2 मक्काबियों 4

1But Simon, of whom we spoke before, and of his country, spoke ill of Onias, as though he had incited Heliodorus to do these things, and had been the promoter of evils:

2And he presumed to call him a traitor to the kingdom, who provided for the city, and defended his nation, and wed zealous for the law of God.

3But when the enmities proceeded so far, that murders also were committed by some of Simon’s friends:

4Onias considering the danger of this contention, and that Apollonius, who was the governor of Celesyria and Phenicia, was outrageous, which increased the malice of Simon, went to the king,

5Not to be an accuser of his countrymen, but with a view to the common good of all the people.

6For he saw that, except the king took care, it was impossible that matters should be settled in peace, or that Simon would cease from his folly.

7But after the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, who was called the Illustrious, had taken possession of the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias ambitiously sought the high priesthood:

8And went to the king, promising him three hundred and sixty talents of silver, and out of other revenues fourscore talents.

9Besides this he promised also a hundred and fifty more, if he might have license to set him up a place for exercise, and a place for youth, and to entitle them, that were at Jerusalem, Antiochians.

10Which when the king had granted, and he had gotten the rule into his hands, forthwith he began to bring over his countrymen to the fashion of the heathens.

11And abolishing those things, which had been decreed of special favour by the kings in behalf of the Jews, by the means of John the father of that Eupolemus, who went ambassador to Rome to make amity and alliance, he disannulled the lawful ordinances of the citizens, and brought in fashions that were perverse.

12For he had the boldness to set up, under the very castle, a place of exercise, and to put all the choicest youths in brothel houses.

13Now this was not the beginning, but an increase, and progress of heathenish and foreign manners, through the abominable and unheard of wickedness of Jason, that impious wretch and no priest.

14Insomuch that the priests were not now occupied about the offices of the altar, but despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of the games, and of the unlawful allowance thereof, and of the exercise of the discus.

15And setting nought by the honours of their fathers, they esteemed the Grecian glories for the best:

16For the sake of which they incurred a dangerous contention, and followed earnestly their ordinances, and in all things they coveted to be like them, who were their enemies and murderers.

17For acting wickedly against the laws of God doth not pass unpunished: but this the time following will declare.

18Now when the game that was used every fifth year was kept at Tyre, the king being present,

19The wicked Jason sent from Jerusalem sinful men to carry three hundred didrachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules; but the bearers thereof desired it might not be bestowed on the sacrifices, because it was not necessary, but might be deputed for other charges.

20So the money was appointed by him that sent it to the sacrifice of Hercules: but because of them that carried it was employed for the making of galleys.

21Now when Apollonius the son of Mnestheus was sent into Egypt to treat with the nobles of king Philometor, and Antiochus understood that he was wholly excluded from the affairs of the kingdom, consulting his own interest, he departed thence and came to Joppe, and from thence to Jerusalem:

22Where he was received in a, magnificent manner by Jason, and the city, and came in with torch lights, and with praises, and from thence he returned with his army into Phenicia.

23Three years afterwards Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the aforesaid Simon, to carry money to the king, and to bring answers from him concerning certain necessary affairs.

24But he being recommended to the king, when he had magnified the appearance of his power, got the high priesthood for himself, by offering more than Jason by three hundred talents of silver.

25So having received the king’s mandate, he returned bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood: but having the mind of a cruel tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast.

26Then Jason, who had undermined his own brother, being himself undermined, was driven out a fugitive into the country of the Ammonites.

27So Menelaus got the principality: but as for the money he had promised to the king he took no care, when Sostratus the governor of the castle called for it.

28For to him appertained the gathering of the taxes: wherefore they were both called before the king.

29And Menelaus was removed from the priesthood, Lysimachus his brother succeeding: and Sostratus was made governor of the Cyprians.

30When these things were in doing, it fell out that they of Tharsus and Mallos raised a sedition, because they were given for a gift to Antiochis, the king’s concubine.

31The king therefore went in all haste to appease them, leaving Andronicus, one of his nobles, for his deputy.

32Then Menelaus supposing that he had found a convenient time, having stolen certain vessels of gold out of the temple, gave them to Andronicus, and others he had sold at Tyre, and in the neighbouring cities.

