7'S AND THE MACCABEES.

SINCE THIS IS THE 7TH DAY OF HANUKKAH I WILL DO A FEW 7'S THAT WILL BE HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE. 7 IS COMPLETION IN THE BIBLE.

THE 7 YR COVENANT SETS OFF DANIELS 70TH AND FINAL WEEK TO END THE PROPHECY AND ANNOINT THE MESSIAH AS KING OF JERUSALEM.

THERES 7 SPIRITS BEFORE THE THRONE.

THERES 7 LETTERS TO THE 7 CHURCHES.

THERES 7 GOLDEN CANDLE STICKS WHICH ARE THE 7 CHURCHES.

THERES 7 STARS, THE ANGELS OF THE 7 CHURCHES.

THERES 7 LAMPS OF FIRE BURNING WHICH ARE THE 7 SPIRITS OF GOD.

THERES 7 SEALS - THE 1ST 7 OF 21 JUDGEMENTS TO HIT THE EARTH.

THERES 7 HORNS AND 7 EYES WHICH ARE THE 7 SPIRITS OF GOD SENT FORTH INTO ALL THE EARTH.

THERES 7 ANGELS WHICH HAVE 7 TRUMPETS.

THERES 7 TRUMPETS - THE 2ND WAVE OF 7 JUDGEMENTS TO HIT THE EARTH. (8 TO 14)

THERES 7 THUNDERS.

THERES 7,000 DEAD FROM A QUAKE IN JERUSALEM.

THERES 7 HEADS WHICH IS 7 HILLS OF ROME (VATICAN)

THERES 7 CROWNS.

THERES 7 PLAGUES.

THERES 7 VIALS - THE 3RD WAVE OF 7 JUDGEMENTS TO HIT THE EARTH. (15 - 21 THE FINAL 7 TO COMPLETE DANIELS 70TH WEEK AND USHER IN THE MESSIAH.

THERES 7 MOUNTAINS THE VATICAN WHICH GETS NUKED HALF WAY THROUGHT THE 7 YR PEACE TREATY.

THERES 7 KINGS WHICH MEANS THERE WILL ONLY BE 7 WORLD EMPIRES IN HISTORY. THE EU BEING THE 7TH IN OUR TIME TO SIGN THE 7 YR TREATY THAT USHERS IN THE MESSIAH.

THERES 7 BEATITUDES.

THERES 7 I AMS OF CHRIST IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

WHENEVER THE DAY IN THE FUTURE IS WERE THE EU SIGNS THE 7 YR TREATY WITH ISRAEL - ARABS AND MANY, EXACTLY 7 YEARS TO THE DAY THE TRUE MESSIAH COMES FROM HEAVEN TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES FROM WERE HE WENT UP TO RULE AND REIGN FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER. THIS WILL BE THE COMPLETION OF THE 7'S IN THE BIBLE.

THE 1ST MACCABEES WHAT ISRAEL CELEBRATES DURING CHANUKAH.

1ST MACCABEES 1:1-63
1 After Alexander the Macedonian, Philip's son, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, he became king in his place, having first ruled in Greece.
2 He fought many campaigns, captured fortresses, and put kings to death.
3 He advanced to the ends of the earth, gathering plunder from many nations; the earth fell silent before him, and his heart became proud and arrogant.
4 He collected a very strong army and conquered provinces, nations, and rulers, and they became his tributaries.
5 But after all this he took to his bed, realizing that he was going to die.
6 He therefore summoned his officers, the nobles, who had been brought up with him from his youth, to divide his kingdom among them while he was still alive.
7 Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died.
8 So his officers took over his kingdom, each in his own territory,
9 and after his death they all put on royal crowns, and so did their sons after them for many years, causing much distress over the earth.
10 There sprang from these a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome. He became king in the year one hundred and thirty-seven of the kingdom of the Greeks.
11 In those days there appeared in Israel men who were breakers of the law, and they seduced many people, saying: Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all around us; since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us.
12 The proposal was agreeable;
13 some from among the people promptly went to the king, and he authorized them to introduce the way of living of the Gentiles.
14 Thereupon they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to the Gentile custom.
15 They covered over the mark of their circumcision and abandoned the holy covenant; they allied themselves with the Gentiles and sold themselves to wrongdoing.
16 When his kingdom seemed secure, Antiochus proposed to become king of Egypt, so as to rule over both kingdoms.
17 He invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants, and with a large fleet,
18 to make war on Ptolemy, king of Egypt. Ptolemy was frightened at his presence and fled, leaving many casualties.
19 The fortified cities in the land of Egypt were captured, and Antiochus plundered the land of Egypt.
20 After Antiochus had defeated Egypt in the year one hundred and forty-three, he returned and went up to Israel and to Jerusalem with a strong force.
21 He insolently invaded the sanctuary and took away the golden altar, the lampstand for the light with all its fixtures,
22 the offering table, the cups and the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the golden ornament on the facade of the temple. He stripped off everything,
23 and took away the gold and silver and the precious vessels; he also took all the hidden treasures he could find.
24 Taking all this, he went back to his own country, after he had spoken with great arrogance and shed much blood.
25 And there was great mourning for Israel, in every place where they dwelt,
26 and the rulers and the elders groaned. Virgins and young men languished, and the beauty of the women was disfigured.
27 Every bridegroom took up lamentation, she who sat in the bridal chamber mourned,
28 And the land was shaken on account of its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was covered with shame.
29 Two years later, the king sent the Mysian commander to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a strong force.
30 He spoke to them deceitfully in peaceful terms, and won their trust. Then he attacked the city suddenly, in a great onslaught, and destroyed many of the people in Israel.
31 He plundered the city and set fire to it, demolished its houses and its surrounding walls,
32 took captive the women and children, and seized the cattle.
33 Then they built up the City of David with a high, massive wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.
34 There they installed a sinful race, perverse men, who fortified themselves inside it,
35 storing up weapons and provisions, and depositing there the plunder they had collected from Jerusalem. And they became a great threat.
36 The citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary, and a wicked adversary to Israel at all times.
37 And they shed innocent blood around the sanctuary; they defiled the sanctuary.
38 Because of them the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away, and she became the abode of strangers. She became a stranger to her own offspring, and her children forsook her.
39 Her sanctuary was as desolate as a wilderness; her feasts were turned into mourning, Her sabbaths to shame, her honor to contempt.
40 Her dishonor was as great as her glory had been, and her exalation was turned into mourning.
41 Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,
42 each abandoning his particular customs. All the Gentiles conformed to the command of the king,
43 and many Israelites were in favor of his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.
44 The king sent messengers with letters to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, ordering them to follow customs foreign to their land;
45 to prohibit holocausts, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the sabbaths and feast days,
46 to desecrate the sanctuary and the sacred ministers,
47 to build pagan altars and temples and shrines, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals,
48 to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to let themselves be defiled with every kind of impurity and abomination,
49 so that they might forget the law and change all their observances.
50 Whoever refused to act according to the command of the king should be put to death.
51 Such were the orders he published throughout his kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and he ordered the cities of Judah to offer sacrifices, each city in turn.
52 Many of the people, those who abandoned the law, joined them and committed evil in the land.
53 Israel was driven into hiding, wherever places of refuge could be found.
54 On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, the king erected the horrible abomination upon the altar of holocausts, and in the surrounding cities of Judah they built pagan altars.
55 They also burnt incense at the doors of houses and in the streets.
56 Any scrolls of the law which they found they tore up and burnt.
57 Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant, and whoever observed the law, was condemned to death by royal decree.
58 So they used their power against Israel, against those who were caught, each month, in the cities.
59 On the twenty-fifth day of each month they sacrificed on the altar erected over the altar of holocausts.
60 Women who had had their children circumcised were put to death, in keeping with the decree,
61 with the babies hung from their necks; their families also and those who had circumcised them were killed.
62 But many in Israel were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean;
63 they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel.ä»…

1 MACCABEES 2:1-70
1 In those days Mattathias, son of John, son of Simeon, a priest of the family of Joarib, left Jerusalem and settled in Modein.
2 He had five sons: John, who was called Gaddi;
3 Simon, who was called Thassi;
4 Judas, who was called Maccabeus;
5 Eleazar, who was called Avaran; and Jonathan, who was called Apphus.
6 When he saw the sacrileges that were being committed in Judah and in Jerusalem,
7 he said: Woe is me! Why was I born to see the ruin of my people and the ruin of the holy city, and to sit idle while it is given into the hands of enemies, and the sanctuary into the hands of strangers?
8 Her temple has become like a man disgraced,
9 her glorious ornaments have been carried off as spoils, Her infants have been murdered in her streets, her young men by the sword of the enemy.
10 What nation has not taken its share of her realm, and laid its hand on her possessions?
11 All her adornment has been taken away. From being free, she has become a slave.
12 We see our sanctuary and our beauty and our glory laid waste, And the Gentiles have defiled them!
13 Why are we still alive?
14 Then Mattathias and his sons tore their garments, put on sackcloth, and mourned bitterly.
15 The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to organize the sacrifices.
16 Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons gathered in a group apart.
17 Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias: You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city, supported by sons and kinsmen.
18 Come now, be the first to obey the king's command, as all the Gentiles and the men of Judah and those who are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King's Friends, and shall be enriched with silver and gold and many gifts.
19 But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: Although all the Gentiles in the king's realm obey him, so that each forsakes the religion of his fathers and consents to the king's orders,
20 yet I and my sons and my kinsmen will keep to the covenant of our fathers.
21 God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.
22 We will not obey the words of the king nor depart from our religion in the slightest degree.
23 As he finished saying these words, a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king's order.
24 When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.
25 At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.
26 Thus he showed his zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.
27 Then Mattathias went through the city shouting, Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow after me!
28 Thereupon he fled to the mountains with his sons, leaving behind in the city all their possessions.
29 Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom went out into the desert to settle there,
30 they and their sons, their wives and their cattle, because misfortunes pressed so hard on them.
31 It was reported to the officers and soldiers of the king who were in the City of David, in Jerusalem, that certain men who had flouted the king's order had gone out to the hiding places in the desert.
32 Many hurried out after them, and having caught up with them, camped opposite and prepared to attack them on the sabbath.
33 Enough of this! the pursuers said to them. Come out and obey the king's command, and your lives will be spared.
34 But they replied, We will not come out, nor will we obey the king's command to profane the sabbath
35 Then the enemy attacked them at once;
36 but they did not retaliate; they neither threw stones, nor blocked up their own hiding places.
37 They said, Let us all die without reproach; heaven and earth are our witnesses that you destroy us unjustly.
38 So the officers and soldiers attacked them on the sabbath, and they died with their wives, their children and their cattle, to the number of a thousand persons.
39 When Mattathias and his friends heard of it, they mourned deeply for them.
40 If we all do as our kinsmen have done, they said to one another, and do not fight against the Gentiles for our lives and our traditions, they will soon destroy us from the earth.
41 On that day they came to this decision: Let us fight against anyone who attacks us on the sabbath, so that we may not all die as our kinsmen died in the hiding places.
42 Then they were joined by a group of Hasideans, valiant Israelites, all of them devout followers of the law.
43 And all those who were fleeing from the disaster joined them and supported them.
44 They gathered an army and struck down sinners in their anger and lawbreakers in their wrath, and the survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety.
45 Mattathias and his friends went about and tore down the pagan altars;
46 they also enforced circumcision for any uncircumcised boys whom they found in the territory of Israel.
47 They put to flight the arrogant, and the work prospered in their hands.
48 They saved the law from the hands of the Gentiles and of the kings and did not let the sinner triumph.
49 When the time came for Mattathias to die, he said to his sons: Arrogance and scorn have now grown strong; it is a time of disaster and violent anger.
50 Therefore, my sons, be zealous for the law and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers.
51 Remember the deeds that our fathers did in their times, and you shall win great glory and an everlasting name.
52 Was not Abraham found faithful in trial, and it was reputed to him as uprightness?
53 Joseph, when in distress, kept the commandment, and he became master of Egypt.
54 Phinehas our father, for his burning zeal, received the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.
55 Joshua, for executing his commission, became a judge in Israel.
56 Caleb, for bearing witness before the assembly, received an inheritance in the land.
57 David, for his piety, received as a heritage a throne of everlasting royalty.
58 Elijah, for his burning zeal for the law, was taken up to heaven.
59 Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, for their faith, were saved from the fire.
60 Daniel, for his innocence, was delivered from the jaws of lions.
61 And so, consider this from generation to generation, that none who hope in him shall fail in strength.
62 Do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his glory ends in corruption and worms.
63 Today he is exalted, and tomorrow he is not to be found, because he has returned to his dust, and his schemes have perished.
64 Children! be courageous and strong in keeping the law, for by it you shall be glorified.
65 Here is your brother Simeon who I know is a wise man; listen to him always, and he will be a father to you.
66 And Judas Maccabeus, a warrior from his youth, shall be the leader of your army and direct the war against the nations.
67 You shall also gather about you all who observe the law, and you shall avenge the wrongs of your people.
68 Pay back the Gentiles what they deserve, and observe the precepts of the law.
69 Then he blessed them, and he was united with his fathers.
70 He died in the year one hundred and forty-six, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers in Modein, and all Israel mourned him greatly.

1 MACCABEES 3:1-59
1 Then his son Judas, who was called Maccabeus, took his place.
2 All his brothers and all who had joined his father supported him, and they carried on Israel's war joyfully.
3 He spread abroad the glory of his people, and put on his breastplate like a giant. He armed himself with weapons of war; he planned battles and protected the camp with his sword.
4 In his actions he was like a lion, like a young lion roaring for prey.
5 He pursued the wicked, hunting them out, and those who troubled his people he destroyed by fire.
6 The lawbreakers were cowed by fear of him, and all evildoers were dismayed. By his hand redemption was happily achieved,
7 and he afflicted many kings; He made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed forever.
8 He went about the cities of Judah destroying the impious there. He turned away wrath from Israel
9 and was renowned to the ends of the earth; he gathered together those who were perishing.
10 Then Apollonius gathered the Gentiles, together with a large army from Samaria, to fight against Israel.
11 When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him and defeated and killed him. Many fell wounded, and the rest fled.
12 Their possessions were seized and the sword of Apollonius was taken by Judas, who fought with it the rest of his life.
13 But Seron, commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had gathered many about him, an assembly of faithful men ready for war.
14 So he said, I will make a name for myself and win glory in the kingdom by defeating Judas and his followers, who have despised the king's command.
15 And again a large company of renegades advanced with him to help him take revenge on the Israelites.
16 When he reached the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a few men.
17 But when they saw the army coming against them, they said to Judas: How can we, few as we are, fight such a mighty host as this? Besides, we are weak today from fasting.
18 But Judas said: It is easy for many to be overcome by a few; in the sight of Heaven there is no difference between deliverance by many or by few;
19 for victory in war does not depend upon the size of the army, but on strength that comes from Heaven.
20 With great presumption and lawlessness they come against us to destroy us and our wives and children and to despoil us;
21 but we are fighting for our lives and our laws.
22 He himself will crush them before us; so do not be afraid of them.
23 When he finished speaking, he rushed suddenly upon Seron and his army, who were crushed before him.
24 He pursued Seron down the descent of Beth-horon into the plain. About eight hundred of their men fell, and the rest fled to the country of the Philistines.
25 Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and dread fell upon the Gentiles about them.
26 His fame reached the king, and all the Gentiles talked about the battles of Judas.
27 When Antiochus heard about these events, he was angry; so he ordered a muster of all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.
28 He opened his treasure chests, gave his soldiers a year's pay, and commanded them to be prepared for anything.
29 He then found that this exhausted the money in his treasury; moreover the income from the province was small, because of the dissension and distress he had brought upon the land by abolishing the laws which had been in effect from of old.
30 He feared that, as had happened more than once, he would not have enough for his expenses and for the gifts that he had previously given with a more liberal hand than the preceding kings.
31 Greatly perplexed, he decided to go to Persia and levy tribute on those provinces, and so raise a large sum of money.
32 He left Lysias, a nobleman of royal blood, in charge of the king's affairs from the Euphrates River to the frontier of Egypt,
33 and commissioned him to take care of his son Antiochus until his own return.
34 He entrusted to him half of the army, and the elephants, and gave him instructions concerning everything he wanted done. As for the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem,
35 Lysias was to send an army against them to crush and destroy the power of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem and efface their memory from the land.
36 He was to settle foreigners in all their territory and distribute their land by lot.
37 The king took the remaining half of the army and set out from Antioch, his capital, in the year one hundred and forty-seven; he crossed the Euphrates River and advanced inland.
38 Lysias chose Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, capable men among the King's Friends,
39 and with them he sent forty thousand men and seven thousand cavalry to invade the land of Judah and ravage it according to the king's orders.
40 Setting out with all their forces, they came and pitched their camp near Emmaus in the plain.
41 When the merchants of the country heard of their fame, they came to the camp, bringing fetters and a large sum of silver and gold, to buy the Israelites as slaves. A force from Idumea and from Philistia joined with them.
42 Judas and his brothers saw that the situation had become critical now that armies were encamped within their territory; they knew of the orders which the king had given to destroy and utterly wipe out the people.
43 So they said to one another, Let us restore our people from their ruined estate, and fight for our people and our sanctuary!
44 The assembly gathered together to prepare for battle and to pray and implore mercy and compassion.
45 Jerusalem was uninhabited, like a desert; not one of her children entered or came out. The sanctuary was trampled on, and foreigners were in the citadel; it was a habitation of Gentiles. Joy had disappeared from Jacob, and the flute and the harp were silent.
46 Thus they assembled and went to Mizpah near Jerusalem, because there was formerly at Mizpah a place of prayer for Israel.
47 That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes.
48 They unrolled the scroll of the law, to learn about the things for which the Gentiles consulted the images of their idols.
49 They brought with them the priestly vestments, the first fruits, and the tithes; and they brought forward the nazirites who had completed the time of their vows.
50 And they cried aloud to Heaven: What shall we do with these men, and where shall we take them?
51 For your sanctuary has been trampled on and profaned, and your priests are in mourning and humiliation.
52 Now the Gentiles are gathered together against us to destroy us. You know what they plot against us.
53 How shall we be able to resist them unless you help us?
54 Then they blew the trumpets and cried out loudly.
55 After this Judas appointed officers among the people, over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens.
56 He proclaimed that those who were building houses, or were just married, or were planting vineyards, and those who were afraid, could each return to his home, according to the law.
57 Then the army moved off, and they camped to the south of Emmaus.
58 Judas said: Arm yourselves and be brave; in the morning be ready to fight these Gentiles who have assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.
59 It is better for us to die in battle than to witness the ruin of our nation and our sanctuary. Whatever Heaven wills, he will do.

