THE MACCABEES STORY

THE MACCABEES

2 MACCABEES 1:1-36
1 The Jews in Jerusalem and in the land of Judea send greetings to their brethren, the Jews in Egypt, and wish them true peace!
2 May God bless you and remember his covenant with his faithful servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
3 May he give to all of you a heart to worship him and to do his will readily and generously.
4 May he open your heart to his law and his commandments and grant you peace.
5 May he hear your prayers, and be reconciled to you, and never forsake you in time of adversity.
6 Even now we are praying for you here.
7 In the reign of Demetrius, the year one hundred and sixty-nine, we Jews wrote to you during the trouble and violence that overtook us in those years after Jason and his followers had revolted against the holy land and the kingdom,
8 setting fire to the gatehouse and shedding innocent blood. But we prayed to the Lord, and our prayer was heard; we offered sacrifices and fine flour; we lighted the lamps and set out the loaves of bread.
9 We are now reminding you to celebrate the feast of Booths in the month of Chislev.
10 Dated in the year one hundred and eighty-eight. The people of Jerusalem and Judea, the senate, and Judas send greetings and good wishes to Aristobulus, counselor of King Ptolemy and member of the family of the anointed priests, and to the Jews in Egypt.
11 Since we have been saved by God from grave dangers, we give him great thanks for having fought on our side against the king;
12 it was he who drove out those who fought against the holy city.
13 When their leader arrived in Persia with his seemingly irresistible army, they were cut to pieces in the temple of the goddess Nanea through a deceitful stratagem employed by Nanea's priests.
14 On the pretext of marrying the goddess, Antiochus with his Friends had come to the place to get its great treasures by way of dowry.
15 When the priests of the Nanaeon had displayed the treasures, Antiochus with a few attendants came to the temple precincts. As soon as he entered the temple, the priests locked the doors.
16 Then they opened a hidden trapdoor in the ceiling, hurled stones at the leader and his companions and struck them down. They dismembered the bodies, cut off their heads and tossed them to the people outside.
17 Forever blessed be our God, who has thus punished the wicked!
18 We shall be celebrating the purification of the temple on the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev, so we thought it right to inform you, that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths and of the fire that appeared when Nehemiah, the rebuilder of the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.
19 When our fathers were being exiled to Persia, devout priests of the time took some of the fire from the altar and hid it secretly in the hollow of a dry cistern, making sure that the place would be unknown to anyone.
20 Many years later, when it so pleased God, Nehemiah, commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to look for it.
21 When they informed us that they could not find any fire, but only muddy water, he ordered them to scoop some out and bring it. After the material for the sacrifices had been prepared, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle with the water the wood and what lay on it.
22 When this was done and in time the sun, which had been clouded over, began to shine, a great fire blazed up, so that everyone marveled.
23 While the sacrifice was being burned, the priests recited a prayer, and all present joined in with them, Jonathan leading and the rest responding with Nehemiah.
24 The prayer was as follows: Lord, Lord God, creator of all things, awesome and strong, just and merciful, the only king and benefactor,
25 who alone are gracious, just, almighty, and eternal, Israel's savior from all evil, who chose our forefathers and sanctified them:
26 accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and guard and sanctify your heritage.
27 Gather together our scattered people, free those who are the slaves of the Gentiles, look kindly on those who are despised and detested, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God.
28 Punish those who tyrannize over us and arrogantly mistreat us.
29 Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses promised.
30 Then the priests began to sing hymns.
31 After the sacrifice was burned, Nehemiah ordered the rest of the liquid to be poured upon large stones.
32 As soon as this was done, a flame blazed up, but its light was lost in the brilliance cast from a light on the altar.
33 When the event became known and the king of the Persians was told that, in the very place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, a liquid was found with which Nehemiah and his people had burned the sacrifices,
34 the king, after verifying the fact, fenced the place off and declared it sacred.
35 To those on whom the king wished to bestow favors he distributed the large revenues he received there.
36 Nehemiah and his companions called the liquid nephthar, meaning purification, but most people named it naphtha.

2 MACCABEES 2:1-32
1 You will find in the records, not only that Jeremiah the prophet ordered the deportees to take some of the aforementioned fire with them,
2 but also that the prophet, in giving them the law, admonished them not to forget the commandments of the Lord or be led astray in their thoughts, when seeing the gold and silver idols and their ornaments.
3 With other similar words he urged them not to let the law depart from their hearts.
4 The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to see God's inheritance.
5 When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance.
6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it.
7 When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.
8 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Place might be gloriously sanctified.
9 It is also related how Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice at the dedication and the completion of the temple.
10 Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire descended from the sky and consumed the sacrifices, so Solomon also prayed and fire came down and burned up the holocausts.
11 Moses had said, Because it had not been eaten, the sin offering was burned up.
12 Solomon also celebrated the feast in the same way for eight days.
13 Besides these things, it is also told in the records and in Nehemiah's Memoirs how he collected the books about the kings, the writings of the prophets and of David, and the royal letters about sacred offerings.
14 In like manner Judas also collected for us the books that had been scattered because of the war, and we now have them in our possession.
15 If you need them, send messengers to get them for you.
16 As we are about to celebrate the feast of the purification of the temple, we are writing to you requesting you also to please celebrate the feast.
17 It is God who has saved all his people and has restored to all of them their heritage, the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sacred rites,
18 as he promised through the law. We trust in God, that he will soon have mercy on us and gather us together from everywhere under the heavens to his holy Place, for he has rescued us from great perils and has purified his Place.
19 This is the story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, of the purification of the great temple, the dedication of the altar,
20 the campaigns against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator,
21 and of the heavenly manifestations accorded to the heroes who fought bravely for Judaism, so that, few as they were, they seized the whole land, put to flight the barbarian hordes,
22 regained possession of the world-famous temple, liberated the city, and reestablished the laws that were in danger of being abolished, while the Lord favored them with all his generous assistance.
23 All this, which Jason of Cyrene set forth in detail in five volumes, we will try to condense into a single book.
24 In view of the flood of statistics, and the difficulties encountered by those who wish to plunge into historical narratives where the material is abundant,
25 we have aimed to please those who prefer simple reading, as well as to make it easy for the studious who wish to commit things to memory, and to be helpful to all.
26 For us who have taken upon ourselves the labor of making this digest, the task, far from being easy, is one of sweat and of sleepless nights,
27 just as the preparation of a festive banquet is no light matter for one who thus seeks to give enjoyment to others. Similarly, to win the gratitude of many we will gladly endure these inconveniences,
28 while we leave the responsibility for exact details to the original author, and confine our efforts to giving only a summary outline.
29 As the architect of a new house must give his attention to the whole structure, while the man who undertakes the decoration and the frescoes has only to concern himself with what is needed for ornamentation, so I think it is with us.
30 To enter into questions and examine them thoroughly from all sides is the task of the professional historian;
31 but the man who is making an adaptation should be allowed to aim at brevity of expression and to omit detailed treatment of the matter.
32 Here, then, we shall begin our account without further ado; it would be nonsense to write a long preface to a story and then abbreviate the story itself.

2 MACCABEES 3:1-40
1 While the holy city lived in perfect peace and the laws were strictly observed because of the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of evil,
2 the kings themselves honored the Place and glorified the temple with the most magnificent gifts.
3 Thus Seleucus, king of Asia, defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses necessary for the sacrificial services.
4 But a certain Simon, of the priestly course of Bilgah, who had been appointed superintendent of the temple, had a quarrel with the high priest about the supervision of the city market.
5 Since he could not prevail against Onias, he went to Apollonius of Tarsus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia,
6 and reported to him that the treasury in Jerusalem was so full of untold riches that the total sum of money was incalculable and out of all proportion to the cost of the sacrifices, and that it would be possible to bring it all under the control of the king.
7 When Apollonius had an audience with the king, he informed him about the riches that had been reported to him. The king chose his minister Heliodorus and sent him with instructions to expropriate the aforesaid wealth.
8 So Heliodorus immediately set out on his journey, ostensibly to visit the cities of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, but in reality to carry out the king's purpose.
9 When he arrived in Jerusalem and had been graciously received by the high priest of the city, he told him about the information that had been given, and explained the reason for his presence, and he asked if these things were really true.
10 The high priest explained that part of the money was a care fund for widows and orphans,
11 and a part was the property of Hyrcanus, son of Tobias, a man who occupied a very high position. Contrary to the calumnies of the impious Simon, the total amounted to four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold.
12 He added that it was utterly unthinkable to defraud those who had placed their trust in the sanctity of the Place and in the sacred inviolability of a temple venerated all over the world.
13 But because of the orders he had from the king, Heliodorus said that in any case the money must be confiscated for the royal treasury.
14 So on the day he had set he went in to take an inventory of the funds. There was great distress throughout the city.
15 Priests prostrated themselves in their priestly robes before the altar, and loudly begged him in heaven who had given the law about deposits to keep the deposits safe for those who had made them.
16 Whoever saw the appearance of the high priest was pierced to the heart, for the changed color of his face manifested the anguish of his soul.
17 The terror and bodily trembling that had come over the man clearly showed those who saw him the pain that lodged in his heart.
18 People rushed out of their houses in crowds to make public supplication, because the Place was in danger of being profaned.
19 Women, girded with sackcloth below their breasts, filled the streets; maidens secluded indoors ran together, some to the gates, some to the walls, others peered through the windows,
20 all of them with hands raised toward heaven, making supplication.
21 It was pitiful to see the populace variously prostrated in prayer and the high priest full of dread and anguish.
22 While they were imploring the almighty Lord to keep the deposits safe and secure for those who had placed them in trust,
23 Heliodorus went on with his plan.
24 But just as he was approaching the treasury with his bodyguards, the Lord of spirits who holds all power manifested himself in so striking a way that those who had been bold enough to follow Heliodorus were panic-stricken at God's power and fainted away in terror.
25 There appeared to them a richly caparisoned horse, mounted by a dreadful rider. Charging furiously, the horse attacked Heliodorus with its front hoofs. The rider was seen to be wearing golden armor.
26 Then two other young men, remarkably strong, strikingly beautiful, and splendidly attired, appeared before him. Standing on each side of him, they flogged him unceasingly until they had given him innumerable blows.
27 Suddenly he fell to the ground, enveloped in great darkness. Men picked him up and laid him on a stretcher.
28 The man who a moment before had entered that treasury with a great retinue and his whole bodyguard was carried away helpless, having clearly experienced the sovereign power of God.
29 While he lay speechless and deprived of all hope of aid, due to an act of God's power,
30 the Jews praised the Lord who had marvelously glorified his holy Place; and the temple, charged so shortly before with fear and commotion, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the almighty Lord had manifested himself.
31 Soon some of the companions of Heliodorus begged Onias to invoke the Most High, praying that the life of the man who was about to expire might be spared.
32 Fearing that the king might think that Heliodorus had suffered some foul play at the hands of the Jews, the high priest offered a sacrifice for the man's recovery.
33 While the high priest was offering the sacrifice of atonement, the same young men in the same clothing again appeared and stood before Heliodorus. Be very grateful to the high priest Onias, they told him. It is for his sake that the Lord has spared your life.
34 Since you have been scourged by Heaven, proclaim to all men the majesty of God's power. When they had said this, they disappeared.
35 After Heliodorus had offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made most solemn vows to him who had spared his life, he bade Onias farewell, and returned with his soldiers to the king.
36 Before all men he gave witness to the deeds of the most high God that he had seen with his own eyes.
37 When the king asked Heliodorus who would be a suitable man to be sent to Jerusalem next, he answered:
38 If you have an enemy or a plotter against the government, send him there, and you will receive him back well-flogged, if indeed he survives at all; for there is certainly some special divine power about the Place.
39 He who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that Place and protects it, and he strikes down and destroys those who come to harm it.
40 This was how the matter concerning Heliodorus and the preservation of the treasury turned out.