33Which when Onias understood most certainly, he reproved him, keeping himself in a safe place at Antioch beside Daphne.

34Whereupon Menelaus coming to Andronicus, desired him to kill Onias. And he went to Onias, and gave him his right hand with an oath, and (though he were suspected by him) persuaded him to come forth out of the sanctuary, and immediately slew him, without any regard to justice.

35For which cause not only the Jews, but also the other nations, conceived indignation, and were much grieved for the unjust murder of so great a man.

36And when the king was come back from the places of Cilicia, the Jews that were at Antioch, and also the Creaks went to him: complaining of the unjust murder of Onias.

37Antiochus therefore was grieved in his mind for Onias, and being moved to pity, shed tears, remembering the sobriety and modesty of the deceased.

38And being inflamed to anger, he commanded Andronicus to be stripped of his purple, and to be led about through all the city: and that in the same place wherein he had committed the impiety against Onias, the sacrilegious wretch should be put to death, the Lord repaying him his deserved punishment.

39Now when many sacrileges had been committed by Lysimachus in the temple by the counsel of Menelaus, and the rumour of it was spread abroad, the multitude gathered themselves together against Lysimachus, a great quantity of gold being already carried away.

40Wherefore the multitude making an insurrection, and their minds being filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men, and began to use violence, one Tyrannus being captain, a man far gone both in age, and in madness.

41But when they perceived the attempt of Lysimachus, some caught up stones, some strong clubs: and some threw ashes upon Lysimachus,

42And many of them were wounded, and some struck down to the ground, but all were put to flight: and as for the sacrilegious fellow himself, they slew him beside the treasury.

43Now concerning these matters, an accusation was laid against Menelaus.

44And when the king was come to Tyre, three men were sent from the ancients to plead the cause before him.

45But Menelaus being convicted, promised Ptolemee to give him much money to persuade the king to favour him.

46So Ptolemee went to the king in a certain court where he was, as it were to cool himself, and brought him to be of another mind:

47So Menelaus who was guilty of all the evil, was acquitted by him of the accusations: and those poor men, who, if they had pleaded their cause even before Scythians, should have been judged innocent, were condemned to death.

48Thus they that prosecuted the cause for the city, and for the people, and the sacred vessels, did soon suffer unjust punishment.

49Wherefore even the Tyrians being moved with indignation, were liberal towards their burial.

50And so through the covetousness of them that were in power, Menelaus continued in authority, increasing in malice to the betraying of the citizens.

1Simon autem prædictus, pecuniarum et patriæ delator, male loquebatur de Onia, tamquam ipse Heliodorum instigasset ad hæc, et ipse fuisset incentor malorum:

2provisoremque civitatis, ac defensorem gentis suæ, et æmulatorem legis Dei, audebat insidiatorem regni dicere.

3Sed cum inimicitiæ in tantum procederent ut etiam per quosdam Simonis necessarios homicidia fierent,

4considerans Onias periculum contentionis, et Apollonium insanire, utpote ducem Cœlesyriæ et Phœnicis, ad augendam malitiam Simonis ad regem se contulit,

5non ut civium accusator, sed communem utilitatem apud semetipsum universæ multitudinis considerans.

6Videbat enim sine regali providentia impossibile esse pacem rebus dari, nec Simonem posse cessare a stultitia sua.

7Sed post Seleuci vitæ excessum, cum suscepisset regnum Antiochus, qui Nobilis appellabatur, ambiebat Jason frater Oniæ summum sacerdotium:

8adito rege, promittens ei argenti talenta trecenta sexaginta, et ex redditibus aliis talenta octoginta,

9super hæc promittebat et alia centum quinquaginta, si potestati ejus concederetur, gymnasium et ephebiam sibi constituere, et eos qui in Jerosolymis erant, Antiochenos scribere.

10Quod cum rex annuisset, et obtinuisset principatum, statim ad gentilem ritum contribules suos transferre cœpit,

11et amotis his quæ humanitatis causa Judæis a regibus fuerant constituta per Joannem patrem Eupolemi, qui apud Romanos de amicitia et societate functus est legatione legitima, civium jura destituens, prava instituta sanciebat.

12Etenim ausus est sub ipsa arce gymnasium constituere, et optimos quosque epheborum in lupanaribus ponere.

