A Letter to the Jews in Egypt

¹From the Jews of Jerusalem and Judea to those in Egypt, warm greetings.

²May God be good to you and keep the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants.

³May he fill each of you with the desire to worship him and to do his will eagerly with all your heart and soul.

⁴May he enable you to understand his Law and his commands. May he give you peace,

⁵answer your prayers, forgive your sins, and never abandon you in times of trouble.

⁶Here in Judah we are now praying for you.

⁷In the year 169, when Demetrius the Second was king of Syria, we wrote to tell you about the persecution and the hard times that came upon us in the years after Jason revolted against authority in the Holy Land.

⁸Jason and his men set fire to the Temple gates and slaughtered innocent people. Then we prayed to the Lord and he answered our prayers. So we sacrificed animals, gave offerings of grain, lit the lamps in the Temple, and set out the sacred loaves.

⁹This is why we urge you to celebrate in the month of Kislev a festival similar to the Festival of Shelters. Written in the year 188.

The Death of King Antiochus

¹⁰From the Jews of Jerusalem and Judea, the Jewish Senate, and Judas, to Aristobulus, a descendant of priests and the teacher of King Ptolemy, and to the Jews in Egypt, greetings and good health.

¹¹We thank God because he saved us from great danger. We were like men ready to fight against a king,

¹²but God drove the enemy from our holy city.

¹³When King Antiochus arrived in Persia, his army seemed impossible to defeat, but they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea by an act of treachery on the part of her priests.

¹⁴King Antiochus had gone to the temple with some of his most trusted advisers, so that he might marry the goddess and then take away most of the temple treasures as a wedding gift.

¹⁵After the priests had laid out the treasure, he and a few of his men went into the temple to collect it. But the priests closed the doors behind him

¹⁶and stoned him and his men from trap doors hidden in the ceiling. Then they cut up the bodies and threw the heads to the people outside.

¹⁷Praise God for punishing those evil men! Praise him for everything!

Fire Consumes Nehemiah's Sacrifice

¹⁸On the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev we will celebrate the Festival of Rededication just as we celebrate the Festival of Shelters. We thought it important to remind you of this, so that you too may celebrate this festival. In this way you will remember how fire appeared when Nehemiah offered sacrifices after he had rebuilt the Temple and the altar.

¹⁹At the time when our ancestors were being taken to exile in Persia, a few devout priests took some fire from the altar and secretly hid it in the bottom of a dry cistern. They hid the fire so well that no one ever discovered it.

²⁰Years later, when it pleased God, the Persian emperor sent Nehemiah back to Jerusalem, and Nehemiah told the descendants of those priests to find the fire. They reported to us that they had found no fire but only some oily liquid. Nehemiah then told them to scoop some up and bring it to him.

²¹When everything for the sacrifice had been placed on the altar, he told the priests to pour the liquid over both the wood and the sacrifice.

²²After this was done and some time had passed, the sun appeared from behind the clouds, and suddenly everything on the altar burst into flames. Everyone looked on in amazement.

²³Then, while the fire was consuming the sacrifice, Jonathan the High Priest led the people in prayer, and Nehemiah and all the people responded.

Nehemiah's Prayer

²⁴Nehemiah's prayer went something like this: Lord God, Creator of all things, you are awesome and strong, yet merciful and just. You alone are king. No one but you is kind;

²⁵no one but you is gracious and just. You are almighty and eternal, forever ready to rescue Israel from trouble. You chose our ancestors to be your own special people.

²⁶Accept this sacrifice which we offer on behalf of all Israel; protect your chosen people and make us holy.

²⁷Free those who are slaves in foreign lands and gather together our scattered people. Have mercy on our people, who are mistreated and despised, so that all other nations will know that you are our God.

²⁸Punish the brutal and arrogant people who have oppressed us,

²⁹and then establish your people in your holy land, as Moses said you would.

The Persian Emperor Hears about the Fire

³⁰Then the priests sang hymns.

³¹After the sacrifices had been consumed, Nehemiah gave orders for the rest of the liquid to be poured over some large stones.

³²Immediately a fire blazed up, but it was extinguished by a flame from the fire on the altar.

³³News of what had happened spread everywhere. The Persian emperor heard that a liquid had been found in the place where the priests had hidden the altar fire, just before they were taken into exile. He also heard that Nehemiah and his friends had used this liquid to burn the sacrifice on the altar.

³⁴When the emperor investigated the matter and found out that this was true, he had the area fenced off and made into a shrine.

³⁵It became a substantial source of income for him, and he used the money for gifts to anyone who was in his good favor.

³⁶Nehemiah and his friends called the liquid nephthar which means purification, but most people call it naphtha.

The Misery of Human Life

¹Every person has been given a great deal of work to do. A heavy burden lies on all of us from the day of our birth until the day we go back to the earth, the mother of us all.

²We are confused and fearful, dreading the day of our death—

^3-4all of us from the king on his splendid throne wearing royal robes and a crown, to the humblest person dressed in burlap and living in poverty.

⁵All through our lives we meet anger, jealousy, and trouble. Things disturb us; we live with furious conflicts and with the fear of death. Even when we go to bed, we think up new troubles in our sleep.