2 MACCABEES 4:1-50
1 The Simon mentioned above as the informer about the funds against his own country, made false accusation that it was Onias who threatened Heliodorus and instigated the whole miserable affair.
2 He dared to brand as a plotter against the government the man who was a benefactor of the city, a protector of his compatriots, and a zealous defender of the laws.
3 When Simon's hostility reached such a point that murders were being committed by one of his henchmen,
4 Onias saw that the opposition was serious and that Apollonius, son of Menestheus, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was abetting Simon's wickedness.
5 So he had recourse to the king, not as an accuser of his countrymen, but as a man looking to the general and particular good of all the people.
6 He saw that, unless the king intervened, it would be impossible to have a peaceful government, and that Simon would not desist from his folly.
7 But Seleucus died, and when Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes succeeded him on the throne, Onias' brother Jason obtained the high priesthood by corrupt means:
8 in an interview, he promised the king three hundred and sixty talents of silver, as well as eighty talents from another source of income.
9 Besides this he agreed to pay a hundred and fifty more, if he were given authority to establish a gymnasium and a youth club for it and to enroll men in Jerusalem as Antiochians.
10 When Jason received the king's approval and came into office, he immediately initiated his countrymen into the Greek way of life.
11 He set aside the royal concessions granted to the Jews through the mediation of John, father of Eupolemus (that Eupolemus who would later go on an embassy to the Romans to establish a treaty of friendship with them); he abrogated the lawful institutions and introduced customs contrary to the law.
12 He quickly established a gymnasium at the very foot of the acropolis, where he induced the noblest young men to wear the Greek hat.
13 The craze for Hellenism and foreign customs reached such a pitch, through the outrageous wickedness of the ungodly pseudo-high-priest Jason,
14 that the priests no longer cared about the service of the altar. Disdaining the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened, at the signal for the discus-throwing, to take part in the unlawful exercises on the athletic field.
15 They despised what their ancestors had regarded as honors, while they highly prized what the Greeks esteemed as glory.
16 Precisely because of this, they found themselves in serious trouble: the very people whose manner of life they emulated, and whom they desired to imitate in everything, became their enemies and oppressors.
17 It is no light matter to flout the laws of God, as the following period will show.
18 When the quinquennial games were held at Tyre in the presence of the king,
19 the vile Jason sent envoys as representatives of the Antiochians of Jerusalem, to bring there three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules. But the bearers themselves decided that the money should not be spent on a sacrifice, as that was not right, but should be used for some other purpose.
20 So the contribution destined by the sender for the sacrifice to Hercules was in fact applied, by those who brought it, to the construction of triremes.
21 When Apollonius, son of Menestheus, was sent to Egypt for the coronation of King Philometor, Antiochus learned that the king was opposed to his policies; so he took measures for his own security.
22 After going to Joppa, he proceeded to Jerusalem. There he was received with great pomp by Jason and the people of the city, who escorted him with torchlights and acclamations; following this, he led his army into Phoenicia.
23 Three years later Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the aforementioned Simon, to deliver the money to the king, and to obtain decisions on some important matters.
24 When he had been introduced to the king, he flattered him with such an air of authority that he secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.
25 He returned with the royal commission, but with nothing that made him worthy of the high priesthood; he had the temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast.
26 Then Jason, who had cheated his own brother and now saw himself cheated by another man, was driven out as a fugitive to the country of the Ammonites.
27 Although Menelaus had obtained the office, he did not make any payments of the money he had promised to the king,
28 in spite of the demand of Sostratus, the commandant of the citadel, whose duty it was to collect the taxes. For this reason, both were summoned before the king.
29 Menelaus left his brother Lysimachus as his substitute in the high priesthood, while Sostratus left Crates, commander of the Cypriots, as his substitute.
30 While these things were taking place, the people of Tarsus and Mallus rose in revolt, because their cities had been given as a gift to Antiochis, the king's mistress.
31 The king, therefore, went off in haste to settle the affair, leaving Andronicus, one of his nobles, as his deputy.
32 Then Menelaus, thinking this a good opportunity, stole some gold vessels from the temple and presented them to Andronicus; he had already sold some other vessels in Tyre and in the neighboring cities.
33 When Onias had clear evidence of the facts, he made a public protest, after withdrawing to the inviolable sanctuary at Daphne, near Antioch.
34 Thereupon Menelaus approached Andronicus privately and asked him to lay hands on Onias. So Andronicus went to Onias, and by treacherously reassuring him through sworn pledges with right hands joined, persuaded him, in spite of his suspicions, to leave the sanctuary. Then, without any regard for justice, he immediately put him to death.
35 As a result, not only the Jews, but many people of other nations as well, were indignant and angry over the unjust murder of the man.
36 When the king returned from the region of Cilicia, the Jews of the city, together with the Greeks who detested the crime, went to see him about the murder of Onias.
37 Antiochus was deeply grieved and full of pity; he wept as he recalled the prudence and noble conduct of the deceased.
38 Inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped Andronicus of his purple robe, tore off his other garments, and had him led through the whole city to the very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias; and there he put the murderer to death. Thus the Lord rendered him the punishment he deserved.
39 Many sacrilegious thefts had been committed by Lysimachus in the city with the connivance of Menelaus. When word was spread that a large number of gold vessels had been stolen, the people assembled in protest against Lysimachus.
40 As the crowds, now thoroughly enraged, began to riot, Lysimachus launched an unjustified attack against them with about three thousand armed men under the leadership of Auranus, a man as advanced in folly as he was in years.
41 Reacting against Lysimachus' attack, the people picked up stones or pieces of wood or handfuls of the ashes lying there and threw them in wild confusion at Lysimachus and his men.
42 As a result, they wounded many of them and even killed a few, while they put all the rest to flight. The sacrilegious thief himself they slew near the treasury.
43 Charges about this affair were brought against Menelaus.
44 When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate presented to him the justice of their cause.
45 But Menelaus, seeing himself on the losing side, promised Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, a substantial sum of money if he would win the king over.
46 So Ptolemy retired with the king under a colonnade, as if to get some fresh air, and persuaded him to change his mind.
47 Menelaus, who was the cause of all the trouble, the king acquitted of the charges, while he condemned to death those poor men who would have been declared innocent even if they had pleaded their case before Scythians.
48 Thus, those who had prosecuted the case for the city, for the people, and for the sacred vessels, quickly suffered unjust punishment.
49 For this reason, even some Tyrians were indignant over the crime and provided sumptuously for their burial.
50 But Menelaus, thanks to the covetousness of the men in power, remained in office, where he grew in wickedness and became the chief plotter against his fellow citizens.

2 MACCABEES 5:1-27
1 About this time Antiochus sent his second expedition into Egypt.
2 It then happened that all over the city, for nearly forty days, there appeared horsemen charging in midair, clad in garments interwoven with gold--companies fully armed with lances
3 and drawn swords; squadrons of cavalry in battle array, charges and countercharges on this side and that, with brandished shields and bristling spears, flights of arrows and flashes of gold ornaments, together with armor of every sort.
4 Therefore all prayed that this vision might be a good omen.
5 But when a false rumor circulated that Antiochus was dead, Jason gathered fully a thousand men and suddenly attacked the city. As the defenders on the walls were forced back and the city was finally being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel.
6 Jason then slaughtered his fellow citizens without mercy, not realizing that triumph over one's own kindred was the greatest failure, but imagining that he was winning a victory over his enemies, not his fellow countrymen.
7 Even so, he did not gain control of the government, but in the end received only disgrace for his treachery, and once again took refuge in the country of the Ammonites.
8 At length he met a miserable end. Called to account before Aretas, king of the Arabs, he fled from city to city, hunted by all men, hated as a transgressor of the laws, abhorred as the butcher of his country and his countrymen. After being driven into Egypt,
9 he crossed the sea to the Spartans, among whom he hoped to find protection because of his relations with them. There he who had exiled so many from their country perished in exile;
10 and he who had cast out so many to lie unburied went unmourned himself with no funeral of any kind or any place in the tomb of his ancestors.
11 When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm.
12 He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses.
13 There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants.
14 In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.
15 Not satisfied with this, the king dared to enter the holiest temple in the world; Menelaus, that traitor both to the laws and to his country, served as guide.
16 He laid his impure hands on the sacred vessels and gathered up with profane hands the votive offerings made by other kings for the advancement, the glory, and the honor of the Place.
17 Puffed up in spirit, Antiochus did not realize that it was because of the sins of the city's inhabitants that the Lord was angry for a little while and hence disregarded the holy Place.
18 If they had not become entangled in so many sins, this man, like Heliodorus, who was sent by King Seleucus to inspect the treasury, would have been flogged and turned back from his presumptuous action as soon as he approached.
19 The Lord, however, had not chosen the people for the sake of the Place, but the Place for the sake of the people.
20 Therefore, the Place itself, having shared in the people's misfortunes, afterward participated in their good fortune; and what the Almighty had forsaken in his anger was restored in all its glory, once the great Sovereign became reconciled.
21 Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried back to Antioch. In his arrogance he planned to make the land navigable and the sea passable on foot, so carried away was he with pride.
22 But he left governors to harass the nation: at Jerusalem, Philip, a Phrygian by birth, and in character more cruel than the man who appointed him;
23 at Mount Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these, Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. Out of hatred for the Jewish citizens,
24 the king sent Appollonius, commander of the Mysians, at the head of an army of twenty-two thousand men, with orders to kill all the grown men and sell the women and young men into slavery.
25 When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peacefully disposed and waited until the holy day of the sabbath; then, finding the Jews refraining from work, he ordered his men to parade fully armed.
26 All those who came out to watch, he massacred, and running through the city with armed men, he cut down a large number of people.
27 But Judas Maccabeus and about nine others withdrew to the wilderness, where he and his companions lived like wild animals in the hills, continuing to eat what grew wild to avoid sharing the defilement.