13Erat autem hoc non initium, sed incrementum quoddam, et profectus gentilis et alienigenæ conversationis, propter impii et non sacerdotis Jasonis nefarium, et inauditum scelus:

14ita ut sacerdotes jam non circa altaris officia dediti essent, sed contempto templo et sacrificiis neglectis, festinarent participes fieri palæstræ et præbitionis ejus injustæ, et in exercitiis disci.

15Et patrios quidem honores nihil habentes, græcas glorias optimas arbitrabantur:

16quarum gratia periculosa eos contentio habebat, et eorum instituta æmulabantur, ac per omnia his consimiles esse cupiebant, quos hoste et peremptores habuerant.

17In leges enim divinas impie agere impune non cedit: sed hoc tempus sequens declarabit.

18Cum autem quinquennalis agon Tyri celebraretur, et rex præsens esset,

19misit Jason facinorosus ab Jerosolymis viros peccatores, portantes argenti didrachmas trecentas in sacrificum Herculis: quas postulaverunt hi qui asportaverant ne in sacrificiis erogarentur, quia non oporteret, sed in alios sumptus eas deputari.

20Sed hæ oblatæ sunt quidem ab eo qui miserat in sacrificium Herculis: propter præsentes autem datæ sunt in fabricam navium triremium.

21Misso autem in Ægyptum Apollonio Mnesthei filio propter primates Ptolemæi Philometoris regis, cum cognovisset Antiochus alienum se a negotiis regni effectum, propriis utilitatibus consulens, profectus inde venit Joppen, et inde Jerosolymam.

22Et magnifice ab Jasone et civitate susceptus, cum facularum luminibus et laudibus ingressus est: et inde in Phœnicen exercitum convertit.

23Et post triennii tempus, misit Jason Menelaum supradicti Simonis fratrem portantem pecunias regi, et de negotiis necessariis responsa perlaturum.

24At ille commendatus regi, cum magnificasset faciem potestatis ejus, in semetipsum retorsit summum sacerdotium, superponens Jasoni talenta argenti trecenta.

25Acceptisque a rege mandatis, venit, nihil quidem habens dignum sacerdotio: animos vero crudelis tyranni, et feræ beluæ iram gerens.

26Et Jason quidem, qui proprium fratrem captivaverat, ipse deceptus profugus in Ammanitem expulsus est regionem.

27Menelaus autem principatum quidem obtinuit: de pecuniis vero regi promissis, nihil agebat, cum exactionem faceret Sostratus, qui arci erat præpositus,

28nam ad hunc exactio vectigalium pertinebant: quam ob causam utrique ad regem sunt evocati.

29Et Menelaus amotus est a sacerdotio, succedente Lysimacho fratre suo: Sostratus autem prælatus est Cypriis.

30Et cum hæc agerentur, contigit Tharsenses et Mallotas seditionem movere, eo quod Antiochidi regis concubinæ dono essent dati.

31Festinanter itaque rex venit sedare illos, relicto suffecto uno ex comitibus suis Andronico.

32Ratus autem Menelaus accepisse se tempus opportunum, aurea quædam vasa e templo furatus donavit Andronico, et alia vendiderat Tyri, et per vicinas civitates.

33Quod cum certissime cognovisset Onias, arguebat eum, ipse in loco tuto se continens Antiochiæ secus Daphnem.

34Unde Menelaus accedens ad Andronicum, rogabat ut Oniam interficeret. Qui cum venisset ad Oniam, et datis dextris cum jurejurando (quamvis esset ei suspectus) suasisset de asylo procedere, statim eum peremit, non veritus justitiam.

35Ob quam causam non solum Judæi, sed aliæ quoque nationes indignabantur, et moleste ferebant de nece tanti viri injusta.

36Sed regressum regem de Ciliciæ locis adierunt Judæi apud Antiochiam, simul et Græci, conquerentes de iniqua nece Oniæ.

37Contristatus itaque animo Antiochus propter Oniam, et flexus ad misericordiam, lacrimas fudit, recordatus defuncti sobrietatem et modestiam:

38accensisque animis Andronicum purpura exutum, per totam civitatem jubet circumduci: et in eodem loco in quo in Oniam impietatem commiserat, sacrilegum vita privari, Domino illi condignam retribuente pœnam.

