and his son Eupator, 21and the appearances which came from heaven to those who strove zealously on behalf of Judaism, so that though few in number they seized the whole land and pursued the barbarian hordes, 22and recovered the temple famous throughout the world and freed the city and restored the laws that were about to be abolished, while the LORD with great kindness became gracious to them\u201423all this, which has been set forth by Jason of Cyrene in five volumes, we shall attempt to condense into a single book. 24For considering the flood of numbers involved and the difficulty there is for those who wish to enter upon the narratives of history because of the mass of material, 25we have aimed to please those who wish to read, to make it easy for those who are inclined to memorize, and to profit all readers. 26For us who have undertaken the toil of abbreviating, it is no light matter but calls for sweat and loss of sleep, 27just as it is not easy for one who prepares a banquet and seeks the benefit of others. However, to secure the gratitude of many we will gladly endure the uncomfortable toil, 28leaving the responsibility for exact details to the compiler, while devoting our effort to arriving at the outlines of the condensation. 29For as the master builder of a new house must be concerned with the whole construction, while the one who undertakes its painting and decoration has to consider only what is suitable for its adornment, such in my judgment is the case with us. 30It is the duty of the original historian to occupy the ground and to discuss matters from every side and to take trouble with details, 31but the one who recasts the narrative should be allowed to strive for brevity of expression and to forego exhaustive treatment. 32At this point therefore let us begin our narrative, adding only so much to what has already been said; for it is foolish to lengthen the preface while cutting short the history itself.
\n3.1While the holy city was inhabited in unbroken peace and the laws were very well observed because of the piety of the high priest Onias and his hatred of wickedness, 2it came about that the kings themselves honored the place and glorified the temple with the finest presents, 3so that even Seleucus, the king of Asia, defrayed from his own revenues all the expenses connected with the service of the sacrifices. 4But a man named Simon, of the tribe of Benjamin, who had been made captain of the temple, had a disagreement with the high priest about the administration of the city market; 5and when he could not prevail over Onias he went to Apollonius of Tarsus, who at that time was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia. 6He reported to him that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of untold sums of money, so that the amount of the funds could not be reckoned, and that they did not belong to the account of the sacrifices, but that it was possible for them to fall under the control of the king. 7When Apollonius met the king, he told him of the money about which he had been informed. The king chose Heliodorus, who was in charge of his affairs, and sent him with commands to effect the removal of the aforesaid money. 8Heliodorus at once set out on his journey, ostensibly to make a tour of inspection of the cities of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, but in fact to carry out the king\u2019s purpose. 9When he had arrived at Jerusalem and had been kindly welcomed by the high priest of the city, he told about the disclosure that had been made and stated why he had come, and he inquired whether this really was the situation. 10The high priest explained that there were some deposits belonging to widows and orphans, 11and also some money of Hyrcanus, son of Tobias, a man of very prominent position, and that it totaled in all four hundred talents of silver and two hundred of gold. To such an extent the impious Simon had misrepresented the facts. 12And he said that it was utterly impossible that wrong should be done to those people who had trusted in the holiness of the place and in the sanctity and inviolability of the temple which is honored throughout the whole world. 13But Heliodorus, because of the king\u2019s commands which he had, said that this money must in any case be confiscated for the king\u2019s treasury. 14So he set a day and went in to direct the inspection of these funds.
\nThere was no little distress throughout the whole city. 15The priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their priestly garments and called toward heaven upon him who had given the law about deposits, that he should keep them safe for those who had deposited them. 16To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart, for his face and the change in his color disclosed the anguish of his soul. 17For terror and bodily trembling had come over the man, which plainly showed to those who looked at him the pain lodged in his heart. 18People also hurried out of their houses in crowds to make a general supplication because the holy place was about to be brought into contempt. 19Women, girded with sackcloth under their breasts, thronged the streets. Some of the maidens who were kept indoors ran together to the gates, and some to the walls, while others peered out of the windows. 20And holding up their hands to heaven, they all made entreaty. 21There was something pitiable in the prostration of the whole populace and the anxiety of the high priest in his great anguish. 22While they were calling upon the Almighty LORD that he would keep what had been entrusted safe and secure for those who had entrusted it, 23Heliodorus went on with what had been decided. 24But when he arrived at the treasury with his bodyguard, then and there the Sovereign of spirits and of all authority caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him were astounded by the power of God, and became faint with terror. 25For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse, with a rider of frightening mien, and it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck at him with its front hoofs. Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold. 26Two young men also appeared to him, remarkably strong, gloriously beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on each side of him and scourged him continuously, inflicting many blows on him. 27When he suddenly fell to the ground and deep darkness came over him, his men took him up and put him on a stretcher 28and carried him away, this man who had just entered the aforesaid treasury with a great retinue and all his bodyguard but was now unable to help himself; and they recognized clearly the sovereign power of God. 29While he lay prostrate, speechless because of the divine intervention and deprived of any hope of recovery, 30they praised the LORD who had acted marvelously for his own place. And the temple, which a little while before was full of fear and disturbance, was filled with joy and gladness, now that the Almighty LORD had appeared. 31Quickly some of Heliodorus\u2019s friends asked Onias to call upon the Most High and to grant life to one who was lying quite at his last breath. 32And the high priest, fearing that the king might get the notion that some foul play had been perpetrated by the Jews with regard to Heliodorus, offered sacrifice for the man\u2019s recovery. 33While the high priest was making the offering of atonement, the same young men appeared again to Heliodorus dressed in the same clothing, and they stood and said, \u201cBe very grateful to Onias the high priest, since for his sake the LORD has granted you your life. 34And see that you, who have been scourged by heaven, report to all men the majestic power of God.\u201d Having said this they vanished. 35Then Heliodorus offered sacrifice to the LORD and made very great vows to the Savior of his life, and having bidden Onias farewell, he marched off with his forces to the king. 36And he bore testimony to all men of the deeds of the supreme God, which he had seen with his own eyes. 37When the king asked Heliodorus what sort of person would be suitable to send on another mission to Jerusalem, he replied, 38\u201cIf you have any enemy or plotter against your government, send him there, for you will get him back thoroughly scourged, if he escapes at all, for there certainly is about the place some power of God. 39For he who has his dwelling in heaven watches over that place himself and brings it aid, and he strikes and destroys those who come to do it injury.\u201d 40This was the outcome of the episode of Heliodorus and the protection of the treasury.
\n4.1The previously mentioned Simon, who had informed about the money against his own country, slandered Onias, saying that it was he who had incited Heliodorus and had been the real cause of the misfortune. 2He dared to designate as a plotter against the government the man who was the benefactor of the city, the protector of his fellow countrymen, and a zealot for the laws. 3When his hatred progressed to such a degree that even murders were committed by one of Simon\u2019s approved agents, 4Onias recognized that the rivalry was serious and that Apollonius, the son of Menestheus and governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was intensifying the malice of Simon. 5So he betook himself to the king, not accusing his fellow citizens but having in view the welfare, both public and private, of all the people. 6For he saw that without the king\u2019s attention public affairs could not again reach a peaceful settlement, and that Simon would not stop his folly. 7When Seleucus died and Antiochus who was called Epiphanes succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption, 8promising the king at an interview three hundred and sixty talents of silver and, from another source of revenue, eighty talents. 9In addition to this he promised to pay one hundred and fifty more if permission were given to establish by his authority a gymnasium and a body of youth for it, and to enroll the men of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch. 10When the king assented and Jason came to office, he at once shifted his countrymen over to the Greek way of life. 11He set aside the existing royal concessions to the Jews, secured through John the father of Eupolemus, who went on the mission to establish friendship and alliance with the Romans; and he destroyed the lawful ways of living and introduced new customs contrary to the law. 12For with alacrity he founded a gymnasium right under the citadel, and he induced the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat. 13There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was ungodly and no high priest, 14that the priests were no longer intent upon their service at the altar. Despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to take part in the unlawful proceedings in the wrestling arena after the call to the discus, 15disdaining the honors prized by their fathers and putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige. 16For this reason heavy disaster overtook them, and those whose ways of living they admired and wished to imitate completely became their enemies and punished them. 17For it is no light thing to show irreverence to the divine laws\u2014a fact which later events will make clear. 18When the quadrennial games were being held at Tyre and the king was present, 19the vile Jason sent envoys, chosen as being Antiochian citizens from Jerusalem, to carry three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules. Those who carried the money, however, thought best not to use it for sacrifice, because that was inappropriate, but to expend it for another purpose. 20So this money was intended by the sender for the sacrifice to Hercules, but by the decision of its carriers it was applied to the construction of triremes. 21When Apollonius the son of Menestheus was sent to Egypt for the coronation of Philometor as king, Antiochus learned that Philometor had become hostile to his government, and he took measures for his own security. Therefore upon arriving at Joppa he proceeded to Jerusalem. 22He was welcomed magnificently by Jason and the city, and ushered in with a blaze of torches and with shouts. Then he marched into Phoenicia. 23After a period of three years Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the previously mentioned Simon, to carry the money to the king and to complete the records of essential business. 24But he, when presented to the king, extolled him with an air of authority, and secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver. 25After receiving the king\u2019s orders he returned, possessing no qualification for the high priesthood, but having the hot temper of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage wild beast. 26So Jason, who after supplanting his own brother was supplanted by another man, was driven as a fugitive into the land of Ammon. 27And Menelaus held the office, but he did not pay regularly any of the money promised to the king. 28When Sostratus the captain of the citadel kept requesting payment, for the collection of the revenue was his responsibility, the two of them were summoned by the king on account of this issue. 29Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus as deputy in the high priesthood, while Sostratus left Crates, the commander of the Cyprian troops. 30While such was the state of affairs, it happened that the people of Tarsus and of Mallus revolted because their cities had been given as a present to Antiochis, the king\u2019s concubine. 31So the king went hastily to settle the trouble, leaving Andronicus, a man of high rank, to act as his deputy. 32But Menelaus, thinking he had obtained a suitable opportunity, stole some of the gold vessels of the temple and gave them to Andronicus; other vessels, as it happened, he had sold to Tyre and the neighboring cities. 33When Onias became fully aware of these acts he publicly exposed them, having first withdrawn to a place of sanctuary at Daphne near Antioch. 34Therefore Menelaus, taking Andronicus aside, urged him to kill Onias. Andronicus came to Onias, and resorting to treachery offered him sworn pledges and gave him his right hand, and in spite of his suspicion persuaded Onias to come out from the place of sanctuary; then, with no regard for justice, he immediately put him out of the way. 35For this reason not only Jews, but many also of other nations, were grieved and displeased at the unjust murder of the man. 36When the king returned from the region of Cilicia, the Jews in the city appealed to him with regard to the unreasonable murder of Onias, and the Greeks shared their hatred of the crime. 37Therefore Antiochus was grieved at heart and filled with pity, and wept because of the moderation and good conduct of the deceased; 38and inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped off the purple robe from Andronicus, tore off his garments, and led him about the whole city to that very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias, and there he dispatched the bloodthirsty fellow. The LORD thus repaid him with the punishment he deserved. 39When many acts of sacrilege had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the connivance of Menelaus, and when report of them had spread abroad, the populace gathered against Lysimachus, because many of the gold vessels had already been stolen. 40And since the crowds were becoming aroused and filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men and launched an unjust attack, under the leadership of a certain Auranus, a man advanced in years and no less advanced in folly. 41But when the Jews became aware of Lysimachus\u2019s attack, some picked up stones, some blocks of wood, and others took handfuls of the ashes that were lying about, and threw them in wild confusion at Lysimachus and his men. 42As a result, they wounded many of them, and killed some, and put them all to flight; and the temple robber himself they killed close by the treasury. 43Charges were brought against Menelaus about this incident. 44When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate presented the case before him. 45But Menelaus, already as good as beaten, promised a substantial bribe to Ptolemy son of Dorymenes to win over the king. 46Therefore Ptolemy, taking the king aside into a colonnade as if for refreshment, induced the king to change his mind. 47Menelaus, the cause of all the evil, he acquitted of the charges against him, while he sentenced to death those unfortunate men, who would have been freed uncondemned if they had pleaded even before Scythians. 48And so those who had spoken for the city and the villages and the holy vessels quickly suffered the unjust penalty. 49Therefore even the Tyrians, showing their hatred of the crime, provided magnificently for their funeral. 50But Menelaus, because of the cupidity of those in power, remained in office, growing in wickedness, having become the chief plotter against his fellow citizens.