2 MACCABEES 6:1-31
1 Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God;
2 also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and that on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested.
3 This intensified the evil in an intolerable and utterly disgusting way.
4 The Gentiles filled the temple with debauchery and revelry; they amused themselves with prostitutes and had intercourse with women even in the sacred court. They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden,
5 so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws.
6 A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew.
7 Moreover, at the monthly celebration of the king's birthday the Jews had, from bitter necessity, to partake of the sacrifices, and when the festival of Dionysus was celebrated, they were compelled to march in his procession, wearing wreaths of ivy.
8 At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews: oblige them to partake of the sacrifices,
9 and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended.
10 Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall.
11 Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the sabbath in secret, were betrayed to Philip and all burned to death. In their respect for the holiness of that day, they had scruples about defending themselves.
12 Now I beg those who read this book not to be disheartened by these misfortunes, but to consider that these chastisements were meant not for the ruin but for the correction of our nation.
13 It is, in fact, a sign of great kindness to punish sinners promptly instead of letting them go for long.
14 Thus, in dealing with other nations, the Lord patiently waits until they reach the full measure of their sins before he punishes them; but with us he has decided to deal differently,
15 in order that he may not have to punish us more severely later, when our sins have reached their fullness.
16 He never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he does not abandon his own people.
17 Let these words suffice for recalling this truth. Without further ado we must go on with our story.
18 Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork.
19 But preferring a glorious death to a life of defilement, he spat out the meat, and went forward of his own accord to the instrument of torture,
20 as men ought to do who have the courage to reject the food which it is unlawful to taste even for love of life.
21 Those in charge of that unlawful ritual meal took the man aside privately, because of their long acquaintance with him, and urged him to bring meat of his own providing, such as he could legitimately eat, and to pretend to be eating some of the meat of the sacrifice prescribed by the king;
22 in this way he would escape the death penalty, and be treated kindly because of their old friendship with him.
23 But he made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he had lived from childhood; and so he declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God. He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining:
24 At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense; many young men would think the ninety-year-old Eleazar had gone over to an alien religion.
25 Should I thus dissimulate for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age.
26 Even if, for the time being, I avoid the punishment of men, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hands of the Almighty.
27 Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age,
28 and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws. He spoke thus, and went immediately to the instrument of torture.
29 Those who shortly before had been kindly disposed, now became hostile toward him because what he had said seemed to them utter madness.
30 When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned and said: The Lord in his holy knowledge knows full well that, although I could have escaped death, I am not only enduring terrible pain in my body from this scourging, but also suffering it with joy in my soul because of my devotion to him.
31 This is how he died, leaving in his death a model of courage and an unforgettable example of virtue not only for the young but for the whole nation.

2 MACCABEES 7:1-42
1 It also happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.
2 One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said: What do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.
3 At that the king, in a fury, gave orders to have pans and caldrons heated.
4 While they were being quickly heated, he commanded his executioners to cut out the tongue of the one who had spoken for the others, to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on.
5 When he was completely maimed but still breathing, the king ordered them to carry him to the fire and fry him. As a cloud of smoke spread from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely, saying such words as these:
6 The Lord God is looking on, and he truly has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his canticle, when he protested openly with the words, And he will have pity on his servants.
7 When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought the second to be made sport of. After tearing off the skin and hair of his head, they asked him, Will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb?
8 Answering in the language of his forefathers, he said, Never! So he too in turn suffered the same tortures as the first.
9 At the point of death he said: You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever. It is for his laws that we are dying.
10 After him the third suffered their cruel sport. He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands,
11 as he spoke these noble words: It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.
12 Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
13 After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.
14 When he was near death, he said, It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.
15 They next brought forward the fifth brother and maltreated him. Looking at the king,
16 he said: Since you have power among men, mortal though you are, do what you please. But do not think that our nation is forsaken by God.
17 Only wait, and you will see how his great power will torment you and your descendants.
18 After him they brought the sixth brother. When he was about to die, he said: Have no vain illusions. We suffer these things on our own account, because we have sinned against our God; that is why such astonishing things have happened to us.
19 Do not think, then, that you will go unpunished for having dared to fight against God.
20 Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.
21 Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words:
22 I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed.
23 Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man's beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law. Martyrdom of Mother and Sons
24 Antiochus, suspecting insult in her words, thought he was being ridiculed. As the youngest brother was still alive, the king appealed to him, not with mere words, but with promises on oath, to make him rich and happy if he would abandon his ancestral customs: he would make him his Friend and entrust him with high office.
25 When the youth paid no attention to him at all, the king appealed to the mother, urging her to advise her boy to save his life.
26 After he had urged her for a long time, she went through the motions of persuading her son.
27 In derision of the cruel tyrant, she leaned over close to her son and said in their native language: Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age.
28 I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence.
29 Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them.
30 She had scarcely finished speaking when the youth said: What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king's command. I obey the command of the law given to our forefathers through Moses.
31 But you, who have contrived every kind of affliction for the Hebrews, will not escape the hands of God.
32 We, indeed, are suffering because of our sins.
33 Though our living Lord treats us harshly for a little while to correct us with chastisements, he will again be reconciled with his servants.
34 But you, wretch, vilest of all men! do not, in your insolence, concern yourself with unfounded hopes, as you raise your hand against the children of Heaven.
35 You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God.
36 My brothers, after enduring brief pain, have drunk of never-failing life, under God's covenant, but you, by the judgment of God, shall receive just punishments for your arrogance.
37 Like my brothers, I offer up my body and my life for our ancestral laws, imploring God to show mercy soon to our nation, and by afflictions and blows to make you confess that he alone is God.
38 Through me and my brothers, may there be an end to the wrath of the Almighty that has justly fallen on our whole nation.
39 At that, the king became enraged and treated him even worse than the others, since he bitterly resented the boy's contempt.
40 Thus he too died undefiled, putting all his trust in the Lord.
41 The mother was last to die, after her sons.
42 Enough has been said about the sacrificial meals and the excessive cruelties.

2 MACCABEES 8:1-36
1 Judas Maccabeus and his companions entered the villages, secretly, summoned their kinsmen, and by also enlisting others who remained faithful to Judaism, assembled about six thousand men.
2 They implored the Lord to look kindly upon his people, who were being oppressed on all sides; to have pity on the temple, which was profaned by godless men;
3 to have mercy on the city, which was being destroyed and about to be leveled to the ground; to hearken to the blood that cried out to him;
4 to remember the criminal slaughter of innocent children and the blasphemies uttered against his name; and to manifest his hatred of evil.
5 Once Maccabeus got his men organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the Lord's wrath had now changed to mercy.
6 Coming unexpectedly upon towns and villages, he would set them on fire. He captured strategic positions, and put to flight a large number of the enemy.
7 He preferred the nights as being especially helpful for such attacks. Soon the fame of his valor spread everywhere.
8 When Philip saw that Judas was gaining ground little by little and that his successful advances were becoming more frequent, he wrote to Ptolemy, governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to come to the aid of the king's government.
9 Ptolemy promptly selected Nicanor, son of Patroclus, one of the Chief Friends, and sent him at the head of at least twenty thousand armed men of various nations to wipe out the entire Jewish race. With him he associated Gorgias, a professional military commander, well-versed in the art of war.
10 Nicanor planned to raise the two thousand talents of tribute owed by the king to the Romans by selling captured Jews into slavery.
11 So he immediately sent word to the coastal cities, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to deliver ninety slaves for a talent--little did he dream of the punishment that was to fall upon him from the Almighty.
12 When Judas learned of Nicanor's advance and informed his companions about the approach of the army,
13 the cowardly and those who lacked faith in God's justice deserted and got away.
14 But the others sold everything they had left, and at the same time besought the Lord to deliver those whom the ungodly Nicanor had sold before even meeting them.
15 They begged the Lord to do this, if not for their sake, at least for the sake of the covenants made with their forefathers, and because they themselves bore his holy, glorious name.
16 Maccabeus assembled his men, six thousand strong, and exhorted them not to be panic-stricken before the enemy, nor to fear the large number of the Gentiles attacking them unjustly, but to fight courageously,
17 keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage perpetrated by the Gentiles against the holy Place and the affliction of the humiliated city, as well as the subversion of their ancestral way of life.
18 They trust in weapons and acts of daring, he said, but we trust in almighty God, who can by a mere nod destroy not only those who attack us, but the whole world.
19 He went on to tell them of the times when help had been given their ancestors: both the time of Sennacherib, when a hundred and eighty-five thousand of his men were destroyed,
20 and the time of the battle in Babylonia against the Galatians, when only eight thousand Jews fought along with four thousand Macedonians; yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand routed one hundred and twenty thousand and took a great quantity of booty, because of the help they received from Heaven.
21 With such words he encouraged them and made them ready to die for their laws and their country. Then Judas divided his army into four,
22 placing his brothers, Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan, each over a division, assigning to each fifteen hundred men.
23 (There was also Eleazar.) After reading to them from the holy book and giving them the watchword, The Help of God, he himself took charge of the first division and joined in battle with Nicanor.
24 With the Almighty as their ally, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy, wounded and disabled the greater part of Nicanor's army, and put all of them to flight.
25 They also seized the money of those who had come to buy them as slaves. When they had pursued the enemy for some time,
26 they were obliged to return by reason of the late hour, it was the day before the sabbath, and for that reason they could not continue the pursuit.
27 They collected the enemy's arms and stripped them of their spoils, and then observed the sabbath with fervent praise and thanks to the Lord who kept them safe for that day on which he let descend on them the first dew of his mercy.
28 After the sabbath, they gave a share of the booty to the persecuted and to widows and orphans; the rest they divided among themselves and their children.
29 When this was done, they made supplication in common, imploring the merciful Lord to be completely reconciled with his servants.
30 They also challenged the forces of Timothy and Bacchides, killed more than twenty thousand of them, and captured some very high fortresses. They divided the enormous plunder, allotting half to themselves and the rest to the persecuted, to orphans, widows, and the aged.
31 They collected the enemies' weapons and carefully stored them in suitable places; the rest of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem.
32 They also killed the commander of Timothy's forces, a most wicked man, who had done great harm to the Jews.
33 While celebrating the victory in their ancestral city, they burned both those who had set fire to the sacred gates and Callisthenes, who had taken refuge in a little house; so he received the reward his wicked deeds deserved.
34 The accursed Nicanor, who had brought the thousand slave dealers to buy the Jews,
35 after being humbled through the Lord's help by those whom he had thought of no account, laid aside his fine clothes and fled alone across country like a runaway slave, until he reached Antioch. He was eminently successful in destroying his own army.
36 So he who had promised to provide tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem testified that the Jews had a champion, and that they were invulnerable for the very reason that they followed the laws laid down by him. Death of Antiochus