1 MACCABEES 4:1-61
1 Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and a thousand picked cavalry, and this detachment set out at night
2 in order to attack the camp of the Jews and take them by surprise. Some men from the citadel were their guides.
3 Judas heard of it, and himself set out with his soldiers to attack the king's army at Emmaus,
4 while the latter's forces were still scattered away from the camp.
5 During the night Gorgias came into the camp of Judas, and found no one there; so he began to hunt for them in the mountains, saying, They are fleeing from us.
6 But at daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, who lacked such armor and swords as they would have wished.
7 They saw the army of the Gentiles, strong and breastplated, flanked with cavalry, and made up of expert soldiers.
8 Judas said to the men with him: Do not be afraid of their numbers or dread their attack.
9 Remember how our fathers were saved in the Red Sea, when Pharaoh pursued them with an army.
10 So now let us cry to Heaven in the hope that he will favor us, remember his covenant with our fathers, and destroy this army before us today.
11 All the Gentiles shall know that there is One who redeems and delivers Israel.
12 When the foreigners looked up and saw them marching toward them,
13 they came out of their camp for battle, and the men with Judas blew the trumpet.
14 The battle was joined and the Gentiles were defeated and fled toward the plain.
15 Their whole rearguard fell by the sword, and they were pursued as far as Gazara and the plains of Judea, to Azotus and Jamnia. About three thousand of their men fell.
16 When Judas and the army returned from the pursuit,
17 he said to the people: Do not be greedy for the plunder, for there is a fight ahead of us,
18 and Gorgias and his army are near us on the mountain. But now stand firm against our enemies and overthrow them. Afterward you can freely take the plunder.
19 As Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared, looking down from the mountain.
20 They saw that their army had been put to flight and their camp was being burned. The smoke that could be seen indicated what had happened.
21 When they realized this, they were terrified; and when they also saw the army of Judas in the plain ready to attack,
22 they all fled to Philistine territory.
23 Then Judas went back to plunder the camp, and his men collected much gold and silver, violet and crimson cloth, and great treasure.
24 As they returned, they were singing hymns and glorifying Heaven, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.
25 Thus Israel had a great deliverance that day.
26 But those of the foreigners who had escaped went and told Lysias all that had occurred.
27 When he heard it he was disturbed and discouraged, because things in Israel had not turned out as he intended and as the king had ordered.
28 So the following year he gathered together sixty thousand picked men and five thousand cavalry, to subdue them.
29 They came into Idumea and camped at Beth-zur, and Judas met them with ten thousand men.
30 Seeing that the army was strong, he prayed thus: Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, who broke the rush of the mighty one by the hand of your servant David and delivered the camp of the Philistines into the hand of Jonathan, the son of Saul, and his armor-bearer.
31 Give this army into the hands of your people Israel; make them ashamed of their troops and their cavalry.
32 Strike them with fear, weaken the boldness of their strength, and let them tremble at their own destruction.
33 Strike them down by the sword of those who love you, that all who know your name may hymn your praise.
34 Then they engaged in battle, and about five thousand of Lysias' men fell in hand-to-hand fighting.
35 When Lysias saw his ranks beginning to give way, and the increased boldness of Judas, whose men were ready either to live or to die bravely, he withdrew to Antioch and began to recruit mercenaries so as to return to Judea with greater numbers.
36 Then Judas and his brothers said, Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.
37 So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion.
38 They found the sanctuary desolate, the altar desecrated, the gates burnt, weeds growing in the courts as in a forest or on some mountain, and the priests' chambers demolished.
39 Then they tore their clothes and made great lamentation; they sprinkled their heads with ashes
40 and fell with their faces to the ground. And when the signal was given with trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.
41 Judas appointed men to attack those in the citadel, while he purified the sanctuary.
42 He chose blameless priests, devoted to the law;
43 these purified the sanctuary and carried away the stones of the Abomination to an unclean place.
44 They deliberated what ought to be done with the altar of holocausts that had been desecrated.
45 The happy thought came to them to tear it down, lest it be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it; so they tore down the altar.
46 They stored the stones in a suitable place on the temple hill, until a prophet should come and decide what to do with them.
47 Then they took uncut stones, according to the law, and built a new altar like the former one.
48 They also repaired the sanctuary and the interior of the temple and purified the courts.
49 They made new sacred vessels and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.
50 Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these illuminated the temple.
51 They also put loaves on the table and hung up curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
52 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight,
53 they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of holocausts that they had made.
54 On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was reconsecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals.
55 All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success.
56 For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered holocausts and sacrifices of deliverance and praise.
57 They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests' chambers and furnished them with doors.
58 There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed.
59 Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev.
60 At that time they built high walls and strong towers around Mount Zion, to prevent the Gentiles from coming and trampling over it as they had done before.
61 Judas also placed a garrison there to protect it, and likewise fortified Beth-zur, that the people might have a stronghold facing Idumea.

1 MACCABEES 5:1-68
1 When the Gentiles round about heard that the altar had been rebuilt and the sanctuary consecrated as before, they were very angry.
2 So they decided to destroy the descendants of Jacob who were among them, and they began to massacre and persecute the people.
3 2 Then Judas attacked the sons of Esau at Akrabattene in Idumea, because they were blockading Israel; he defeated them heavily, overcame and despoiled them.
4 He also remembered the malice of the sons of Baean, who had become a snare and a stumbling block to the people by ambushing them along the roads.
5 He forced them to take refuge in towers, which he besieged; he vowed their annihilation and burned down the towers along with all the persons in them.
6 Then he crossed over to the Ammonites, where he found a strong army and a large body of people with Timothy as their leader.
7 He fought many battles with them, routed them, and struck them down.
8 After seizing Jazer and its villages, he returned to Judea.
9 The Gentiles in Gilead assembled to attack and destroy the Israelites who were in their territory; these then fled to the stronghold of Dathema.
10 They sent a letter to Judas and his brothers saying: The Gentiles around us have combined against us to destroy us,
11 and they are preparing to come and seize this stronghold to which we have fled. Timothy is the leader of their army.
12 Come at once and rescue us from them, for many of us have fallen.
13 All our kinsmen who were among the Tobiads have been killed; the Gentiles have carried away their wives and children and their goods, and they have slain there about a thousand men.
14 While they were reading this letter, suddenly other messengers, in torn clothes, arrived from Galilee to deliver a similar message:
15 that the inhabitants of Ptolemais, Tyre, and Sidon, and the whole of Gentile Galilee had joined forces to destroy them.
16 When Judas and the people heard this, a great assembly convened to consider what they should do for their unfortunate kinsmen who were being attacked by enemies.
17 Judas said to his brother Simon: Choose men for yourself, and go, rescue your kinsmen in Galilee; I and my brother Jonathan will go to Gilead.
18 In Judea he left Joseph, son of Zechariah, and Azariah, leader of the people, with the rest of the army to guard it.
19 Take charge of these people, he commanded them, but do not fight against the Gentiles until we return.
20 Three thousand men were allotted to Simon, to go into Galilee, and eight thousand men to Judas, for Gilead.
21 Simon went into Galilee and fought many battles with the Gentiles. They were crushed before him,
22 and he pursued them to the very gate of Ptolemais. About three thousand men of the Gentiles fell, and he gathered their spoils.
23 He took with him the Jews who were in Galilee and in Arbatta, with their wives and children and all that they had, and brought them to Judea with great rejoicing.
24 Judas Maccabeus and his brother Jonathan crossed the Jordan and marched for three days through the desert.
25 There they met some Nabateans, who received them peacefully and told them all that had happened to the Jews in Gilead:
26 Many of them have been imprisoned in Bozrah, in Bosor near Alema, in Chaspho, Maked, and Carnaim--all of these are large, fortified cities--
27 and some have been imprisoned in other cities of Gilead. Tomorrow their enemies plan to attack the strongholds and to seize and destroy all these people in one day.
28 Thereupon Judas suddenly changed direction with his army, marched across the desert to Bozrah, and captured the city. He slaughtered all the male population, took all their possessions, and set fire to the city.
29 He led his army from that place by night, and they marched toward the stronghold of Dathema.
30 When morning came, they looked ahead and saw a countless multitude of people, with ladders and devices for capturing the stronghold, and beginning to attack the people within.
31 When Judas perceived that the struggle had begun and that the noise of the battle was resounding to heaven with trumpet blasts and loud shouting,
32 he said to the men of his army, Fight for our kinsmen today.
33 He came up behind them with three columns blowing their trumpets and shouting in prayer.
34 When the army of Timothy realized that it was Maccabeus, they fell back before him, and he inflicted on them a crushing defeat. About eight thousand of their men fell that day.
35 Then he turned toward Alema and attacked and captured it; he killed all the male population, plundered the place, and burned it down.
36 From there he moved on and took Chaspho, Maked, Bosor, and the other cities of Gilead.
37 After these events Timothy assembled another army and camped opposite Raphon, on the other side of the stream.
38 Judas sent men to spy on the camp, and they reported to him: All the Gentiles around us have rallied to him, making a very large force;
39 they have also hired Arabs to help them, and have camped beyond the stream, ready to attack you. So Judas went forward to attack them.
40 As Judas and his army were approaching the running stream, Timothy said to the officers of his army: If he crosses over to us first, we shall not be able to resist him; he will certainly defeat us.
41 But if he is afraid and camps on the other side of the river, we will cross over to him and defeat him.
42 But when Judas reached the running stream, he stationed the officers of the people beside the stream and gave them this order: Do not allow any man to pitch a tent; all must go into battle.
43 He was the first to cross to the attack, with all the people behind him, and the Gentiles were crushed before them; they threw away their arms and fled to the temple enclosure at Carnaim.
44 The Jews captured that city and burnt the enclosure with all who were in it. So Carnaim was subdued, and Judas met with no more resistance.
45 Then he assembled all the Israelites, great and small, who were in Gilead, with their wives and children and their goods, a great crowd of people, to go into the land of Judah.
46 When they reached Ephron, a large and strongly fortified city along the way, they found it impossible to encircle it on either the right or the left; they would have to march right through it.
47 But the men in the city shut them out and blocked up the gates with stones.
48 Then Judas sent them this peaceful message: We wish to cross your territory in order to reach our own; no one will harm you; we will only march through. But they would not open to him.
49 So Judas ordered a proclamation to be made in the camp that everyone make an attack from the place where he was.
50 When the men of the army took up their positions, he assaulted the city all that day and night, and it was delivered to him.
51 He slaughtered every male, razed and plundered the city, and passed through it over the slain.
52 Then they crossed the Jordan to the great plain in front of Beth-shan;
53 and Judas kept rounding up the stragglers and encouraging the people the whole way, until he reached the land of Judah.
54 They ascended Mount Zion in joy and gladness and offered holocausts, because not one of them had fallen; they had returned in safety.
55 During the time that Judas and Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, and Simon his brother was in Galilee opposite Ptolemais,
56 Joseph, son of Zechariah, and Azariah, the leaders of the army, heard about the brave deeds and the fighting that they were doing.
57 They said, Let us also make a name for ourselves by going out and fighting against the Gentiles around us.
58 They gave orders to the men of their army who were with them, and marched toward Jamnia.
59 But Gorgias and his men came out of the city to meet them in battle.
60 Joseph and Azariah were beaten, and were pursued to the frontiers of Judea, and about two thousand Israelites fell that day.
61 It was a bad defeat for the people, because they had not obeyed Judas and his brothers, thinking that they would do brave deeds.
62 But they did not belong to the family of those men to whom it was granted to achieve Israel's salvation.
63 The valiant Judas and his brothers were greatly renowned in all Israel and among all the Gentiles, wherever their name was heard;
64 and men gathered about them and praised them.
65 Then Judas and his brothers went out and attacked the sons of Esau in the country toward the south; he took Hebron and its villages, and he destroyed its strongholds and burned the towers around it.
66 He then set out for the land of the Philistines and passed through Marisa.
67 At that time some priests fell in battle who had gone out rashly to fight in their desire to distinguish themselves.
68 Judas then turned toward Azotus in the land of the Philistines. He destroyed their altars and burned the statues of their gods; and after plundering their cities he returned to the land of Judah.

1 MACCABEES 6:1-63
1 As King Antiochus was traversing the inland provinces, he heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais, famous for its wealth in silver and gold,
2 and that its temple was very rich, containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weapons left there by Alexander, son of Philip, king of Macedon, the first king of the Greeks.
3 He went therefore and tried to capture and pillage the city. But he could not do so, because his plan became known to the people of the city
4 who rose up in battle against him. So he retreated and in great dismay withdrew from there to return to Babylon.
5 While he was in Persia, a messenger brought him news that the armies sent into the land of Judah had been put to flight;
6 that Lysias had gone at first with a strong army and been driven back by the Israelites; that they had grown strong by reason of the arms, men, and abundant possessions taken from the armies they had destroyed;
7 that they had pulled down the Abomination which he had built upon the altar in Jerusalem; and that they had surrounded with high walls both the sanctuary, as it had been before, and his city of Beth-zur.
8 When the king heard this news, he was struck with fear and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed.
9 There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow, for he knew he was going to die.
10 So he called in all his Friends and said to them: Sleep has departed from my eyes, for my heart is sinking with anxiety.
11 said to myself: 'Into what tribulation have I come, and in what floods of sorrow am I now!
12 Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule. But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed.
13 I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.
14 Then he summoned Philip, one of his Friends, and put him in charge of his whole kingdom.
15 He gave him his crown, his robe, and his signet ring, so that he might guide the king's son Antiochus and bring him up to be king.
16 King Antiochus died in Persia in the year one hundred and forty-nine.
17 When Lysias learned that the king was dead, he set up the king's son Antiochus, whom he had reared as a child, to be king in his place; and he gave him the title Eupator.
18 The men in the citadel were hemming in Israel around the sanctuary, continually trying to harm them and to strengthen the Gentiles.
19 But Judas planned to destroy them, and called all the people together to besiege them.
20 So in the year one hundred and fifty they assembled and stormed the citadel, for which purpose he constructed catapults and other devices.
21 Some of the besieged escaped, joined by impious Israelites;
22 they went to the king and said: How long will you fail to do justice and avenge our kinsmen?
23 We agreed to serve your father and to follow his orders and obey his edicts.
24 And for this the sons of our people have become our enemies; they have put to death as many of us as they could find and have plundered our estates.
25 They have acted aggressively not only against us, but throughout their whole territory.
26 Look! They have now besieged the citadel in Jerusalem in order to capture it, and they have fortified the sanctuary and Beth-zur.
27 Unless you quickly forestall them, they will do even worse things than these, and you will not be able to stop them.
28 When the king heard this he was angry, and he called together all his Friends, the officers of his army, and the commanders of the cavalry.
29 Mercenary forces also came to him from other kingdoms and from the islands of the seas.
30 His army numbered a hundred thousand foot-soldiers, twenty thousand cavalry, and thirty-two elephants trained for war.
31 They passed through Idumea and camped before Beth-zur. For many days they attacked it; they constructed siege-devices, but the besieged made a sortie and burned these, and they fought bravely.
32 Then Judas marched away from the citadel and moved his camp to Beth-zechariah, on the way to the king's camp.
33 The king, rising before dawn, moved his force hastily along the road to Beth-zechariah; and the armies prepared for battle, while the trumpets sounded.
34 They showed the elephants the juice of grapes and mulberries to provoke them to fight.
35 The beasts were distributed along the phalanxes, each elephant having assigned to it a thousand men in coats of mail, with bronze helmets, and five hundred picked cavalry.
36 These anticipated the beast wherever it was; and wherever it moved, they moved too and never left it.
37 A strong wooden tower covering each elephant, and fastened to it by a harness, held, besides the Indian mahout, three soldiers who fought from it.
38 The remaining cavalry were stationed on one or the other of the two flanks of the army, to harass the enemy and to be protected from the phalanxes.
39 When the sun shone on the gold and bronze shields, the mountains gleamed with their brightness and blazed like flaming torches.
40 Part of the king's army extended over the heights, while some were on low ground, but they marched forward steadily and in good order.
41 All who heard the noise of their numbers, the tramp of their marching, and the clashing of the arms, trembled; for the army was very great and strong.
42 Judas with his army advanced to fight, and six hundred men of the king's army fell.
43 Eleazar, called Avaran, saw one of the beasts bigger than any of the others and covered with royal armor, and he thought the king must be on it.
44 So he gave up his life to save his people and win an everlasting name for himself.
45 He dashed up to it in the middle of the phalanx, killing men right and left, so that they fell back from him on both sides.
46 He ran right under the elephant and stabbed it in the belly, killing it. The beast fell to the ground on top of him, and he died there.
47 When the Jews saw the strength of the royal army and the ardor of its forces, they retreated from them.
48 A part of the king's army went up to Jerusalem to attack them, and the king established camps in Judea and at Mount Zion.
49 He made peace with the men of Beth-zur, and they evacuated the city, because they had no food there to enable them to stand a siege, for that was a sabbath year in the land.
50 The king took Beth-zur and stationed a garrison there to hold it.
51 For many days he besieged the sanctuary, setting up artillery and machines, fire-throwers, catapults and mechanical bows for shooting arrows and slingstones.
52 The Jews countered by setting up machines of their own, and kept up the fight a long time.
53 But there were no provisions in the storerooms, because it was the seventh year, and the tide-over provisions had been eaten up by those who had been rescued from the Gentiles and brought to Judea.
54 Few men remained in the sanctuary; the rest scattered, each to his own home, for the famine was too much for them.
55 Lysias heard that Philip, whom King Antiochus, before his death, had appointed to train his son Antiochus to be king,
56 had returned from Persia and Media with the army that accompanied the king, and that he was seeking to take over the government.
57 So he hastily resolved to withdraw. He said to the king, the leaders of the army, and the soldiers: We are grow-ing weaker every day, our provisions are scanty, the place we are besieging is strong, and it is our duty to take care of the affairs of the kingdom.
58 Therefore let us now come to terms with these men, and make peace with them and all their nation.
59 Let us grant them freedom to live according to their own laws as formerly; it was on account of their laws, which we abolished, that they became angry and did all these things.
60 The proposal found favor with the king and the leaders;
61 he sent peace terms to the Jews, and they accepted. So the king and the leaders swore an oath to them, and on these terms they evacuated the fortification.
62 But when the king entered Mount Zion and saw how the place was fortified, he broke the oath he had sworn and gave orders for the encircling wall to be destroyed.
63 Then he departed in haste and returned to Antioch, where he found Philip in possession of the city. He fought against him and took the city by force.