\n5.1About this time Antiochus made his second invasion of Egypt. 2And it happened that over all the city, for almost forty days, there appeared golden-clad horsemen charging through the air, in companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords\u20143troops of horsemen drawn up, attacks and counterattacks made on this side and on that, brandishing of shields, massing of spears, hurling of missiles, the flash of golden trappings, and armor of all sorts. 4Therefore all men prayed that the apparition might prove to have been a good omen. 5When a false rumor arose that Antiochus was dead, Jason took no less than a thousand men and suddenly made an assault upon the city. When the troops upon the wall had been forced back and at last the city was being taken, Menelaus took refuge in the citadel. 6But Jason kept relentlessly slaughtering his fellow citizens, not realizing that success at the cost of one\u2019s kindred is the greatest misfortune, but imagining that he was setting up trophies of victory over enemies and not over fellow countrymen. 7He did not gain control of the government, however; and in the end got only disgrace from his conspiracy, and fled again into the country of the Ammonites. 8Finally he met a miserable end. Accused before Aretas the ruler of the Arabs, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt; 9and he who had driven many from their own country into exile died in exile, having embarked to go to the Lacedaemonians in hope of finding protection because of their kinship. 10He who had cast out many to lie unburied had no one to mourn for him; he had no funeral of any sort and no place in the tomb of his fathers. 11When news of what had happened reached the king, he took it to mean that Judea was in revolt. So, raging inwardly, he left Egypt and took the city by storm. 12And he commanded his soldiers to cut down relentlessly every one they met and to slay those who went into the houses. 13Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaughter of virgins and infants. 14Within the total of three days eighty thousand were destroyed, forty thousand in hand- to-hand fighting; and as many were sold into slavery as were slain. 15Not content with this, Antiochus dared to enter the most holy temple in all the world, guided by Menelaus, who had become a traitor both to the laws and to his country. 16He took the holy vessels with his polluted hands, and swept away with profane hands the votive offerings which other kings had made to enhance the glory and honor of the place. 17Antiochus was elated in spirit, and did not perceive that the LORD was angered for a little while because of the sins of those who dwelt in the city, and that therefore he was disregarding the holy place. 18But if it had not happened that they were involved in many sins, this man would have been scourged and turned back from his rash act as soon as he came forward, just as Heliodorus was, whom Seleucus the king sent to inspect the treasury. 19But the LORD did not choose the nation for the sake of the holy place, but the place for the sake of the nation. 20Therefore the place itself shared in the misfortunes that befell the nation and afterward participated in its benefits; and what was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was restored again in all its glory when the great LORD became reconciled. 21So Antiochus carried off eighteen hundred talents from the temple, and hurried away to Antioch, thinking in his arrogance that he could sail on the land and walk on the sea, because his mind was elated. 22And he left governors to afflict the people: at Jerusalem, Philip, by birth a Phrygian and in character more barbarous than the man who appointed him; 23and at Gerizim, Andronicus; and besides these Menelaus, who lorded it over his fellow citizens worse than the others did. In his malice toward the Jewish citizens, 24Antiochus sent Apollonius, the captain of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand, and commanded him to slay all the grown men and to sell the women and boys as slaves. 25When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peaceably disposed and waited until the holy Sabbath day; then, finding the Jews not at work, he ordered his men to parade under arms. 26He put to the sword all those who came out to see them, then rushed into the city with his armed men and killed great numbers of people. 27But Judas Maccabeus, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness, and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild, so that they might not share in the defilement.
\n6.1Not long after this, the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their fathers and cease to live by the laws of God, 2and also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and call it the temple of Olympian Zeus, and to call the one in Gerizim the temple of Zeus the Friend of Strangers, as did the people who dwelt in that place. 3Harsh and utterly grievous was the onslaught of evil. 4For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the Gentiles, who dallied with harlots and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and besides brought in things for sacrifice that were unfit. 5The altar was covered with abominable offerings which were forbidden by the laws. 6A man could neither keep the Sabbath, nor observe the feasts of his fathers, nor so much as confess himself to be a Jew. 7On the monthly celebration of the king\u2019s birthday, the Jews were taken, under bitter constraint, to partake of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Dionysus came, they were compelled to walk in the procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy. 8At the suggestion of Ptolemy a decree was issued to the neighboring Greek cities, that they should adopt the same policy toward the Jews and make them partake of the sacrifices, 9and should slay those who did not choose to change over to Greek customs. One could see, therefore, the misery that had come upon them. 10For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These women they publicly paraded about the city, with their babies hung at their breasts, then hurled them down headlong from the wall. 11Others who had assembled in the caves near by, to observe the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of their regard for that most holy day. 12Now I urge those who read this book not to be depressed by such calamities, but to recognize that these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline our people. 13In fact, not to let the impious alone for long, but to punish them immediately, is a sign of great kindness. 14For in the case of the other nations the LORD waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins; but he does not deal in this way with us, 15in order that he may not take vengeance on us afterward when our sins have reached their height. 16Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us. Though he disciplines us with calamities, he does not forsake his own people. 17Let what we have said serve as a reminder; we must go on briefly with the story. 18Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine\u2019s flesh. 19But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh, 20as men ought to go who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life. 21Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside, because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing, proper for him to use, and pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal which had been commanded by the king, 22so that by doing this he might be saved from death, and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them. 23But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs which he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God-given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades. 24\u201cSuch pretense is not worthy of our time of life,\u201d he said, \u201clest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion, 25and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. 26For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty. 27Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age 28and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.\u201d
\nWhen he had said this, he went at once to the rack. 29And those who a little before had acted toward him with good will now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness. 30When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: \u201cIt is clear to the LORD in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him.\u201d 31So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.
\n7.1It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine\u2019s flesh. 2One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, \u201cWhat do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.\u201d 3The king fell into a rage, and gave orders that pans and caldrons be heated. 4These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. 5When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, 6\u201cThe LORD God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song which bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, \u2018And he will have compassion on his servants\u2019.\u201d 7After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, \u201cWill you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?\u201d 8He replied in the language of his fathers, and said to them, \u201cNo.\u201d Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done. 9And when he was at his last breath, he said, \u201cYou accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws.\u201d 10After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, 11and said nobly, \u201cI got these from heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again.\u201d 12As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man\u2019s spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing. 13When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. 14And when he was near death, he said, \u201cOne cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!\u201d 15Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him. 16But he looked at the king, and said, \u201cBecause you have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please. But do not think that God has forsaken our people. 17Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you and your descendants!\u201d 18After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said, \u201cDo not deceive yourself in vain. For we are suffering these things on our own account, because of our sins against our own God. Therefore astounding things have happened. 19But do not think that you will go unpunished for having tried to fight against God!\u201d 20The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the LORD. 21She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman\u2019s reasoning with a man\u2019s courage, and said to them, 22\u201cI do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. 23Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.\u201d 24Antiochus felt that he was being treated with contempt, and he was suspicious of her reproachful tone. The youngest brother being still alive, Antiochus not only appealed to him in words, but promised with oaths that he would make him rich and enviable if he would turn from the ways of his fathers, and that he would take him for his friend and entrust him with public affairs. 25Since the young man would not listen to him at all, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the youth to save himself. 26After much urging on his part, she undertook to persuade her son. 27But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native tongue as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: \u201cMy son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you. 28I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being. 29Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God\u2019s mercy I may get you back again with your brothers.\u201d 30While she was still speaking, the young man said, \u201cWhat are you waiting for? I will not obey the king\u2019s command, but I obey the command of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses. 31But you, who have contrived all sorts of evil against the Hebrews, will certainly not escape the hands of God. 32For we are suffering because of our own sins. 33And if our living LORD is angry for a little while, to rebuke and discipline us, he will again be reconciled with his own servants. 34But you, unholy wretch, you most defiled of all men, do not be elated in vain and puffed up by uncertain hopes, when you raise your hand against the children of heaven. 35You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God. 36For our brothers after enduring a brief suffering have drunk of everflowing life under God\u2019s covenant; but you, by the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your arrogance. 37I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our fathers, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by afflictions and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God, 38and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has justly fallen on our whole nation.\u201d 39The king fell into a rage, and handled him worse than the others, being exasperated at his scorn. 40So he died in his integrity, putting his whole trust in the LORD. 41Last of all, the mother died, after her sons. 42Let this be enough, then, about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.
\n8.1But Judas, who was also called Maccabeus, and his companions secretly entered the villages and summoned their kinsmen and enlisted those who had continued in the Jewish faith, and so they gathered about six thousand men. 2They besought the LORD to look upon the people who were oppressed by all, and to have pity on the temple which had been profaned by ungodly men, 3and to have mercy on the city which was being destroyed and about to be leveled to the ground, and to hearken to the blood that cried out to him, 4and to remember also the lawless destruction of the innocent babies and the blasphemies committed against his name, and to show his hatred of evil. 5As soon as Maccabeus got his army organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the wrath of the LORD had turned to mercy. 6Coming without warning, he would set fire to towns and villages. He captured strategic positions and put to flight not a few of the enemy. 7He found the nights most advantageous for such attacks. And talk of his valor spread everywhere. 8When Philip saw that the man was gaining ground little by little, and that he was pushing ahead with more frequent successes, he wrote to Ptolemy, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, for aid to the king\u2019s government. 9And Ptolemy promptly appointed Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of the king\u2019s chief friends, and sent him, in command of no fewer than twenty thousand Gentiles of all nations, to wipe out the whole race of Judea. He associated with him Gorgias, a general and a man of experience in military service. 10Nicanor determined to make up for the king the tribute due to the Romans, two thousand talents, by selling the captured Jews into slavery. 11And he immediately sent to the cities on the seacoast, inviting them to buy Jewish slaves and promising to hand over ninety slaves for a talent, not expecting the judgment from the Almighty that was about to overtake him. 12Word came to Judas concerning Nicanor\u2019s invasion; and when he told his companions of the arrival of the army, 13those who were cowardly and distrustful of God\u2019s justice ran off and got away. 14Others sold all their remaining property, and at the same time besought the LORD to rescue those who had been sold by the ungodly Nicanor before he ever met them, 15if not for their own sake, yet for the sake of the covenants made with their fathers, and because he had called them by his holy and glorious name. 16But Maccabeus gathered his men together, to the number six thousand, and exhorted them not to be frightened by the enemy and not to fear the great multitude of Gentiles who were wickedly coming against them, but to fight nobly, 17keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage which the Gentiles had committed against the holy place, and the torture of the derided city, and besides, the overthrow of their ancestral way of life. 18\u201cFor they trust to arms and acts of daring,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we trust in the Almighty God, who is able with a single nod to strike down those who are coming against us and even the whole world.\u201d 19Moreover, he told them of the times when help came to their ancestors; both the time of Sennacherib, when one hundred and eighty-five thousand perished, 20and the time of the battle with the Galatians that took place in Babylonia, when eight thousand in all went into the affair, with four thousand Macedonians; and when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand, by the help that came to them from heaven, destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand and took much booty. 21With these words he filled them with good courage and made them ready to die for their laws and their country; then he divided his army into four parts. 22He appointed his brothers also, Simon and Joseph and Jonathan, each to command a division, putting fifteen hundred men under each. 23Besides, he appointed Eleazar to read aloud from the holy book, and gave the watchword, \u201cGod\u2019s help\u201d; then, leading the first division himself, he joined battle with Nicanor. 24With the Almighty as their ally, they slew more than nine thousand of the enemy, and wounded and disabled most of Nicanor\u2019s army, and forced them all to flee. 25They captured the money of those who had come to buy them as slaves. After pursuing them for some distance, they were obliged to return because the hour was late. 26For it was the day before the Sabbath, and for that reason they did not continue their pursuit. 27And when they had collected the arms of the enemy and stripped them of their spoils, they kept the Sabbath, giving great praise and thanks to the LORD, who had preserved them for that day and allotted it to them as the beginning of mercy. 28After the Sabbath they gave some of the spoils to those who had been tortured and to the widows and orphans, and distributed the rest among themselves and their children. 29When they had done this, they made common supplication and besought the merciful LORD to be wholly reconciled with his servants. 30In encounters with the forces of Timothy and Bacchides they killed more than twenty thousand of them and got possession of some exceedingly high strongholds, and they divided very much plunder, giving to those who had been tortured and to the orphans and widows, and also to the aged, shares equal to their own. 31Collecting the arms of the enemy, they stored them all carefully in strategic places, and carried the rest of the spoils to Jerusalem. 32They killed the commander of Timothy\u2019s forces, a most unholy man, and one who had greatly troubled the Jews. 33While they were celebrating the victory in the city of their fathers, they burned those who had set fire to the sacred gates, Callisthenes and some others, who had fled into one little house; so these received the proper recompense for their impiety. 34The thrice-accursed Nicanor, who had brought the thousand merchants to buy the Jews, 35having been humbled with the help of the LORD by opponents whom he regarded as of the least account, took off his splendid uniform and made his way alone like a runaway slave across the country till he reached Antioch, having succeeded chiefly in the destruction of his own army! 36Thus he who had undertaken to secure tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem proclaimed that the Jews had a Defender, and that therefore the Jews were invulnerable, because they followed the laws ordained by him.