2 MACCABEES 9:1-29
1 About that time Antiochus retreated in disgrace from the region of Persia.
2 He had entered the city called Persepolis and attempted to rob the temple and gain control of the city. Thereupon the people had swift recourse to arms, and Antiochus' men were routed, so that in the end Antiochus was put to flight by the natives and forced to beat a shameful retreat.
3 On his arrival in Ecbatana, he learned what had happened to Nicanor and to Timothy's forces.
4 Overcome with anger, he planned to make the Jews suffer for the injury done by those who had put him to flight. Therefore he ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping until he finished the journey. Yet the condemnation of Heaven rode with him, since he said in his arrogance, I will make Jerusalem the common graveyard of the Jews as soon as I arrive there.
5 So the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him down with an unseen but incurable blow; for scarcely had he uttered those words when he was seized with excruciating pains in his bowels and sharp internal torment,
6 a fit punishment for him who had tortured the bowels of others with many barbarous torments.
7 Far from giving up his insolence, he was all the more filled with arrogance. Breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, he gave orders to drive even faster. As a result he hurtled from the dashing chariot, and every part of his body was racked by the violent fall.
8 Thus he who previously, in his superhuman presumption, thought he could command the waves of the sea, and imagined he could weigh the mountaintops in his scales, was now thrown to the ground and had to be carried on a litter, clearly manifesting to all the power of God.
9 The body of this impious man swarmed with worms, and while he was still alive in hideous torments, his flesh rotted off, so that the entire army was sickened by the stench of his corruption.
10 Shortly before, he had thought that he could reach the stars of heaven, and now, no one could endure to transport the man because of this intolerable stench.
11 At last, broken in spirit, he began to give up his excessive arrogance, and to gain some understanding, under the scourge of God, for he was racked with pain unceasingly.
12 When he could no longer bear his own stench, he said, It is right to be subject to God, and not to think one's mortal self divine.
13 Then this vile man vowed to the Lord, who would no longer have mercy on him,
14 that he would set free the holy city, toward which he had been hurrying with the intention of leveling it to the ground and making it a common graveyard;
15 he would put on perfect equality with the Athenians all the Jews, whom he had judged not even worthy of burial, but fit only to be thrown out with their children to be eaten by vultures and wild animals;
16 he would adorn with the finest offerings the holy temple which he had previously despoiled; he would restore all the sacred vessels many times over; and would provide from his own revenues the expenses required for the sacrifices.
17 Besides all this, he would become a Jew himself and visit every inhabited place to proclaim there the power of God.
18 But since God's punishment had justly come upon him, his sufferings were not lessened, so he lost hope for himself and wrote the following letter to the Jews in the form of a supplication. It read thus: Death of Antiochus
19 To my esteemed Jewish citizens, Antiochus, their king and general, sends hearty greetings and best wishes for their health and happiness.
20 If you and your children are well and your affairs are going as you wish, I thank God very much, for my hopes are in heaven.
21 Now that I am ill, I recall with affection the esteem and good will you bear me. On returning from the regions of Persia, I fell victim to a troublesome illness; so I thought it necessary to form plans for the general welfare of all.
22 Actually, I do not despair about my health, since I have great hopes of recovering from my illness.
23 Nevertheless, I know that my father, whenever he went on campaigns in the hinterland, would name his successor,
24 so that, if anything unexpected happened or any unwelcome news came, the people throughout the realm would know to whom the government had been entrusted, and so not be disturbed.
25 I am also bearing in mind that the neighboring rulers, especially those on the borders of our kingdom, are on the watch for opportunities and waiting to see what will happen. I have therefore appointed as king my son Antiochus, whom I have often before entrusted and commended to most of you, when I made hurried visits to the outlying provinces. I have written to him the letter copied below.
26 Therefore I beg and entreat each of you to remember the general and individual benefits you have received, and to continue to show good will toward me and my son.
27 I am confident that, following my policy, he will treat you with mildness and kindness in his relations with you.
28 So this murderer and blasphemer, after extreme sufferings, such as he had inflicted on others, died a miserable death in the mountains of a foreign land.
29 His foster brother Philip brought the body home; but fearing Antiochus' son, he later withdrew into Egypt, to Ptolemy Philometor.

2 MACCABEES 10:1-38
1 When Maccabeus and his companions, under the Lord's leadership, had recovered the temple and the city,
2 they destroyed the altars erected by the Gentiles in the marketplace and the sacred enclosures.
3 After purifying the temple, they made a new altar. Then, with fire struck from flint, they offered sacrifice for the first time in two years, burned incense, and lighted lamps. They also set out the showbread.
4 When they had done this, they prostrated themselves and begged the Lord that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, and that if they should sin at any time, he might chastise them with moderation and not hand them over to blasphemous and barbarous Gentiles.
5 On the anniversary of the day on which the temple had been profaned by the Gentiles, that is, the twenty-fifth of the same month Chislev, the purification of the temple took place.
6 The Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths, remembering how, a little while before, they had spent the feast of Booths living like wild animals in caves on the mountains.
7 Carrying rods entwined with leaves, green branches and palms, they sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had brought about the purification of his own Place.
8 By public edict and decree they prescribed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these days every year.
9 Such was the end of Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes.
10 Now we shall relate what happened under Antiochus Eupator, the son of that godless man, and shall give a summary of the chief evils caused by the wars.
11 When Eupator succeeded to the kingdom, he put a certain Lysias in charge of the government as commander-in-chief of Coelesyria and Phoenicia.
12 Ptolemy, surnamed Macron, had taken the lead in treating the Jews fairly because of the previous injustice that had been done them, and he endeavored to have peaceful relations with them.
13 As a result, he was accused before Eupator by the King's Friends. In fact, on all sides he heard himself called a traitor for having abandoned Cyprus, which Philometor had entrusted to him, and for having gone over to Antiochus Epiphanes. Since he could not command the respect due to his high office, he ended his life by taking poison.
14 When Gorgias became governor of the region, he employed foreign troops and used every opportunity to attack the Jews.
15 At the same time the Idumeans, who held some important strongholds, were harassing the Jews; they welcomed fugitives from Jerusalem and endeavored to continue the war.
16 Maccabeus and his companions, after public prayers asking God to be their ally, moved quickly against the strongholds of the Idumeans.
17 Attacking vigorously, they gained control of the places, drove back all who manned the walls, and cut down those who opposed them, killing as many as twenty thousand men.
18 When at least nine thousand took refuge in two very strong towers, containing everything necessary to sustain a siege,
19 Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, along with Zacchaeus and his men, in sufficient numbers to besiege them, while he himself went off to places where he was more urgently needed.
20 But some of the men in Simon's force who were money lovers let themselves be bribed by some of the men in the towers; on receiving seventy thousand drachmas, they allowed a number of them to escape.
21 When Maccabeus was told what had happened, he assembled the rulers of the people and accused those men of having sold their kinsmen for money by setting their enemies free to fight against them.
22 So he put them to death as traitors, and without delay captured the two towers.
23 As he was successful at arms in all his undertakings, he destroyed more than twenty thousand men in the two strongholds.
24 Timothy, who had previously been defeated by the Jews, gathered a tremendous force of foreign troops and collected a large number of cavalry from Asia; then he appeared in Judea, ready to conquer it by force.
25 At his approach, Maccabeus and his men made supplication to God, sprinkling earth upon their heads and girding their loins in sackcloth.
26 Lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, they begged him to be gracious to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and a foe to their foes, as the law declares.
27 After the prayer, they took up their arms and advanced a considerable distance from the city, halting when they were close to the enemy.
28 As soon as dawn broke, the armies joined battle, the one having as pledge of success and victory not only their valor but also their reliance on the Lord, and the other taking fury as their leader in the fight.
29 In the midst of the fierce battle, there appeared to the enemy from the heavens five majestic men riding on golden-bridled horses, who led the Jews on.
30 They surrounded Maccabeus, and shielding him with their own armor, kept him from being wounded. They shot arrows and hurled thunderbolts at the enemy, who were bewildered and blinded, thrown into confusion and routed.
31 Twenty-five hundred of their foot soldiers and six hundred of their horsemen were slain.
32 Timothy, however, fled to a well-fortified stronghold called Gazara, where Chaereas was in command.
33 For four days Maccabeus and his men eagerly besieged the fortress.
34 Those inside, relying on the strength of the place, kept repeating outrageous blasphemies and uttering abominable words.
35 When the fifth day dawned, twenty young men in the army of Maccabeus, angered over such blasphemies, bravely stormed the wall and with savage fury cut down everyone they encountered.
36 Others who climbed up the same way swung around on the defenders, taking the besieged in the rear; they put the towers to the torch, spread the fire and burned the blasphemers alive. Still others broke down the gates and let in the rest of the troops, who took possession of the city.
37 Timothy had hidden in a cistern, but they killed him, along with his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes.
38 On completing these exploits, they blessed, with hymns of grateful praise, the Lord who shows great kindness to Israel and grants them victory.