1 MACCABEES 7:1-50
1 In the year one hundred and fifty-one, Demetrius, son of Seleucus, set out from Rome, arrived with a few men in a city on the seacoast, and began to rule there.
2 As he was preparing to enter the royal palace of his ancestors, the soldiers seized Antiochus and Lysias to bring them to him.
3 When he was informed of this, he said, Do not show me their faces.
4 So the soldiers killed them, and Demetrius sat on the royal throne.
5 Then all the lawless and impious men of Israel came to him. They were led by Alcimus, who desired to be high priest.
6 They made this accusation to the king against the people: Judas and his brothers have destroyed all your friends and have driven us out of our country.
7 So now, send a man whom you trust to go and see all the havoc Judas has done to us and to the king's land, and let him punish them and all their supporters.
8 Then the king chose Bacchides, one of the King's Friends, governor of West-of-Euphrates, a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to the king.
9 He sent him and the impious Alcimus, to whom he granted the high priesthood, with orders to take revenge on the Israelites.
10 They set out and, on arriving in the land of Judah with a great army, sent messengers who spoke deceitfully to Judas and his brothers in peaceful terms.
11 But these paid no attention to their words, seeing that they had come with a great army.
12 A group of scribes, however, gathered about Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for a just agreement.
13 The Hasideans were the first among the Israelites to seek peace with them,
14 for they said, A priest of the line of Aaron has come with the army, and he will not do us any wrong.
15 He spoke with them peacefully and swore to them, We will not try to injure you or your friends.
16 So they trusted him. But he arrested sixty of them and killed them in one day, according to the text of Scripture:
17 The flesh of your saints they have strewn, and their blood they have shed round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
18 Then fear and dread of them came upon all the people, who said: There is no truth or justice among them; they violated the agreement and the oath that they swore.
19 Bacchides withdrew from Jerusalem and pitched his camp in Beth-zaith. He had many of the men arrested who deserted to him, throwing them into the great pit.
20 He handed the province over to Alcimus, leaving troops to help him, while he himself returned to the king.
21 Alcimus spared no pains to maintain his high priesthood,
22 and all those who were disturbing their people gathered about him. They took possession of the land of Judah and caused great distress in Israel.
23 When Judas saw all the evils that Alcimus and his men were bringing upon the Israelites, more than even the Gentiles had done,
24 he went about all the borders of Judea and took revenge on the men who had deserted, preventing them from going out into the country.
25 But when Alcimus saw that Judas and his followers were gaining strength and realized that he could not oppose them, he returned to the king and accused them of grave crimes.
26 Then the king sent Nicanor, one of his famous officers, who was a bitter enemy of Israel, with orders to destroy the people.
27 Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a large force and deceitfully sent to Judas and his brothers this peaceable message:
28 Let there be no fight between me and you. I will come with a few men to meet you peaceably.
29 So he came to Judas, and they greeted one another peaceably. But Judas' enemies were prepared to seize him.
30 When he became aware that Nicanor had come to him with treachery in mind, Judas was afraid and would not meet him again.
31 When Nicanor saw that his plan had been discovered, he went out to fight Judas near Capharsalama.
32 About five hundred men of Nicanor's army fell; the rest fled to the City of David.
33 After this, Nicanor went up to Mount Zion. Some of the priests from the sanctuary and some of the elders of the people came out to greet him peaceably and to show him the holocaust that was being offered for the king.
34 But he mocked and ridiculed them, defiled them, and spoke disdainfully.
35 In a rage he swore: If Judas and his army are not delivered to me at once, when I return victorious I will burn this temple down. He went away in great anger.
36 The priests, however, went in and stood before the altar and the sanctuary. They wept and said:
37 You have chosen this house to bear your name, to be a house of prayer and petition for your people.
38 Take revenge on this man and his army, and let them fall by the sword. Remember their blasphemies, and do not let them continue.
39 Nicanor left Jerusalem and pitched his camp at Beth-horon, where the Syrian army joined him.
40 But Judas camped in Adasa with three thousand men. Here Judas uttered this prayer:
41 When they who were sent by the king blasphemed, your angel went out and killed a hundred and eighty-five thousand of them.
42 In the same way, crush this army before us today, and let the rest know that Nicanor spoke wickedly against your sanctuary; judge him according to his wickedness.
43 The armies met in battle on the thirteenth day of the month Adar. Nicanor's army was crushed, and he himself was the first to fall in the battle.
44 When his army saw that Nicanor was dead, they threw down their arms and fled.
45 The Jews pursued them a day's journey, from Adasa to near Gazara, blowing the trumpets behind them as signals.
46 From all the surrounding villages of Judea people came out and closed in on them. They hemmed them in, and all the enemies fell by the sword; not a single one escaped.
47 Then the Jews collected the spoils and the booty; they cut off Nicanor's head and his right arm, which he had lifted up so arrogantly. These they brought to Jerusalem and displayed there.
48 The people rejoiced greatly, and observed that day as a great festival.
49 They decreed that it should be observed every year on the thirteenth of Adar.
50 And for a short time the land of Judah was quiet.

1 MACCABEES 8:1-32
1 2 Judas had heard of the reputation of the Romans. They were valiant fighters and acted amiably to all who took their side. They established a friendly alliance with all who applied to them.
2 He was also told of their battles and the brave deeds that they had performed against the Gauls, conquering them and forcing them to pay tribute.
3 They had gotten possession of the silver and gold mines in Spain,
4 and by planning and persistence had conquered the whole country, although it was very remote from their own. They had crushed the kings who had come against them from the far corners of the earth and had inflicted on them severe defeat, and the rest paid tribute to them every year.
5 Philip and Perseus, king of the Macedonians, and the others who opposed them in battle had been overwhelmed and subjugated.
6 Antiochus the Great, king of Asia, who had fought against them with a hundred and twenty elephants and with cavalry and chariots and a very great army, had been defeated by them.
7 They had taken him alive and obliged him and the kings who succeeded him to pay a heavy tribute, to give hostages and a section of
8 Lycia, Mysia, and Lydia from among their best provinces. The Romans took these from him and gave them to King Eumenes.
9 When the men of Greece had planned to come and destroy them,
10 the Romans discovered it, and sent against the Greeks a single general who made war on them. Many were wounded and fell, and the Romans took their wives and children captive. They plundered them, took possession of their land, tore down their strongholds and reduced them to slavery even to this day.
11 All the other kingdoms and islands that had ever opposed them they destroyed and enslaved;
12 with their friends, however, and those who relied on them, they maintained friendship. They had conquered kings both far and near, and all who heard of their fame were afraid of them.
13 In truth, those whom they desired to help to a kingdom became kings, and those whom they wished to depose they deposed; and they were greatly exalted.
14 Yet with all this, none of them put on a crown or wore purple as a display of grandeur.
15 They had made for themselves a senate house, and every day three hundred and twenty men took counsel, deliberating on all that concerned the people and their well-being.
16 They entrusted their government to one man every year, to rule over their entire country, and they all obeyed that one, and there was no envy or jealousy among them.
17 So Judas chose Eupolemus, son of John, son of Accos, and Jason, son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome to establish an alliance of friendship with them.
18 He did this to get rid of the yoke, for it was obvious that the kingdom of the Greeks was subjecting Israel to slavery.
19 After making a very long journey to Rome, the envoys entered the senate and spoke as follows:
20 Judas, called Maccabeus, and his brothers, with the Jewish people, have sent us to you to make a peaceful alliance with you, and to enroll ourselves among your allies and friends.
21 The proposal pleased the Romans,
22 and this is a copy of the reply they inscribed on bronze tablets and sent to Jerusalem, to remain there with the Jews as a record of peace and alliance:
23 May it be well with the Romans and the Jewish nation at sea and on land forever; may sword and enemy be far from them.
24 But if war is first made on Rome, or any of its allies in any of their dominions,
25 the Jewish nation will help them wholeheartedly, as the occasion shall demand;
26 and to those who wage war they shall not give nor provide grain, arms, money, or ships; this is Rome's decision. They shall fulfill their obligations without receiving any recompense.
27 in the same way, if war is made first on the Jewish nation, the Romans will help them willingly, as the occasion shall demand,
28 and to those who are attacking them there shall not be given grain, arms, money, or ships; this is Rome's decision. They shall fulfill their obligations without deception.
29 On these terms the Romans have made an agreement with the Jewish people.
30 But if both parties hereafter decide to add or take away anything, they shall do as they choose, and whatever they shall add or take away shall be valid.
31 Moreover, concerning the wrongs that King Demetrius has done to them, we have written to him thus: Why have you made our yoke heavy upon our friends and allies the Jews?
32 If they complain about you again, we will do them justice and make war on you by land and sea.

1 MACCABEES 9:1-73
1 When Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, he again sent Bacchides and Alcimus into the land of Judah, along with the right wing of his army.
2 They took the road to Galilee, and camping opposite the ascent at Arbela, they captured it and killed many people.
3 In the first month of the year one hundred and fifty-two, they encamped against Jerusalem.
4 Then they set out for Berea with twenty thousand men and two thousand cavalry.
5 Judas, with three thousand picked men, had camped at Elasa.
6 When his men saw the great number of the troops, they were very much afraid, and many slipped away from the camp, until only eight hundred men remained.
7 As Judas saw that his army was melting away just when the battle was imminent, he was panic-stricken, because he had no time to gather them together.
8 But in spite of his discouragement, he said to those who remained: Let us go forward to meet our enemies; perhaps we can put up a good fight against them.
9 They tried to dissuade him, saying: We certainly cannot. Let us save our lives now, and come back with our kinsmen, and then fight against them. Now we are too few.
10 But Judas said: Far be it from me to do such a thing as to flee from them! If our time has come, let us die bravely for our kinsmen and not leave a stain upon our glory!
11 Then the army of Bacchides moved out of camp and took its position for combat. The cavalry were divided into two squadrons, and the slingers and the archers came on ahead of the army, and all the valiant men were in the front line.
12 Bacchides was on the right wing. Flanked by the two squadrons, the phalanx attacked as they blew their trumpets. Those who were on Judas' side also blew their trumpets.
13 The earth shook with the noise of the armies, and the battle raged from morning until evening.
14 Seeing that Bacchides was on the right, with the main force of his army, Judas, with all the most stouthearted rallying to him,
15 drove back the right wing and pursued them as far as the mountain slopes.
16 But when the men on the left wing saw that the right wing was driven back, they turned and followed Judas and his men, taking them in the rear.
17 The battle was fought desperately, and many on both sides fell wounded.
18 Then Judas fell, and the rest fled.
19 Jonathan and Simon took their brother Judas and buried him in the tomb of their fathers at Modein.
20 All Israel bewailed him in great grief. They mourned for him many days, and they said,
21 How the mighty one has fallen, the savior of Israel!
22 The other acts of Judas, his battles, the brave deeds he performed, and his greatness have not been recorded; but they were very many.
23 After the death of Judas, the transgressors of the law raised their heads in every part of Israel, and all kinds of evildoers appeared.
24 In those days there was a very great famine, and the country deserted to them.
25 Bacchides chose impious men and made them masters of the country.
26 These sought out and hunted down the friends of Judas and brought them to Bacchides, who punished and derided them.
27 There had not been such great distress in Israel since the time prophets ceased to appear among the people.
28 Then all the friends of Judas came together and said to Jonathan:
29 Since your brother Judas died, there has been no one like him to oppose our enemies, Bacchides and those who are hostile to our nation.
30 Now therefore we have chosen you today to be our ruler and leader in his place, and to fight our battle.
31 From that moment Jonathan accepted the leadership, and took the place of Judas his brother.
32 When Bacchides learned of it, he sought to kill him.
33 But Jonathan and his brother Simon and all the men with him discovered this, and they fled to the desert of Tekoa and camped by the waters of the pool of Asphar.
35 Jonathan sent his brother as leader of the convoy to ask permission of his friends, the Nabateans, to deposit with them their great quantity of baggage.
36 But the sons of Jambri from Medaba made a raid and seized and carried off John and everything he had.
37 After this, word was brought to Jonathan and his brother Simon: The sons of Jambri are celebrating a great wedding, and with a large escort they are bringing the bride, the daughter of one of the great princes of Canaan, from Nadabath.
38 Remembering the blood of John their brother, they went up and hid themselves under cover of the mountain.
39 They watched, and suddenly saw a noisy crowd with baggage; the bridegroom and his friends and kinsmen had come out to meet the bride's party with tambourines and musicians and much equipment.
40 The Jews rose up against them from their ambush and killed them. Many fell wounded, and after the survivors fled toward the mountain, all their spoils were taken.
41 Thus the wedding was turned into mourning, and the sound of music into lamentation.
42 Having taken their revenge for the blood of their brother, the Jews returned to the marshes of the Jordan.
43 When Bacchides heard of it, he came on the sabbath to the banks of the Jordan with a large force.
44 Then Jonathan said to his companions, Let us get up now and fight for our lives, for today is not like yesterday and the day before.
45 The battle is before us, and behind us are the waters of the Jordan on one side, marsh and thickets on the other, and there is no way of escape.
46 Cry out now to Heaven for deliverance from our enemies.
47 When they joined battle, Jonathan raised his arm to strike Bacchides, but Bacchides backed away from him.
48 Jonathan and his men jumped into the Jordan and swam across to the other side, but the enemy did not pursue them across the Jordan.
49 A thousand men on Bacchides' side fell that day.
50 On returning to Jerusalem, Bacchides built strongholds in Judea: the Jericho fortress, as well as Emmaus, Beth-horon, Bethel, Timnath, Pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls and gates and bars.
51 In each he put a garrison to oppose Israel.
52 He fortified the city of Beth-zur, Gazara and the citadel, and put soldiers in them and stores of provisions.
53 He took as hostages the sons of the leaders of the country and put them in custody in the citadel at Jerusalem.
54 In the year one hundred and fifty-three, in the second month, Alcimus ordered the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary to be torn down, thus destroying the work of the prophets. But he only began to tear it down.
55 Just at that time he had a stroke, and his work was interrupted; his mouth was closed and he was paralyzed, so that he could no longer utter a word to give orders concerning his house.
56 Finally he died in great agony.
57 Seeing that Alcimus was dead, Bacchides returned to the king, and the land of Judah was quiet for two years. Bacchides and Jonathan
58 Then all the transgressors of the law held a council and said: Jonathan and his companions are living in peace and security. Now then, let us have Bacchides return, and he will capture all of them in a single night.
59 So they went and took counsel with him.
60 When Bacchides was setting out with a large force, he sent letters secretly to all his allies in Judea, telling them to seize Jonathan and his companions. They were not able to do this, however, because their plot became known.
61 In fact, Jonathan's men seized about fifty of the men of the country who were ringleaders in the mischief and put them to death.
62 Then Jonathan and Simon and their companions withdrew to Bethbasi in the desert; they rebuilt and strengthened its fortifications that had been demolished.
63 When Bacchides learned of this, he gathered together his whole force and sent word to those who were in Judea.
64 He came and pitched his camp before Bethbasi, and constructing siege-machines, he fought against it for many days.
65 Leaving his brother Simon in the city, Jonathan, accompanied by a small group of men, went out into the field.
66 He struck down Odomera and his kinsmen and the sons of Phasiron in their encampment; these men had set out to go up to the siege with their forces.
67 Simon and his men then sallied forth from the city and set fire to the machines.
68 They fought against Bacchides, and he was beaten. This caused him great distress. Because the enterprise he had planned came to nought,
69 he was angry with the lawless men who had advised him to invade the province. He killed many of them and resolved to return to his own country.
70 Jonathan learned of this and sent ambassadors to make peace with him and to obtain the release of the prisoners.
71 He agreed to do as Jonathan had asked. He swore an oath to him that he would never try to injure him for the rest of his life;
72 and he released the prisoners he had previously taken from the land of Judah. He returned to his own country and never came into their territory again.
73 Then the sword ceased in Israel. Jonathan settled in Michmash; he began to judge the people and he destroyed the impious in Israel.