39Multis autem sacrilegiis in templo a Lysimacho commissis Menelai consilio, et divulgata fama, congregata est multitudo adversum Lysimachum multo jam auro exportato.

40Turbis autem insurgentibus, et animis ira repletis, Lysimachus armatis fere tribus millibus iniquis manibus uti cœpit, duce quodam tyranno, ætate pariter et dementia provecto.

41Sed ut intellexerunt conatum Lysimachi, alii lapides, alii fustes validos arripuere: quidam vero cinerem in Lysimachum jecere.

42Et multi quidem vulnerati, quidam autem et prostrati, omnes vero in fugam conversi sunt: ipsum etiam sacrilegum secus ærarium interfecerunt.

43De his ergo cœpit judicium adversus Menelaum agitari.

44Et cum venisset rex Tyrum, ad ipsum negotium detulerunt missi tres viri a senioribus.

45Et cum superaretur Menelaus, promisit Ptolemæo multas pecunias dare ad suadendum regi.

46Itaque Ptolemæus in quodam atrio positum quasi refrigerandi gratia regem adiit, et deduxit a sententia:

47et Menelaum quidem universæ malitiæ reum criminibus absolvit: miseros autem qui, etiamsi apud Scythas causam dixissent, innocentes judicarentur, hos morte damnavit.

48Cito ergo injustam pœnam dederunt, qui pro civitate, et populo, et sacris vasis causam prosecuti sunt.

49Quam ob rem Tyrii quoque indignati, erga sepulturam eorum liberalissimi extiterunt.

50Menelaus autem, propter eorum qui in potentia erant avaritiam, permanebat in potestate, crescens in malitia ad insidias civium.

1But the aforementioned Simon, who was a betrayer of the money and of his nation, spoke evil about Onias, as if he had instigated Heliodorus to do these things and as if he had been the inciter of evils.

2And he dared to say that he was a traitor to the kingdom, though he provided for the city, and defended his people, and was zealous for the law of God.

3But when the hostilities had proceeded to such an extent that even murders were committed by certain close associates of Simon,

4Onias, considering the peril of this contention, and Apollonius to be mad, though he was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, which only augmented the malice of Simon, he brought himself before the king,

5not so as to be an accuser of a citizen, but in view of his own consideration for the common good of the entire multitude.

6For he saw that, without royal providence, it would be impossible to provide peace to events, nor would Simon ever cease from his foolishness.

7But after the life of Seleucus expired, when Antiochus, who was called the illustrious, had assumed the kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, was ambitious for the high priesthood.

8He went to the king, promising him three hundred and sixty talents of silver, and from other revenues eighty talents,

9and beyond these, he promised also one hundred and fifty more, if he would be granted the authority to establish a sports arena, and a school for boys, and to enroll those who were at Jerusalem as Antiochians.

10When the king had assented, and he had obtained the leadership, he immediately began to transfer his subjects to the rituals of the heathens.

11And taking away those things that had been established by the kings, by reason of the humanitarianism of the Jews, through John, the father of Eupolemus, who formed a friendship and alliance with the Romans, he discharged the legitimate legislations, voiding the oaths of the citizens, and he sanctioned depraved customs.

12For he even had the audacity to set up, below the very stronghold, a sports arena, and to place all of the best adolescent boys in brothels.

13Now this was not the beginning, but a certain increase and progression of heathenism and foreign practices, due to the nefarious and unheard of wickedness of the impious non-priest Jason,

14so much so that now the priests were not devoted to the concerns of services at the altar, but, despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they hurried to become participants of the wrestling school, and of its prohibited injustices, and of the training of the discus.

15And, even holding the honors of their fathers to be nothing, they esteemed the glories of the Greeks as best.

16For the sake of these, they held a dangerous competition, and were imitators of their practices, and so, in all things, they desired to be similar to those who had been their enemies and destroyers.

17But acting impiously against the divine laws does not go unpunished, as these subsequent events will reveal.

18But when the competition that was celebrated every fifth year was at Tyre, the king being present,

19the villainous Jason sent sinful men from Jerusalem, carrying three hundred didrachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules. But those who transported it asked that it might not be paid out for the sacrifices, because it was not needed, but might be used for other expenses.

20So, even though this was offered by him who sent it for the sacrifice of Hercules, it was instead given over to the manufacture of Greek warships, because of those presenting it.

