2730 verses about Sacrifice

According to all these words wrote he to his whole kingdom; and he appointed overseers over all the people, and he commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city.

And at the doors of the houses and in the streets they burned incense.

And on the five and twentieth day of the month they sacrificed upon the idol altar of God.

And they chose to die, that they might not be defiled with the meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant: and they died.

And the king’s officers, that were enforcing the apostasy, came into the city Modin to sacrifice.

And when he had left speaking these words, there came a Jew in the sight of all to sacrifice on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king’s commandment.

And Mattathias saw it, and his zeal was kindled, and his reins trembled, and he showed forth his wrath according to judgement, and ran, and killed him upon the altar.

And the king’s officer, who compelled men to sacrifice, he killed at that time, and pulled down the altar.

And he and his sons fled into the mountains, and forsook all that they had in the city.

And now, my children, be you⌃ zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers.

and they said each man to his neighbor, Let us raise up the ruin of our people, and let us fight for our people and the holy place.

And they brought the priests’ garments, and the first fruits, and the tithes: and they stirred up the Nazarites, who had accomplished their days.

And your holy place is trodden down and profaned, and your priests are in heaviness and brought low.

for it is better for us to die in battle, than to look upon the evils of our nation and the holy place.

But Judas and his kindred said, Behold, our enemies are discomfited: let us go up to cleanse the holy place, and to dedicate it afresh.

And they saw the sanctuary laid desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned up, and shrubs growing in the courts as in a forest or as on one of the mountains, and the priests’ chambers pulled down;

And they took counsel concerning the altar of burnt offerings, which had been profaned, what they should do with it:

and there came into their mind a good counsel, that they should pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it: and they pulled down the altar,

And they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar after the fashion of the former;

and they built the holy place, and the inner parts of the house; and they hallowed the courts.

And they made the holy vessels new, and they brought the candlestick, and the altar of burnt offerings and of incense, and the table, into the temple.

And they burned incense upon the altar, and they lighted the lamps that were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple.

And they rose up early in the morning, on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month, which is the month Chislev, in the hundred and forty and eighth year,

and offered sacrifice according to the law upon the new altar of burned offerings which they had made.

At what time and on what day the Gentiles had profaned it, even on that day was it dedicated afresh, with songs and harps and lutes, and with cymbals.

And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and offered burned offerings with gladness, and sacrificed a sacrifice of deliverance and praise.

And they decked the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold and small shields, and dedicated afresh the gates and the priests’ chambers, and made doors for them.

And Judas and his kindred and the whole congregation of Israel ordained, that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their seasons from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Chislev, with gladness and joy.

And they went up to mount Sion with gladness and joy, and offered whole burnt offerings, because not so much as one of them was slain until they returned in peace.

In that day certain priests, desiring to do exploits there, were slain in battle, when as he went out to battle unadvisedly.

And they showed the elephants the blood of grapes and mulberries, that they might prepare them for the battle.

And Eleazar, who was called Avaran, saw one of the beasts armed with royal breastplates, and he was higher than all the beasts, and the king seemed to be upon him;

and he gave himself to deliver his people, and to get him an everlasting name;

And he crept under the elephant, and thrust him from beneath, and killed him; and the elephant fell to the earth upon him, and he died there.

and there were but a few left in the sanctuary, because the famine prevailed against them, and they were scattered, each man to his own place.

And they gave him credence: and he laid hands on threescore men of them, and killed them in one day, according to the word which the psalmist wrote,

And after these things Nicanor went up to mount Sion: and there came some of the priests out of the sanctuary, and some of the elders of the people, to salute him peaceably, and to show him the whole burned sacrifice that was being offered for the king.

And the priests entered in, and stood before the altar and the temple; and they wept, and said,

And Judas said, let it not be so that I should do this thing, to flee from them: and if our time is come, let us die manfully for our kindred’s sake, and not leave a cause of reproach against our glory.

And Jonathan put on the holy garments in the seventh month of the hundred and sixties year, at the feast of tabernacles, and he gathered together forces, and provided arms in abundance.

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 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.

But when Jonathan heard this, he commanded to besiege it still: and he chose certain of the elders of Israel and of the priests, and put himself in peril,

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.

We have confirmed therefore to them the borders of Judea, and also the three governments of Aphaerema and Lydda and Ramathaim ( these were added to Judea from the country of Samaria), and all things appertaining to them, for all such as do sacrifice in Jerusalem, instead of the king’s dues which the king received of them yearly aforetime from the produce of the earth and the fruits of trees.

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.

