spoils thereof, he returned in the hundred forty and third year and
went up against Israel and Jerusalem, and captured the city with great
massacre and spoiled the Temple, and took away the vessels of gold and
silver and hidden treasures which he found therein. Therefore, there was
great mourning in Israel. Two years after, the king sent his chief
collector of tribute unto the cities of Juda, and he fell suddenly upon
Jerusalem, set fire to it, and pulled down the houses and walls thereof.
And the women and children he took away captive, and defiled the
sanctuary.

But the enemy builded the city of David, with a great and strong wall
and mighty towers, and stored it with armour and victuals and the spoils
of Jerusalem, so that it became a sore snare against the sanctuary and
an evil adversary to Israel. Moreover, King Antiochus wrote to his whole
kingdom that all should be one people, and sent letters unto Jerusalem
and the cities of Juda commanding that the Israelites should abandon
their own worship, cease to circumcise their children, and adore his
idols. Then was the abomination of desolation set up in the Temple, and
idol altars were builded throughout the cities of Juda, and the books of
the law were burned. Howbeit many in Israel chose rather to die that
they might not be defiled with meats and profane the Holy Covenant. In
those days arose Mattathias, a priest of the sons of Joarib. He dwelt in
Modin, and had five sons--Joannan, Simon, Judas who was called
Maccabeus, Eleazar, and Jonathan. The king's officers came to Modin and
asked Mattathias to fulfil the king's commandment; but Mattathias said:
Though all the nations consent, yet will I and my sons walk in the
covenant of our fathers. And he slew a Jew that did sacrifice to idols
in his presence, and the king's messenger also. So he and his sons fled
into the mountains, and, being joined by a company of mighty men of
Israel, went round about, and pulled down idol altars and circumcised
the children valiantly. And the work prospered in their hands, and they
recovered the law out of the hands of the Gentiles. When Mattathias came
to die he appointed Simon as a man of counsel, and Judas Maccabeus, who
had been mighty and strong in battle even from his youth up, to be their
captain to avenge the wrongs of their people. So he died in his hundred
forty and sixth year, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers at
Modin, and all Israel made great lamentation for