\n9.1About that time, as it happened, Antiochus had retreated in disorder from the region of Persia. 2For he had entered the city called Persepolis, and attempted to rob the temples and control the city. Therefore the people rushed to the rescue with arms, and Antiochus and his men were defeated, with the result that Antiochus was put to flight by the inhabitants and beat a shameful retreat. 3While he was in Ecbatana, news came to him of what had happened to Nicanor and the forces of Timothy. 4Transported with rage, he conceived the idea of turning upon the Jews the injury done by those who had put him to flight; so he ordered his charioteer to drive without stopping until he completed the journey. But the judgment of heaven rode with him! For in his arrogance he said, \u201cWhen I get there I will make Jerusalem a cemetery of Jews.\u201d 5But the all-seeing LORD, the God of Israel, struck him an incurable and unseen blow. As soon as he ceased speaking he was seized with a pain in his bowels for which there was no relief and with sharp internal tortures\u20146and that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. 7Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to hasten the journey. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body. 8Thus he who had just been thinking that he could command the waves of the sea, in his superhuman arrogance, and imagining that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. 9And so the ungodly man\u2019s body swarmed with worms, and while he was still living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away, and because of his stench the whole army felt revulsion at his decay. 10Because of his intolerable stench no one was able to carry the man who a little while before had thought that he could touch the stars of heaven. 11Then it was that, broken in spirit, he began to lose much of his arrogance and to come to his senses under the scourge of God, for he was tortured with pain every moment. 12And when he could not endure his own stench, he uttered these words: \u201cIt is right to be subject to God, and no mortal should think that he is equal to God.\u201d 13Then the abominable fellow made a vow to the LORD, who would no longer have mercy on him, stating 14that the holy city, which he was hastening to level to the ground and to make a cemetery, he was now declaring to be free; 15and the Jews, whom he had not considered worth burying but had planned to throw out with their children to the beasts, for the birds to pick, he would make, all of them, equal to citizens of Athens; 16and the holy sanctuary, which he had formerly plundered, he would adorn with the finest offerings; and the holy vessels he would give back, all of them, many times over; and the expenses incurred for the sacrifices he would provide from his own revenues; 17and in addition to all this he also would become a Jew and would visit every inhabited place to proclaim the power of God. 18But when his sufferings did not in any way abate, for the judgment of God had justly come upon him, he gave up all hope for himself and wrote to the Jews the following letter, in the form of a supplication. This was its content: 19\u201cTo his worthy Jewish citizens, Antiochus their king and general sends hearty greetings and good wishes for their health and prosperity. 20If you and your children are well and your affairs are as you wish, I am glad. As my hope is in heaven, 21I remember with affection your esteem and goodwill. On my way back from the region of Persia I suffered an annoying illness, and I have deemed it necessary to take thought for the general security of all. 22I do not despair of my condition, for I have good hope of recovering from my illness, 23but I observed that my father, on the occasions when he made expeditions into the upper country, appointed his successor, 24so that, if anything unexpected happened or any unwelcome news came, the people throughout the realm would not be troubled, for they would know to whom the government was left. 25Moreover, I understand how the princes along the borders and the neighbors to my kingdom keep watching for opportunities and waiting to see what will happen. So I have appointed my son Antiochus to be king, whom I have often entrusted and commended to most of you when I hastened off to the upper provinces; and I have written to him what is written here. 26I therefore urge and beseech you to remember the public and private services rendered to you and to maintain your present goodwill, each of you, toward me and my son. 27For I am sure that he will follow my policy and will treat you with moderation and kindness.\u201d 28So the murderer and blasphemer, having endured the more intense suffering, such as he had inflicted on others, came to the end of his life by a most pitiable fate, among the mountains in a strange land. 29And Philip, one of his courtiers, took his body home; then, fearing the son of Antiochus, he betook himself to Ptolemy Philometor in Egypt.
\n10.1Now Maccabeus and his followers, the LORD leading them on, recovered the temple and the city; 2and they tore down the altars which had been built in the public square by the foreigners, and also destroyed the sacred precincts. 3They purified the sanctuary, and made another altar of sacrifice; then, striking fire out of flint, they offered sacrifices, after a lapse of two years, and they burned incense and lighted lamps and set out the bread of the Presence. 4And when they had done this, they fell prostrate and besought the LORD that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, but that, if they should ever sin, they might be disciplined by him with forbearance and not be handed over to blasphemous and barbarous nations. 5It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Chislev. 6And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. 7Therefore bearing ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. 8They decreed by public ordinance and vote that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year. 9Such then was the end of Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes. 10Now we will tell what took place under Antiochus Eupator, who was the son of that ungodly man, and will give a brief summary of the principal calamities of the wars. 11This man, when he succeeded to the kingdom, appointed one Lysias to have charge of the government and to be chief governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia. 12Ptolemy, who was called Macron, took the lead in showing justice to the Jews because of the wrong that had been done to them, and attempted to maintain peaceful relations with them. 13As a result he was accused before Eupator by the king\u2019s friends. He heard himself called a traitor at every turn, because he had abandoned Cyprus, which Philometor had entrusted to him, and had gone over to Antiochus Epiphanes. Unable to command the respect due his office, he took poison and ended his life. 14When Gorgias became governor of the region, he maintained a force of mercenaries, and at every turn kept on warring against the Jews. 15Besides this, the Idumeans, who had control of important strongholds, were harassing the Jews; they received those who were banished from Jerusalem, and endeavored to keep up the war. 16But Maccabeus and his men, after making solemn supplication and beseeching God to fight on their side, rushed to the strongholds of the Idumeans. 17Attacking them vigorously, they gained possession of the places, and beat off all who fought upon the wall, and slew those whom they encountered, killing no fewer than twenty thousand. 18When no less than nine thousand took refuge in two very strong towers well equipped to withstand a siege, 19Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, and also Zacchaeus and his men, a force sufficient to besiege them; and he himself set off for places where he was more urgently needed. 20But the men with Simon, who were money-hungry, were bribed by some of those who were in the towers, and on receiving seventy thousand drachmas let some of them slip away. 21When word of what had happened came to Maccabeus, he gathered the leaders of the people, and accused these men of having sold their brethren for money by setting their enemies free to fight against them. 22Then he slew these men who had turned traitor, and immediately captured the two towers. 23Having success at arms in everything he undertook, he destroyed more than twenty thousand in the two strongholds. 24Now Timothy, who had been defeated by the Jews before, gathered a tremendous force of mercenaries and collected the cavalry from Asia in no small number. He came on, intending to take Judea by storm. 25As he drew near, Maccabeus and his men sprinkled dust upon their heads and girded their loins with sackcloth, in supplication to God. 26Falling upon the steps before the altar, they besought him to be gracious to them and to be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries, as the law declares. 27And rising from their prayer they took up their arms and advanced a considerable distance from the city; and when they came near to the enemy they halted. 28Just as dawn was breaking, the two armies joined battle, the one having as pledge of success and victory not only their valor but their reliance upon the LORD, while the other made rage their leader in the fight. 29When the battle became fierce, there appeared to the enemy from heaven five resplendent men on horses with golden bridles, and they were leading the Jews. 30Surrounding Maccabeus and protecting him with their own armor and weapons, they kept him from being wounded. And they showered arrows and thunderbolts upon the enemy, so that, confused and blinded, they were thrown into disorder and cut to pieces. 31Twenty thousand five hundred were slaughtered, besides six hundred horsemen. 32Timothy himself fled to a stronghold called Gazara, especially well garrisoned, where Chaereas was commander. 33Then Maccabeus and his men were glad, and they besieged the fort for four days. 34The men within, relying on the strength of the place, blasphemed terribly and hurled out wicked words. 35But at dawn of the fifth day, twenty young men in the army of Maccabeus, fired with anger because of the blasphemies, bravely stormed the wall and with savage fury cut down every one they met. 36Others who came up in the same way wheeled around against the defenders and set fire to the towers; they kindled fires and burned the blasphemers alive. Others broke open the gates and let in the rest of the force, and they occupied the city. 37They killed Timothy, who was hidden in a cistern, and his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes. 38When they had accomplished these things, with hymns and thanksgivings they blessed the LORD who shows great kindness to Israel and gives them the victory.
