The Jews of Joppa Are Murdered

¹When the peace agreement between the Jews and the Syrians was completed, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews went back to their farming.

²But some of the local governors, Timothy and Apollonius son of Gennaeus, as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, would not let them live in peace; and neither would Nicanor, the commander of the mercenaries from Cyprus.

³About this time, the people of Joppa did a cruel thing to the Jews of their city. They pretended to be friendly to the Jews and invited them and their families to go sailing with them on ships they had provided.

⁴Since all the people of the town had decided to do this, the Jews suspected nothing and accepted the invitation out of a feeling of good will. But when they were out at sea, the people of Joppa drowned all two hundred of them.

⁵As soon as Judas heard of this inhuman thing that had been done to those Jews, he informed his men.

⁶After they had prayed to God, the just judge, they attacked the murderers. Under cover of darkness they set fire to the harbor, burning all the ships, and killing everyone they found hiding there.

⁷The gates of the city were locked, so Judas withdrew; but he was determined to return at some other time and wipe out everyone living there.

⁸Judas heard that the people of Jamnia had plans to kill the Jews of their city also.

⁹So he attacked Jamnia at night, setting fire to its harbor and the ships there. The flames could be seen as far as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.

Judas' Victories in the Region of Gilead

¹⁰When Judas and his men were about a mile away from Jamnia on their way to meet Timothy in battle, they were attacked by more than 5,000 Arabs, supported by 500 cavalry.

¹¹It was a hard fight, but with the help of God they defeated these desert tribesmen, who then asked to be on friendly terms with the Jews, promising to give them some livestock and offering to help them in other ways as well.

¹²Judas thought their friendship might prove useful in many ways, so he agreed to make peace with them; after that the Arabs returned to their tents.

¹³Judas also attacked the heavily fortified walled city of Caspin. The people who lived there were a mixed population of Gentiles

¹⁴who relied on the strength of their walls and felt confident that they had enough food stored up to last through a siege. So they made fun of Judas and his men, shouting out insults against them and profanities against their God.

¹⁵But the Jews prayed to the Almighty Lord of the universe, who had torn down the walls of Jericho in the days of Joshua without using battering rams or siege weapons. Then they made a fierce attack against the wall

¹⁶and because it was God's will, they captured the city. The Jews slaughtered so many people that a nearby lake, which was about a quarter of a mile wide, seemed to be overflowing with blood.

Judas Defeats Timothy's Army

¹⁷From the city of Caspin, Judas and his men marched about 95 miles, until they came to the Jewish settlement of Charax, near the city of Tob.

¹⁸But they did not find Timothy there, because he had already left the region. He had been able to do nothing there except leave behind a strong garrison in one place.

¹⁹Two of Judas' generals, Dositheus and Sosipater, attacked the garrison and killed all 10,000 men stationed there.

²⁰Then Judas divided his army into several divisions, placing Dositheus and Sosipater each in command of a division, and hurried after Timothy, who had a force of 120,000 infantry and 2,500 cavalry.

²¹When Timothy found out that Judas was coming after him, he sent the women and the children on ahead with the baggage to the city of Karnaim, which was almost impossible to besiege or even to reach, because of the narrow passes that led up to it.

²²But at the moment that Judas' first division came into sight, the enemy forces were thrown into panic by a vision sent by God, who sees everything. In terror they began to run wildly about and many of them were wounded by the swords of their own men.

²³So Judas and his men pursued them as hard as they could, killing at least 30,000 of the enemy.

²⁴Timothy himself was captured by the troops of Dositheus and Sosipater. But he was very shrewd and managed to convince them that many of their relatives were his prisoners and would be put to death if anything happened to him.

²⁵Finally, after he had promised to send their relatives home safely, they let him go free.

Judas Wins Other Victories

²⁶Next, Judas attacked the city of Karnaim and the temple of the goddess Atargatis there, killing 25,000 people

²⁷and completely destroying both the city and the temple. Then he attacked the fortified city of Ephron where Lysias and people of all nationalities were living. Strong young men took up their positions in front of the walls and fought bravely, while inside the city were stored large quantities of military supplies and weapons.

²⁸But the Jews prayed for help to the Lord, who crushes the power of his enemies. So they captured the city and killed about 25,000 people.

²⁹From there they hurried on to the city of Beth Shan, seventy-five miles north of Jerusalem.

