Part 613 (1/2)

5:31. And Judas saw that the fight was begun, and the cry of the battle went up to heaven like a trumpet, and a great cry out of the city:

5:32. And he said to his host: Fight ye today for your brethren.

5:33. And he came with three companies behind them, and they sounded their trumpets, and cried out in prayer.

5:34. And the host of Timotheus understood that it was Machabeus, and they fled away before his face and they made a great slaughter of them, and there fell of them in that day almost eight thousand men.

5:35. And Judas turned aside to Maspha, and a.s.saulted, and took it, and he slew every male thereof, and took the spoils thereof, and burnt it with fire.

5:36. From thence he marched, and took Casbon, and Mageth, and Bosor, and the rest of the cities of Galaad.

5:37. But after this Timotheus gathered another army, and camped over against Raphon, beyond the torrent.

5:38. And Judas sent men to view the army: and they brought him word, saying: All the nations, that are round about us, are a.s.sembled unto him an army exceeding great:

5:39. And they have hired the Arabians to help them, and they have pitched their tents beyond the torrent, ready to come to fight against thee. And Judas went to meet them.

5:40. And Timotheus said to the captains of his army: When Judas and his army come near the torrent of water, if he pa.s.s over unto us first, we shall not be able to withstand him: for he will certainly prevail over us.

5:41. But if he be afraid to pa.s.s over, and camp on the other side of the river, we will pa.s.s over to them, and shall prevail against him.

5:42. Now when Judas came near the torrent of water, he set the scribes of the people by the torrent, and commanded them, saying: Suffer no man to stay behind: but let all come to the battle.

5:43. And he pa.s.sed over to them first, and all the people after him, and all the heathens were discomfited before them, and they threw away their weapons, and fled to the temple that was in Carnaim.

5:44. And he took that city, and the temple he burnt with fire, with all things that were therein: and Carnaim was subdued, and could not stand against the face of Judas.

5:45. And Judas gathered together all the Israelites that were in the land of Galaad, from the least even to the greatest, and their wives and children, and an army exceeding great, to come into the land of Juda.

5:46. And they came as far as Ephron: now this was a great city, situate in the way, strongly fortified, and there was no means to turn from it on the right hand or on the left, but the way was through the midst of it.

5:47. And they that were in the city shut themselves in, and stopped up the gates with stones: and Judas sent to them with peaceable words,

5:48. Saying: Let us pa.s.s through your land, to go into our own country, and no man shall hurt you; we will only pa.s.s through on foot. But they would not open to them.

5:49. Then Judas commanded proclamation to be made in the camp, that they should make an a.s.sault, every man in the place where he was.

5:50. And the men of the army drew near, and he a.s.saulted that city all the day, and all the night; and the city was delivered into his hands:

5:51. And they slew every male with the edge of the sword, and he razed the city, and took the spoils thereof, and pa.s.sed through all the city over them that were slain.

5:52. Then they pa.s.sed over the Jordan to the great plain that is over against Bethsan.

5:53. And Judas gathered together the hindmost, and he exhorted the people, all the way through, till they came into the land of Juda.

5:54. And they went up to mount Sion with joy and gladness, and offered holocausts, because not one of them was slain, till they had returned in peace.

5:55. Now in the days that Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Galaad, and Simon his brother in Galilee, before Ptolemais,

5:56. Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, captain of the soldiers, heard of the good success, and the battles that were fought,