\n11.1Very soon after this, Lysias, the king\u2019s guardian and kinsman, who was in charge of the government, being vexed at what had happened, 2gathered about eighty thousand men and all his cavalry and came against the Jews. He intended to make the city a home for Greeks, 3and to levy tribute on the temple as he did on the sacred places of the other nations, and to put up the high priesthood for sale every year. 4He took no account whatever of the power of God, but was elated with his ten thousands of infantry, and his thousands of cavalry, and his eighty elephants. 5Invading Judea, he approached Beth-zur, which was a fortified place about five leagues from Jerusalem, and pressed it hard. 6When Maccabeus and his men got word that Lysias was besieging the strongholds, they and all the people, with lamentations and tears, besought the LORD to send a good angel to save Israel. 7Maccabeus himself was the first to take up arms, and he urged the others to risk their lives with him to aid their brethren. Then they eagerly rushed off together. 8And there, while they were still near Jerusalem, a horseman appeared at their head, clothed in white and brandishing weapons of gold. 9And they all together praised the merciful God, and were strengthened in heart, ready to assail not only men but the wildest beasts or walls of iron. 10They advanced in battle order, having their heavenly ally, for the LORD had mercy on them. 11They hurled themselves like lions against the enemy, and slew eleven thousand of them and sixteen hundred horsemen, and forced all the rest to flee. 12Most of them got away stripped and wounded, and Lysias himself escaped by disgraceful flight. 13And as he was not without intelligence, he pondered over the defeat which had befallen him, and realized that the Hebrews were invincible because the mighty God fought on their side. So he sent to them 14and persuaded them to settle everything on just terms, promising that he would persuade the king, constraining him to be their friend. 15Maccabeus, having regard for the common good, agreed to all that Lysias urged. For the king granted every request in behalf of the Jews which Maccabeus delivered to Lysias in writing. 16The letter written to the Jews by Lysias was to this effect:
\n\u201cLysias to the people of the Jews, greeting. 17John and Absalom, who were sent by you, have delivered your signed communication and have asked about the matters indicated therein. 18I have informed the king of everything that needed to be brought before him, and he has agreed to what was possible. 19If you will maintain your good will toward the government, I will endeavor for the future to help promote your welfare. 20And concerning these matters and their details, I have ordered these men and my representatives to confer with you. 21Farewell. The one hundred and forty-eighth year, Dioscorinthius twenty-fourth.\u201d 22The king\u2019s letter ran thus:
\n\u201cKing Antiochus to his brother Lysias, greeting. 23Now that our father has gone on to the gods, we desire that the subjects of the kingdom be undisturbed in caring for their own affairs. 24We have heard that the Jews do not consent to our father\u2019s change to Greek customs but prefer their own way of living and ask that their own customs be allowed them. 25Accordingly, since we choose that this nation also be free from disturbance, our decision is that their temple be restored to them and that they live according to the customs of their ancestors. 26You will do well, therefore, to send word to them and give them pledges of friendship, so that they may know our policy and be of good cheer and go on happily in the conduct of their own affairs.\u201d 27To the nation the king\u2019s letter was as follows:
\n\u201cKing Antiochus to the senate of the Jews and to the other Jews, greeting. 28If you are well, it is as we desire. We also are in good health. 29Menelaus has informed us that you wish to return home and look after your own affairs. 30Therefore those who go home by the thirtieth day of Xanthicus will have our pledge of friendship and full permission 31for the Jews to enjoy their own food and laws, just as formerly, and none of them shall be molested in any way for what he may have done in ignorance. 32And I have also sent Menelaus to encourage you. 33Farewell. The one hundred and forty-eighth year, Xanthicus fifteenth.\u201d 34The Romans also sent them a letter, which read thus:
\n\u201cQuintus Memmius and Titus Manius, envoys of the Romans, to the people of the Jews, greeting. 35With regard to what Lysias the kinsman of the king has granted you, we also give consent. 36But as to the matters which he decided are to be referred to the king, as soon as you have considered them, send someone promptly, so that we may make proposals appropriate for you. For we are on our way to Antioch. 37Therefore make haste and send some men, so that we may have your judgment. 38Farewell. The one hundred and forty-eighth year, Xanthicus fifteenth.\u201d
\n12.1When this agreement had been reached, Lysias returned to the king, and the Jews went about their farming. 2But some of the governors in various places, Timothy and Apollonius the son of Gennaeus, as well as Hieronymus and Demophon, and in addition to these Nicanor the governor of Cyprus, would not let them live quietly and in peace. 3And some men of Joppa did so ungodly a deed as this: they invited the Jews who lived among them to embark, with their wives and children, on boats which they had provided, as though there were no ill will to the Jews; 4and this was done by public vote of the city. And when they accepted, because they wished to live peaceably and suspected nothing, the men of Joppa took them out to sea and drowned them, not less than two hundred. 5When Judas heard of the cruelty visited on his countrymen, he gave orders to his men 6and, calling upon God the righteous Judge, attacked the murderers of his brethren. He set fire to the harbor by night, and burned the boats, and massacred those who had taken refuge there. 7Then, because the city\u2019s gates were closed, he withdrew, intending to come again and root out the whole community of Joppa. 8But learning that the men in Jamnia meant in the same way to wipe out the Jews who were living among them, 9he attacked the people of Jamnia by night and set fire to the harbor and the fleet, so that the glow of the light was seen in Jerusalem, thirty miles distant. 10When they had gone more than a mile from there, on their march against Timothy, not less than five thousand Arabs with five hundred horsemen attacked them. 11After a hard fight Judas and his men won the victory, by the help of God. The defeated nomads besought Judas to grant them pledges of friendship, promising to give him cattle and to help his people in all other ways. 12Judas, thinking that they might really be useful in many ways, agreed to make peace with them; and after receiving his pledges they departed to their tents. 13He also attacked a certain city which was strongly fortified with earthworks and walls, and inhabited by all sorts of Gentiles. Its name was Caspin. 14And those who were within, relying on the strength of the walls and on their supply of provisions, behaved most insolently toward Judas and his men, railing at them and even blaspheming and saying unholy things. 15But Judas and his men, calling upon the great Sovereign of the world, who without battering-rams or engines of war overthrew Jericho in the days of Joshua, rushed furiously upon the walls. 16They took the city by the will of God, and slaughtered untold numbers, so that the adjoining lake, a quarter of a mile wide, appeared to be running over with blood. 17When they had gone ninety-five miles from there, they came to Charax, to the Jews who are called Toubiani. 18They did not find Timothy in that region, for he had by then departed from the region without accomplishing anything, though in one place he had left a very strong garrison. 19Dositheus and Sosipater, who were captains under Maccabeus, marched out and destroyed those whom Timothy had left in the stronghold, more than ten thousand men. 20But Maccabeus arranged his army in divisions, set men in command of the divisions, and hastened after Timothy, who had with him a hundred and twenty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry. 21When Timothy learned of the approach of Judas, he sent off the women and the children and also the baggage to a place called Carnaim; for that place was hard to besiege and difficult of access because of the narrowness of all the approaches. 22But when Judas\u2019s first division appeared, terror and fear came over the enemy at the manifestation to them of him who sees all things; and they rushed off in flight and were swept on, this way and that, so that often they were injured by their own men and pierced by the points of their swords. 23And Judas pressed the pursuit with the utmost vigor, putting the sinners to the sword, and destroyed as many as thirty thousand men. 24Timothy himself fell into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater and their men. With great guile he besought them to let him go in safety, because he held the parents of most of them and the brothers of some and no consideration would be shown them. 25And when with many words he had confirmed his solemn promise to restore them unharmed, they let him go, for the sake of saving their brethren. 26Then Judas marched against Carnaim and the temple of Atargatis, and slaughtered twenty-five thousand people. 27After the rout and destruction of these, he marched also against Ephron, a fortified city where Lysias dwelt with multitudes of people of all nationalities. Stalwart young men took their stand before the walls and made a vigorous defense; and great stores of war engines and missiles were there. 28But the Jews called upon the Sovereign who with power shatters the might of his enemies, and they got the city into their hands, and killed as many as twenty-five thousand of those who were within it. 29Setting out from there, they hastened to Scythopolis, which is seventy-five miles from Jerusalem. 30But when the Jews who dwelt there bore witness to the good will which the people of Scythopolis had shown them and their kind treatment of them in times of misfortune, 31they thanked them and exhorted them to be well disposed to their race in the future also. Then they went up to Jerusalem, as the feast of weeks was close at hand. 32After the feast called Pentecost, they hastened against Gorgias, the governor of Idumea. 33And he came out with three thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry. 34When they joined battle, it happened that a few of the Jews fell. 35But a certain Dositheus, one of Bacenor\u2019s men, who was on horseback and was a strong man, caught hold of Gorgias, and grasping his cloak was dragging him off by main strength, wishing to take the accursed man alive, when one of the Thracian horsemen bore down upon him and cut off his arm; so Gorgias escaped and reached Marisa. 36As 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. 37In the language of their fathers he raised the battle cry, with hymns; then he charged against Gorgias\u2019s men when they were not expecting it, and put them to flight. 38Then Judas assembled his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom, and they kept the Sabbath there. 39On the next day, as by that time it had become necessary, Judas and his men went to take up the bodies of the fallen and to bring them back to lie with their kinsmen in the sepulchres of their fathers. 40Then under the tunic of every one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen. 41So they all blessed the ways of the LORD, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden; 42and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out. And the noble Judas exhorted the people 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. 43He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. 44For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 45But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.
\n13.1In the one hundred and forty-ninth year word came to Judas and his men that Antiochus Eupator was coming with a great army against Judea, 2and with him Lysias, his guardian, who had charge of the government. Each of them had a Greek force of one hundred and ten thousand infantry, five thousand three hundred cavalry, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes. 3Menelaus also joined them and with utter hypocrisy urged Antiochus on, not for the sake of his country\u2019s welfare, but because he thought that he would be established in office. 4But the King of kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel; and when Lysias informed him that this man was to blame for all the trouble, he ordered them to take him to Beroea and to put him to death by the method which is the custom in that place. 5For there is a tower in that place, fifty cubits high, full of ashes, and it has a rim running around it which on all sides inclines precipitously into the ashes. 6There they all push to destruction any man guilty of sacrilege or notorious for other crimes. 7By such a fate it came about that Menelaus the lawbreaker died, without even burial in the earth. 8And this was eminently just; because he had committed many sins against the altar whose fire and ashes were holy, he met his death in ashes. 9The king with barbarous arrogance was coming to show the Jews things far worse than those that had been done in his father\u2019s time. 10But when Judas heard of this, he ordered the people to call upon the LORD day and night, now if ever to help those who were on the point of being deprived of the law and their country and the holy temple, 11and not to let the people who had just begun to revive fall into the hands of the blasphemous Gentiles. 12When they had all joined in the same petition and had besought the merciful LORD with weeping and fasting and lying prostrate for three days without ceasing, Judas exhorted them and ordered them to stand ready. 13After consulting privately with the elders, he determined to march out and decide the matter by the help of God before the king\u2019s army could enter Judea and get possession of the city. 14So, committing the decision to the Creator of the world and exhorting his men to fight nobly to the death for the laws, temple, city, country, and commonwealth, he pitched his camp near Modein. 15He gave his men the watchword, \u201cGod\u2019s victory,\u201d and with a picked force of the bravest young men, he attacked the king\u2019s pavilion at night and slew as many as two thousand men in the camp. He stabbed the leading elephant and its rider. 16In the end they filled the camp with terror and confusion and withdrew in triumph. 17This happened, just as day was dawning, because the LORD\u2019s help protected him. 18The king, having had a taste of the daring of the Jews, tried strategy in attacking their positions. 19He advanced against Beth-zur, a strong fortress of the Jews, was turned back, attacked again, and was defeated. 20Judas sent in to the garrison whatever was necessary. 21But Rhodocus, a man from the ranks of the Jews, gave secret information to the enemy; he was sought for, caught, and put in prison. 22The king negotiated a second time with the people in Beth-zur, gave pledges, received theirs, withdrew, attacked Judas and his men, was defeated; 23he got word that Philip, who had been left in charge of the government, had revolted in Antioch; he was dismayed, called in the Jews, yielded and swore to observe all their rights, settled with them and offered sacrifice, honored the sanctuary and showed generosity to the holy place. 24He received Maccabeus, left Hegemonides as governor from Ptolemais to Gerar, 25and went to Ptolemais. The people of Ptolemais were indignant over the treaty; in fact they were so angry that they wanted to annul its terms. 26Lysias took the public platform, made the best possible defense, convinced them, appeased them, gained their goodwill, and set out for Antioch. This is how the king\u2019s attack and withdrawal turned out.