1 MACCABEES 10:1-89
1 In the year one hundred and sixty, Alexander, who was called Epiphanes, son of Antiochus, came up and took Ptolemais. He was accepted and began to reign there.
2 When King Demetrius heard of it, he mustered a very large army and marched out to engage him in combat.
3 Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan written in peaceful terms, to pay him honor;
4 for he said: Let us be the first to make peace with him, before he makes peace with Alexander against us,
5 since he will remember all the wrongs we have done to him, his brothers, and his nation.
6 So Demetrius authorized him to gather an army and procure arms as his ally; and he ordered that the hostages in the citadel be released to him.
7 Accordingly Jonathan went up to Jerusalem and read the letter to all the people. The men in the citadel
8 were struck with fear when they heard that the king had given him authority to gather an army.
9 They released the hostages to Jonathan, and he gave them back to their parents.
10 Thereafter Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build and restore the city.
11 He ordered the workmen to build the walls and encircle Mount Zion with square stones for its fortification, which they did.
12 The foreigners in the strongholds that Bacchides had built, took flight;
13 each one of them left his place and returned to his own country.
14 Only in Beth-zur did some remain of those who had abandoned the law and the commandments, for they used it as a place of refuge.
15 King Alexander heard of the promises that Demetrius had made to Jonathan; he was also told of the battles and valiant deeds of Jonathan and his brothers and the troubles that they had endured.
16 He said, Shall we ever find another man like him? Let us now make him our friend and ally.
17 So he sent Jonathan a letter written in these terms:
18 King Alexander sends greetings to his brother Jonathan.
19 We have heard of you, that you are a mighty warrior and worthy to be our friend.
20 We have therefore appointed you today to be high priest of your nation; you are to be called the King's Friend, and you are to look after our interests and preserve amity with us. He also sent him a purple robe and a crown of gold.
21 Jonathan put on the sacred vestments in the seventh month of the year one hundred and sixty at the feast of Booths, and he gathered an army and procured many arms.
22 When Demetrius heard of these things, he was distressed and said:
23 Why have we allowed Alexander to get ahead of us by gaining the friendship of the Jews and thus strengthening himself?
24 I too will write them conciliatory words and offer dignities and gifts, so that they may be an aid to me.
25 So he sent them this message: King Demetrius sends greetings to the Jewish nation.
26 We have heard how you have kept the treaty with us and continued in our friendship and not gone over to our enemies, and we are glad.
27 Continue, therefore, to keep faith with us, and we will reward you with favors in return for what you do in our behalf.
28 We will grant you many exemptions and will bestow gifts on you.
29 I now free you, as I also exempt all the Jews, from the tribute, the salt tax, and the crown levies.
30 Instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees that should be my share, I renounce the right from this day forward: Neither now nor in the future will I collect them from the land of Judah or from the three districts annexed from Samaria.
31 Let Jerusalem and her territory, her tithes and her tolls, be sacred and free from tax.
32 I also yield my authority over the citadel in Jerusalem, and I transfer it to the high priest, that he may put in it such men as he shall choose to guard it.
33 Every one of the Jews who has been carried into captivity from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom I set at liberty without ransom; and let all their taxes, even those on their cattle, be canceled.
34 Let all feast days, sabbaths, new moon festivals, appointed days, and the three days that precede each feast day, and the three days that follow, be days of immunity and exemption for every Jew in my kingdom.
35 Let no man have authority to exact payment from them or to molest any of them in any matter.
36 Let thirty thousand Jews be enrolled in the king's army and allowances be given them, as is due to all the king's soldiers.
37 Let some of them be stationed in the king's principal strongholds, and of these let some be given positions of trust in the affairs of the kingdom. Let their superiors and their rulers be taken from among them, and let them follow their own laws, as the king has commanded in the land of Judah.
38 Let the three districts that have been added to Judea from the province of Samaria be incorporated with Judea so that they may be under one man and obey no other authority than the high priest.
39 Ptolemais and its confines I give as a present to the sanctuary in Jerusalem for the necessary expenses of the sanctuary.
40 I make a yearly personal grant of fifteen thousand silver shekels out of the royal revenues, from appropriate places.
41 All the additional funds that the officials did not hand over as they had done in the first years, shall henceforth be handed over for the services of the temple.
42 Moreover, the dues of five thousand silver shekels that used to be taken from the revenue of the sanctuary every year shall be canceled, since these funds belong to the priests who perform the services.
43 Whoever takes refuge in the temple of Jerusalem or in any of its precincts, because of money he owes the king, or because of any other debt, shall be released, together with all the goods he possesses in my kingdom. \
44 The cost of rebuilding and restoring the structures of the sanctuary shall be covered out of the royal revenue.
45 Likewise the cost of building the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it all around, and of building walls in Judea, shall be donated from the royal revenue.
46 When Jonathan and the people heard these words, they neither believed nor accepted them, for they remembered the great evil that Demetrius had done in Israel, and how sorely he had afflicted them.
47 They therefore decided in favor of Alexander, for he had been the first to address them peaceably, and they remained his allies for the rest of his life.
48 King Alexander gathered together a large army and encamped opposite Demetrius.
49 The two kings joined battle, and when the army of Demetrius fled, Alexander pursued him, and overpowered his soldiers.
50 He pressed the battle hard until sunset, and Demetrius fell that day.
51 Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, with this message:
52 Now that I have returned to my realm, taken my seat on the throne of my fathers, and established my rule by crushing Demetrius and gaining control of my country--
53 for I engaged him in battle, defeated him and his army, and recovered the royal throne--
54 let us now establish friendship with each other. Give me your daughter for my wife; and as your son-in-law, I will give to you and to her gifts worthy of you.
55 King Ptolemy answered in these words: Happy the day on which you returned to the land of your fathers and took your seat on their royal throne!
56 I will do for you what you have written; but meet me in Ptolemais, so that we may see each other, and I will become your father-in-law as you have proposed.
57 So Ptolemy with his daughter Cleopatra set out from Egypt and came to Ptolemais in the year one hundred and sixty-two.
58 There King Alexander met him, and Ptolemy gave him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage. Their wedding was celebrated at Ptolemais with great splendor according to the custom of kings.
59 King Alexander also wrote to Jonathan to come and meet him.
60 So he went with pomp to Ptolemais, where he met the two kings and gave them and their friends silver and gold and many gifts and thus won their favor.
61 Some pestilent Israelites, transgressors of the law, united against him to accuse him, but the king paid no heed to them.
62 He ordered Jonathan to be divested of his ordinary garments and to be clothed in royal purple; and so it was done.
63 The king also had him seated at his side. He said to his magistrates: Go with him to the center of the city and make a proclamation that no one is to bring charges against him on any grounds or be troublesome to him in any way.
64 When his accusers saw the honor paid to him in the proclamation, and the purple with which he was clothed, they all fled.
65 The king also honored him by numbering him among his Chief Friends and made him military commander and governor of the province.
66 So Jonathan returned in peace and happiness to Jerusalem.
67 In the year one hundred and sixty-five, Demetrius, son of Demetrius, came from Crete to the land of his fathers.
68 When King Alexander heard of it he was greatly troubled, and returned to Antioch.
69 Demetrius appointed Apollonius governor of Coelesyria. Having gathered a large army, Appollonius pitched his camp at Jamnia. From there he sent this message to Jonathan the high priest:
70 You are the only one who resists us. I am laughed at and put to shame on your account. Why are you displaying power against us in the mountains?
71 If you have confidence in your forces, come down now to us in the plain, and let us test each other's strength there; the city forces are on my side.
72 Inquire and learn who I am and who the others are who are helping me. Men say that you cannot make a stand against us because your fathers were twice put to flight in their own land.
73 Now you too will be unable to withstand our cavalry and such a force as this in the plain, where there is not a stone or a pebble or a place to flee.
74 When Jonathan heard the message of Apollonius, he was roused. Choosing ten thousand men, he set out from Jerusalem, and Simon his brother joined him to help him.
75 He pitched camp near Joppa, but the men in the city shut him out because Apollonius had a garrison there. When the Jews besieged it,
76 the men of the city became afraid and opened the gates, and so Jonathan took possession of Joppa.
77 When Apollonius heard of it, he drew up three thousand horsemen and an innumerable infantry. He marched on Azotus as though he were going on through the country, but at the same time he advanced into the plain, because he had such a large number of horsemen to rely on.
78 Jonathan followed him to Azotus, and they engaged in battle.
79 Apollonius, however, had left a thousand cavalry in hiding behind them.
80 When Jonathan discovered that there was an ambush behind him, his army was surrounded. From morning until evening they showered his men with arrows.
81 But his men held their ground, as Jonathan had commanded, whereas the enemy's horses became tired out.
82 When the horsemen were exhausted, Simon attacked the phalanx, overwhelmed it and put it to flight.
83 The horsemen too were scattered over the plain. The enemy fled to Azotus and entered Beth-dagon, the temple of their idol, to save themselves.
84 But Jonathan burned and plundered Azotus with its neighboring towns, and destroyed by fire both the temple of Dagon and the men who had taken refuge in it.
85 Those who fell by the sword, together with those who were burned alive, came to about eight thousand men.
86 Then Jonathan left there and pitched his camp at Ashkalon, and the people of that city came out to meet him with great pomp.
87 He and his men then returned to Jerusalem, laden with much booty.
88 When King Alexander heard of these events, he accorded new honors to Jonathan.
89 He sent him a gold buckle, such as is usually given to King's Kinsmen; he also gave him Ekron and all its territory as a possession.

1 MACCABEES 11:1-74
1 The king of Egypt gathered his forces, as numerous as the sands of the seashore, and many ships; and he sought by deceit to take Alexander's kingdom and add it to his own.
2 He entered Syria with peaceful words, and the people in the cities opened their gates to welcome him, as King Alexander had ordered them to do, since Ptolemy was his father-in-law.
3 But when Ptolemy entered the cities, he stationed garrison troops in each one.
4 When he reached Azotus, he was shown the temple of Dagon destroyed by fire, Azotus and its suburbs demolished, corpses lying about, and the charred bodies of those burned by Jonathan in the war and stacked up along his route.
5 To prejudice the king against Jonathan, he was told what the latter had done; but the king said nothing.
6 Jonathan met the king with pomp at Joppa, and they greeted each other and spent the night there.
7 Jonathan accompanied the king as far as the river called Eleutherus and then returned to Jerusalem.
8 Plotting evil against Alexander, King Ptolemy took possession of the cities along the seacoast as far as Seleucia-by-the-Sea.
9 He sent ambassadors to King Demetrius, saying: Come, let us make a pact with each other; I will give you my daughter whom Alexander has married, and you shall reign over your father's kingdom.
10 I regret that I gave him my daughter, for he has sought to kill me.
11 His real reason for accusing Alexander, however, was that he coveted Alexander's kingdom.
12 After taking his daughter away and giving her to Demetrius, Ptolemy broke with Alexander; their enmity became open.
13 Then Ptolemy entered Antioch and assumed the crown of Asia; he thus wore two crowns on his head, that of Egypt and that of Asia.
14 King Alexander was in Cilicia at that time, because the people of that region had revolted.
15 When Alexander heard the news, he came to challenge Ptolemy in battle. Ptolemy marched out and met him with a strong force and put him to flight.
16 Alexander fled to Arabia to seek protection. King Ptolemy's triumph was complete
17 when the Arab Zabdiel cut off Alexander's head and sent it to Ptolemy.
18 But three days later King Ptolemy himself died, and his men in the fortified cities were killed by the inhabitants of the strongholds.
19 Thus Demetrius became king in the year one hundred and sixty-seven.
20 At that time Jonathan gathered together the men of Judea to attack the citadel in Jerusalem, and they set up many machines against it.
21 Some transgressors of the law, enemies of their own nation, went to the king and informed him that Jonathan was besieging the citadel.
22 When Demetrius heard this, he was furious, and set out immediately for Ptolemais. He wrote to Jonathan to discontinue the siege and to meet him for a conference at Ptolemais as soon as possible.
23 On hearing this, Jonathan ordered the siege to continue. He selected some elders and priests of Israel and exposed himself to danger
24 by going to the king at Ptolemais. He brought with him silver, gold apparel, and many other presents, and found favor with the king.
25 Although some impious men of his own nation brought charges against him,
26 the king treated him just as his predecessors had done and showed him great honor in the presence of all his Friends.
27 He confirmed him in the high priesthood and in all the honors he had previously held, and had him enrolled among his Chief Friends.
28 Jonathan asked the king to exempt Judea and the three districts of Samaria from tribute, promising him in return three hundred talents.
29 The king agreed and wrote the following letter to Jonathan about all these matters: Pact with Demetrius
30 King Demetrius sends greetings to his brother Jonathan and to the Jewish nation.
31 We are sending you, for your information, a copy of the letter that we wrote to Lasthenes our kinsman concerning you.
32 'King Demetrius sends greetings to his father Lasthenes.
33 Because of the good will they show us, we have decided to bestow benefits on the Jewish nation, who are our friends and who observe their obligations to us.
34 Therefore we confirm their possession, not only of the territory of Judea, but also of the three districts of Aphairema, Lydda, and Ramathaim. These districts, together with all their dependencies, were transferred from Samaria to Judea in favor of all those who offer sacrifices for us in Jerusalem instead of paying the royal taxes that formerly the king received from them each year from the produce of the soil and the fruit of the trees.
35 From this day on we grant them release from payment of all other things that would henceforth be due to us, that is, of tithes and tribute and of the tax on the salt pans and the crown tax.
36 Henceforth none of these provisions shall ever be revoked.
37 Be sure, therefore, to have a copy of these instructions made and given to Jonathan, that it may be displayed in a conspicuous place on the holy hill.
38 When King Demetrius saw that the land was peaceful under his rule and that he had no opposition, he dismissed his entire army, every man to his home, except the foreign troops which he had hired from the islands of the nations. So all the soldiers who had served under his predecessors hated him.
39 When a certain Trypho, who had previously belonged to Alexander's party, saw that all the troops were grumbling at Demetrius, he went to Imalkue the Arab, who was bringing up Alexander's young son Antiochus.
40 Trypho kept urging Imalkue to hand over the boy to him, that he might make him king in his father's place. During his stay there of many days, he told him of all that Demetrius had done and of the hatred that his soldiers had for him.
41 Meanwhile Jonathan sent the request to King Demetrius to withdraw his troops from the citadel of Jerusalem and from the other strongholds, for they were constantly hostile to Israel.
42 Demetrius, in turn, sent this word to Jonathan: I will not only do this for you and your nation, but I will greatly honor you and your nation when I find the opportunity.
43 Do me the favor, therefore, of sending men to fight for me, because all my troops have revolted.
44 So Jonathan sent three thousand good fighting men to him at Antioch. When they came to the king, he was delighted over their arrival,
45 For the populace, one hundred and twenty thousand strong, had massed in the center of the city in an attempt to kill him.
46 But he took refuge in the palace, while the populace gained control of the main streets and began to fight.
47 So the king called the Jews to his aid. They all rallied around him and spread out through the city. On that day they killed about a hundred thousand men in the city,
48 which, at the same time, they set on fire and plundered on a large scale. Thus they saved the king's life.
49 When the populace saw that the Jews held the city at their mercy, they lost courage and cried out to the king in supplication,
50 Give us your terms and let the Jews stop attacking us and our city. So they threw down their arms and made peace.
51 The Jews thus gained glory in the eyes of the king and all his subjects, and they became renowned throughout his kingdom. Finally they returned to Jerusalem with much spoil.
52 But when King Demetrius was sure of his royal throne, and the land was peaceful under his rule,
53 he broke all his promises and became estranged from Jonathan. Instead of rewarding Jonathan for all the favors he had received from him, he caused him much trouble.
54 After this, Trypho returned and brought with him the young boy Antiochus, who became king and wore the royal crown.
55 All the soldiers whom Demetrius had discharged rallied around Antiochus and fought against Demetrius, who was routed and fled.
56 Trypho captured the elephants and occupied Antioch.
57 Then young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan: I confirm you in the high priesthood and appoint you ruler over the four districts and wish you to be one of the King's Friends.
58 He also sent him gold dishes and a dinner service, gave him the right to drink from gold cups, to dress in royal purple, and to wear a gold buckle.
59 Likewise, he made Jonathan's brother Simon governor of the region from the Ladder of Tyre to the frontier of Egypt.
60 Jonathan set out and traveled through West-of-Euphrates and its cities, and all the forces of Syria espoused his cause as allies. When he arrived at Ashkalon, the citizens welcomed him with pomp.
61 But when he set out for Gaza, the people of Gaza locked their gates against him. So he besieged it and burned and plundered its suburbs.
62 Then the people of Gaza appealed to him for mercy, and he granted them peace. He took the sons of their chief men as hostages and sent them to Jerusalem. He then traveled on through the province as far as Damascus.
63 Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius had come with a strong force to Kadesh in Galilee, intending to remove him from office.
64 So he went to meet them, leaving his brother Simon in the province.
65 Simon besieged Beth-zur, attacked it for many days, and blockaded the inhabitants.
66 When they sued for peace, he granted it to them. He expelled them from the city, took possession of it, and put a garrison there.
67 Meanwhile, Jonathan and his army pitched their camp near the waters of Gennesaret, and at daybreak they went to the plain of Hazor.
68 There, in front of him on the plain, was the army of the foreigners. This army attacked him in the open, having first detached an ambush against him in the mountains.
69 Then the men in ambush rose out of their places and joined in the battle.
70 All of Jonathan's men fled; no one stayed except the army commanders Mattathias, son of Absalom, and Judas, son of Chalphi.
71 Jonathan tore his clothes, threw earth on his head, and prayed.
72 Then he went back to the combat and so overwhelmed the enemy that they took to flight.
73 Those of his men who were running away saw it and returned to him; and with him they pursued the enemy as far as their camp in Kadesh, where they pitched their own camp.
74 Three thousand of the foreign troops fell on that day. Then Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.

