech, they abhor the few among them who are heartily disposed towards us; ever deeming that their ignoble course of procedure will force us to do away with our reform.

Having then, received certain proofs that these Jews bear us every sort of ill-will, we must look forward to the possibility of some sudden tumult among ourselves, when these impious men may turn traitors and barbarous enemies.

As soon, therefore, as the contents of this letter become known to you, in that same hour we order those Jews who dwell among you, with wives and children, to be sent to us, vilified and abused, in chains of iron, to undergo a death, cruel and ignominious, suitable to men disaffected.

Whosoever shall shield a Jew, whether it be old man, child, or suckling, shall with his whole house be tortured to death.

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.

Whatever place shall shelter a Jew, shall, when he is hunted forth, be put under the ban of fire, and be forever rendered useless to every living being for all time to come.

The Jews suffered great throes of sorrow, and wept much; while their hearts, all things around being lamentable, were set on fire as they bewailed the sudden destruction which was decreed against them.

They were sent out unanimously by the generals in the several cities, with such stern and pitiless feeling, that the exceptional nature of the infliction moved even some of their enemies. These, influenced by sentiments of common humanity, and reflecting upon the uncertain issue of life, shed tears at this their miserable expulsion.

A multitude of aged hoary-haired old men, were driven along with halting bending feet, urged onward by the impulse of a violent, shameless force to quick speed.

Girls who had entered the bridal chamber quite lately, to enjoy the partnership of marriage, exchanged pleasure for misery; and with dust scattered upon their myrrh-anointed heads, were hurried along unveiled; and, in the midst of outlandish insults, set up with one accord a lamentable cry in lieu of the marriage hymn.

Bound, and exposed to public gaze, they were hurried violently on board ship.

The husbands of these, in the prime of their youthful vigour, instead of crowns wore halters round their necks; instead of feasting and youthful jollity, spent the rest of their nuptial days in wailings, and saw only the grave at hand.

They were dragged along by unyielding chains, like wild beasts: of these, some had their necks thrust into the benches of the rowers; while the feet of others were enclosed in hard fetters.

The planks of the deck above them barred out the light, and shut out the day on every side, so that they might be treated like traitors during the whole voyage.

They were conveyed accordingly in this vessel, and at the end of it arrived at Schedia. The king had ordered them to be cast into the vast hippodrome, which was built in front of the city. This place was well adapted by its situation to expose them to the gaze of all comers into the city, and of those who went from the city into the country. Thus they could hold no communication with his forces; nay, were deemed unworthy of any civilized accommodation.

was full of rage, and commanded that they should be carefully subjected to the same (and not one whit milder) treatment.

The whole nation was now to be registered. Every individual was to be specified by name; not for that hard servitude of labor which we have a little before mentioned, but that he might expose them to the before-mentioned tortures; and finally, in the short space of a day, might extirpate them by his cruelties.

The registering of these men was carried on cruelly, zealously, assiduously, from the rising of the sun to its going down, and was not brought to an end in forty days.

At the end of the above-mentioned interval of time, the registrars brought word to the king that the multitude of the Jews was too great for registration,

he commanded him, with a quantity of unmixed wine and handfuls of incense infused to drug the elephants early on the following day. These five hundred elephants were, when infuriated by the copious draughts of frankincense, to be led up to the execution of death upon the Jews.

The king, after issuing these orders, went to his feasting, and gathered together all those of his friends and of the army who hated the Jews the most.

The underlings appointed for the purpose went out about evening and bound the hands of the miserable victims, and took other precautions for their security at night, thinking that the whole race would perish together.

The heathen believed the Jews to be destitute of all protection; for chains fettered them about.

Conversation grew on, and the king sent for Hermon, and enquired of him, with fierce denunciations, why the Jews had been allowed to outlive that day.

The king, then, with a barbarity exceeding that of Phalaris, said, That they might thank his sleep of that day. Lose no time, and get ready the elephants against tomorrow, as you did before, for the destruction of these accursed Jews.

Nor did they employ the night in sleep, so much as in contriving cruel mockeries for those deemed miserable.