\n14.1Three years later, word came to Judas and his men that Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, had sailed into the harbor of Tripolis with a strong army and a fleet, 2and had taken possession of the country, having made away with Antiochus and his guardian Lysias. 3Now a certain Alcimus, who had formerly been high priest but had willfully defiled himself in the times of separation, realized that there was no way for him to be safe or to have access again to the holy altar, 4and went to King Demetrius in about the one hundred and fifty-first year, presenting to him a crown of gold and a palm, and besides these some of the customary olive branches from the temple. During that day he kept quiet. 5But he found an opportunity that furthered his mad purpose when he was invited by Demetrius to a meeting of the council and was asked about the disposition and intentions of the Jews. He answered: 6\u201cThose of the Jews who are called Hasideans, whose leader is Judas Maccabeus, are keeping up war and stirring up sedition, and will not let the kingdom attain tranquillity. 7Therefore I have laid aside my ancestral glory\u2014I mean the high priesthood\u2014and have now come here, 8first because I am genuinely concerned for the interests of the king, and second because I have regard also for my fellow citizens. For through the folly of those whom I have mentioned our whole nation is now in no small misfortune. 9Since you are acquainted, O king, with the details of this matter, deign to take thought for our country and our hard-pressed nation with the gracious kindness which you show to all. 10For as long as Judas lives, it is impossible for the government to find peace.\u201d 11When he had said this, the rest of the king\u2019s friends, who were hostile to Judas, quickly inflamed Demetrius still more. 12And he immediately chose Nicanor, who had been in command of the elephants, appointed him governor of Judea, and sent him off 13with orders to kill Judas and scatter his men, and to set up Alcimus as high priest of the greatest temple. 14And the Gentiles throughout Judea, who had fled before Judas, flocked to join Nicanor, thinking that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would mean prosperity for themselves. 15When the Jews heard of Nicanor\u2019s coming and the gathering of the Gentiles, they sprinkled dust upon their heads and prayed to him who established his own people forever and always upholds his own heritage by manifesting himself. 16At the command of the leader, they set out from there immediately and engaged them in battle at a village called Dessau. 17Simon, the brother of Judas, had encountered Nicanor, but had been temporarily checked because of the sudden consternation created by the enemy. 18Nevertheless Nicanor, hearing of the valor of Judas and his men and their courage in battle for their country, shrank from deciding the issue by bloodshed.
\n19Therefore he sent Posidonius and Theodotus and Mattathias to give and receive pledges of friendship. 20When the terms had been fully considered, and the leader had informed the people, and it had appeared that they were of one mind, they agreed to the covenant. 21And the leaders set a day on which to meet by themselves. A chariot came forward from each army; seats of honor were set in place; 22Judas posted armed men in readiness at key places to prevent sudden treachery on the part of the enemy; they held the proper conference. 23Nicanor stayed on in Jerusalem and did nothing out of the way, but dismissed the flocks of people that had gathered. 24And he kept Judas always in his presence; he was warmly attached to the man. 25And he urged him to marry and have children; so he married, settled down, and shared the common life. 26But when Alcimus noticed their goodwill for one another, he took the covenant that had been made and went to Demetrius. He told him that Nicanor was disloyal to the government, for he had appointed that conspirator against the kingdom, Judas, to be his successor. 27The king became excited and, provoked by the false accusations of that depraved man, wrote to Nicanor, stating that he was displeased with the covenant and commanding him to send Maccabeus to Antioch as a prisoner without delay. 28When this message came to Nicanor, he was troubled and grieved that he had to annul their agreement when the man had done no wrong. 29Since it was not possible to oppose the king, he watched for an opportunity to accomplish this by a stratagem. 30But Maccabeus, noticing that Nicanor was more austere in his dealings with him and was meeting him more rudely than had been his custom, concluded that this austerity did not spring from the best motives. So he gathered not a few of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor. 31When the latter became aware that he had been cleverly outwitted by the man, he went to the great and holy temple while the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and commanded them to hand the man over. 32And when they declared on oath that they did not know where the man was whom he sought, 33he stretched out his right hand toward the sanctuary, and swore this oath: \u201cIf you do not hand Judas over to me as a prisoner, I will level this precinct of God to the ground and tear down the altar, and I will build here a splendid temple to Dionysus.\u201d 34Having said this, he went away. Then the priests stretched forth their hands toward heaven and called upon the constant Defender of our nation, in these words: 35\u201cO LORD of all, who hast need of nothing, thou wast pleased that there be a temple for thy habitation among us; 36so now, O holy One, LORD of all holiness, keep undefiled forever this house that has been so recently purified.\u201d 37A certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor as a man who loved his fellow citizens and was very well thought of and for his goodwill was called father of the Jews. 38For in former times, when there was no mingling with the Gentiles, he had been accused of Judaism, and for Judaism he had with all zeal risked body and life. 39Nicanor, wishing to exhibit the enmity which he had for the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him; 40for he thought that by arresting him he would do them an injury. 41When the troops were about to capture the tower and were forcing the door of the courtyard, they ordered that fire be brought and the doors burned. Being surrounded, Razis fell upon his own sword, 42preferring to die nobly rather than to fall into the hands of sinners and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth. 43But in the heat of the struggle he did not hit exactly, and the crowd was now rushing in through the doors. He bravely ran up on the wall, and manfully threw himself down into the crowd. 44But as they quickly drew back, a space opened and he fell in the middle of the empty space. 45Still alive and aflame with anger, he rose, and though his blood gushed forth and his wounds were severe he ran through the crowd; and standing upon a steep rock, 46with his blood now completely drained from him, he tore out his entrails, took them with both hands and hurled them at the crowd, calling upon the LORD of life and spirit to give them back to him again. This was the manner of his death.
\n15.1When Nicanor heard that Judas and his men were in the region of Samaria, he made plans to attack them with complete safety on the day of rest. 2And when the Jews who were compelled to follow him said, \u201cDo not destroy so savagely and barbarously, but show respect for the day which he who sees all things has honored and hallowed above other days,\u201d 3the thrice-accursed wretch asked if there were a sovereign in heaven who had commanded the keeping of the Sabbath day. 4And when they declared, \u201cIt is the living LORD himself, the Sovereign in heaven, who ordered us to observe the seventh day,\u201d 5he replied, \u201cAnd I am a sovereign also, on earth, and I command you to take up arms and finish the king\u2019s business.\u201d Nevertheless, he did not succeed in carrying out his abominable design. 6This Nicanor in his utter boastfulness and arrogance had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his men. 7But Maccabeus did not cease to trust with all confidence that he would get help from the LORD. 8And he exhorted his men not to fear the attack of the Gentiles, but to keep in mind the former times when help had come to them from heaven, and now to look for the victory which the Almighty would give them. 9Encouraging them from the law and the prophets, and reminding them also of the struggles they had won, he made them the more eager. 10And when he had aroused their courage, he gave his orders, at the same time pointing out the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths. 11He armed each of them not so much with confidence in shields and spears as with the inspiration of brave words, and he cheered them all by relating a dream, a sort of vision, which was worthy of belief. 12What he saw was this: Onias, who had been high priest, a noble and good man, of modest bearing and gentle manner, one who spoke fittingly and had been trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence, was praying with outstretched hands for the whole body of the Jews.
\n13Then likewise a man appeared, distinguished by his gray hair and dignity, and of marvelous majesty and authority. 14And Onias spoke, saying, \u201cThis is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God.\u201d 15Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave to Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he addressed him thus: 16\u201cTake this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you will strike down your adversaries.\u201d 17Encouraged by the words of Judas, so noble and so effective in arousing valor and awaking manliness in the souls of the young, they determined not to carry on a campaign but to attack bravely, and to decide the matter, by fighting hand to hand with all courage, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger. 18Their concern for wives and children, and also for brethren and relatives, lay upon them less heavily; their greatest and first fear was for the consecrated sanctuary. 19And those who had to remain in the city were in no little distress, being anxious over the encounter in the open country. 20When all were now looking forward to the coming decision, and the enemy was already close at hand with their army drawn up for battle, the elephants strategically stationed and the cavalry deployed on the flanks, 21Maccabeus, perceiving the hosts that were before him and the varied supply of arms and the savagery of the elephants, stretched out his hands toward heaven and called upon the LORD who works wonders; for he knew that it is not by arms, but as the LORD decides, that he gains the victory for those who deserve it. 22And he called upon him in these words: \u201cO LORD, thou didst send thy angel in the time of Hezekiah king of Judea, and he slew fully a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Sennacherib. 23So now, O Sovereign of the heavens, send a good angel to carry terror and trembling before us. 24By the might of thy arm may these blasphemers who come against thy holy people be struck down.\u201d With these words he ended his prayer. 25Nicanor and his men advanced with trumpets and battle songs; 26and Judas and his men met the enemy in battle with invocation to God and prayers. 27So, fighting with their hands and praying to God in their hearts, they laid low no less than thirty-five thousand men, and were greatly gladdened by God\u2019s manifestation. 28When the action was over and they were returning with joy, they recognized Nicanor, lying dead, in full armor. 29Then there was shouting and tumult, and they blessed the Sovereign LORD in the language of their fathers. 30And the man who was ever in body and soul the defender of his fellow citizens, the man who maintained his youthful goodwill toward his countrymen, ordered them to cut off Nicanor\u2019s head and arm and carry them to Jerusalem. 31And when he arrived there and had called his countrymen together and stationed the priests before the altar, he sent for those who were in the citadel. 32He showed them the vile Nicanor\u2019s head and that profane man\u2019s arm, which had been boastfully stretched out against the holy house of the Almighty; 33and he cut out the tongue of the ungodly Nicanor and said that he would give it piecemeal to the birds and hang up these rewards of his folly opposite the sanctuary. 34And they all, looking to heaven, blessed the LORD who had manifested himself, saying, \u201cBlessed is he who has kept his own place undefiled.\u201d 35And he hung Nicanor\u2019s head from the citadel, a clear and conspicuous sign to everyone of the help of the LORD. 36And they all decreed by public vote never to let this day go unobserved, but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month\u2014which is called Adar in the Syrian language\u2014the day before Mordecai\u2019s day.
\n37This, then, is how matters turned out with Nicanor. And from that time the city has been in the possession of the Hebrews. So I too will here end my story. 38If it is well told and to the point, that is what I myself desired; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that was the best I could do.39For just as it is harmful to drink wine alone, or, again, to drink water alone, while wine mixed with water is sweet and delicious and enhances one\u2019s enjoyment, so also the style of the story delights the ears of those who read the work. And here will be the end.<\/p>\n
Jewish War<\/p>\n
Excursus on Jewish Groups<\/p>\n
Albert I. Baumgarten<\/p>\n
The immediate context of this excursus on Jewish groups in Jewish War (2.119\u201366) was Josephus\u2019s introduction of Judah the Galilean and the anti-Roman group he founded at the time of the imposition of direct Roman rule in Judea in 6 CE, under the procurator Coponius. Intending to delegitimize Judah and his movement, Josephus dubbed it a sect that had nothing in common with the accepted expressions of Judaism (J.W. 2.118), the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, which he then went on to describe. If Josephus\u2019s comments in Life 10\u201312 are to be believed, he had personal knowledge of these groups, as he spent time investigating each in his youth before he chose to live with the hermit Bannus for three years and then returned to the city as a Pharisee. (For more on Josephus, see the essay \u201cJosephus and His Writings.\u201d)
\nNevertheless, the excursus began with the Essenes, the group Josephus described most extensively. As Josephus portrayed them, they were a movement that rejected virtually all forms of contact with other Jews; they observed the Law stringently, with many special regulations of their own that differed from the way other Jews observed the Law. When Josephus turned to the Pharisees, he called them the leading group and the most accurate interpreters of the Law (J.W. 2.162). However, Josephus said nothing about the legal positions they favored. Instead, he concentrated on their doctrines, as he did in his portrait of the Sadducees.
\nScholars have debated Josephus\u2019s source for these portraits and wondered to what audience this information was addressed. This first question becomes acute if one does not accept Josephus\u2019s boast of having learned the teachings of all three major groups in his youth. Indeed, skepticism on that point is warranted, as there seem to be few confirmations of the assertion that Josephus lived as a Pharisee after his trial year checking out all three groups, and after the three years with Bannus (Life 10\u201312). Some scholars have pointed to anterior sources of information on which Josephus might have drawn, while others point to the vagueness of the claim and to the fact that men of intellectual stature often declared that they learned everything there was to learn from all the best possible teachers, whether or not it was true.
\nWhatever Josephus\u2019s sources might have been, he made the contents of this excursus his own, repeating key terms about the Pharisees, for example, in his discussion of the group in his other works. As for the second question, apparently this excursus was written with non-Jewish readers in mind. This would explain the extended description of the picturesque Essenes with their strange customs, and the emphasis on beliefs of the other groups, intended to make them look as much as possible like Greek philosophical schools.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars have debated the relationship of the Essenes, in particular, to the Dead Sea covenanters. Most scholars are convinced that some sort of genealogical relationship must exist between Josephus\u2019s Essenes and the scrolls community. One widely accepted way of stating that connection is the so-called Groningen Hypothesis proposed by van der Woude and Garcia Martinez, who theorized that there was a pre-Qumran Essene movement, represented in the accounts of the Essenes by authors such as Philo, Josephus, and Pliny. The Dead Sea covenanters were an offshoot in the history of that larger Essene phenomenon.