21Then Apollonius, the son of Menestheus, was sent into Egypt because of the nobles of king Philometor of Ptolemy. But when Antiochus realized that he had been effectively alienated from the affairs of the kingdom, consulting his own interests, he started out from there and came to Joppa, and from there to Jerusalem.

22And he was received magnificently by Jason and the city, and he entered with the lights of little torches and with praises. And from there he turned back with his army to Phoenicia.

23And, after three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the above mentioned Simon, carrying money to the king, and bearing responses about essential matters.

24And he, being recommended to the king, when he had magnified the appearance of his power, usurped the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.

25And so, having received orders from the king, he returned, holding nothing at all worthy of the priesthood, in truth, having the soul of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast.

26And indeed, Jason, who had taken captive his own brother, was himself deceived, and was expelled to become a fugitive in the region of the Ammonites.

27Then Menelaus, indeed, obtained the principality, but truly, concerning the money that he had promised to the king, nothing was done. Although Sostratus, who was first over the stronghold, attempted to collect it,

28since the collection of certain taxes pertained to him. For this reason, they were both called before the king.

29And Menelaus was removed from the priesthood, being succeeded by Lysimachus, his brother. Then Sostratus was appointed over the Cyprians.

30And while these things were occurring, it happened that those from Tarsus and Mallus incited a sedition, because they had been given as a gift to Antiochidi, the concubine of the king.

31And so, the king hurried to come and calm them, leaving behind Andronicus, one of his associates, as his deputy.

32Then Menelaus, believing that he had reached an opportune time, having stolen certain gold vessels out of the temple, gave them to Andronicus, along with others he had gained at Tyre and throughout the neighboring cities.

33But when Onias had realized this with certainty, he accused him, keeping himself in a safe place at Antioch beside Daphne.

34Meanwhile, Menelaus met with Andronicus, asking him to execute Onias. So he then went to Onias, and he gave him his right hand with an oath, and, even though he was suspicious of him, he persuaded him to venture out of asylum, and he immediately killed him, with no respect for justice.

35For this reason, not only the Jews, but also the other nations, were indignant and bore much grief for the unjust killing of so great a man.

36But when the king returned from the places of Cilicia, the Jews at Antioch, and similarly the Greeks, went to him, complaining of the iniquitous killing of Onias.

37And so Antiochus was grieved in his mind because of Onias, and, being moved to compassion, he shed tears, remembering the sobriety and modesty of the deceased.

38And, being inflamed in soul, he ordered the purple to be torn from Andronicus, and that he be led around, throughout the entire city, and that, in the same place where he had committed the impiety against Onias, the sacrilegious man should be deprived of his life, as his fitting punishment rendered by the Lord.

39But when many sacrileges were committed by Lysimachus in the temple through the counsel of Menelaus, and the news was divulged, the multitude gathered together against Lysimachus, though a great quantity of gold had been exported already.

40But when the multitude stirred up an insurrection, and their minds were filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand, who began to act with hands of iniquity. A certain tyrant was their leader, a man advanced both in age and in madness.

41But when they perceived the attempt of Lysimachus, some took hold of stones, others strong clubs, and, in truth, certain ones threw ashes upon Lysimachus.

42And indeed, many were wounded, and some were struck down; however, all were put to flight. And, as for the sacrilegious man, they executed him beside the treasury.

43Therefore, about these things, a judgment began to be stirred up against Menelaus.

44And when the king had arrived at Tyre, three men were sent from the elders to bring the matter to him.

45But when Menelaus was overcome, he promised to give much money to Ptolemy to persuade the king.

46And so, Ptolemy went to the king in a certain court where he was, as if merely to refresh himself, and he influenced him away from the sentence.

47And so Menelaus, though indeed guilty of all malice, was absolved of the crimes. Moreover, these pitiable men, who, even if they had pleaded their case before Scythians, would have been judged innocent, he condemned to death.

48Therefore, those who brought the case on behalf of the city, and the people, and the sacred vessels were quickly given an unjust punishment.

49For this reason, even the Tyrians, being indignant, proved to be very liberal toward their burial.

50Thus, because of the greed of those who were in power, Menelaus remained in authority, increasing in malice, to the betrayal of the citizens.