³⁰The Jews there told Judas how kindly the people of the city had treated them, especially during hard times.

³¹So Judas and his men thanked the people and urged them to show the same good will toward the Jews in the future. Then they left for Jerusalem, where they arrived shortly before the Harvest Festival.

Judas Defeats Gorgias

³²After Pentecost (as the Harvest Festival is called in Greek) Judas and his men quickly marched out against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea,

³³who met them with 3,000 infantry and 400 cavalry.

³⁴In the battle that followed, a few Jews were killed.

³⁵Then a Jew from the city of Tob, a powerful cavalry soldier by the name of Dositheus, grabbed Gorgias by his cloak and started dragging him away by brute force, intending to take the worthless man alive. But suddenly one from the Thracian cavalry rushed at Dositheus and chopped off his arm, allowing Gorgias to escape to the city of Marisa.

³⁶By now the Jewish men under the command of Esdrias had been fighting for a long time and were exhausted. So Judas prayed that the Lord would show that he was on their side and in command of their troops.

³⁷Then, while Judas sang a hymn in his native language as a battle cry, the Jews made a surprise attack against Gorgias and his men and put them to flight.

Prayers for Those Killed in Battle

³⁸After the battle Judas led his men to the town of Adullam. It was the day before the Sabbath, so they purified themselves according to Jewish custom and then observed the holy day.

³⁹By the following day it was urgent that they gather up the bodies of the men who had been killed in battle and bury them in their family tombs.

⁴⁰But on each of the dead, hidden under their clothes, they found small images of the gods worshiped in Jamnia, which the Law forbids Jews to wear. Everyone then knew why these men had been killed.

⁴¹So they praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge, who reveals what is hidden,

⁴²and they begged him that this sin might be completely blotted out. Then, Judas, that great man, urged the people to keep away from sin, because they had seen for themselves what had happened to those men who had sinned.

⁴³He also took up a collection from all his men, totaling about four pounds of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. Judas did this noble thing because he believed in the resurrection of the dead.

⁴⁴If he had not believed that the dead would be raised, it would have been foolish and useless to pray for them.

⁴⁵In his firm and devout conviction that all of God's faithful people would receive a wonderful reward, Judas made provision for a sin offering to set free from their sin those who had died.

The Foolishness of Nature Worship

¹Anyone who does not know God is simply foolish. Such people look at the good things around them and still fail to see the living God. They have studied the things he made, but they have not recognized the one who made them.

²Instead, they suppose that the gods who rule the world are fire or wind or storm or the circling stars or rushing water or the heavenly bodies.

³People were so delighted with the beauty of these things that they thought they must be gods, but they should have realized that these things have a master and that he is much greater than all of them, for he is the creator of beauty, and he created them.

⁴Since people are amazed at the power of these things, and how they behave, they ought to learn from them that their maker is far more powerful.

⁵When we realize how vast and beautiful the creation is, we are learning about the Creator at the same time.

⁶But maybe we are too harsh with these people. After all, they may have really wanted to find God, but couldn't.

⁷Surrounded by God's works, they keep on looking at them, until they are finally convinced that because the things they see are so beautiful, they must be gods.

⁸But still, these people really have no excuse.

⁹If they had enough intelligence to speculate about the nature of the universe, why did they never find the Lord of all things?

The Foolishness of Idolatry

¹⁰But the most miserable people of all are those who rest their hopes on lifeless things, who worship things that have been made by human hands—images of animals artistically made from gold and silver, or some useless stone carved by someone years ago.

¹¹A skilled woodworker may saw down some suitable tree, carefully strip off the bark, and then, with skillful craftsmanship, make from it an object that will serve some useful purpose.

¹²He will take the leftover pieces and use them as firewood to cook a meal that he can sit down to and enjoy.

¹³But among that scrap wood he may take one piece that isn't good for anything—maybe it's crooked and full of knots—and carefully carve it in his leisure time, using spare moments to shape it into the crude image of a person,

¹⁴or maybe of some worthless animal. He paints it all over with red, covering up every flaw in the work.

¹⁵Then he prepares a suitable place in the wall for it and fastens it in place with iron nails.

¹⁶He is careful to keep it from falling, because he knows it is only an idol and needs help; it cannot help itself.