\nJosephus himself described the groups in a second, shorter excursus in Ant. 18. A major difference between the excursus in J.W. 2 and that in Ant. 18 is that in the Jewish Antiquities, Josephus gave the Essenes a degree of attention that was more proportional to the amount he gave the other two groups. A second contrast is that the account in Ant. 18 included an explicit discussion of the revolutionary anti-Roman group affiliated somehow with the Pharisees that Josephus dubbed the \u201cFourth Philosophy.\u201d In addition, scattered throughout his works were remarks about the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, as well as about other religious leaders and their followers (e.g., John the Baptist, in Ant. 18.116\u201319; or Bannus in Life 12). Accounts of the three groups appear in other sources, such as Philo\u2019s comments on the Essenes (Good Person, 75\u201387; Hypothetica 11.1\u201318), the denunciations of the Pharisees in the New Testament (Matt. 23, for example), and the debates between Pharisees and Sadducees in Rabbinic literature, such as in M. Yad. 4:6\u20137. Combining the data from these sources to draw a coherent picture of any single group is more difficult than one might think.
\nThis excursus is important both as a summary of information about three ancient Jewish groups and as a portrait of the phenomenon that these groups represented in Jewish life of the Second Temple period. Living a life of purity and scrupulous observance of the Torah were goals widely shared, yet members of these groups took these common objectives to extremes of greater or lesser degree, well beyond what biblical law required (hypernomism). The ancient groups had different ways of justifying their special suprabiblical regulations: some chose pseudepigraphy, new revelation, or simply interpolating the biblical text, while others openly and explicitly relied on interpretation. Whatever the method chosen, every group also argued that its additions to the written law of the Bible were not new, but old.
\nWhile these groups were small in number\u2014Josephus elsewhere mentioned 4, 000 Essenes (Ant. 18.21; see also Philo, Good Person 75), and 6, 000 Pharisees who refused to take an oath of loyalty (Ant. 17.42)\u2014the phenomenon they represented was one of the most significant in Jewish life of the era. According to many scholars, these groups ceased to function after the great revolt of 70 CE, both because many of their members were killed in battle and also because one of the foci of their debates, the Temple, no longer existed. When the sages grouped at Yavneh to establish what came to be Rabbinic Judaism, they largely adopted the Pharisaic legal and philosophical traditions. The Pharisees were therefore significant as the intellectual and spiritual progenitors of Rabbinic Judaism.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Baumgarten, A. I. The Flourishing of Jewish Sects in the Maccabean Era: An Interpretation. Leiden: Brill, 1997.
\nBeall, T. S. Josephus\u2019s Description of the Essenes Illustrated by the Dead Sea Scrolls. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
\nCohen, S. J.D. \u201cThe Significance of Yavneh: Pharisees, Rabbis and the End of Jewish Sectarianism.\u201d HUCA 55 (1984): 27\u201353.
\nGarcia Martinez, F., and A. S. van der Woude. \u201cA \u2018Groningen\u2019 Hypothesis of Qumran Origins.\u201d RevQ 14 (1990): 521\u201341.
\nGoodman, M. \u201cJosephus and Variety in First-Century Judaism.\u201d PIASH 7, no. 6 (2000): 201\u201313.
\nMason, S. Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees. Leiden: Brill, 1991.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
119Jewish philosophy, in fact, takes three forms. The followers of the first school are called Pharisees, of the second Sadducees, of the third Essenes. The Essenes have a reputation for cultivating peculiar sanctity. Of Jewish birth, they show a greater attachment to each other than do the other sects. 120They shun pleasures as a vice and regard temperance and control of the passions as a special virtue. Marriage they disdain, but they adopt other men\u2019s children, while yet pliable and docile, and regard them as their kin and mould them in accordance with their own principles. 121They do not, indeed, on principle, condemn wedlock and the propagation thereby of the race, but they wish to protect themselves against women\u2019s wantonness, being persuaded that none of the sex keeps her plighted troth to one man.
\n122Riches they despise, and their community of goods is truly admirable; you will not find one among them distinguished by greater opulence than another. They have a law that new members on admission to the sect shall confiscate their property to the order, with the result that you will nowhere see either abject poverty or inordinate wealth; the individual\u2019s possessions join the common stock and all, like brothers, enjoy a single patrimony. 123Oil they consider defiling, and anyone who accidentally comes in contact with it scours his person; for they make a point of keeping a dry skin and of always being dressed in white. They elect officers to attend to the interests of the community, the special services of each officer being determined by the whole body.
\n124They occupy no one city, but settle in large numbers in every town. On the arrival of any of the sect from elsewhere, all the resources of the community are put at their disposal, just as if they were their own; and they enter the houses of men whom they have never seen before as though they were their most intimate friends. 125Consequently, they carry nothing whatever with them on their journeys, except arms as a protection against brigands. In every city there is one of the order expressly appointed to attend to strangers, who provides them with raiment and other necessaries. 126In their dress and deportment they resemble children under rigorous discipline. They do not change their garments or shoes until they are torn to shreds or worn threadbare with age. 127There is no buying or selling among themselves, but each gives what he has to any in need and receives from him in exchange anything useful to himself; they are, moreover, freely permitted to take something from any of their brothers without making any return.
\n128Their piety toward the Deity takes a peculiar form. Before the sun is up they utter no word on mundane matters, but offer to him certain prayers, which have been handed down from their forefathers, as though entreating him to rise. 129They are then dismissed by their superiors to the various crafts in which they are severally proficient and are strenuously employed until the fifth hour, when they again assemble in one place and, after girding their loins with linen cloths, bathe their bodies in cold water. After this purification, they assemble in a private apartment which none of the uninitiated is permitted to enter; pure now themselves, they repair to the refectory, as to some sacred shrine. 130When they have taken their seats in silence, the baker serves out the loaves to them in order, and the cook sets before each one plate with a single course. 131Before eating, the priest says a grace, and none may partake until after the prayer. When breakfast is ended, he pronounces a further grace; thus at the beginning and at the close they do homage to God as the bountiful giver of life. Then laying aside their raiment, as holy vestments, they again betake themselves to their labors until the evening. 132On their return they sup in like manner, and any guests who may have arrived sit down with them. No clamor or disturbance ever pollutes their dwelling; they speak in turn, each making way for his neighbor. 133To persons outside the silence of those within appears like some awful mystery; it is in fact due to their invariable sobriety and to the limitation of their allotted portions of food and drink to the demands of nature.
\n134In all other matters they do nothing without orders from their superiors; two things only are left to individual discretion, the rendering of assistance and compassion. Members may of their own motion help the deserving, when in need, and supply food to the destitute; but presents to relatives are prohibited, without leave from the managers. 135Holding righteous indignation in reserve, they are masters of their temper, champions of fidelity, very ministers of peace. Any word of theirs has more force than an oath; swearing they avoid, regarding it as worse than perjury, for they say that one who is not believed without an appeal to God stands condemned already. 136They display an extraordinary interest in the writings of the ancients, singling out in particular those which make for the welfare of soul and body; with the help of these, and with a view to the treatment of diseases, they make investigations into medicinal roots and the properties of stones.
\n137A candidate anxious to join their sect is not immediately admitted. For one year, during which he remains outside the fraternity, they prescribe for him their own rule of life, presenting him with a small hatchet, the loin-cloth already mentioned, and white raiment. 138Having given proof of his temperance during this probationary period, he is brought into closer touch with the rule and is allowed to share the purer kind of holy water, but is not yet received into the meetings of the community. For after this exhibition of endurance, his character is tested for two years more, and only then, if found worthy, is he enrolled in the society. 139But, before he may touch the common food, he is made to swear tremendous oaths: first that he will practice piety toward the Deity, next that he will observe justice toward men: 140that he will wrong none whether of his own mind or under another\u2019s orders; that he will forever hate the unjust and fight the battle of the just; that he will forever keep faith with all men, especially with the powers that be, since no ruler attains his office save by the will of God; that, should he himself bear rule, he will never abuse his authority nor, either in dress or by other outward marks of superiority, outshine his subjects; 141to be forever a lover of truth and to expose liars; to keep his hands from stealing and his soul pure from unholy gain; to conceal nothing from the members of the sect and to report none of their secrets to others, even though tortured to death. 142He swears, moreover, to transmit their rules exactly as he himself received them; to abstain from robbery; and in like manner carefully to preserve the books of the sect and the names of the angels. Such are the oaths by which they secure their proselytes.
\n143Those who are convicted of serious crimes they expel from the order; and the ejected individual often comes to a most miserable end. For, being bound by their oaths and usages, he is not at liberty to partake of other men\u2019s food, and so falls to eating grass and wastes away and dies of starvation. 144This has led them in compassion to receive many back in the last stage of exhaustion, deeming that torments which have brought them to the verge of death are a sufficient penalty for their misdoings.
\n145They are just and scrupulously careful in their trial of cases, never passing sentence in a court of less than a hundred members; the decision thus reached is irrevocable. After God they hold most in awe the name of their lawgiver, any blasphemer of whom is punished with death. 146It is a point of honor with them to obey their elders, and a majority; for instance, if ten sit together, one will not speak if the nine desire silence. 147They are careful not to spit into the midst of the company or to the right, and are stricter than all Jews in abstaining from work on the seventh day; for not only do they prepare their food on the day before, to avoid kindling a fire on that one, but they do not venture to remove any vessel or even to go to stool. 148On other days they dig a trench a foot deep with a mattock\u2014such is the nature of the hatchet which they present to the neophytes\u2014and wrapping their mantle about them, that they may not offend the rays of the deity, sit above it. 149They then replace the excavated soil in the trench. For this purpose they select the more retired spots. And though this discharge of the excrements is a natural function, they make it a rule to wash themselves after it, as if defiled.
\n150They are divided, according to the duration of their discipline, into four grades; and so far are the junior members inferior to the seniors, that a senior if but touched by a junior, must take a bath, as after contact with an alien. 151They live to a great age\u2014most of them to upward of a century\u2014in consequence, I imagine, of the simplicity and regularity of their mode of life. They make light of danger, and triumph over pain by their resolute will; death, if it come with honor, they consider better than immortality. 152The war with the Romans tried their souls through and through by every variety of test. Racked and twisted, burnt and broken, and made to pass through every instrument of torture, in order to induce them to blaspheme their lawgiver or to eat some forbidden thing, they refused to yield to either demand, nor ever once did they cringe to their persecutors or shed a tear. 153Smiling in their agonies and mildly deriding their tormentors, they cheerfully resigned their souls, confident that they would receive them back again.
\n154For it is a fixed belief of theirs that the body is corruptible and its constituent matter impermanent, but that the soul is immortal and imperishable. Emanating from the finest ether, these souls become entangled, as it were, in the prison-house of the body, to which they are dragged down by a sort of natural spell; 155but when once they are released from the bonds of the flesh, then, as though liberated from a long servitude, they rejoice and are borne aloft. Sharing the belief of the sons of Greece, they maintain that for virtuous souls there is reserved an abode beyond the ocean, a place which is not oppressed by rain or snow or heat, but is refreshed by the ever gentle breath of the west wind coming in from the ocean; while they relegate base souls to a murky and tempestuous dungeon, big with never-ending punishments.\u2026 157For the good are made better in their lifetime by the hope of a reward after death, and the passions of the wicked are restrained by the fear that, even though they escape detection while alive, they will undergo never-ending punishment after their decease. 158Such are the theological views of the Essenes concerning the soul, whereby they irresistibly attract all who have once tasted of their philosophy.