2 MACCABEES 11:1-38
1 Very soon afterward, Lysias, guardian and kinsman of the king and head of the government, being greatly displeased at what had happened,
2 mustered about eighty thousand infantry and all his cavalry and marched against the Jews. His plan was to make Jerusalem a Greek settlement;
3 to levy tribute on the temple, as he did on the sanctuaries of the other nations; and to put the high priesthood up for sale every year.
4 He did not take God's power into account at all, but felt exultant confidence in his myriads of foot soldiers, his thousands of horsemen, and his eighty elephants.
5 So he invaded Judea, and when he reached Beth-zur, a fortified place about twenty miles from Jerusalem, launched a strong attack against it.
6 When Maccabeus and his men learned that Lysias was besieging the strongholds, they and all the people begged the Lord with lamentations and tears to send a good angel to save Israel.
7 Maccabeus himself was the first to take up arms, and he exhorted the others to join him in risking their lives to help their kinsmen. Then they resolutely set out together.
8 Suddenly, while they were still near Jerusalem, a horseman appeared at their head, clothed in white garments and brandishing gold weapons.
9 Then all of them together thanked God for his mercy, and their hearts were filled with such courage that they were ready to assault not only men, but the most savage beasts, yes, even walls of iron.
10 Now that the Lord had shown his mercy toward them, they advanced in battle order with the aid of their heavenly ally.
11 Hurling themselves upon the enemy like lions, they laid low eleven thousand foot soldiers and sixteen hundred horsemen, and put all the rest to flight.
12 Most of those who got away were wounded and stripped of their arms, while Lysias himself escaped only by shameful flight.
13 But Lysias was not a stupid man. He reflected on the defeat he had suffered, and came to realize that the Hebrews were invincible because the mighty God was their ally. He therefore sent a message
14 persuading them to settle everything on just terms, and promising to persuade the king also, and to induce him to become their friend.
15 Maccabeus, solicitous for the common good, agreed to all that Lysias proposed; and the king, on his part, granted in behalf of the Jews all the written requests of Maccabeus to Lysias.
16 These are the terms of the letter which Lysias wrote to the Jews: Lysias sends greetings to the Jewish people.
17 John and Absalom, your envoys, have presented your signed communication and asked about the matters contained in it.
18 Whatever had to be referred to the king I called to his attention, and the things that were acceptable he has granted.
19 If you maintain your loyalty to the government, I will endeavor to further your interests in the future.
20 On the details of these matters I have authorized my representatives, as well as your envoys, to confer with you.
21 Farewell. The year one hundred and forty-eight, the twenty-fourth of Dioscorinthius.
22 The king's letter read thus: King Antiochus sends greetings to his brother Lysias.
23 Now that our father has taken his place among the gods, we wish the subjects of our kingdom to be undisturbed in conducting their own affairs.
24 We understand that the Jews do not agree with our father's policy concerning Greek customs but prefer their own way of life. They are petitioning us to let them retain their own customs.
25 Since we desire that this people too should be undisturbed, our decision is that their temple be restored to them and that they live in keeping with the customs of their ancestors.
26 Accordingly, please send them messengers to give them our assurances of friendship, so that, when they learn of our decision, they may have nothing to worry about but may contentedly go about their own business.
27 The king's letter to the people was as follows: King Antiochus sends greetings to the Jewish senate and to the rest of the Jews.
28 If you are well, it is what we desire. We too are in good health.
29 Menelaus has told us of your wish to return home and attend to your own affairs.
30 Therefore, those who return by the thirtieth of Xanthicus will have our assurance of full permission
31 to observe their dietary laws and other laws, just as before, and none of the Jews shall be molested in any way for faults committed through ignorance.
32 I have also sent Menelaus to reassure you.
33 Farewell. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of Xanthicus.
34 The Romans also sent them a letter as follows: Quintus Memmius and Titus Manius, legates of the Romans, send greetings to the Jewish people.
35 Whatever Lysias, kinsman of the king, has granted you, we also approve.
36 But the matters on which he passed judgment should be submitted to the king. As soon as you have considered them, send someone to us with your decisions so that we may present them to your advantage, for we are on our way to Antioch.
37 Make haste, then, to send us those who can inform us of your intentions.
38 Farewell. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the fifteenth of Xanthicus.

2 MACCABEES 12:1-46
1 After these agreements were made, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews went about their farming.
2 But some of the local governors, Timothy and Apollonius, son of Gennaeus, as also Hieronymus and Demophon, to say nothing of Nicanor, the commander of the Cyprians, would not allow them to live in peace.
3 Some people of Joppa also committed this outrage: they invited the Jews who lived among them, together with their wives and children, to embark on boats which they had provided. There was no hint of enmity toward them;
4 this was done by public vote of the city. When the Jews, not suspecting treachery and wishing to live on friendly terms, accepted the invitation, the people of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned at least two hundred of them.
5 As soon as Judas heard of the barbarous deed perpetrated against his countrymen, he summoned his men;
6 and after calling upon God, the just judge, he marched against the murderers of his kinsmen. In a night attack he set the harbor on fire, burnt the boats, and put to the sword those who had taken refuge there.
7 When the gates of the town were shut, he withdrew, intending to come back later and wipe out the entire population of Joppa.
8 On hearing that the men of Jamnia planned to give like treatment to the Jews who lived among them,
9 he attacked the Jamnian populace by night, setting fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the flames was visible as far as Jerusalem, thirty miles away.
10 When the Jews had gone about a mile from there in the campaign against Timothy, they were attacked by Arabs numbering at least five thousand foot soldiers, and five hundred horsemen.
11 After a hard fight, Judas and his companions, with God's help, were victorious. The defeated nomads begged Judas to make friends with them and promised to supply the Jews with cattle and to help them in every other way.
12 Realizing that they could indeed be useful in many respects, Judas agreed to make peace with them. After the pledge of friendship had been exchanged, the Arabs withdrew to their tents.
13 He also attacked a certain city called Caspin, fortified with earthworks and ramparts and inhabited by a mixed population of Gentiles.
14 Relying on the strength of their walls and their supply of provisions, the besieged treated Judas and his men with contempt, insulting them and even uttering blasphemies and profanity.
15 But Judas and his men invoked the aid of the great Sovereign of the world, who, in the day of Joshua, overthrew Jericho without battering-ram or siege machine; then they furiously stormed the ramparts.
16 Capturing the city by the will of God, they inflicted such indescribable slaughter on it that the adjacent pool, which was about a quarter of a mile wide, seemed to be filled with the blood that flowed into it.
17 When they had gone on some ninety miles, they reached Charax, where there were certain Jews known as Toubiani.
18 But they did not find Timothy in that region, for he had already departed from there without having done anything except to leave behind in one place a very strong garrison.
19 But Dositheus and Sosipater, two of Maccabeus' captains, marched out and destroyed the force of more than ten thousand men that Timothy had left in the stronghold.
20 Meanwhile, Maccabeus divided his army into cohorts, with a commander over each cohort, and went in pursuit of Timothy, who had a force of a hundred and twenty thousand foot soldiers and twenty-five hundred horsemen.
21 When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent on ahead of him the women and children, as well as the baggage, to a place called Karnion, which was hard to besiege and even hard to reach because of the difficult terrain of that region.
22 But when Judas' first cohort appeared, the enemy was overwhelmed with fear and terror at the manifestation of the All-seeing. Scattering in every direction, they rushed away in such headlong flight that in many cases they wounded one another, pierced by the swords of their own men.
23 Judas pressed the pursuit vigorously, putting the sinners to the sword and destroying as many as thirty thousand men.
24 Timothy himself fell into the hands of the men under Dositheus and Sosipater; but with great cunning, he asked them to spare his life and let him go, because he had in his power the parents and relatives of many of them, and could make these suffer.
25 When he had fully confirmed his solemn pledge to restore them unharmed, they let him go for the sake of saving their brethren.
26 Judas then marched to Karnion and the shrine of Atargatis, where he killed twenty-five thousand people.
27 After the defeat and destruction of these, he moved his army to Ephron, a fortified city inhabited by people of many nationalities. Robust young men took up their posts in defense of the walls, from which they fought valiantly; inside were large supplies of machines and missiles.
28 But the Jews, invoking the Sovereign who forcibly shatters the might of his enemies, got possession of the city and slaughtered twenty-five thousand of the people in it.
29 Then they set out from there and hastened on to Scythopolis, seventy-five miles from Jerusalem.
30 But when the Jews who lived there testified to the good will shown by the Scythopolitans and to their kind treatment even in times of adversity,
31 Judas and his men thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future also. Finally they arrived in Jerusalem, shortly before the feast of Weeks.
32 After this feast called Pentecost, they lost no time in marching against Gorgias, governor of Idumea,
33 who opposed them with three thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horsemen.
34 In the ensuing battle, a few of the Jews were slain.
35 A man called Dositheus, a powerful horseman and one of Bacenor's men, caught hold of Gorgias, grasped his military cloak and dragged him along by main strength, intending to capture the vile wretch alive, when a Thracian horseman attacked Dositheus and cut off his arm at the shoulder. Then Gorgias fled to Marisa.
36 After Esdris and his men had been fighting for a long time and were weary, Judas called upon the Lord to show himself their ally and leader in the battle.
37 Then, raising a battle cry in his ancestral language, and with songs, he charged Gorgias' men when they were not expecting it and put them to flight.
38 Judas rallied his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the week was ending, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the sabbath there.
39 On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs.
40 But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain.
41 They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden.
42 Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen.
43 He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view;
44 for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.
45 But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.
46 Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

2 MACCABEES 13:1-26
1 In the year one hundred and forty-nine, Judas and his men learned that Antiochus Eupator was invading Judea with a large force,
2 and that with him was Lysias, his guardian, who was in charge of the government. They led a Greek army of one hundred and ten thousand foot soldiers, fifty-three hundred horsemen, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes.
3 Menelaus also joined them, and with great duplicity kept urging Antiochus on, not for the welfare of his country, but in the hope of being established in office.
4 But the King of kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel. When the king was shown by Lysias that Menelaus was to blame for all the trouble, he ordered him to be taken to Beroea and executed there in the customary local method.
5 There is at that place a tower seventy-five feet high, full of ashes, with a circular rim sloping down steeply on all sides toward the ashes.
6 A man guilty of sacrilege or notorious for certain other crimes is brought up there and then hurled down to destruction.
7 In such a manner was Menelaus, the transgressor of the law, fated to die; he was deprived even of decent burial.
8 It was altogether just that he who had committed so many sins against the altar with its pure fire and ashes should meet his death in ashes.
9 The king was advancing, his mind full of savage plans for inflicting on the Jews worse things than those they suffered in his father's time.
10 When Judas learned of this, he urged the people to call upon the LORD night and day, to help them now, if ever,
11 when they were about to be deprived of their law, their country, and their holy temple; and not to allow this nation, which had just begun to revive, to be subjected again to blasphemous Gentiles.
12 When they had all joined in doing this, and had implored the merciful LORD continuously with weeping and fasting and prostrations for three days, Judas encouraged them and told them to stand ready.
13 After a private meeting with the elders, he decided that, before the king's army could invade Judea and take possession of the city, the Jews should march out and settle the matter with God's help.
14 Leaving the outcome to the Creator of the world, and exhorting his followers to fight nobly to death for the laws, the temple, the city, the country, and the government, he pitched his camp near Modein.
15 Giving his men the battle cry God's Victory, he made a night attack on the king's pavilion with a picked force of the bravest young men and killed about two thousand in the camp. They also slew the lead elephant and its rider.
16 Finally they withdrew in triumph, having filled the camp with terror and confusion.
17 Day was just breaking when this was accomplished with the help and protection of the LORD.
18 The king, having had a taste of the Jews' daring, tried to take their positions by a stratagem.
19 So he marched against Beth-zur, a strong fortress of the Jews; but he was driven back, checked, and defeated.
20 Judas then sent supplies to the men inside,
21 but Rhodocus, of the Jewish army, betrayed military secrets to the enemy. He was found out, arrested, and imprisoned.
22 The king made a second attempt by negotiating with the men of Beth-zur. After giving them his pledge and receiving theirs, he withdrew
23 and attacked Judas and his men. But he was defeated. Next he heard that Philip, who was left in charge of the government in Antioch had rebelled. Dismayed, he parleyed with the Jews, submitted to their terms, and swore to observe their rights. Having come to this agreement, he offered a sacrifice, and honored the temple with a generous donation.
24 He approved of Maccabeus and left him as military and civil governor of the territory from Ptolemais to the region of the Gerrenes.
25 When he came to Ptolemais, the people of that city were angered by the peace treaty; in fact they were so indignant that they wanted to annul its provisions.
26 But Lysias took the platform, defended the treaty as well as he could and won them over by persuasion. After calming them and gaining their good will, he returned to Antioch. That is how the king's attack and withdrawal went.