We therefore at all times without ceasing, both in our feasts, and on the other convenient days, do remember you in the sacrifices which we offer, and in our prayers, as it is right and meet to be mindful of kindred:

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:

by reason hereof all my kindred have perished for Israel’s sake, and I am left alone.

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.

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 built a monument upon the sepulchre of his father and his kindred, and raised it aloft to the sight, with polished stone behind and before.

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.

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:

and Jonathan assembled their nation together, and became their high priest, and was gathered to his people:

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:

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

and set the gate on fire, and shed innocent blood: and we implored the Lord, and were heard; and we offered sacrifice and meal offering, and we lighted the lamps, and we set forth the show bread.

For when the prince was come there, and the army with him that seemed irresistible, they were cut to pieces in the temple of Nanaea by the treachery of Nanaea’s priests.

and opening the secret door of the panelled cieling, they threw stones and struck down the prince, and they hewed him and his company in pieces, and struck off their heads, and cast them to those that were without.

Whereas we are now about to keep the purification of the temple in the month Chislev, on the five and twentieth day, we thought it necessary to certify you thereof, that you⌃ also may keep a feast of tabernacles, and a memorial of the fire which was given when Nehemiah offered sacrifices, after that he had built both the temple and the altar.

For indeed when our fathers were about to be led into the land of Persia, the godly priests of that time took of the fire of the altar, and hid it privily in the hollow of a well that was without water, wherein they made it sure, so that the place was unknown to all men.

he commanded them to draw out thereof and bring to him: and when the sacrifices had been offered on the altar, Nehemiah commanded the priests to sprinkle with the water both the wood and the things laid thereupon.

And the priests made a prayer while the sacrifice was consuming, both the priests and all others, Jonathan leading and the rest answering, as Nehemiah did.

accept the sacrifice for all your people Israel, and guard your own portion, and consecrate it.

And as soon as the sacrifice was consumed, then Nehemiah commanded to pour on great stones the water that was left.

And when this was done, a flame was kindled; but when the light from the altar shone near it, all was consumed.

And when the matter became known, and it was told the king of the Persians, that, in the place where the priests that were led away had hid the fire, there appeared the water, wherewith also Nehemiah and those who were with him purified the sacrifice,

then the king, inclosing the place, made it sacred, after he had proved the matter.

And Jeremiah came and found a chamber in the rock, and there he brought in the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense; and he made fast the door.

and it was also declared that he, having wisdom, offered a sacrifice of dedication, and of the finishing of the temple; so we would have it now.

As Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down out of heaven and consumed the sacrifice, even so prayed Solomon also, and the fire came down and consumed the burnt offerings;

(and Moses said, Because the sin offering had not been eaten, it was consumed in like manner with the rest ;)

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

it came to pass that even the kings themselves did honor the place, and glorify the temple with the noblest presents;

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

And the high priest, secretly fearing lest the king might come to think that some treachery toward Heliodorus had been perpetrated by the Jews, brought a sacrifice for the deliverance of the man.

But as the high priest was making the atoning sacrifice, the same young men appeared again to Heliodorus, arrayed in the same garments; and they stood and said, Give Onias the high priest great thanks, for for his sake the Lord has granted you life;

So Heliodorus, having offered a sacrifice to the Lord and vowed great vows to him that had saved his life, and having graciously received Onias, returned with his army to the king.

so that the priests had no more any zeal for the services of the altar: but despising the sanctuary, and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to enjoy that which was unlawfully provided in the palaestra, after the summons of the discus;

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.

by reason of which they wounded many of them, and some they struck to the ground, and all of them they forced to flee, but the author of the sacrilege himself they killed beside the treasury.

and also to pollute the sanctuary in Jerusalem, and to call it by the name of Jupiter Olympius, and to call the sanctuary in Gerizim by the name of Jupiter the Protector of strangers, even as they were that lived in the place.

and the place of sacrifice was filled with those abominable things which had been prohibited by the laws.

And on the day of the king’s birth every month they were led along with bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Bacchus came, they were compelled to go in procession in honor of Bacchus, wearing wreaths of ivy.

And there wemt out a decree to the neighbouring Greek cities, by the suggestion of Ptolemy, that they should observe the same conduct against the Jews, and should make them eat of the sacrifices;

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.

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 those who had the charge of that forbidden sacrificial feast took the man aside, for the acquaintance which of old times they had with him, and privately implored him to bring flesh of his own providing, such as was befitting for him to use, and to make as if he did eat of the flesh from the sacrifice, as had been commanded by the king;

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.

and when he was at the point to die with the stripes, he groaned aloud and said, To the Lord, that has the holy knowledge, it is manifest that, whereas I might have been delivered from death, I endure sore pains in my body by being scourged; but in soul I gladly suffer these things for my fear of him.

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.