1 MACCABEES 12:1-53
1 When Jonathan saw that the times favored him, he sent selected men to Rome to confirm and renew his friendship with the Romans.
2 He also sent letters to Sparta and other places for the same purpose.
3 After reaching Rome, the men entered the senate chamber and said, The high priest Jonathan and the Jewish people have sent us to renew the earlier friendship and alliance between you and them.
4 The Romans gave them letters addressed to the authorities in the various places, requesting them to provide the envoys with safe conduct to the land of Judah.
5 This is a copy of the letter that Jonathan wrote to the Spartans:
6 Jonathan the high priest, the senate of the nation, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people send greetings to their brothers the Spartans.
7 Long ago a letter was sent to the high priest Onias from Arius, who then reigned over you, stating that you are our brothers, as the attached copy shows.
8 Onias welcomed the envoy with honor and received the letter, which clearly referred to alliance and friendship.
9 Though we have no need of these things, since we have for our encouragement the sacred books that are in our possession,
10 we have ventured to send word to you for the renewal of brotherhood and friendship, so as not to become strangers to you altogether; a long time has passed since your mission to us.
11 We, on our part, have never ceased to remember you in the sacrifices and prayers that we offer on our feasts and other appropriate days, as it is right and proper to remember brothers.
12 We likewise rejoice in your renown.
13 But many hardships and wars have beset us, and the kings around us have attacked us.
14 We did not wish to be troublesome to you and to the rest of our allies and friends in these wars;
15 with the help of Heaven for our support, we have been saved from our enemies, and they have been humbled.
16 So we have chosen Numenius, son of Antiochus, and Antipater, son of Jason, and we have sent them to the Romans to renew our former friendship and alliance with them.
17 We have also ordered them to come to you and greet you, and to deliver to you our letter about the renewal of our brotherhood.
18 Therefore kindly send us an answer on this matter.
19 This is a copy of the letter that was sent to Onias:
20 Arius, king of the Spartans, sends greetings to Onias the high priest.
21 A document has been found stating that the Spartans and the Jews are brothers; both nations descended from Abraham.
22 Now that we have learned this, kindly write to us about your welfare.
23 We, on our part, are informing you that your cattle and your possessions are ours, and ours are yours. We have, therefore, given orders that you should be told of this.
24 Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius had returned to attack him with a stronger army than before.
25 He set out from Jerusalem and went into the country of Hamath to meet them, giving them no time to enter his province.
26 The spies he had sent into their camp came back and reported that the enemy had made ready to attack the Jews that very night.
27 Therefore, when the sun set, Jonathan ordered his men to be on guard and to remain armed, ready for combat, throughout the night. He also set outposts all around the camp.
28 When the enemy heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for battle, their hearts sank with fear and dread. They lighted fires and then withdrew.
29 But because Jonathan and his men were watching the lights burning, they did not know what had happened until morning.
30 Then Jonathan pursued them, but he could not overtake them, for they had crossed the river Eleutherus.
31 So Jonathan turned aside against the Arabs who are called Zabadeans, overwhelming and plundering them.
32 Then he marched on to Damascus and traversed that whole region.
33 Simon also set out and went as far as Ashkalon and its neighboring strongholds. He then turned to Joppa and occupied it,
34 for he heard that its men had intended to hand over this stronghold to the supporters of Demetrius. He left a garrison there to guard it.
35 When Jonathan returned, he assembled the elders of the people, and with them he made plans for building strongholds in Judea,
36 for making the walls of Jerusalem still higher, and for erecting a high barrier between the citadel and the city, that would isolate the citadel and so prevent its garrison from commerce with the city.
37 The people therefore worked together on building up the city, for part of the east wall above the ravine had collapsed. The quarter called Chaphenatha was also repaired.
38 Simon likewise built up Adida in the Shephelah, and strengthened its fortifications by providing them with gates and bars.
39 Trypho was determined to become king of Asia, assume the crown, and do away with King Antiochus.
40 But he was afraid that Jonathan would not permit him, but would fight against him. Looking for a way to seize and kill him, he set out and reached Beth-shan.
41 Jonathan marched out against him with forty thousand picked fighting men and came to Beth-shan.
42 But when Trypho saw that Jonathan had arrived with a large army he was afraid to offer him violence.
43 Instead, he received him with honor, introduced him to all his friends, and gave him presents. He also ordered his friends and soldiers to obey him as they would himself.
44 Then he said to Jonathan: Why have you put all your soldiers to so much trouble when we are not at war?
45 Pick out a few men to stay with you, send the rest back home, and then come with me to Ptolemais. I will hand it over to you together with other strongholds and their garrisons, as well as the officials, then I will leave and go home. That is why I came here.
46 Jonathan believed him and did as he said. He dismissed his troops, and they returned to the land of Judah.
47 But he kept with him three thousand men, of whom he sent two thousand to Galilee while one thousand accompanied him.
48 Then as soon as Jonathan had entered Ptolemais, the men of the city closed the gates and seized him; all who had entered with him, they killed with the sword.
49 Trypho sent soldiers and cavalry to Galilee and the Great Plain to destroy all Jonathan's men.
50 These, upon learning that Jonathan had been captured and his companions killed, encouraged one another and went out in compact body ready to fight.
51 As their pursuers saw that they were ready to fight for their lives, they turned back.
52 Thus all these men of Jonathan came safely into the land of Judah. They mourned over Jonathan and his men, and were in great fear, and all Israel fell into deep mourning.
53 All the nations round about sought to destroy them. They said, Now that they have no leader to help them, let us make war on them and wipe out their memory from among men.

1 MACCABEES 13:1-53
1 When Simon heard that Trypho was gathering a large army to invade and ravage the land of Judah,
2 and saw that the people were in dread and terror, he went up to Jerusalem. There he assembled the people
3 and exhorted them in these words: You know what I, my brothers, and my father's house have done for the laws and the sanctuary; what battles and disasters we have been through.
4 It was for the sake of these, for the sake of Israel, that all my brothers have perished, and I alone am left.
5 Far be it from me, then, to save my own life in any time of distress, for I am not better than my brothers.
6 Rather will I avenge my nation and the sanctuary, as well as your wives and children, for all the nations out of hatred have united to destroy us.
7 As the people heard these words, their spirit was rekindled.
8 They shouted in reply: You are our leader in place of your brothers Judas and Jonathan.
9 Fight our battles, and we will do everything that you tell us.
10 So Simon mustered all the men able to fight, and quickly completing the walls of Jerusalem, fortified it on every side.
11 He sent Jonathan, son of Absalom, to Joppa with a large force; Jonathan drove out the occupants and remained there.
12 Then Trypho moved from Ptolemais with a large army to invade the land of Judah, bringing Jonathan with him as a prisoner.
13 But Simon pitched his camp at Adida, facing the plain.
14 When Trypho learned that Simon had succeeded his brother Jonathan, and that he intended to fight him, he sent envoys to him with this message:
15 We have detained your brother Jonathan on account of the money that he owed the royal treasury in connection with the offices that he held.
16 Therefore, if you send us a hundred talents of silver, and two of his sons as hostages to guarantee that when he is set free he will not revolt against us, we will release him.
17 Although Simon knew that they were speaking deceitfully to him, he gave orders to get the money and the boys, for fear of provoking much hostility among the people, who might say
18 that Jonathan perished because Simon would not send Trypho the money and the boys.
19 So he sent the boys and the hundred talents; but Trypho broke his promise and would not let Jonathan go.
20 Next he began to invade and ravage the country. His troops went around by the road that leads to Adora, but Simon and his army moved along opposite him everywhere he went.
21 The men in the citadel sent messengers to Trypho, urging him to come to them by way of the desert, and to send them provisions.
22 Although Trypho got all his cavalry ready to go, there was a heavy fall of snow that night, and he could not go. So he left for Gilead.
23 When he was approaching Baskama, he had Jonathan killed and buried there.
24 Then Trypho returned to his own country.
25 Simon sent for the remains of his brother Jonathan, and buried him in Modein, the city of his fathers.
26 All Israel bewailed him with solemn lamentation, mourning over him for many days.
27 Then Simon erected over the tomb of his father and his brothers a monument of stones, polished front and back, and raised high enough to be seen at a distance.
28 He set up seven pyramids facing one another for his father and his mother and his four brothers.
29 For the pyramids he devised a setting of big columns, on which he carved suits of armor as a perpetual memorial, and next to the armor he placed carved ships, which could be seen by all who sailed the sea.
30 This tomb which he built at Modein is there to the present day.
31 Trypho dealt treacherously with the young King Antiochus. He killed him
32 and assumed the kingship in his place, putting on the crown of Asia. Thus he brought much evil on the land.
33 Simon, on his part, built up the strongholds of Judea, strengthening their fortifications with high towers, thick walls, and gates with bars, and he stored up provisions in the fortresses.
34 Simon also sent chosen men to King Demetrius with the request that he grant the land a release from taxation, for all that Trypho did was to plunder the land.
35 In reply, King Demetrius sent him the following letter:
36 King Demetrius sends greetings to Simon the high priest, the friend of kings, and to the elders and the Jewish people.
37 We have received the gold crown and the palm branch that you sent. We are willing to be on most peaceful terms with you and to write to our official to grant you release from tribute.
38 Whatever we have guaranteed to you remains in force, and the strongholds that you have built shall remain yours.
39 We remit any oversights and defaults incurred up to now, as well as the crown tax that you owe. Any other tax that may have been collected in Jerusalem shall no longer be collected there.
40 If any of you are qualified for enrollment in our service, let them be enrolled. Let there be peace between us.
41 Thus in the year one hundred and seventy, the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel,
42 and the people began to write in their records and contracts, In the first year of Simon, high priest, governor, and leader of the Jews.
43 In those days Simon besieged Gazara and surrounded it with troops. He made a siege machine, pushed it up against the city, and attacked and captured one of the towers.
44 The men who had been on the siege machine jumped down into the city and caused a great tumult there.
45 The men of the city, joined by their wives and children, went up on the wall, with their garments rent, and cried out in loud voices, begging Simon to grant them peace.
46 Do not treat us according to our evil deeds, they said, but according to your mercy.
47 So Simon came to terms with them and did not destroy them. He made them leave the city, however, and he purified the houses in which there were idols. Then he entered the city with hymns and songs of praise.
48 After removing from it everything that was impure, he settled there men who observed the law. He improved its fortifications and built himself a residence.
49 The men in the citadel in Jerusalem were prevented from going out into the country and back for the purchase of food; they suffered greatly from hunger, and many of them died of starvation.
50 They finally cried out to Simon for peace, and he gave them peace. He expelled them from the citadel and cleansed it of impurities.
51 On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the year one hundred and seventy-one, the Jews entered the citadel with shouts of jubilation, waving of palm branches, the music of harps and cymbals and lyres, and the singing of hymns and canticles, because a great enemy of Israel had been destroyed.
52 Simon decreed that this day should be celebrated every year with rejoicing. He also strengthened the fortifications of the temple hill alongside the citadel, and he and his companions dwelt there.
53 Seeing that his son John was now a grown man, Simon made him commander of all his soldiers, with his residence in Gazara.

1 MACCABEES 14:1-49
1 In the year one hundred and seventy-two, King Demetrius assembled his army and marched into Media to obtain help so that he could fight Trypho.
2 When Arsaces, king of Persia and Media, heard that Demetrius had invaded his territory, he sent one of his generals to take him alive.
3 The general went forth and defeated the army of Demetrius; he captured him and brought him to Arsaces, who put him in prison.
4 The land was at rest all the days of Simon, who sought the good of his nation. His people were delighted with his power and his magnificence throughout his reign.
5 As his crowning glory he captured the port of Joppa and made it a gateway to the isles of the sea.
6 He enlarged the borders of his nation and gained control of the country.
7 He took many enemies prisoners of war and made himself master of Gazara, Beth-zur, and the citadel. He cleansed the citadel of its impurities; there was no one to withstand him.
8 The people cultivated their land in peace; the land yielded its produce and the trees of the field their fruit.
9 Old men sat in the squares, all talking about the good times, while the young men wore the glorious apparel of war.
10 He supplied the cities with food and equipped them with means of defense, till his glorious name reached the ends of the earth.
11 He brought peace to the land, and Israel was filled with happiness.
12 Every man sat under his vine and his fig tree, with no one to disturb him.
13 No one was left to attack them in their land; the kings in those days were crushed.
14 He strengthened all the lowly among his people and was zealous for the law; he suppressed all the lawless and the wicked.
15 He made the temple splendid and enriched its equipment.
16 When people heard in Rome and even in Sparta that Jonathan had died, they were deeply grieved.
17 But when the Romans heard that his brother Simon had been made high priest in his place and was master of the country and the cities,
18 they sent him inscribed tablets of bronze to renew with him the friendship and alliance that they had established with his brothers Judas and Jonathan.
19 These were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.
20 This is a copy of the letter that the Spartans sent: The rulers and the citizens of Sparta send greetings to Simon the high priest, the elders, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people, our brothers.
21 The envoys you sent to our people have informed us of your glory and fame, and we were happy that they came.
22 In accordance with what they said we have recorded the following in the public decrees: Since Numenius, son of Antiochus, and Antipater, son of Jason, envoys of the Jews, have come to us to renew their friendship with us,
23 the people have voted to receive the men with honor, and to deposit a copy of their words in the public archives, so that the people of Sparta may have a record of them. A copy of this decree has been made for Simon the high priest.
24 After this, Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a great gold shield weighing a thousand minas, to confirm the alliance with the Romans.
25 When the people heard of these things, they said, How can we thank Simon and his sons?
26 He and his brothers and his father's house have stood firm and repulsed Israel's enemies. They have thus preserved its liberty. So they made an inscription on bronze tablets, which they affixed to pillars on Mount Zion.
27 The following is a copy of the inscription: On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the year one hundred and seventy-two, that is, the third year under Simon the high priest in Asaramel,
28 in a great assembly of priests, people, rulers of the nation, and elders of the country, the following proclamation was made:
29 Since there have often been wars in our country, Simon, son of the priest Mattathias, descendant of Joarib, and his brothers have put themselves in danger and resisted the enemies of their nation, so that their sanctuary and law might be maintained, and they have thus brought great glory to their nation.
30 After Jonathan had rallied his nation and become their high priest, he was gathered to his kinsmen.
31 When the enemies of the Jews sought to invade and devastate their country and to lay hands on their temple,
32 Simon rose up and fought for his nation, spending large sums of his own money to equip the men of his nation's armed forces and giving them their pay.
33 He fortified the cities of Judea, especially the frontier city of Beth-zur, where he stationed a garrison of Jewish soldiers, and where previously the enemy's arms had been stored.
34 He also fortified Joppa by the sea and Gazara on the border of Azotus, a place previously occupied by the enemy; these cities he resettled with Jews, and furnished them with all that was necessary for their restoration.
35 When the Jewish people saw Simon's loyalty and the glory he planned to bring to his nation, they made him their leader and high priest because of all he had accomplished and the loyalty and justice he had shown his nation. In every way he sought to exalt his people.
36 In his time and under his guidance they succeeded in driving the Gentiles out of their country, especially those in the City of David in Jerusalem, who had built for themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth to defile the environs of the temple and inflict grave injury on its purity.
37 In this citadel he stationed Jewish soldiers, and he strengthened its fortifications for the defense of the land and the city, while he also raised the wall of Jerusalem to a greater height.
38 Consequently, King Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood,
39 made him one of his Friends, and conferred the highest honors on him.
40 He had indeed heard that the Romans had addressed the Jews as friends, allies, and brothers and that they had received Simon's envoys with honor.
41 The Jewish people and their priest have, therefore, made the following decisions. Simon shall be their permanent leader and high priest until a true prophet arises.
42 He shall act as governor general over them, and shall have charge of the temple, to make regulations concerning its functions and concerning the country, its weapons and strongholds,
43 he shall be obeyed by all. All contracts made in the country shall be dated by his name. He shall have the right to wear royal purple and gold ornaments.
44 It shall not be lawful for any of the people or priests to nullify any of these decisions, or to contradict the orders given by him, or to convene an assembly in the country without his consent, to be clothed in royal purple or wear an official gold brooch.
45 Whoever acts otherwise or violates any of these prescriptions shall be liable to punishment.
46 All the people approved of granting Simon the right to act in accord with these decisions,
47 and Simon accepted and agreed to act as high priest, governor general, and ethnarch of the Jewish people and priests and to exercise supreme authority over all.
48 It was decreed that this inscription should be engraved on bronze tablets, to be set up in a conspicuous place in the precincts of the temple,
49 and that copies of it should be deposited in the treasury, where they would be available to Simon and his sons.