⁶We get little rest, if any at all. When we sleep, it is as if we were awake, disturbed by our imaginations. If we dream that we are running from an enemy,

⁷just as we are about to be caught, we wake up and are relieved to find there is nothing to be afraid of.

⁸Here is what all creatures, both human and animal, must face (but it is seven times worse for sinners):

⁹death, violence, conflict, murder, disaster, famine, sickness, epidemic.

¹⁰All these things were created because of the wicked; they are the ones who have caused destruction.

¹¹Everything that comes from the earth goes back to the earth, just as all water flows into the sea.

The Results of Evil

¹²Nothing that comes from bribery or injustice will last, but the effects of loyalty will remain forever.

¹³Wealth that has been obtained dishonestly is like a stream that runs full during a thunderstorm,

¹⁴tumbling rocks along as it flows, but then suddenly goes dry.

¹⁵The children of ungodly people will not leave large families; they are like plants trying to take root on rock,

¹⁶like reeds along a river bank, withering before any other plant.

¹⁷Acts of kindness and charity are as lasting as eternity.

The Joys of Human Life

¹⁸Being independently wealthy or working for a living—both can make life pleasant, but it is better to find a treasure.

¹⁹Your name can be preserved if you have children or if you establish a city, but finding Wisdom is a better way. Owning livestock and orchards will make you famous, but it is better to have a wife you love.

²⁰Wine and music can make you happy, but a happy marriage is even better.

²¹Flutes and harps make fine music, but a pleasant voice is better than either.

²²Gracefulness and beauty please the eye, but not as much as new growth in the spring.

²³You can't go wrong with a good friend or neighbor, but an intelligent wife is better than either.

²⁴Relatives and helpers are good to have in times of trouble, but it will be an even greater help if you have made a practice of giving to the poor.

²⁵Gold and silver provide security, but good advice is better.

²⁶Wealth and strength give confidence, but the fear of the Lord can give you even greater confidence. When you fear the Lord you need nothing more; it is all the support you need.

²⁷The fear of the Lord is like a rich garden of blessings; you could not want a more glorious shelter.

Begging

²⁸My child, don't live the life of a beggar; it is better to die than to beg.

²⁹If you have to depend on someone else for your food, you are not really living your own life. You pollute yourself by accepting food from another. Begging is torture to the soul of any sensitive person.

³⁰A shameless person can make begging sound sweet, but something inside him burns.

Death

¹Death! The very thought of it is bitter to someone who is prosperous, living peacefully with his possessions, free of worries, and still able to enjoy his food.

²Death! Its sentence is welcome to someone living in poverty, with failing health, very old, burdened with worries, blind, and without hope.

³Do not be afraid of death's decree. Remember that it came to those before you and will come to those after you.

⁴The Lord has decreed it for every living creature. Who are you to object to what the Most High wishes? In the world of the dead no one will care whether you lived ten years, a hundred, or a thousand.

The Fate of the Wicked

⁵The children of sinners, brought up in ungodly surroundings, turn out to be hateful people.

⁶They will lose whatever they inherit, and their own descendants will live in permanent disgrace.

⁷The children will put the blame for their disgrace on their ungodly parents.

⁸You are doomed, you irreligious people who have abandoned the Law of the Most High God.

⁹When you have children, disaster will strike them and you will be left with nothing but sorrow. There will be great joy whenever you stumble, and even after your death you will be cursed.

¹⁰What comes into being from nothing will return to nothing; so it will be with the godless, doomed to extinction.

¹¹A person's body amounts to nothing, but a good reputation will last forever.

¹²Protect your reputation; it will outlive you and last longer than a thousand treasures of gold.

¹³A good life lasts only so long, but a good reputation will last forever.

A Sense of Decency

¹⁴My children, do as I teach you and live at peace. Wisdom that is not expressed is like a treasure that has been hidden—both are useless.

¹⁵A person who covers up his foolishness is better than one who keeps his wisdom to himself.

¹⁶My children, listen and I will teach you the circumstances when it is proper to be ashamed. Sometimes it is entirely out of place.

¹⁷Before your parents, be ashamed of immoral behavior. Before a ruler or an important person, be ashamed of a lie.

¹⁸Before a judge, be ashamed of criminal behavior. Before a public assembly, be ashamed of breaking the law. Before a friend or partner, be ashamed of dishonesty.

¹⁹Before your neighbors, be ashamed of theft. Be ashamed of breaking a promise, of leaning on the dinner table with your elbows, of stinginess when you are asked for something,

²⁰of not returning a greeting, of staring at a prostitute,

²¹of turning down a relative's request, of depriving someone of what is rightly his, of staring at another man's wife,

²²of playing around with his slave woman (keep away from her bed!) of insulting your friends, of following up your gifts with criticism,

²³of betraying secrets.

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¹Don't be envious of evil people, and don't try to make friends with them.

²Causing trouble is all they ever think about; every time they open their mouth someone is going to be hurt.

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³Homes are built on the foundation of wisdom and understanding.

⁴Where there is knowledge, the rooms are furnished with valuable, beautiful things.

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⁵Being wise is better than being strong; yes, knowledge is more important than strength.

⁶After all, you must make careful plans before you fight a battle, and the more good advice you get, the more likely you are to win.

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⁷Wise sayings are too deep for stupid people to understand. They have nothing to say when important matters are being discussed.