2 MACABEES 14:1-46
1 Three years later, Judas and his men learned that Demetrius, son of Seleucus, had sailed into the port of Tripolis with a powerful army and a fleet,
2 and that he had occupied the country, after doing away with Antiochus and his guardian Lysias.
3 A certain Alcimus, a former high priest, who had willfully incurred defilement at the time of the revolt, realized that there was no way for him to salvage his position and regain access to the holy altar.
4 So he went to King Demetrius in the year one hundred and fifty-one and presented him with a gold crown and a palm branch, as well as some of the customary olive branches from the temple. On that occasion he kept quiet.
5 But he found an opportunity to further his mad scheme when he was invited to the council by Demetrius and questioned about the dispositions and intentions of the Jews. He replied:
6 Those Jews called Hasideans, led by Judas Maccabeus, are warmongers, who stir up sedition and keep the kingdom from enjoying peace and quiet.
7 For this reason, now that I am deprived of my ancestral dignity, that is to say, the high priesthood, I have come here--
8 first, out of my genuine concern for the king's interests, and secondly, out of consideration for my own countrymen, since our entire nation is suffering great affliction from the unreasonable conduct of the people just mentioned.
9 When you have informed yourself in detail on these matters, O king, act in the interest of our country and its hard-pressed people with the same gracious consideration that you show toward all.
10 As long as Judas is around, it is impossible for the state to enjoy peace.
11 When he had said this, the other Friends who were hostile to Judas quickly added fuel to Demetrius' indignation.
12 The king immediately chose Nicanor, who had been in command of the elephants, and appointed him governor of Judea. He sent him off
13 with orders to put Judas to death, to disperse his followers, and to set up Alcimus as high priest of the great temple.
14 The Gentiles from Judea, who would have banished Judas, came flocking to Nicanor, thinking that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would mean prosperity for themselves.
15 When the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming, and that the Gentiles were rallying to him, they sprinkled themselves with earth and prayed to him who established his people forever, and who always comes to the aid of his heritage.
16 At their leader's command, they set out at once and came upon the enemy at the village of Adasa.
17 Judas' brother Simon had engaged Nicanor, but because of the sudden appearance of the enemy suffered a slight repulse.
18 However, when Nicanor heard of the valor of Judas and his men, and the great courage with which they fought for their country, he shrank from deciding the issue by bloodshed.
19 So he sent Posidonius, Theodotus and Mattathias to arrange an agreement.
20 After a long discussion of the terms, each leader communicated them to his troops; and when general agreement was expressed, they assented to the treaty.
21 A day was set on which the leaders would meet by themselves. From each side a chariot came forward and thrones were set in place.
22 Judas had posted armed men in readiness at suitable points for fear that the enemy might suddenly carry out some treacherous plan. But the conference was held in the proper way.
23 Nicanor stayed on in Jerusalem, where he did nothing out of place. He got rid of the throngs of ordinary people who gathered around him;
24 but he always kept Judas in his company, for he had a cordial affection for the man.
25 He urged him to marry and have children; so Judas married, settled down, and shared the common life.
26 When Alcimus saw their friendship for each other, he took the treaty that had been made, went to Demetrius, and said that Nicanor was plotting against the state, and that he had appointed Judas, the conspirator against the kingdom, to be his successor.
27 Stirred up by the villain's calumnies, the king became enraged. He wrote to Nicanor, stating that he was displeased with the treaty, and ordering him to send Maccabeus as a prisoner to Antioch without delay.
28 When this message reached Nicanor he was dismayed, for he hated to break his agreement with a man who had done no wrong.
29 However, there was no way of opposing the king, so he watched for an opportunity to carry out this order by a stratagem.
30 But Maccabeus noticed that Nicanor was becoming cool in his dealings with him, and acting with unaccustomed rudeness when they met; he concluded that this coldness betokened no good. So he gathered together a large number of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor.
31 When Nicanor realized that he had been disgracefully outwitted by the man, he went to the great and holy temple, at a time when the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and ordered them to surrender Judas.
32 As they declared under oath that they did not know where the wanted man was,
33 he raised his right hand toward the temple and swore this oath: If you do not hand Judas over to me as prisoner, I will level this shrine of God to the ground; I will tear down the altar, and erect here a splendid temple to Dionysus.
34 With these words he went away. The priests stretched out their hands toward heaven, calling upon the unfailing defender of our nation in these words:
35 Lord of all, though you are in need of nothing, you have approved of a temple for your dwelling place among us.
36 Therefore, O holy One, Lord of all holiness, preserve forever undefiled this house, which has been so recently purified.
37 A certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor as a patriot. A man highly regarded, he was called a father of the Jews because of his love for them.
38 In the early days of the revolt, he had been convicted of Judaism, and had risked body and life in his ardent zeal for it.
39 Nicanor, to show his detestation of the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him.
40 He thought that by arresting such a man he would deal the Jews a hard blow.
41 But when these troops, on the point of capturing the tower, were forcing the outer gate and calling for fire to set the door ablaze, Razis, now caught on all sides, turned his sword against himself,
42 preferring to die nobly rather than fall into the hands of vile men and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth.
43 In the excitement of the struggle he failed to strike exactly. So while the troops rushed in through the doors, he gallantly ran up to the top of the wall and with manly courage threw himself down into the crowd.
44 But as they quickly drew back and left an opening, he fell into the middle of the empty space.
45 Still breathing, and inflamed with anger, he got up and ran through the crowd, with blood gushing from his frightful wounds.
46 Then, standing on a steep rock, as he lost the last of his blood, he tore out his entrails and flung them with both hands into the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and of spirit to give these back to him again. Such was the manner of his death.

2 MACCABEES 15:1-39
1 When Nicanor learned that Judas and his companions were in the territory of Samaria, he decided to attack them in all safety on the day of rest.
2 The Jews who were forced to follow him pleaded, Do not massacre them in that way, like a savage barbarian, but show respect for the day which the All-seeing has exalted with holiness above all other days.
3 At this the thrice-sinful wretch asked if there was a ruler in heaven who prescribed the keeping of the sabbath day.
4 When they replied that there was indeed such a ruler in heaven, the living LORD himself, who commanded the observance of the sabbath day,
5 he said, I, on my part, am ruler on earth, and my orders are that you take up arms and carry out the king's business. Nevertheless he did not succeed in carrying out his cruel plan.
6 In his utter boastfulness and arrogance Nicanor had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his men.
7 But Maccabeus remained confident, fully convinced that he would receive help from the LORD.
8 He urged his men not to fear the enemy, but mindful of the help they had received from Heaven in the past, to expect that now, too, victory would be given them by the Almighty.
9 By encouraging them with words from the law and the prophets, and by reminding them of the battles they had already won, he filled them with fresh enthusiasm.
10 Having stirred up their courage, he gave his orders and pointed out at the same time the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths.
11 When he had armed each of them, not so much with the safety of shield and spear as with the encouragement of noble words, he cheered them all by relating a dream, a kind of vision, worthy of belief.
12 What he saw was this: Onias, the former high priest, a good and virtuous man, modest in appearance, gentle in manners, distinguished in speech, and trained from childhood in every virtuous practice, was praying with outstretched arms for the whole Jewish community.
13 Then in the same way another man appeared, distinguished by his white hair and dignity, and with an air about him of extraordinary, majestic authority.
14 Onias then said of him, This is God's prophet Jeremiah, who loves his brethren and fervently prays for his people and their holy city.
15 Stretching out his right hand, Jeremiah presented a gold sword to Judas. As he gave it to him he said,
16 Accept this holy sword as a gift from God; with it you shall crush your adversaries.
17 Encouraged by Judas' noble words, which had power to instill valor and stir young hearts to courage, the Jews determined not to delay, but to charge gallantly and decide the issue by hand-to-hand combat with the utmost courage, since their city and its temple with the sacred vessels were in danger.
18 They were not so much concerned about their wives and children or their brothers and kinsmen; their first and foremost fear was for the consecrated sanctuary.
19 Those who remained in the city suffered a like agony, anxious as they were about the battle in the open country.
20 Everyone now awaited the decisive moment. The enemy were already drawing near with their troops drawn up in battle line, their elephants placed in strategic positions, and their cavalry stationed on the flanks.
21 Maccabeus, contemplating the hosts before him, their elaborate equipment, and the fierceness of their elephants, stretched out his hands toward heaven and called upon the LORD who works miracles; for he knew that it is not through arms but through the LORD'S decision that victory is won by those who deserve it.
22 He prayed to him thus: You, O LORD, sent your angel in the days of King Hezekiah of Judea, and he slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand men of Sennacherib's army.
23 Sovereign of the heavens, send a good angel now to spread fear and dread before us.
24 By the might of your arm may those be struck down who have blasphemously come against your holy people! With this he ended his prayer.
25 Nicanor and his men advanced to the sound of trumpets and battle songs.
26 But Judas and his men met the army with supplication and prayers.
27 Fighting with their hands and praying to God with their hearts, they laid low at least thirty-five thousand, and rejoiced greatly over this manifestation of God's power.
28 When the battle was over and they were joyfully departing, they discovered Nicanor lying there in all his armor;
29 so they raised tumultuous shouts in their native tongue in praise of the divine Sovereign.
30 Then Judas, who was ever in body and soul the chief defender of his fellow citizens, and had maintained from youth his affection for his countrymen, ordered Nicanor's head and whole right arm to be cut off and taken to Jerusalem.
31 When he arrived there, he assembled his countrymen, stationed the priests before the altar, and sent for those in the citadel.
32 He showed them the vile Nicanor's head and the wretched blasphemer's arm that had been boastfully stretched out against the holy dwelling of the Almighty.
33 He cut out the tongue of the godless Nicanor, saying he would feed it piecemeal to the birds and would hang up the other wages of his folly opposite the temple.
34 At this, everyone looked toward heaven and praised the Lord who manifests his divine power, saying, Blessed be he who has kept his own Place undefiled!
35 Judas hung up Nicanor's head on the wall of the citadel, a clear and evident proof to all of the Lord's help.
36 By public vote it was unanimously decreed never to let this day pass unobserved, but to celebrate it on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, called Adar in Aramaic, the eve of Mordecai's Day.
37 Since Nicanor's doings ended in this way, with the city remaining in possession of the Hebrews from that time on, I will bring my own story to an end here too.
38 If it is well written and to the point, that is what I wanted; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that is the best I could do.
39 Just as it is harmful to drink wine alone or water alone, whereas mixing wine with water makes a more pleasant drink that increases delight, so a skillfully composed story delights the ears of those who read the work. Let this, then, be the end.