1 MACCABEES 15:1-41
1 Antiochus, son of King Demetrius, sent a letter from the islands of the sea to Simon, the priest and ethnarch of the Jews, and to all the nation,
2 which read as follows: King Antiochus sends greetings to Simon, the priest and ethnarch, and to the Jewish nation.
3 Whereas certain villains have gained control of the kingdom of my ancestors, I intend to reclaim it, that I may restore it to its former state. I have recruited a large number of mercenary troops and equipped warships
4 to make a landing in my country and take revenge on those who have ruined it and laid waste many cities in my realm.
5 Now, therefore, I confirm to you all the tax exemptions that the kings before me granted you and whatever other privileges they conferred on you.
6 I authorize you to coin your own money, as legal tender in your country.
7 Jerusalem and its temple shall be free. All the weapons you have prepared and all the strongholds you have built and now occupy shall remain in your possession.
8 All debts, present or future, due to the royal treasury shall be canceled for you, now and for all time.
9 When we recover our kingdom, we will greatly honor you and your nation and the temple, so that your glory will be manifest in all the earth.
10 In the year one hundred and seventy-four Antiochus invaded the land of his ancestors, and all the troops rallied to him, so that few were left with Trypho.
11 Pursued by Antiochus, Trypho fled to Dor, by the sea,
12 realizing what a mass of troubles had come upon him now that his soldiers had deserted him.
13 Antiochus encamped before Dor with a hundred and twenty thousand infantry and eight thousand horsemen.
14 While he invested the city, his ships closed in along the coast, so that he blockaded it by land and sea and let no one go in or out.
15 Meanwhile, Numenius and his companions left Rome with letters such as this addressed to various kings and countries:
16 Lucius, Consul of the Romans, sends greetings to King Ptolemy.
17 Certain envoys of the Jews, our friends and allies, have come to us to renew their earlier alliance of friendship. They had been sent by Simon the high priest and the Jewish people,
18 and they brought with them a gold shield worth a thousand minas.
19 Therefore we have decided to write to various kings and countries, that they are not to harm them, or wage war against them or their cities or their country, and are not to assist those who fight against them.
20 We have also decided to accept the shield from them.
21 If, then, any troublemakers from their country take refuge with you, hand them over to Simon the high priest, so that he may punish them according to their law.
22 The consul sent similar letters to Kings Demetrius, Attalus, Ariarthes and Arsaces;
23 to all the countries--Sampsames, Sparta, Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Rhodes, Phaselis, Cos, Side, Aradus, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus, and Cyrene.
24 A copy of the letter was also sent to Simon the high priest.
25 When King Antiochus was encamped before Dor, he assaulted it continuously both with troops and with the siege machines he had made. He blockaded Trypho by preventing anyone from going in or out.
26 Simon sent to Antiochus' support two thousand elite troops, together with gold and silver and much equipment.
27 But he refused to accept the aid; in fact, he broke all the agreements he had previously made with Simon and became hostile toward him.
28 He sent Athenobius, one of his Friends, to confer with Simon and say: You are occupying Joppa and Gazara and the citadel of Jerusalem; these are cities of my kingdom.
29 You have laid waste their territories, done great harm to the land, and taken possession of many districts in my realm.
30 Therefore, give up the cities you have seized and the tribute money of the districts outside the territory of Judea of which you have taken possession;
31 or instead, pay me five hundred talents of silver for the devastation you have caused and five hundred talents more for the tribute money of the cities. If you do not do this, we will come and make war on you.
32 So Athenobius, the king's Friend, came to Jerusalem and on seeing the splendor of Simon's court, the gold and silver plate on the sideboard, and the rest of his rich display, he was amazed. When he gave him the king's message,
33 Simon said to him in reply: We have not seized any foreign land; what we took is not the property of others, but our ancestral heritage which for a time had been unjustly held by our enemies.
34 Now that we have the opportunity, we are holding on to the heritage of our ancestors.
35 As for Joppa and Gazara, which you demand, the men of these cities were doing great harm to our people and laying waste our country; however, we are willing to pay you a hundred talents for these cities.
36 Athenobius made no reply, but returned to the king in anger. When he told him of Simon's words, of his splendor, and of all he had seen, the king fell into a violent rage.
37 Trypho had gotten aboard a ship and escaped to Orthosia.
38 Then the king appointed Cendebeus commander-in-chief of the seacoast, and gave him infantry and cavalry forces.
39 He ordered him to move his troops against Judea and to fortify Kedron and strengthen its gates, so that he could launch attacks against the Jewish people. Meanwhile the king went in pursuit of Trypho.
40 When Cendebeus came to Jamnia, he began to harass the people and to make incursions into Judea, where he took people captive or massacred them.
41 As the king ordered, he fortified Kedron and stationed horsemen and infantry there, so that they could go out and patrol the roads of Judea.

1 MACCABEES 16:1-24
1 John then went up from Gazara and told his father Simon what Cendebeus was doing.
2 Simon called his two oldest sons, Judas and John, and said to them: I and my brothers and my father's house have fought the battles of Israel from our youth until today, and many times we succeeded in saving Israel.
3 I have now grown old, but you, by the mercy of Heaven, have come to man's estate. Take my place and my brother's, and go out and fight for our nation; and may the help of Heaven be with you!
4 John then mustered in the land twenty thousand warriors and horsemen. Setting out against Cendebeus, they spent the night at Modein,
5 rose early, and marched into the plain. There, facing them, was an immense army of foot soldiers and horsemen, and between the two armies was a stream.
6 John and his men took their position against the enemy. Seeing that his men were afraid to cross the stream, John crossed first. When his men saw this, they crossed over after him.
7 Then he divided his infantry into two corps and put his cavalry between them, for the enemy's horsemen were very numerous.
8 They blew the trumpets, and Cendebeus and his army were put to flight; many of them fell wounded, and the rest fled toward the stronghold.
9 It was then that John's brother Judas fell wounded; but John pursued them until Cendebeus reached Kedron, which he had fortified.
10 Some took refuge in the towers on the plain of Azotus, but John set fire to these, and about two thousand of the enemy perished. He then returned to Judea in peace.
11 Ptolemy, son of Abubus, had been appointed governor of the plain of Jericho, and he had much silver and gold,
12 being the son-in-law of the high priest.
13 But he became ambitious and sought to get control of the country. So he made treacherous plans to do away with Simon and his sons.
14 1 As Simon was inspecting the cities of the country and providing for their needs, he and his sons Mattathias and Judas went down to Jericho in the year one hundred and seventy-seven, in the eleventh month (that is, the month Shebat).
15 The son of Abubus gave them a deceitful welcome in the little stronghold called Dok which he had built. While serving them a sumptuous banquet, he had his men hidden there.
16 Then, when Simon and his sons had drunk freely, Ptolemy and his men sprang up, weapons in hand, rushed upon Simon in the banquet hall, and killed him, his two sons, and some of his servants.
17 By this vicious act of treason he repaid good with evil.
18 Then Ptolemy wrote an account of this and sent it to the king, asking that troops be sent to help him and that the country be turned over to him.
19 He sent other men to Gazara to do away with John. To the army officers he sent letters inviting them to come to him so that he might present them with silver, gold, and gifts.
20 He also sent others to seize Jerusalem and the mount of the temple.
21 But someone ran ahead and brought word to John at Gazara that his father and his brothers had perished, and that Ptolemy had sent men to kill him also.
22 On hearing this, John was utterly astounded. When the men came to kill him, he had them arrested and put to death, for he knew what they meant to do.
23 Now the rest of the history of John, his wars and the brave deeds he performed, his rebuilding of the walls, and his other achievements-
24 these things are recorded in the chronicle of his pontificate, from the time that he succeeded his father as high priest.

TO IMPLANT OR NOT TO IMPLANT

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Fiji Islands rocked by strong earthquake
Dec. 9, 2007 at 2:03 PM

Print story Email to a friend Font size:SUVA, Fiji, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale occurred Sunday near the Fiji Islands and may have been felt as far away as New Zealand.China's official Xinhua news agency said that the quake occurred at a depth of 92.7 miles in the Pacific Ocean, just south of the Fiji Islands, but no tsunami warnings have been issued in the region.Since the earthquake occurred, no reports of any significant damage have been reported.The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said the quake registered 7.8 on the open-ended Richter Scale and took place in one of the world's deepest ocean areas.That region has been a highly active seismic area, the news agency reported.United Press International.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

400 households still without power on 6th day of P.E.I. outage Sun Dec 9, 10:28 AM

As many as 400 households in Prince Edward Island remained without power by Sunday afternoon, six days after a storm swept over the island, Maritime Electric said.Heavy, wet snow and driving winds in the storm late Monday night and early Tuesday morning led to more than 350 power poles coming down. At the worst point, on Tuesday, power was knocked out to as many as 16,000 households. With Maritime Electric crews working around the clock, officials were hoping to have everyone's power back by Sunday night, said Kim Griffin, a spokesperson for the utility.It's really a tough job being out there with our crews in this kind of weather and there's been a lot of ice on the lines, Griffin said Sunday.

Griffin said that, in terms of damage, it was the worst storm the utility has seen since the 1980s.People have been helping each other cope with the cold, Griffin said.Our customers are extremely gracious and it really makes you proud to be an Islander because it's amazing the stories we hear of neighbourly gestures, of people bunking together and making food.

Storm moves through S.California without much damage; mudslide threat remains Fri Dec 7, 6:58 PM
By Robert Jablon, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - A Pacific Northwest storm blew through Southern California early Friday without causing much damage or delivering the mudslides and severe flooding that many had feared. Up to 76 millimetres of rain had been expected in Orange County canyons burned bare by wildfires earlier in the year. About 1,000 homes were ordered evacuated in the area as a precaution on Thursday, but only about half that amount fell overnight. Officials had been concerned that people would choke the narrow streets if they waited to leave until it was dark and raining. Only about 40 homes actually were evacuated, officials said, though residents took precautions such as sandbagging. The evacuation order was lifted Friday as the mudslide risk eased. Elsewhere, rain-slicked roads led to multiple traffic accidents. In Burbank, firefighters rescued two people whose car went off Interstate 5 shortly after 5 a.m. and overturned in less than a metre of water in the Los Angeles River. The storm arrived late Thursday night and the heaviest rain came after midnight.

The storm pushed through L.A. pretty fast, faster than we were expecting," said Stuart Seto, chief specialist at the National Weather Service. In Washington state, crews reopened a 32-kilometre stretch of the Interstate 5 highway, the main West Coast artery, to all traffic Friday, four days after it was swamped by floodwater after a previous storm system crashed through the region.

Fiji cyclone forecast to whip up 'phenomenal seas'
Fri Dec 7, 11:02 AM

Island villagers in the South Pacific nation of Fiji raced for higher ground Friday, as tropical cyclone Daman strengthened into a Category 4 storm and threatened to swamp neighbourhoods and knock down flimsy thatched homes of farmers and fishermen.Daman, packing winds of up to 240 kilometres an hour, lashed Fiji's northern chain of islands and dumped heavy rains that caused landslides. Officials were forced to close some highways and the forceful gusts ripped apart some trees, Fiji Disaster Management Office spokesman Pajilai Dobui said Friday.Fiji's second-largest island, Vanua Levu, is expected to take a pounding early Saturday, forecasters said, warning of phenomenal seas and very destructive winds.Although Dobui noted that the slow-moving system appeared to be veering eastward away from Vanua Levu, he added the risk is still very high for an impact.As a Category 4 storm, Daman is only one category short of being what Fiji's Director of Meteorology Rajendra Prasad described as a super hurricane.Residents in Vanua Levu, as well as people in the Lau and Lomaiviti island groups, were advised to leave coastal areas and abandon low-lying areas to seek shelter in secure buildings.

The three island groups, which are expected to see some 25 centimetres of rain, are home to some 90,000 people, many of whom are subsistence fishermen and farmers.It's most likely going to be one of the severest cyclones to hit the country in recent times, disaster office director Joeli Rokovabe told the Associated Press.
A number of tourist resorts were also reportedly at risk and airlines operating in Fiji cancelled some domestic and international flights due to the weather, local media said.Most of Fiji's holiday resorts are located on the largest island, Viti Levu, which is south of the storm's path.Fiji has endured 13 tropical cyclones in the last 10 years, the worst being the lower-intensity Cyclone Ami that hammered Vanua Levu, killing 17 people there.In 1973, Cyclone Lottie sank two ships off western Fiji, killing 70 people.With files from the Associated Press

ISRAEL WILL BECOME A NATION. LITERALLY IN THE SPRING.

GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram,(CHANGED TO ABRAHAM LATER) Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:(PALESTINE,ISRAEL)
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

EZEKIEL 36:24
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

EZEKIEL 37:9-28
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds,(ALL THE WORLD) O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.(COME TO LIFE)
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.(ISRAEL WILL HAVE A POWERFUL ARMY)
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.(BURNED BY HITLER)
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.(THE DRY BONES COME TO LIFE IN ISRAEL)
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

MATTHEW 24:32
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(ISRAEL WAS LITERALLY REBORN JUST BEFORE SUMMER,MAY 14,1948).

MARK 13:28
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

DANIEL 9:24
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

ISRAEL WILL BE IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM, THE SIGN OF THE START OF THE LAST GENERATION.

LUKE 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Israel launches campaign to bring citizens home from abroad
The Associated Press December 9, 2007

JERUSALEM: Israel is trying to persuade hundreds of thousands of its citizens living overseas to return home in a project to coincide with the state's 60th anniversary next year, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced Sunday.The project, dubbed coming home, will try to lure Israelis living abroad to come back with tax breaks, employment and small business loans.About 650 thousand Israelis live abroad, 450 thousand of them in North America, the ministry said. The ministry began contacting them last month with direct phone calls, an Internet site and a hot line phone connection.What surprised us most is the amount of positive feedback we received from countries where the standard of living is very high, said Erez Halfon, director of the Immigrant Absorption Ministry. We received 285 calls from Israelis living in Switzerland, and of them, 15 families have committed to coming home.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed support for the project at a Cabinet meeting Sunday. Every Israeli, even if they live abroad, is Israeli at heart and knows that their home is here. I call on all Israelis to return home, Olmert said.

Today in Africa & Middle East

Iranian students rally against AhmadinejadRoadside bomb kills a police chief in Iraq's Shiite southRogue Israeli settlements in West Bank continue.The project aims to bring 10 thousand ex-pats back to Israel in the first year and double that number of the next few years. Between 18,000 and 21,000 Israelis emigrate each year, Halfon told reporters.The estimated cost of the campaign is 140 million shekels ($36 million, €25 million) a year, an amount the ministry believes will be paid back by the returning Israelis themselves. Within half a year of their being reintroduced into society as consumers, the government will get all their money back, Halfon said.Halfon said the project aims to remove the social stigma faced by those who leave Israel, so they will have a softer landing upon their return. Traditionally, Israelis who left the Jewish state were widely looked down on by Israeli society and viewed as letting the country down or selling out. Linguistically, immigration to Israel is called aliya, the Hebrew word for ascent, while emigrating is dubbed yerida, or descent.