\n159There are some among them who profess to foretell the future, being versed from their early years in holy books, various forms of purification and apophthegms of prophets; and seldom, if ever, do they err in their predictions.
\n160There is yet another order of Essenes, which, while at one with the rest in its mode of life, customs, and regulations, differs from them in its views on marriage. They think that those who decline to marry cut off the chief function of life, the propagation of the race, and, what is more, that, were all to adopt the same view, the whole race would very quickly die out. 161They give their wives, however, a three years\u2019 probation, and only marry them after they have by three periods of purification given proof of fecundity. They have no intercourse with them during pregnancy, thus showing that their motive in marrying is not self-indulgence but the procreation of children. In the bath the women wear a dress, the men a loin-cloth. Such are the usages of this order.
\n162Of the two first-named schools, the Pharisees, who are considered the most accurate interpreters of the laws, and hold the position of the leading sect, attribute everything to Fate and to God; 163they hold that to act rightly or otherwise rests, indeed, for the most part with men, but that in each action Fate co-operates. Every soul, they maintain, is imperishable, but the soul of the good alone passes into another body, while the souls of the wicked suffer eternal punishment.
\n164The Sadducees, the second of the orders, do away with Fate altogether, and remove God beyond, not merely the commission, but the very sight, of evil. 165They maintain that man has the free choice of good or evil, and that it rests with each man\u2019s will whether he follows the one or the other. As for the persistence of the soul after death, penalties in the underworld, and rewards, they will have none of them.
\n166The Pharisees are affectionate to each other and cultivate harmonious relations with the community. The Sadducees, on the contrary, are, even among themselves, rather boorish in their behavior, and in their intercourse with their compatriots are as rude as to aliens. Such is what I have to say on the Jewish philosophical schools.<\/p>\n
Against Apion<\/p>\n
John M. G. Barclay<\/p>\n
The two-book treatise known as Against Apion is the last surviving work of the Jewish historian Josephus, written either in the 90s or in the early 100s CE. It responds to criticisms of his earlier 20-volume Jewish Antiquities, and specifically to doubts about the great antiquity that Josephus had there claimed for his people. At the same time it responds to a series of stories, slanders, and stereotypes that had gathered around the Jewish people, some of Egyptian origin and some of more recent Hellenistic provenance, many still current in Josephus\u2019s new home, Rome.
\nThe rhetorical genre of Against Apion as a whole is apologetic, although it contains a variety of materials of diverse tone and focus. Although the portion of the treatise discussed below is limited to two sections of book 2 (\u00a7\u00a7145\u2013150 and \u00a7\u00a7190\u2013218), a summary of the overall content is presented here for background.
\nJosephus first answers the hostile doubts of those who questioned the antiquity of Jews (Ag. Ap 1.6\u2013218), beginning with a discussion of historiography (1.6\u201356), then providing numerous Egyptian, Phoenician, Babylonian, and Greek witnesses to the Jews as an ancient people (1.69\u2013218). In the course of this he attempts to make links between his witnesses\u2019 statements and biblical episodes (e.g., Manetho and Joseph, 1.91\u201392; Menander, Dius, and Solomon, 1.106\u201327), though the connections are generally strained. In the second part of the treatise (1.219\u20132.286), he refutes a wide range of slanders directed against Jews, beginning with three accounts of their \u201cexodus,\u201d by Manetho, Chaeremon, and Lysimachus (1.227\u2013320). The next main opponent, Apion, occupies the first half of book 2 (2.1\u2013144), with discussion ranging from the history of Jews in Alexandria to the Jews\u2019 supposed ass-head cult and the legend of their annual slaughter of a Greek, fattened up in the Temple. Again, there are occasional references to the biblical material in order to refute Apion\u2019s claims (e.g., 2.20\u201328 on the Exodus; 2.102\u20138 on the Temple), but the main rhetorical tactic is to demonstrate the stupidity and inconsistency of Apion himself.
\nJosephus then finishes his work by combining a response to slanders of Moses\u2019s legislation, articulated by Apollonius Molon, with an encomium on the Jewish constitution (2.145\u2013286). After the introduction (2.145\u201350), cited below, Josephus describes the work of Moses in the Exodus and the giving of the Law, together with the structure of the constitution (2.151\u201389), outlining its chief virtues, its special character (that of a theocracy), and the reasons for Jewish faithfulness through 2000 years. He then gives a summary of the key components of the Law (2.190\u2013218; cited below), before expanding on the special character of Jewish endurance (2.219\u201335), and then explaining and defending Jewish religious difference, in contrast with Greek mythology and non-Jews\u2019 religious decadence (2.236\u201386).<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
Jews in Rome clearly had a mixed reputation. Some Romans, intrigued by Jewish tradition and practices, adopted some Jewish customs and even became proselytes. There were others who scorned Jews as irreligious and antisocial and felt their peculiar customs were at odds with Roman tradition. From contemporary sources, we can see that Jewish culture was most interesting, and most controversial, in Rome in relation to three topics: Jewish origins (whether from Egypt or elsewhere), Jewish customs (and their rationale), and Jewish exclusiveness (e.g., in meals and marriage, and always potentially offensive).
\nAgainst Apion at times appears off-target regarding these concerns, and is sometimes directed against straw men for rhetorical effect, but is often more or less directly related to these prevalent issues, which had political as well as cultural significance. Josephus\u2019s treatise may have been written for both Jews and non-Jews, but in the latter case his work would have had most influence on those already sympathetic to his cause. The ways in which he matches aspects of Jewish culture to the values of elite Romans suggests that the image of Judaism he here represents, though not wholly original, was at least partly \u201cRomanized\u201d in character.
\nSee also the essay \u201cJosephus and His Writings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Scholars generally acknowledge that Josephus draws on earlier materials in this summary of the Law: its structure and contents are different from his treatment of the Law elsewhere, and there are striking similarities to the presentation of particular laws in other Jewish texts, most notably Hypothetica attributed to Philo and the collection of maxims known as Pseudo-Phocylides.
\nNo convincing evidence exists for direct literary dependence, but it seems that Josephus drew on a pool of tradition that summarized, interpreted, and supplemented biblical laws, not least through absorption of Greek maxims. The moral and philosophical explanations of the Law, and the philosophical description of God, seem to derive from earlier trends in Hellenistic Judaism, as found in Aristobulus, Philo, and others. On the other hand, the arrangement of the material into three paragraphs (see \u201cGuide to Reading\u201d below) may be Josephus\u2019s work, and the specific statements on the \u201cwelcome\u201d of foreigners (2.209\u201310) are clearly in his hand. Thus, this passage should not be viewed as lifted verbatim from some literary source; it is certainly derived from, or inspired by, a number of sources, but edited, arranged, and expanded by Josephus himself.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
Apart from the introduction to this final section of the work (2.145\u201350), the material cited below consists of the Law-summary (2.190\u2013218), designed in part to illustrate the virtues claimed in 2.146 and internally divided into three main sections: on God and worship (2.190\u201398), on marriage\/household and Jewish community (2.199\u2013208), and on relations with outsiders (2.209\u201314). It concludes with a statement of penalties and rewards, emphasizing the strictness of the Law (appealing to Romans) and the utter faithfulness of Jews toward it (2.215\u201318).
\nElsewhere, Josephus summarizes the law following biblical sources: Ant. 3.224\u201386, from Leviticus and Numbers, and Ant. 4.196\u2013301, largely from Deuteronomy. Philo used the Ten Commandments to structure his presentation of the law, or the virtues inculcated by it (Philo, On the Decalogue; On the Special Laws books 1\u20134; On the Virtues).<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Barclay, J. M. G. Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Volume 10: Against Apion. Edited by S. Mason. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
\nElledge, C. D. Life After Death in Early Judaism: The Evidence of Josephus. T\u00fcbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
\nFeldman, L. H. Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary. Volume 3: Judean Antiquities 1\u20134. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
\nFeldman, L. H., and J. R. Levison, eds. Josephus\u2019s Contra Apionem: Studies in Its Character and Context. Leiden: Brill, 1996.
\nGoodman, M. \u201cJosephus\u2019s Treatise Against Apion.\u201d In Apologetics in the Roman Empire: Pagans, Jews, and Christians, edited by M. Edwards, M. Goodman, and S. Price, 45\u201358. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
\nJackson, B. S. Essays in Jewish and Comparative Legal History. Leiden: Brill, 1975.
\nOppenheimer, A. \u201cJewish Penal Authority in Roman Judea.\u201d In Jews in a Graeco-Roman World, edited by M. Goodman, 181\u201391. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.
\nSanders, E. P. Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah: Five Studies. London: SCM, 1990.
\nSiegert, F. (ed.), Flavius Josephus, \u00dcber die Urspr\u00fcnglichkeit des Judentums. Contra Apionem. 2 vols. G\u00f6ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008.
\nVermes, G. \u201cA Summary of the Law by Flavius Josephus.\u201d NovT 24 (1982): 289\u2013303.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
Book 2<\/p>\n
145But since Apollonius Molon and Lysimachus and certain others, partly out of ignorance, but mostly from ill will, have made statements about our legislator Moses and the laws that are neither just nor true\u2014libelling Moses as a charlatan and fraudster, and claiming that the laws are our teachers in vice and not a single virtue\u2014I wish to speak briefly, as best I can, about the whole structure of our constitution and about its individual parts. 146For I think it will become clear that we possess laws that are extremely well designed with a view to piety, fellowship with one another, and universal benevolence, as well as justice, endurance in labors and contempt for death. 147I appeal to those who will peruse this text to conduct their reading without envy. For I did not choose to write an encomium of ourselves, but I consider this to be the most just form of defense against the many false accusations against us\u2014a defense derived from the laws in accordance with which we continue to live. 148Apart from anything else, Apollonius has not arranged his accusations grouped together, like Apion, but in a scattered fashion; in fact he first insults us as atheists and misanthropes, and then reproaches us for cowardice, and elsewhere, by contrast, accuses us of rashness and recklessness. He says we are also the most untalented of barbarians and for this reason the only ones to have contributed no invention of use to human life. 149All this I consider will be clearly and thoroughly refuted if both what is commanded by our laws and what we practice with all scrupulosity are shown to be the opposite of his claims. 150Now if I am forced to mention other peoples\u2019 laws of a contrary kind, it would be fair to lay the blame for this on those who see fit to compare ours as inferior. Two claims will, I think, be denied them: either that we do not have these laws, of which I will cite the most essential, or that we do not, above all others, remain faithful to our own laws.<\/p>\n
190What, then, are the proclamations and prohibitions? They are simple and well-known. The first, at the head, speaks about God, that God encompasses all things, perfect and blessed, self-sufficient and sufficing for all, that he is the beginning, middle, and end of all things; he is evident through his works and acts of grace, and more apparent than anything else, but in form and greatness beyond our description. 191For every material, however costly, is unworthy to form his image, and skill unskilled in imagining his likeness. We have seen nothing comparable, nor can we imagine it, nor is it holy to represent it. 192We see his works: light, heaven, earth, sun and moon, rivers and sea, the birth of animals, the production of crops. These God made without hands, without effort, without needing any assistants, but when he willed beautiful things, they at once beautifully came to be. All must follow him and worship him by exercising virtue; for this is the form of worship of God that is most holy.
\n193One temple of the one God\u2014for like is always attracted to like\u2014common to all people as belonging to the common God of all. The priests will continuously offer worship to him, and the one who is first by descent will always be at their head. 194He, together with the other priests, will sacrifice to God, will safeguard the laws, will adjudicate in disputes, and will punish those who are convicted. Whoever disobeys him will pay a penalty as if he were sacrilegious toward God himself. 195We offer sacrifices not for our gratification or drunkenness\u2014for that is undesirable to God and would be a pretext for violence and lavish expenditure\u2014but such as are sober, orderly, well-behaved, so that, especially when sacrificing, we may act in sober moderation. 196And at the sacrifices we must first offer prayers for the common welfare, and then for ourselves; for we were born for communal fellowship, and the person who sets greater store by this than by his own personal concerns would be especially pleasing to God. 197And let appeal be made to God through prayer, and request, not that he might give good things\u2014for he has given them of his own accord and made them available to everyone\u2014but that we might be able to receive them, and when we have them, to keep them. 198In view of the sacrifices, the law has decreed purifications after a funeral, after childbirth, after sexual union with a woman, and from many other causes, which it would take a long time to describe. Such is our doctrine concerning God and his worship, and the law is one and the same.