¹⁷But he is not ashamed to pray to this lifeless thing about his marriage, his children, and his possessions.

¹⁸It is weak, but he prays to it for health. It is dead, but he prays to it for life. It has no experience, but he prays to it for help. It cannot walk, but he prays to it for a successful journey.

¹⁹Its hands have no power, but he asks it to help him—in business, in making money, and in his work.

Wooden Idols Compared with Noah's Wooden Boat

¹In the same way, a man getting ready to sail on the raging sea will call for help from a piece of wood that is not as strong as the ship he is about to board.

²Someone designed the ship out of a desire for profit, and a craftsman built it with skill.

³But it is your care, O Father, that steers it; you give it a safe path through the waves of the sea.

⁴People may go to sea even if they have no skill, because you can save them from any danger.

⁵It is your will that the things you have made by your wisdom should be put to use. And so people can cross the sea in a boat and come safely to land, because they trust their lives to that small piece of wood.

⁶This was how it was in ancient times, when a proud race of giants was dying away. The hope of the world escaped on such a boat under your guidance and left the world a new generation to carry on the human race.

⁷A blessing was on Noah's wooden boat that allowed righteousness to survive,

⁸but a curse is on an idol made by human hands. A curse is also on the one who makes it, because he works on this perishable thing and then calls it a god.

⁹Ungodly people and these ungodly things they make are equally hated by God,

¹⁰who will punish both the things made and the people who made them.

¹¹And so God's judgment will fall on pagan idols, because, even though they are made from something God created, they became horrible things that trap the souls of foolish people.

The Origins of Idolatry

¹²Sexual immorality began when idols were invented. They have corrupted human life ever since they were first made.

¹³Idols have not always existed, nor will they exist forever.

¹⁴It was human pride that brought them into the world, and that is why a quick end has been planned for them.

¹⁵Once there was a father who was overwhelmed with grief at the untimely death of his child, so he made an image of that child who had been suddenly taken from him. He then honored a dead human being as a god, and handed on secret rituals and ceremonies to those who were under his authority.

¹⁶As time went on, this ungodly custom became stronger. Finally it became law, and idols were being worshiped at the command of powerful rulers.

¹⁷When people lived too far away to honor a ruler in his presence but were eager to pay honor to this absent king, they would imagine what he must look like, and would then make a likeness of him.

¹⁸The ambitious artists who made these likenesses caused this worship to spread, even among people who did not know the king.

¹⁹An artist might want to please some ruler, and so he would use his skill to make the likeness better looking than the actual person.

²⁰Then people would be so attracted by the work of art, that the one whom they had earlier honored now became the object of their worship.

²¹So all this became a deadly trap, because people who were grieving, or under royal authority, would take objects of stone or wood, and give them the honor reserved for the One God.

The Results of Idolatry

²²One thing led to another. It was not enough to be wrong about the knowledge of God. They lived in a state of evil warfare, but they were so ignorant that they called it peace.

²³They murdered children in their initiation rituals, celebrated secret mysteries, and held wild ceremonial orgies with unnatural practices.

²⁴They no longer kept their lives or their marriages pure. A man might kill another by an act of treachery or cause him grief by committing adultery with his wife.

²⁵Everything was a complete riot of bloody murder, robbery, deceit, corruption, faithlessness, disorder, falsehood,

²⁶harassment of innocent people, ingratitude, moral decay, sexual perversion, broken marriages, adultery, and immorality.

²⁷The worship of idols, whose names should never be spoken, is the beginning and the end, the cause and the result of every evil.

²⁸People who worship them lose control of themselves in ecstasy, or pass off lies as prophecies, or live wickedly, or break their word without hesitation.

²⁹They tell lies under oath and expect no punishment, because the idols they put their trust in are lifeless.

³⁰But punishment will finally catch up with them, for two reasons: first, they were in error about God when they worshiped idols, and second, they had so little regard for holiness that they made false statements to deceive people.

³¹When unrighteous people commit sin, they will be hunted down, not by the power of whatever thing they swear by, but by the punishment that sinners deserve.

¹¹An idea well-expressed is like a design of gold, set in silver.

¹²A warning given by an experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than gold rings or jewelry made of the finest gold.

¹³A reliable messenger is refreshing to the one who sends him, like cold water in the heat of harvest time.

¹⁴People who promise things that they never give are like clouds and wind that bring no rain.