WORLD GOVERNMENT

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

EU embassy mergers 'are step closer to a superstate'
By DANIEL MARTIN - 07:02am on 6th December 2007

Europe yesterday took another big step towards becoming a superstate by proposing joint EU embassies throughout the world. The suggestion comes only days before the signing of the controversial EU treaty, which will create a European diplomatic service and a new post of EU foreign minister. The European Commission unveiled plans yesterday for travellers to be able to use the consular services of any EU country and suggested members could merge their embassies. It also proposed standard rules on the type of help that should be given to European citizens when abroad. EU foreign relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said: We need to step up co-operation at EU level and work with member states to protect our citizens.Under the proposals, travellers who run into problems abroad would be able to use the consular services of any of the EU's 27 members. There would also be standardised rules on the difficult problem of repatriation of corpses from abroad.

Any of the EU's 490million citizens are already supposed to be able to use another member state's consulate if their country is not represented abroad. But co-operation between countries' embassies and consulates is patchy. The commission said it wanted to make consulates more aware of their duties regarding EU travellers who lose a passport or get arrested. Last night a commission official who helped draft the proposal said: When a family member dies abroad, it is a nightmare. I could imagine a common stance for the repatriation of corpses.He said consulates could pool resources by, for example, allowing a small EU country to use a consulate belonging to a larger member. The commission said EU citizens make 80million trips a year outside Europe and up to 50million EU citizens live outside Europe. There are only three countries outside the EU where all 27 members are represented - China, Russia and the U.S. The proposals come days before the signing of the European Reform Treaty, formerly the European Constitution, in Lisbon. Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: It is a good thing for EU countries to help each others citizens abroad where they don't have embassies. But the EU Commission's proposals go far further than that. This is a clear step towards an EU takeover of British consulates.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

Is There an ID Chip in Your Future?
By Heather Sells CBN News December 9, 2007

CBNNews.com - There's a growing movement to forcibly tag or chip your animals with radio frequency identification devices. Many privacy advocates believe this could lead to a scarier level: implanting you and me. Now, there is an effort to stem the tide.

Introducing NAIS

Greg Niewendorp raises cattle in northern Michigan. Time in the saddle is one of the best parts of the day for this fifth generation farmer.But these days, he's spending lots of time holed up in his home office. Why? Niewendorp and other small farmers are fighting the government's plans to identify and track every single farm animal in the country.

Human Implants:
Are We Ready?
It's called NAIS or National Animal Identification System.Our primary interest is protecting the food supply by having a rapid system that can reach out and address the needs for the primary food animals, said USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight.On October 8, Michigan AG officials arrived on Niewendorp's farm with a search warrant. But Niewendorp refused to allow them to put RFID tags on his cattle and the state chipped his entire herd.Pressure forced Niewendorp to give in that day, but his story spread rapidly in farming circles -making him the face of a grass-roots opposition movement.The tag goes in the ear. They give me a premises I.D. number. Now they've got a national number on my cattle, a national number on my land. I might still technically own the animal but they're controlling what I can and can't do with it, he said.While this may be the law in Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana, the USDA insists the federal identification program is not mandatory.Knight said, It can, it should and it will work on a voluntary basis.

Still, privacy experts say many USDA programs already require an NAIS number. And small farmers like Virginian Scott Wilson worry about the cost of buying tags and tracking animals.To be effective they're going to need 100 percent participation in this program and that is really going to put an undue burden on us as small farmers, Wilson said.The USDA wants to be able to track animals quickly in the event of a disease outbreak. It believes NAIS will do that and help encourage confidence in the safety of our food supply - in the eyes of both consumers and global markets.Like It or Not, NAIS is Fast Becoming Reality.More than 1.5 million RFID tags are spread across some 400,000 farms today.The USDA is now accepting bids for an additional million and a half tags. The latest development:? The USDA has approved implantable RFID devices for livestock.Pets aren't supposed to be part of this program, but activist Barb Haywood is not so sure. She and others in the dog world say mandatory pet chipping is already happening in many communities.A microchip is not a benign device. A microchip is a data collection device - a data collection device that's designed not just to collect data on your dog - but you, Haywood said.Haywood fears the government and pet companies will use the information to enforce policies and sell products.

Right now, pet chipping is the law in places like unincorporated Los Angeles country, Stockton, California and El Paso, Texas. Pet chip companies emphasize the joy of chips helping to reunite lost pets with their families.But privacy expert Katherine Albrecht wonders how many pet owners know about the cancer studies she recently uncovered. The studies show chip implants that caused malignant tumors in lab rats and mice.It may not be such a good idea to force people to chip their family companions when there may be even a slight chance that there's a cancer link there, said Albrecht.

What about the 'Human' Implant Market?

Another concern is that animal implants may speed up the growth of the human implant market. That's because Digital Angel, a major manufacturer of animal chips, is owned by the same company that makes the human implant, Verichip.Since the FDA approved Verichip in 2004, it has set up shop in more than 900 hospitals. Verichip assures patients that in a medical emergency, a simple wave of a scanner could correctly identify them and their medical information.But Verichip is working through health concerns of its own.Susan Byrne received her chip in July, and says her arm still hurts.The next day, that's when I really felt discomfort. I felt like I was having an injection 24/7 - like the needle was still in my arm, Byme said.She says Verichip told her she was the first patient to ask that her chip be removed. But Byme is skeptical, and Verichip did not respond to CBN News' calls on the subject.
Opponents of the Verichip also worry that human implants will one day be mandatory.There is actually a growing concern that an HMO or an employer could actually require a person to be micro-chipped to get insurance or to keep a job, Albrecht said.So far, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and California have all passed laws forbidding the mandatory chipping of people.But for many animals, it may be too late.We're a very small voice right now going against the tide saying, Hey, this doesn't make sense, Wilson said.What makes sense to both sides is safety. It seems, though, that no one can agree. But at what price?

Palestinians to call for 7.1 billion dollars at donor conference DEC 08,07

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) — The Palestinian Authority will request 7.1 billion dollars (4.8 billion euros) in economic aid at an upcoming donor conference in Paris, the Palestinian economy minister said on Saturday.The funds are earmarked for two plans aimed at reviving the Palestinian economy in the wake of a seven-year uprising and to provide an economic foundation to recently revived Middle East peace negotiations.The first plan is for rebuilding the economy for 2008 and requires 1.6 billion dollars, and the second is an interim plan for 2008 to 2010 with a budget of 5.5 billion dollars, economy minister Mohammed Kamal Hassuneh said. The funds will go towards government projects, security, the building of infrastructure, salaries for civil servants and other projects.The projects include an industrial zone in the northern West Bank town of Jenin to be constructed with German assistance and processed food and packaging plants in Jericho to be built in a partnership with Japan, he added.

The requests will be made at a donor conference on December 17 aimed at providing economic support for the Middle East peace process relaunched last month in the United States.AFP.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

WELL IRAN HAS DELUDED THE US AND TRYING TO DELUDE THE REST OF THE WORLD INTO BELIEVING THEY ARE NOT MAKING THE BOMB. READ THE ABOVE VERSES AND TELL ME IRAN IS NOT MAKING A BOMB AND I WILL BELIEVE YOU. GOD DOES NOT LIE I BELIEVE HIM INSTEAD, HE SAYS IRAN, IRAQ, ETHIOPIA, LIBYA, GERMANY, TURKEY AND AFRICAN NATIONS (MUSLIMS)LEAD BY RUSSIA WILL ATTACK ISRAEL IN THE FUTURE AND NOT WITH BRANCHES I CAN GUARENTEE.YOU CAN BE DELUDED WORLD BUT I WON'T BE.

U.S. intel report on Iran was political: Bolton Sat Dec 8, 1:47 PM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence services were seeking to influence political policy-making with their assessment Iran had halted its nuclear arms program in 2003, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said. Der Spiegel magazine quoted Bolton Saturday as saying the aim of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), contradicting his and President George W. Bush's own oft-stated position, was not to provide the latest intelligence on Iran.This is politics disguised as intelligence, Bolton was quoted as saying in an article appearing in next week's edition.Bolton described the NIE, released Monday, as a quasi-putsch by the agencies, Der Spiegel said.The NIE said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program four years ago but was continuing to develop the technical means that could be applied to producing weapons. This contradicted the oft-stated position of President Bush that Iran is actively trying to develop an atomic weapon.In Washington, a senior official at the office of the Director of National Intelligence, defended the NIE and said intelligence agencies were confident in their analysis.

National Intelligence Estimates contain the coordinated judgments of the intelligence community regarding the likely course of future events and the implications for U.S. policy, said Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr.The task of the intelligence community is to produce objective, ground truth analysis, he said in a statement. We feel confident in our analytic tradecraft and resulting analysis in this estimate.The hawkish Bolton has long criticized Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for refusing to declare that there was hard evidence Tehran was trying to develop nuclear weapons.ElBaradei said the new NIE somewhat vindicated Iran, which has always denied allegations it was secretly trying to build atom bombs.Earlier this year Bolton said: Regime change or the use of force are the only available options to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapons capability, if they want it.U.S. intelligence has shouldered much of the blame for the Bush administration's unfounded allegations that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had revived his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, the official justification for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; additional reporting by Deborah Charles in Washington; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

HERES VERSES THAT SAY NUKES WILL BE USED READ CAREFULY.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.


FM: Israel needs NATO to secure Jewish State
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

FM: Israel needs NATO to secure Jewish State
By Stan Goodenough December 09, 2007

If Israel is to go ahead and surrender half its historic homeland to the Palestinian Arabs, it will need NATO to help ensure the Jewish state is not overrun and destroyed.This is the point of view of Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who on Friday appealed to her NATO nation counterparts at a meeting in Brussels.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Livni told her audience - which included foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria - that it was important to begin dialoguing with NATO to make sure that we [Israel] do not jeopardize our security and our future.Livni's admission of existential risks posed to Israel by IDF withdrawals comes just days after she accompanied Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Annapolis, Maryland, where they together affirmed their willingness to relinquish control over, and ownership of, the heart of Israel's 4000-year-old national home.

Israel has always fiercely guarded its reliance on its own military to protect and defend the state, and the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is widely considered to be the most battle-proven military force in the world.Anti-Zionist politicians in Israel, especially those at the forefront of the push to surrender Jewish land for Arab promises of peace, have in the past been willing to consider introducing foreign forces into the areas from which Israel has withdrawn, like the Gaza Strip.For their part, consecutive Israeli governments have lacked the statesmanship needed to make a priority of using the IDF to defend their own people.

Fayad to Join European Foreign Ministers' Summit DEC 09,07

(IsraelNN.com) The European Commission announced Sunday that Salam Fayad, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister, will be attending some of the discussions that will be held by European foreign ministers in their summit Monday. In addition, Fayad will meet several leading figures in the European Union, including Javier Solana, who is in charge of foreign affairs and defense policies.Fayad will attempt to convince the European ministers he has made progress building up the PA's economic infrastructure, and will ask for international aid.

09/12/2007 18:10 LISBON, Dec 9 (AFP)
Key points of new EU-Africa agreement

The leaders of Europe and Africa adopted a new strategic partnership at the end of a summit here on Sunday which outlines areas of cooperation on issues ranging from security to human rights and climate change.

The following are the main points of their 100-page declaration:

PEACE AND SECURITY

The two sides said they would work together to enhance the capacity of Africa and the EU to respond timely and adequately to security threats.Dialogue on security issues would be held on a systematic and regular basis while security-related committees of the African Union and European Union would also meet regularly, as would their ambassadors to the two bodies.They also pledged to undertake joint assessment missions to conflict and post-conflict areas and launch joint initiatives when deemed appropriate.

GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Both sides pledged what they called enhanced cooperation in the fight against corruption, in particular by working more closely together to promote transparency on the handling of natural resources.They also committed themselves to developing platforms for dialogue on areas such as human rights, gender equality, children's rights and on the death penalty which is banned in the EU but still carried out by some African states.

COMMERCE AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION

Amid negotiations on new trade agreements known as Economic Partnership Agreements, the declaration said the EPAs must support Africa's regional integration efforts.Enhanced trade and deeper regional integration are essential contributions to development, economic growth and employment and ultimately the eradication of poverty,it said.

ENERGY

The agreement pledged to work towards improved access to reliable, secure, affordable, climate friendly and sustainable energy services for both continents.There was also a commitment to increase investment in energy infrastructure, including the promotion of renewable energy and to explore the ways and means to launch a dialogue on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

CLIMATE CHANGE

The agreement included a commitment to strengthen the joint capacity for climate-monitoring and forecasting.There was a particular mention of the need to monitor the rate of deforestation as well combatting the expansion of the Sahara desert.

MIGRATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Leaders of the two continents pledged to not only work towards greater mobility of their respective citizens but also to address the root causes of migration and refugee flows.There was also a joint commitment to help African migrants to integrate more fully in their new country of residence.Acknowledging the dangers of an African brain-drain to Europe, the agreement contains a pledge to promote ethical recruitment policies in critical employment sectors and better vocational training.

SCIENCE, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

The agreement acknowledged that Africa is the continent where the scientific and digital divides are the widest.In order to reduce the gap the leaders therefore pledged to add to investments in information technology which were already planned under the terms of an earlier agreements.

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Ramon’s Calls for Jerusalem’s Division a Minority
By Amihai Zippor

(IHC News, 09 December 2007) In remarks to Israel Radio Vice-Premier Haim Ramon, a close political ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, hinted Israel will be forced to cede parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians due to US pressure. The issue rose when he was asked about plans approved last week for constructing some 300 new homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, which is over the pre-1967 border. I am convinced that all Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, should be under Israeli sovereignty and the Arab neighborhoods should not be under Israeli sovereignty because they pose a threat to Jerusalem being the capital of Jewish Israel, said Ramon on Sunday, 09 December 2007.

Those who want [the Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods of] Walajeh and Jabal Mukaber as well as Har Homa, will ultimately [make it impossible for Jerusalem to have a clear Jewish majority,] Ramon said.He added, This is the right thing to do. This way we will not be drawn into an unnecessary annexation especially when we need the backing of the United States.Prior to the Annapolis Middle East Peace Conference, Ramon made similar comments that in any final peace agreement with the Palestinians Jerusalem will be divided. In an article published in Haaretz, 23 September 2007, the main points of Ramon’s division of Jerusalem included the following: All Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem would be given to the Palestinians to become part of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.

All Jewish neighborhoods including those over the pre-1967 borders will remain under Israel's jurisdiction.The Old City would be divided between Israeli and Palestinian sovereignty, with the Muslim and Christian Quarters under Palestinian rule, and the Armenian and Jewish Quarters under Israeli rule.The Temple Mount’s sovereignty would be divided between Israel and the Palestinians. It should be noted that while Ramon’s views make headlines, as they are highly controversial, more than two-thirds of Israelis including political figures, are against any concessions on Jerusalem.As a result, when a figure such as Ramon, who has been convicted of sexual harassment and indecent behavior, addresses such contentious issues such as Jerusalem the international community needs to be reminded that the current Israeli government has very little support from its public.Last Thursday, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition against Ramon’s reappointment to a ministerial position since being convicted last January of kissing a female soldier against her will. The petitioners said convictions should disqualify such appointments.Israel Hasbara Committee, 09 December 2007.

KING OF DEMOCRACY.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

By Nathaniel Cary STAFF WRITER
The Greenville News

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake struck Western North Carolina at about 6a.m. Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.It sounds like there was a small tremor of some sort, said Meteorologist Larry Lee.Calls have been pouring in from the Spartanburg area, Lee said.Boyd Harrison, who lives on Callahan Mountain Road near Piedmont Highway in northern Greenville County, said he felt the tremors at 6:05 a.m.It sounded more like an explosion, Harrison said. My windows were vibrating and the floor was shaking. it was pretty strong this time.The U.S.G.S. Web site shows the quake hitting east northeast of Columbia, N.C. above Spartanburg and Greenville counties.The National Weather Service has been in contact with U.S.G.S. this morning, Lee said.A magnitude 3.8 earthquake that struck northwest of Asheville in August 2005 rattled dishes but did little damage. The largest earthquake to strike South Carolina hit Charleston on Aug. 31, 1886and killed 60 people.

Earthquake jolts India's northeastern states
Posted : Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:40:01 GMT
IANS

Guwahati, Dec 7 - An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook India's northeast and parts of Myanmar Friday, triggering panic among residents here, officials said.A scientist at the Regional Seismological Centre in Shillong, capital of of Meghalaya, said the tremor took place at 12.36 p.m. and had its epicentre along Manipur's border with Myanmar.The quake jolted the residents of Assam and other northeastern states. People ran out of their homes and offices.The office building was shaking and it was all chaos with people running of buildings to open spaces, said Luit Neil Don, a local journalist, in Assam's main city of Guwahati.There has been no immediate report of damage caused by the quake, police officials said.The seismologists consider the seven northeastern states - Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur - as the sixth most earthquake-prone belt in the world.Assam has experienced some of India's worst earthquakes including one measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale in 1897 that killed 1,600 people and another measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale in 1950 that left 1,500 people dead.