NEWS TODAY

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.

Mild Earthquake jolts South Punjab, Balochistan

PESHAWAR : Mild earthquake tremors were felt in the areas of Southern Punjab and North Eastern Balochistan on Wednesday. The tremors were recorded at intensity of 4.7 on the Richter scale.
According to the meteorological department in Peshawar the earthquake tremors were felt on Wednesday morning at 8.15 am and its epicenter was the border area of Punjab and Balochistan some 450 km away from south of Peshawar. No loss of life or property was reported.

Eurozone troika ready to act on world stage
04.12.2007 - 09:28 CET | By Mark Beunderman

The eurozone - the EU's common currency area - is ready to defend its interests abroad through talks with foreign leaders at the highest political level, the eurozone's chief has said. Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's leader and finance minister who chairs meetings of eurozone states, told Financial Times Deutschland that last week's top-level EU mission to China could serve as an example for how the euro area could jointly stand up for its interests.Mr Juncker travelled to China together with European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet and EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia for talks with Chinese officials – including prime minister Wen Jiabao – to discuss currency imbalances and resulting trade problems. Describing the China trip as a precedent, Mr Juncker said If there are reasons which make it necessary to act jointly, we will repeat this.

If the need arises we should promote our arguments, he stated. One does not always need to do this immediately at the highest political level however, he added. The comments raise the prospect of the top eurozone trio – the eurozone chair, the central bank chief and the monetary commissioner – operating more often as the EU's political troika on economic issues on the world stage. The euro is not only seen as playing an increasingly important role in the global financial system – but the recent strength of the currency is directly affecting European companies. Mr Juncker, Mr Trichet and Mr Almunia told the Chinese leadership last week that the ongoing depreciation of the Chinese currency, the remnibi, against the euro is hitting EU exports and damaging EU competitiveness. This is creating a lot of problems for the European economy and as a result protectionist reactions could occur, Mr Juncker said after the Beijing talks.At the meeting, the EU and China agreed to set up a central banks working group to tackle currency questions. Since 2005, the renminbi has fallen by almost 10 per cent against the euro while it has risen by more than 10 per cent against the US dollar - a development seen as a key factor in Europe's ballooning trade deficit with China. It is difficult to understand, whereas China is exporting less to the US than to Europe, why the yuan is appreciating vis-à-vis the dollar and why the yuan is depreciating against the euro, Mr Juncker said. We do think we have to correct this obvious imbalance, he added.

AP
EU Proposes to Open Defense Markets
Wednesday December 5, 11:36 am ET
By Paul Ames, Associated Press Writer

European Union Plans to Open Defense Supply Industry to More Cross-Border Competition

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Commission unveiled plans Wednesday to open up the European Union's $117.9 billion defense market to more cross-border competition.Government protection of national defense companies has meant arms sales have been largely excluded from laws which have torn down barriers to trade around the 27-nation European Union.The Commission says the exemptions cost billions of dollars in waste, duplication and red tape, pushing up national defense budgets and holding back efforts to develop a European industry that can compete with the United States on the world stage.The EU's executive office has drafted two bills to remedy the situation. One will limit an EU country's ability to exempt defense-related goods from EU free market rules to truly exceptional cases where national security is engaged. The other will streamline licensing arrangements for defense sales between member countries.This gives us the instruments to allow for a more competitive and more innovative European defense industry, said Guenter Verheugen, the EU's industry commissioner.

The bills must be approved by EU governments and the European Parliament. Some governments have been hostile to the idea of the EU weakening national controls, but Commission officials said previous consultations with national capitals suggested the proposals could be adopted quickly.It shouldn't take an awfully long time to get through the legislative process, Charlie McCreevy, the EU's internal market commissioner told a news conference.EU officials stressed that the new rules would not shut out U.S. or other non-EU nations from European markets, stressing that governments would remain free to buy their weapons outside the bloc.EU defense ministers agreed in May that urgent action was needed to halt a decline in Europe's defense technological and industrial base and keep companies competitive by opening up protected national markets.If adopted, the new laws would strengthen a voluntary code of conduct launched last year by 23 EU nations under which they post tenders for defense contracts on an electronic bulletin board open to companies from across the bloc, rather than just to national ones.

So far, more than 200 tenders worth some 10 billion euros ($15 billion) have been published under that system. The first eight cross-border contracts have recently been awarded, worth a total of 44 million euros ($65 million).EU headquarters has long argued the fragmentation of the European market along national lines has pushed up prices and undermined competitiveness putting at risk the 300,000 European jobs in defense manufacturing.Officials say nations have abused the exemption from open market rules to include products like uniforms, boots, stationery and tents. McCreevy spoke of nations seeking to protect contracts for soldiers socks and underwear. The purpose of this directive is not to have that kind of nonsense going on, he said.The proposed laws will also remove stipulations that exporters must obtain security licenses each time they export defense goods to other EU nations, despite the close military cooperation among EU governments.

European companies have to apply for around 11,500 such licenses every year although not one has been turned down on security grounds since 2003, Verheugen said, estimating the overall cost of such red tape at 2.7 billion euros ($4 billion).

North American Union by 2010, be very afraid NOV 4,07

Globalist bankers work for years to subvert our freedoms, yet little is done by our own government to prevent them.
A 12- lane NAFTA TransAmerican Highway is being built from Mexico to Canada without the prior knowledge or approval of the American people, and our so-called free press mentions nothing about it.
President Bush signs the 2005 Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) with Mexico's Presidente Fox, and Canada's Prime Minister Martin which requires the three countries to be merged into one nation called the North American Union by 2010! Our Constitution is betrayed, our Bill of Rights trampled. American sovereignty is ending, our American dollar will be replaced by the amero, much the same as the euro has become the European Union currency.

A talk show host recently commented, Americans are no longer interested in freedom: they just hope that their new masters will be kind. History shows that no master is kind.Become informed through books like: The Insiders by John McManus, Shadows of Power by James Perloff, None Dare Call It Treason by John Stormer and magazines like The New American published by the John Birch Society.Let's kick our AWOL Congress into action! It is high time to get us out of the United Nations before our Constitution is annulled, our middle class is destroyed, and America is made into a third-world nation. It's also time to urge Maine's Legislature to impeach Bush as Vermont's has.Robert Bruce Acheson

Role of EU President will create conflict
By Martin Banks in Brussels and Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 12:24am GMT 04/12/2007

A leading Europhile has called into question the idea of creating a permanent position for a president of the European Union, one of the key clauses in the new EU reform treaty.The treaty, set to be signed by EU leaders later this month, proposes the creation of a President of the European council, replacing the current system of six month rotating presidencies.The job, with a reported salary of £200,000, would be on a two and a half year fixed term and would involved chairing EU meetings with the aim of creating a more efficient decision making process.It is supposed to give the EU a figurehead on the world stage, although national leaders insist the key decisions will continue to be made with them.Tony Blair, currently envoy in the Middle East, has been widely touted for the post, dubbed president of Europe.

But UK Socialist MEP Richard Corbett, a well known Europhile and strong supporter of the treaty, has warned the European parliament that there is huge potential for conflict between the post and that of European commission president, currently occupied by Jose Manuel Barroso, a former prime minister of Portugal.We could see the occupant of one not wanting to trespass on the responsibilities of the other. This situation could be a cause for real confusion and pose a threat and danger to workings of the EU, Mr Corbett said.His comments were echoed by Danish eurosceptic MEP Jens Peter Bonde who said: It will be a big battle and will never work. There will be a permanent competition over who should take the initiative between the commission president and the president of the European council.He warned that the proposal contained in the treaty would lead to confusion, particularly over foreign policy issues.Both were speaking at a joint parliamentary hearing on the treaty between MEPs and national parliamentarians from 27 member states.The job will not be on offer unless the treaty is ratified by all 27 member states.At the same time, a group of politicians from the French Left and Right have issued a joint call on president Nicolas Sarkozy to put the new simplified European treaty to referendum.Jean-Pierre Chevènement, a former left-wing interior minister, told a crowd of 1,000 that Mr Sarkozy’s plan to push through the treaty in a parliamentary vote was a denial of democracy.

France rejected the initial draft European constitutional treaty in a referendum in 2005, with 55 voting Non.What has been rejected by referendum should only be allowed to be re-established by universal suffrage, he said in a joint meeting with Marie-Noelle Lienemann, a Socialist MEP, and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Gaullist leader of the Debout La Republique movement and a vocal No campaigner in 2005.They launched their campaign for a referendum in front of 1,000 sympathisers on Sunday night.Mr Sarkozy announced a mini-treaty. It’s a maxi-betrayal, he insisted.The changes to the original are purely cosmetic, said Mr Chevenement, who hopes to impose a referendum on Mr Sarkozy by persuading two fifths of parliament to oppose the simplified treaty — sufficient to block a vote to change the constitution.Pierre Lefranc, Charles de Gaulle’s former principle private secretary, said a parliamentary vote was tantamount to a coup d’etat and the rape of the nation.Mr Dupont-Aignan told The Telegraph that there was massive media, financial and political disinformation to hide the real nature of the treaty.They make out it is a mini-treaty when it is the exact copy of the Giscard constitution, he said.Mr Dupont-Aignan, who left Mr Sarkozy’s UMP party over the European issue earlier this year, has begun a tour of France to raise awareness before a parliamentary vote, which could come as early as late January.He remained optimistic: France is like a horse than can suddenly rear up when it realises it is being taken for a ride.However, should he fail, he called on the British to stand firm: "The British can save us once again! I count on them to block this treaty, which is very dangerous for all European democracies. Just as Europe is failing and the people are against the direction it is taking, it accelerates. It is folly.

He quoted Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who drew up the original constitutional text.In an article in Le Monde in October, the former French president said: In the Lisbon treaty, drawn up exclusively from the constitutional treaty plan, the tools are exactly the same. Only the order has changed...What is the point of this subtle manouevre? First and foremost to escape the constraint of a recourse to referendum, by spreading the articles out and dropping constitutional vocabulary.

Gulf Arabs leaders stress economic integration, regional stability despite divisions www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-05 04:40:35

DOHA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Six oil-rich Gulf Arab nations on Tuesday pushed forward the economic integration process in announcing establishment of a Gulf common market, while showing welcome to Iranian president's proposals for economic and security cooperation despite concerns over its nuclear program. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional alliance grouping Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, wrapped up their two-day annual summit in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday. Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Saudi Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (from L to R) pose for a group photo in the final day of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Doha，Dec. 4, 2007. Abdul Rahman al-Attiya, secretary general of the six oil-rich GCC nations, announced the establishment of a common market at the closing session of the GCC summit here on Tuesday.(Xinhua Photo)

COMMON MARKET HIGHLIGHTED

At the closing session of the GCC summit, the GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman al-Attiya announced the establishment of the common market, seen as a big step forward for the alliance striving for a European Union-style bloc. Reading out the Doha Declaration, al-Attiya said that the long-anticipated common market will be brought into play from Jan. 1, 2008, adding that launching the common market is for the interests of the Gulf people and out of desire to boost the Gulf economy. On the timetable of its economic integration, the GCC launched a customs union in 2003 and is also committed to adopt a single currency in 2010. In the final communique, the Gulf heads of state called on concerned policymakers to work out financial and monetary polices towards a common currency to take to the next GCC summit due to beheld in Oman. They expressed satisfaction over the progress on implementing the pan-GCC electricity power grid, urging concerned parties to finalize economic feasibility studies of a pan-GCC railway network project and a water network project. The leaders, however, sidestepped the pressing foreign exchange issue, which indicates divisions among the Gulf nations on how to deal with spiraling inflation and the tumbling dollar.

CAUTIOUS WELCOME TO IRAN'S PROPOSALS

Though still concerned about Iran's controversial nuclear program, the GCC expressed welcome earlier in the day to the proposals made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the opening ceremony of the GCC's annual summit on Monday. The GCC said in a brief statement that the bloc would study those proposals in a bid to boost good neighborliness and reciprocal respect and contribute to fostering peace and stability in the region.During his speech, Ahmadinejad brought forward a string of proposals, including opening borders with the GCC to strengthen economic relations, annulling visas to facilitate free movement of citizens and protecting regional environment. Moreover, Ahmadinejad offered to share Iran's expertise in various fields, including energy and the new technologies, and to provide water and natural gas to its Gulf neighbors. The Iranian president said the six Gulf Arab nations and Iran should work together to establish regional security and economic pacts without foreign influence. Well informed sources said that faced with stepped up international pressure over its controversial uranium enrichment program, Iran is eager to improve ties with its Gulf neighbors, which are staunch U.S. allies. GCC countries fear the rising tensions between the Shiite-dominated Islamic Republic and western countries over the issue might lead to regional instability.

PRESSING REGIONAL ISSUES

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said at the opening speech on Monday that the summit was being held in a climate of grave dangers threatening our homelands, the region and the world, noting that security and development were two faces of the same coin. With regard to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the GCC countries expressed aspiration that the Annapolis peace conference held in the U.S. last week may attain more positive steps for peace in the Middle East.The bloc, once again, urged Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and subject all of its nuclear facilities under the international inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, the only nuclear power in the region, arousing great concerns in Arab countries, which have fought five wars with the Jewish state. Israel has never admitted or denied that it has nuclear weapons. The Sunni-dominated GCC countries also underscored the need to respect Iraq's unity, sovereignty and independence, affirming that the achievement of national reconciliation is essential for its stabilization. Founded in 1981, the GCC has been striving to achieve wide-ranging cooperation among member states in face of internal and international challenges.Editor: Yan Liang

PRESIDENT BUSH TO VISIT ISRAEL IN JANUARY.
Historic first -- plus new CIA estimate says Iran has stopped pursuing nuclear weapons. Are they right?
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., December 4, 2007) -- On January 9, 2008, President Bush will make his first official visit to Israel as commander-in-chief and leader of the free world. This is an excellent development. As readers of Flash Traffic know, I have been saying for the last 18 months -- including just last week -- that President Bush should make this historic visit to Jerusalem to show solidarity with the people of Israel. He has traveled repeatedly to Iraq and Afghanistan, and visited Jordan last summer. But until now, the only time Mr. Bush has visited the Jewish State was in 1998 as Governor of Texas. The President should be applauded for this bold move. Let us also pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for safety for the President and his team, and for a new era of quiet and calmness in the epicenter.

In other key news from the epicenter, a new assessment by American intelligence agencies made public Monday concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably toward building a bomb, reports the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. The assessment, a National Intelligence Estimate that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, states that Tehran is most likely keeping its options open with respect to building a weapon, but that intelligence agencies do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons. Iran is continuing to produce enriched uranium, the report says, a program that the Tehran government has said is designed for civilian purposes. The new estimate says that the enrichment program could still provide Iran with enough raw material to produce a nuclear weapon sometime by the middle of next decade, a timetable essentially unchanged from previous estimates. But the new estimate declares with 'high confidence' that a military-run Iranian program intended to transform that raw material into a nuclear weapon has been shut down since 2003, and also says with high confidence that the halt was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure.Translation: The U.S. is now far less likely to launch a series of preemptive military strikes against actual and suspected Iranian nuclear research facilities before the end of this President's term in office and the current Congressional leadership would be far less likely to support such a strike if one were proposed or made (not that they would have been that supportive anyway).

Question: Is this intelligence assessment correct? Maybe. And let's hope so. It would be wonderful if Iran is not the immediate nuclear threat that U.S. intelligence agencies have been saying they were right up to this week. But there is always the possibility that the U.S. assessment is wrong. The accuracy of some of our intelligence reports in the Middle East have certainly been in question in recent years. And we must always remember May 1998, when India and Pakistan conducted multiple nuclear weapons tests, stunning U.S. and Western intelligence agencies who had absolutely no idea either country so close to getting the Bomb. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), then the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called this a colossal failure of the U.S. intelligence community. God forbid we should have a similar such failure with regards to Iran. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Jerusalem Post that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates showed him the NIE in Annapolis last week but the Israeli conclusion remains that Iran is actively trying to build nuclear weapons. I am familiar with the American intelligence assessment, Barak said....Nevertheless, I say again that Iran is today a central threat on the world and the State of Israel....There is a lot that can be done with regard to the Iranian nuclear program but it is important to mention that words do not stop missiles, Action is needed in the form of sanctions, in the diplomatic sphere and in other spheres as well. In November, Barak warned military strikes might be needed in the next 24 months. We cannot take any option off the table and we need to study operational aspects. This is not just for the coming months but also for the coming two years.

Israel, Vatican close to historic accord: Israeli ambassador Tue Dec 4, 2:57 AM ET

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Israel and the Vatican are close to concluding a historic bilateral accord on the legal and financial status of the Roman Catholic Church in Israel, the country's ambassador said Monday. We are very close to the conclusion of this historic accord, Oded Ben Hur was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency at a debate organised by a pontifical university in Rome.The text under negotiation is the economic section of the fundamental agreement on relations the Vatican and Israel signed in December 1993.About 85 percent of the text has been examined and approved by the representatives of Israel and the Vatican, said the ambassador.Negotiations on the text resumed in 2004 after a 10-year hiatus, and Ben Hur said the next round of talks will take place on December 13 in Israel.The two sides are seeking to hammer out an agreement concerning the legal and tax status of Church property in Israel and the commercial activities of Christian communities there.The Vatican is seeking tax-exempt status for Church institutions.

HANNUKAH DAY 1 - 8 SCRIPTURES

TONIGHT AT 6PM HANNUKAH STARTS IN ISRAEL.

HERE ARE THE SCRIPTURES TO READ FOR ALL 8 DAYS

ZECHARIAH 2:1-13 King James Bible
1 I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.
2 Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
3 And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,
4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
6 Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.
7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.
11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.
12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

ZECHARIAH 3:1-10 King James Bible
1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
10 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.

ZECHARIAH 4:1-14 King James Bible
1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.

GENESIS 37:1-36 King James Bible
1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. 4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.
18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him;
24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
32 And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.

GENESIS 38:1-30 King James Bible
1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.
4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.
5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.
8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.
11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
14 And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.
16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?
17 And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?
18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
19 And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not.
21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place. 23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.
26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

GENESIS 39:1-23 King James Bible
1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither.
2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.
6 And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favored.
7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
8 But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth,
14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:
15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.
17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:
18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out.
19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.
20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.

GENESIS 40:1-23 King James Bible
1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.
2 And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.
3 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.
5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.
6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.
7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?
8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.
9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;
10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:
11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:
13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. 14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:
17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:
19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:
22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

HANNUKA SHABBAT (SABBATH) SCRIPTURES WHICH EVER DAY ON.

GENESIS 41:1-57 King James Bible
1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
2 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favored kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.
3 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favored and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.
4 And the ill favored and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favored and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
5 And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
7 And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.
9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day:
10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker:
11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
12 And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.
13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.
14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favored; and they fed in a meadow:
19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favored and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
20 And the lean and the ill favored kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:
21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
23 And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.
25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
27 And the seven thin and ill favored kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.
28 This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh.
29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.
32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.
35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
36 And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.
37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.
38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.
48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.
49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.
52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
53 And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.
54 And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.
56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

GENESIS 42:1-38 King James Bible
1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?
2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.
3 And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.
4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.
5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.
12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.
26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence. 27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack's mouth.
28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?
29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,
30 The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.
31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies:
32 We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
33 And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone:
34 And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land.
35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.
37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.
38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

GENESIS 43:1-34 King James Bible
1 And the famine was sore in the land.
2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.
3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:
5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?
7 And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.
9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:
10 For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.
11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:
12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:
13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:
14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.
15 And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon.
17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.
18 And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.
19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,
20 And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:
21 And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand.
22 And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.
23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.
24 And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.
25 And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.
26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.
27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?
28 And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance. 29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.
30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.
31 And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.
32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marveled one at another.
34 And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

GENESIS 44:1-17 King James Bible
1 And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.
2 And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.
3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.
4 And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?
5 Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.
6 And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words.
7 And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing:
8 Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold?
9 With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen.
10 And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless.
11 Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.
12 And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
13 Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city.
14 And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground.
15 And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?
16 And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.
17 And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.