Earthquake rocks eastern Java, Indonesia
December 07, 2007

An earthquake with magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale struck eastern part of Java Island of centralIndonesia on Friday afternoon, no immediate report of damages or casualty, Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said. The quake jolted at 17:45 Jakarta time (1045 GMT) with the epicenter at 247 km southwest Jember town of East Java province and at 10 km under sea bed, an official of the agency named Ajad Sudrajat told Xinhua. The quake intensity was felt at 2 to 3 MMI (modified mercally intensity), a scale that can crack building at Denpasar the capital of Bali province, the center of Indonesian tourist industry which is conducting an international climate change talks. The official said that the quake has no potential to trigger tsunami. In 2004, over 170,000 people were dead in Aceh province in northern tip of Sumatra Island after a tsunami triggered by a powerful quake devastated coastal areas of the province and other countries in southeast Asia. Indonesia is laid at a vulnerable zone so called the Pacific Ring of Fire where two continental plates, stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia, meet that cause frequent volcanic movements. Source: Xinhua

David's Comment: The Main Issues of Annapolis

Now that the dust has settled after the Annapolis Pease Summit, here is a very good assessment of the four main issues taken from a report published by Honest Reporting.com. These are the main issues that we need to continue to pray into ............

The Jewish State One of Israel’s most fundamental demands is Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. The Jewish people have a right to self-determination in their ancient homeland – the only state in the world with a Jewish majority. That right is recognized implicitly for every nation on Earth, and should not be denied to the Jewish nation. Israel’s Jewish identity has been recognized internationaly. The 1947 UN Partition Plan divided the area under the British Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted this plan. However, the Arabs rejected it and launched a war to capture the entire territory.

The Palestinians continue to reject Israel’s most basic self-identity to this day. As Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby wrote, the Palestinian refusal to meet Israel’s basic demand creates deep suspicions about their real motives. The refusal of the Palestinian Authority to acknowledge Israel as a legitimate Jewish state isn't a denial of reality; it is a sign of their determination to change that reality, he wrote. Like Arab leaders going back a century, they seek not to live in peace with the Jewish state, but in place of the Jewish state. Real peace between Israel and the Palestinians can only come only after the Palestinians abandon their dream of Israel’s destruction and reconcile themselves to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.

Jerusalem No place on Earth cuts to the soul of the Jewish people as deeply as Jerusalem. Ancient Zion - conquered by King David 3,000 years ago and the site of the two holy Temples – continues to serve as the emotional and spiritual home for the Jewish people. Not surprisingly, questions regarding the status of Jerusalem are among the most contentious core issues dividing Palestinians and Israelis. The Palestinians want the eastern half of the city­where many holy sites are located­as the capital of their future state. Despite centuries of exile, the Jews maintained a continuous presence in Jerusalem. What the media often call Arab East Jerusalem usually refers to areas temporarily under Jordanian rule from 1948 to 1967 and restored after the Six Day War. Those areas include the Old City and Judaism's holiest sites, the Temple Mount and Western Wall.

Eastern Jerusalem also includes numerous Jewish neighborhoods outside the Old City walls. Any division of the city along ethnic lines is far more complex than it appears on the surface. Moreover, reports indicate that Arabs living in Jerusalem already enjoy Israeli social benefits like health care and don't necessarily want to live under PA jurisdiction. In addition, Israel has a proven track record of ensuring full access to the city's holy sites. Can the Palestinian Authority be trusted to safeguard these sites for all religions?

Borders For many Israelis, final borders are ultimately a question of security. Dore Gold, the former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, has argued for Defensible Borders because any Palestinian effort to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure is destined to be incomplete. This approach rejects any return to the 1948 armistice line (the Green Line) on the grounds that it leaves Israel vulnerable and calls for retaining parts of the West Bank vital to security, such as the Jordan River Valley. In contrast, the Palestinians demand an independent state in the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip. After the 2000 Camp David talks broke down, former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat claimed then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians nothing more than West Bank Bantustans – islands of independent territory without viable contiguity. This claim has been completely rejected by the chief US negotiator at Camp David.

Contiguity raises a host of practical questions. Can borders be adjusted for demographics, leaving Jewish-populated areas in Israel’s hands? Will Israel have to trade territory inside Israel in order to keep the settlements? Can Israel retain highly populated settlement areas such as Ma’ale Adumim and the Gush Etzion bloc?

Refugees Another core issue is the Palestinian demand for a right of return for refugees into areas inside Israel. These refugees are Palestinians and their descendents who fled the territory following the outbreak of war in 1948. According to UN figures there are currently more than 4.4 million refugees. Any discussion of Palestinian refugees should also note that Israel absorbed 865,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries with little to no international assistance, while 711,000 Palestinians left Israel-controlled territory in 1948 and 1949. An influx of millions of Palestinians would threaten Israel’s Jewish identity and, in time, could lead to a Palestinian majority in the Jewish state. At the same time, Palestinian negotiators also demand the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Not surprisingly, Israel rejects Palestinian return as non-starter. The Israeli Foreign Ministry calls the demand a threat to the two sate solution. Any workable return for refugees must be limited to the Palestinian territories. And any reparations must include a contribution from the Arab world. Had the Arabs accepted the 1947 UN resolution, not a single Palestinian would have become a refugee and an independent Arab state would now exist beside Israel.

The negotiations will certainly take time. But as meaningful talks on these contentious issues move forward, increased media debate is inevitable. Given the complexity of these issues, news reports may contain inaccurate information. For additional resources, see our Brief History of the Region as well as our media critique archives.

And we urge readers to monitor their local coverage and make their voices heard.( David adds: AND PRAY )

The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel . Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.

Shabbat Shalom ... David & Josie Silver.

Giving the EU more coherence and weight on the international stage Javier Solana welcomes the Lisbon Treaty

How do you assess the fact that the leaders of 27 EU Member States have agreed on the Reform Treaty to be signed on 13 December in the Portuguese capital?

The agreement on the text of the new treaty is very good news for the European Union. After two years of doubt and scepticism, the EU is once again looking to the future with confidence and determination. The world in which we are living today is changing faster than ever before. Globalization is raising new challenges. New actors are emerging on the international stage. The EU must be able to continually adapt to this quickly changing environment. We needed new working methods for an enlarged EU and I am very satisfied with the agreement we have reached.

If the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, what will be its impact on the Council of the EU? What role will the new President of the European Council play?

The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty will introduce a number of significant changes in our institution. One of those is the change of the six-month presidency system. Under the new arrangements, the European Council will elect its President for a term of two and a half years, renewable once. The External Relations Council will be chaired by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. For the other configurations of the Council there will be a rotating system, guaranteeing both continuity and a smooth transition between succeeding Member States.

What opportunities will the Treaty offer the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the European Security and Defence Policy? What possibilities will the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy have to develop the CFSP and the ESDP?

With the new Treaty we will work much better in the field of CFSP/ESDP. We should not underestimate what we have managed to accomplish until now, but the Lisbon Treaty will enable us to work much more consistently and efficiently. In future, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will not only chair the External Relations Council but he will also be one of the vice-presidents of the Commission. In carrying out his tasks he will be supported by an External Action Service. All that will make it possible for the High Representative to mobilize all existing resources and instruments - which are now managed by several institutions and departments - in order to give the EU more coherence and weight on the international stage. This is very important since the EU has become a major political player in the world and must be able to play a commensurate role.

Peace deal realistic says Blair
5:00AM Saturday December 08, 2007
By Tony Blair

Middle East envoy Tony Blair said yesterday a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of next year is realistic as life on the Gaza Strip gets more desperate under Israeli sanctions.Gas stations across Gaza have shut their pumps. Tens of thousands of people have no fresh water.Hospitals have grounded ambulances, and bicycles are the favoured form of transport a month after Israel restricted fuel shipments to Gaza.However, former British Prime Minister Blair said in an interview with France24 television: I think a negotiated settlement is possible in 2008. But it will take some time for that negotiated settlement to be put in place fully.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed in Annapolis, Maryland, last week to try to reach a peace treaty creating a Palestinian state by the end of next year, although doubts remain over the plan's viability.Gaza, though, is a problem for negotiators and under the rule of Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist group.

Seeking to punish Gaza's Hamas rulers further, Israel is waiting for court approval to reduce the electricity supply as well.The tough measures are the latest in a series of sanctions Israel has imposed since the Islamic militant group violently seized control of Gaza last June.Israel has declared Gaza a hostile entity and closed its borders, halting almost all trade.Gaza's woes pose a major challenge to Hamas as it clings to power amid renewed peacemaking between Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership now in charge of the West Bank.While still firmly in control of Gaza, Hamas is casting a long shadow over next week's scheduled launch of formal peace talks following seven years of violence. Olmert and Abbas are expected to meet on December 12 for the first round of talks since they agreed last week to try to broker a deal on Palestinian statehood.Gaza relies on Israel for all of its fuel and 60 per cent of its electricity.The fuel reductions, ranging between 15 per cent and 75 per cent of normal supplies, have already affected Gaza's water system. The shortages have been compounded by Gaza's 30 private fuel companies, which halted deliveries this week to protest at the Israeli shortages.

Fed up with the finger-pointing, Gaza's gas station owners this week stopped serving the public, saying they were caught in the middle of political battles involving Israel and the rival Palestinian governments.We are the ones who are suffering the beating and the losses, said Mahmoud al-Shawa, a member of Gaza's association of station owners.We have lost everything we gained, Hassan Abu Eissa said earlier after a lack of fuel brought the seven-year-old water pump in this central Gaza village of 6000 people to a standstill.Sabha al-Sawarka, 64, said she sends her grandsons to fill containers with water for domestic chores from a nearby agricultural well because the village pump has stopped operating.It is a bit salty, but what can we do? she said. One time there is no electricity. Then no water, or no wheat. It can't get more unjust.The fuel shortage has only amplified the problems caused by the sanctions, which Israel says are in response to near-daily rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militants.With exports and most imports halted, factories have closed, construction has halted and store shelves are empty. Hospitals have drastically cut back ambulance services and transport for medical staff.Israel blames Hamas for bringing hardship to Gaza.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Planets resolve Putin succession mystery: astrologer by Sebastian Smith Thu Dec 6, 12:57 PM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - While the world holds its breath to know who will succeed President Vladimir Putin, Russia's most famous astrologist says the answer already lies in the planets. Gazing into a Sony laptop computer, rather than a crystal ball, Pavel Globa predicted that Putin would pick either First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev or Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov to replace him in an election on March 2.Why? Because 2008 is the year of the rat in the Chinese zodiac, which historically favours uncharismatic figures like the grey Medvedev and even more grey Zubkov, Globa said at a Moscow hotel.They don't stand out. No one really knows what they're saying, but they seem to be doing something. That's the rat.Putin's intentions remain one of world politics' great enigmas. Most analysts think the former KGB officer will handpick a close ally to fill his Kremlin seat -- with Medvedev and Zubkov believed to be high on the secret list of candidates.But few analysts would dare show the confidence of Globa, a small and dapper man of 54 whose often rambling performance appeared to mesmerise an entourage of half a dozen female acolytes, aides and astrologers.

Globa claims an 85 percent success rate, including predictions of the Soviet collapse, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.Not for him, or his followers, the veiled magicians and mediums crowding Russia's tabloid newspaper small ads.Astrology is not about crystal balls and cards, sniffed Globa fan Tatyana Dadasheva. Well, there is a branch of astrology that deals with palms.... In fact you can also read legs, birthmarks, anything. But we don't look in crystal balls.Certainly Globa's special computer programme, combining birth dates with terrestrial and celestial data into a zodiac circle crossed by intersecting lines, left no doubt about the Kremlin riddle.It's either Zubkov or Medvedev, he said. The winner will be a puppet to our president who will step down but retain a huge role.The real uncertainty for Russia comes after, he warned, since the year of the rat always brings hope for change, followed by disillusion.1936 was the year of the rat and it seemed a quiet year. Hitler was still rising to power, Stalin hadn't launched into his excesses, said Globa, a dapper man of 54, now living in Berlin.2008 will be the illusion of hope and change. We will put our hopes in the year (but) Russia needs to prepare for crisis in 2012, he said.

The good news, according to Globa, is that if Russia can hang on another few decades, a future heaven awaits.Russia is the country that will profit the most from global warming because it's the coldest country in the world, he said. We will enter a rather comfortable situation with a better climate, a population explosion, and a country where you can grow lemons, pineapples, champagne.Globa has been popular in Russia since the early 1990s when the country shook off decades of stifling Soviet social mores.
However, the pendulum has swung back and although Globa still has a five-minute slot early in the morning on the TNT cable channel here, he's lived in Germany for the last nine years. There, people are more relaxed. They see us astrologists in the same way as psychologists who help people sort out problems, he said. Here, people are absolutely polarised: they either love us or they hate us, saying astrology is nonsense, charlatanism, or the devil's work.

No talks planned for Spanish prince and Chavez
Fri Dec 7, 2007 1:10pm

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Crown Prince Felipe has no plans to hold a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez after King Juan Carlos publicly told the Venezuelan leader to shut up, Spain's deputy prime minister said on Friday.Spain's foreign ministry had said on Wednesday there might be an informal encounter between Chavez and the prince when the two attend a swearing-in ceremony for Argentina's new president this weekend.

Chavez has demanded the Spanish king apologise for his outburst and on Wednesday said Prince Felipe would deliver a personal message from his father when they met in Buenos Aires.Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega said there had been no request for a meeting nor would there be any special encounter between the prince and Chavez.There may be a protocol greeting, nothing more. There is no request, De la Vega said after a cabinet meeting, when asked by a reporter if the prince had asked to meet Chavez.King Juan Carlos's outburst against Chavez came after the populist leader repeatedly called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist at a summit in Chile last month.Chavez, who has often insulted world leaders in public, responded by saying he would review the Venezuelan holdings of Spanish businesses.In a sign the dispute was easing, Chavez on Wednesday said he welcomed a message the king had sent congratulating him for Sunday's peaceful constitutional reform referendum.Chavez lost the referendum by a narrow margin.(Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Stephen Weeks)

King of democracy By Barry Casselman December 7, 2007

It seems like a contradiction in terms to be called The King of Democracy, but the epithet fits the role of King Juan Carlos of Spain uniquely and aptly.Descended from the various royal families of Europe and imperial Spain, Juan Carlos has, in a single generation, created a new kind of monarchy, a modern institution which acts as the protector of the contemporary democratic republic, in direct contrast to the autocratic ways of his forbears.Juan Carlos would have been recorded positively in the history books just for his extraordinary and courageous defense of Spanish democracy in 1981 when he almost singlehandedly stood in the way of a right-wing coup d'etat in Madrid that would have returned Spain to the Phalangist totalitarian state which existed under caudillo (dictator) Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975. A constitutional monarch, Juan Carlos has not ever had any specific political power in his country, but because of his leadership in 1981 and his subsequent dignified and mature presence overlooking the Spanish political environment, he has not only acquired moral power in Spain the old-fashioned way, but he has become a leading figure throughout the Spanish-speaking world (more than 400 million persons).

As I say, this would have been enough, but Juan Carlos apparently is not one to rest on his crown. Recently, in Chile for a conference of Spanish-speaking countries, the king confronted the latest version of caudillo, socialist President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. After Mr. Chavez continually and rudely harangued Spain and the United States, Juan Carlos told him in the most memorable line of the new century so far, Por que no te callas? (Why don't you shut up?).Although most of the credit for the defeat of Mr. Chavez's constitutional power grab this past Sunday should go to the Venezuelan people themselves, it was a close vote, and I think that Juan Carlos's remarks were a vital turning point in the referendum campaign.So, now the king of Spain has twice thwarted enemies of democracy, and he has done it against totalitarian forces of the extreme right and the extreme left. Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spain's great philosopher of the 20th century (whose most famous book, The Revolt of the Masses, diagnosed and predicted the early fascist and communist totalitarian regimes under Hitler and Stalin), would be very proud of the Spanish king today.Coming from a nation which threw off a king and his colonial rule in 1776, I have not ever been particularly sympathetic to royal families and monarchs. I think it is fortunate that we have fewer and fewer of them today. The British heir to the throne, Prince Charles, has used his protracted waiting period to become king to take up the causes of organic farming and architecture, two positive matters, but not ones which create significant moral authority. (Fortunately, a Conservative prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and a Labor prime minister, Tony Blair, were recent heads of the British government. Following the great Winston Churchill, they have kept Great Britain as a leading moral force in the world today even as its military and political power has receded.)

There are a few remaining kings in the world today, but the only other head of state who has earned worldwide respect is the Dalai Lama. He also descends from a line of autocratic rulers of Tibet, but since his exile 50 years ago, he has become a champion of Tibetan democracy, something which now does not exist. The Dalai Lama is not only a courageous political figure as he travels over the planet, but as the reigning philosopher of Tibetan Buddhism, he has brought a welcome message of compassion and tolerance to a world which is in great need of both.The totalitarian threats to democracy do not ever seem to go away. Like viruses, they adapt to the medicines and vaccines we have made to defeat them in the past, and they reappear in new forms and with new caudillos. Affluent and successful republics such as the United States tend to let down their guard and permit these threats sometimes to grow and thrive.There are hopeful signs, such as the recent victory of President Nicolas Sarkozy in France, but there are many more worrisome ones. I wish that the American presidential campaign would address these threats more directly, and perhaps as the winnowing process of candidates continues, it will.We have no king here, constitutional or otherwise. It is the president of the United States who holds the bully pulpit, and who must be the one to explain to the country and to the world why political freedom is the only innoculation against encroaching tyranny.Barry Casselman writes about national politics for Preludium News Service.