\n199What are the [statements] concerning marriage? The only sexual intercourse recognized by the law is the natural intercourse with a woman, and that only if it is with the intention of procreation. It abhors male intercourse with males, and the penalty is death if anyone were to attempt such. 200It gives instruction to marry not paying heed to the dowry, nor by violent seizure, nor again seducing through guile or deceit; but to betroth [a woman] from the man with authority to give her, and in accordance with suitable kinship. 201A woman, it says, is inferior to a man in all respects. So, let her obey, not that she may be abused, but that she may be ruled; for God has given power to the man. The husband should have intercourse with her alone; it is unholy to make an attempt on a woman who belongs to another man. If anyone were to do this, there would be no exemption from the death penalty, neither if he were to rape a virgin betrothed to another man, nor if he were to seduce a married woman. 202It [the law] gave orders to nurture all children, and prohibited women from causing the seed to miscarry and from destroying it. But if it were to become evident, she would be an infanticide, obliterating a soul and diminishing the [human] race. Thus, not even if someone were to approach a stillborn fetus at childbirth would he be fit to be pure at that time. 203It gave instruction to wash also after the lawful intercourse of a man and woman; for it supposed that this constitutes a division of the soul [as it passes] into another place. For the soul suffers when it is implanted in bodies and again when it is separated from them at death. Hence it [the law] ordered purifications in all such cases.
\n204Indeed, not even on the occasion of the birth of children did it permit laying on feasts and making pretexts for drunkenness, but it ordered that from the very beginning their upbringing should be in sober moderation. And it gave instruction to teach reading, in relation to the laws, and that they know about the exploits of their forebears, in order that they imitate the latter and, being brought up with the former, neither transgress nor have an excuse for ignorance.
\n205It made provision for piety toward the dead, not with expensive burial rites or the construction of striking monuments; rather, it ordered that the nearest relatives conduct the funeral, and it made a regulation that all those who pass by when someone is being buried are to join them and share in the mourning. It gives instruction that both the house and its residents are to be purified after the funerary rites, so that anyone who has committed murder might be far from seeming to be pure. 206It ordered honor of parents, second to honoring God, and if anyone does not reciprocate the gifts he has received from them\u2014however little he may fall short\u2014it hands him over to be stoned. It gives instruction that the young should honor everyone who is older, since God is oldest.
\n207It [the law] does not permit us to hide anything from our friends, for there is no friendship if there is not total trust; and if some hostility ensues, it has forbidden us to tell secrets. If a judge accepts bribes, the punishment is death. Ignoring a suppliant, when able to help, makes one liable. 208What someone has not put down he shall not pick up; he shall touch nothing belonging to others; when he has made a loan he shall not extract interest. These [rules] and many like them cement our fellowship with one another.
\n209The consideration that our legislator gave to the kindness to be shown to foreigners is also worth noting. For he may be seen to have made the very best provision that we should neither corrupt our own habits nor begrudge those who choose to share our ways. 210To those who wish to come and live under the same laws as us he gives a friendly welcome, reckoning that affinity is not only a matter of birth but also of choice in life style. But he did not want those who approach on a casual basis to be mixed with our intimate ways.
\n211He prescribed other measures, of which a sample is necessary: to give fire, water, and food to all who request them; to point the way; not to ignore an unburied corpse; and that the decisions made even toward enemies should be kind. 212For he does not permit setting their country on fire, nor did he allow cutting down cultivated trees; he has even forbidden us to strip those who have fallen in battle, and made provision for prisoners of war, that they should be free from abuse, especially women. 213He took care to teach us civility and benevolence indirectly, such that he did not disregard even brute animals, but permitted only their lawful use and disallowed all others. Those that take refuge in homes, like suppliants, he prohibited killing. He did not allow the parents to be killed together with their nestlings, but [instructed us] to spare animals that work, even in enemy territory, and not to slaughter them. 214So in every way he considered carefully what would constitute kindness, employing the laws cited above as teachers, and fixing punitive legislation to deal with transgressors with no excuses.
\n215The penalty for most transgressors is death, whether a man commits adultery, or rapes a girl, or dares to make a sexual assault on a male, or submits to the assault as the passive partner. Even in the case of slaves, the law is similarly inexorable. 216If anyone is fraudulent even in measures or weights, or in a sale that is unjust and deceitfully conducted, or if he steals another\u2019s property, or picks up what he did not put down, the punishments in all these cases are not commensurate with others\u2019, but greater. 217For in the case of a crime against parents or sacrilege against God, even if someone [merely] intends it, he dies instantly. For those, on the other hand, who do everything in accordance with the laws, the reward is not silver or gold, nor indeed a crown made of olive or parsley, and a public proclamation of that sort, 218but each individual, having the internal witness of the conscience, has come to believe\u2014as the legislator prophesied and as God provided firm assurance\u2014that to those who keep the laws and, should it be necessary to die for them, meet death eagerly, God has granted renewed existence and receipt of a better life at the turn [of the ages].<\/p>\n
Sectarian Texts: Community, Law, and the End of Days<\/p>\n
These writings were produced or preserved by the sectarians of Qumran. Although they represent only a part of the sectarian compositions found in the Qumran library, they tell us much about how members of that particular Second Temple community regulated their lives together; how they understood biblical laws to apply to contemporary practice (especially in the Temple); and how they envisioned the (for them) rapidly approaching End of Days and their own role as actors in that imminent future.<\/p>\n
Rule of the Community<\/p>\n
Alex P. Jassen<\/p>\n
Rule of the Community (1QS) was among the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Qumran Cave 1 in 1947. (Additional fragmentary copies of the work were found in Qumran Caves 4 and 5, see below.) The Rule is a collection of rules and ideals for life within a distinct sectarian community, which consist of the community\u2019s application of biblical law (e.g., purity laws) and regulations particular to the sectarian way of life (e.g., initiation rites, communal property). The Rule further outlines many of the central theological and ideological bases of the sectarian community. In spite of these unifying elements, the Rule preserves evidence of its compositional layers. Its theological premises are not uniformly consistent, for it includes multiple\u2014sometimes conflicting\u2014sets of regulations for related aspects of sectarian life. The difficulties in locating the literary and social setting of the Rule are compounded by the evidence of the Cave 4 manuscripts.
\nAs discussed in greater detail below, the version of the Rule found in 1QS often differs from the text preserved in the 10 additional fragmentary copies of the Rule found in Qumran Cave 4. Although 1QS is the longest and best preserved of the Rule manuscripts, it is unclear whether it was the authoritative version for the sectarian community. Indeed, the manuscript evidence indicates that both older and newer versions of the Rule circulated alongside one another within the community. Unfortunately, the fragmentary Cave 4 manuscripts only provide brief glimpses into the work\u2019s broader textual history. Thus, discussions of the content of the Rule naturally draw heavily on the well-preserved 1QS. The Rule, as represented by 1QS, can be divided into seven sections:<\/p>\n
1:1\u201315. Preamble. The opening section outlines the central ideals and ideology of the sectarian community. Emphasis is placed on the principles of proper observance of the law and the dualistic division of humanity.
\n1:16\u20133:12. Liturgy for the Initiation and Covenant-Renewal Ceremony. This section comprises several smaller units associated with the initiation ceremony for new members and an annual covenant-renewal ceremony.
\n3:13\u20134:26. Treatise on the Two Spirits. This section articulates the community\u2019s dualistic worldview in two units: (1) cosmic dualism: the belief that conflicting spirits of good and evil exist in the world (3:13\u20134:14); (2) anthropological dualism: the belief that spirits of good and evil compete within each human (4:15\u201326).
\n5:1\u20137:25. Rules for Life in the Community. Following an introduction (5:1\u20137), this section comprises a description of the oath for new members (5:7\u201320); diverse rules for life in the community (5:20\u20136:13); and probationary procedures for admission of new members (6:13\u201323).
\n6:24\u20137:25. List of Punishments for Sectarian Offenses (Penal Code). This section includes a list of offenses and their corresponding punishments. The \u201cif \u2026 then\u201d structure of the cases is modeled on biblical casuistic law (e.g., Exod. 20:22\u201323:33), though the particular offenses are generally related to the ascetic, sectarian way of life.
\n8:1\u20139:26. Rules for a Distinct Community. These two columns outline many of the community\u2019s core ideals and practices. 8:1\u20139:11 relates to the community as a whole, while 9:12\u201326 is addressed to the Maskil, one of the community leaders. The community is described as following the exhortation of Isa. 40:3 to prepare the way for the LORD in the desert. There, the community is identified as fulfilling the atoning functions of the Temple through its life of righteousness and pious observance of the law.
\n9:26\u201311:22. Concluding Hymn. A calendrical unit outlining the community\u2019s liturgical schedule (9:26\u201310:8) introduces the hymn. The concluding hymn is made up of several smaller hymnic units that focus on praise of God, the acknowledgement of the lowly nature of humans, and divine mercy toward humans. Several thematic and linguistic structures are familiar from the Thanksgiving Hymns.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
Scholars have long presumed that the Teacher of Righteousness, the preeminent leader of the sectarian community, played a significant role in the composition of the Rule. This argument rests primarily on the assumption that the Rule was composed while the community was living in the desert. This dating would therefore align with the presumed time frame of the Teacher\u2019s leadership. Aside from the tenuous nature of this argument, it is becoming increasingly clear that conventional understandings of authorship are incompatible with the Rule. It is indeed possible that the Teacher played some role in the composition of sections of the Rule, but the text provides little direction regarding authorship of the work\u2019s compositional layers.
\nThe Rule was first published in 1951 under the title Manual of Discipline. The more commonly used designation Rule of the Community (or Community Rule) is a direct translation of the ancient title as preserved in the opening lines of the text and on the back side of the handle sheet of the ancient manuscript: Serekh ha-Yahad. The standard abbreviation for the manuscript\u20141QS\u2014draws on this designation (S = Serekh). The discovery of Qumran Cave 4 in 1952 yielded 10 additional fragmentary copies of the Rule, and these were assigned the sigla 4QSa\u2013j (= 4Q255\u2013264). A 12th fragmentary manuscript was also found in Qumran Cave 5 (5QS = 5Q11). A manuscript from Qumran Cave 11 (11Q29) has recently been proposed as a possible 13th copy of the Rule.
\nScholarship on the compositional layers of the Rule is divided between early work on 1QS alone and more recent research that considers the Cave 4 manuscripts. Early commentators recognized the different literary character of the sections of 1QS and proposed multiple theories. Jerome Murphy O\u2019Conner, for example, posited a four-stage literary development that corresponds with the internal development of the sectarian community and also the four purported stages of settlement at Qumran. Since the full availability of the Cave 4 manuscripts in the 1990s, scholarship has focused on the relative dating of the long version of the Rule found in 1QS and the shorter versions preserved in 4QSb\u2019d\u2019e. Two primary opposing approaches have been taken: one, by Sarianna Metso, that 1QS is the newer manuscript, an expansion of the older 4QS manuscripts; and two, Philip Alexander\u2019s contention that the 4QS manuscripts are abbreviated versions of the older 1QS. More recently, Alison Schofield has advocated a new approach to understanding the divergent manuscript traditions. Rather than trying to locate phases of textual growth, Schofield argues that the different versions of the Rule reflect diverse sociohistorical contexts. This model draws on new approaches that view the Rule as authoritative for a broader network of Yahad-related communities.
\nThere can be little doubt that the origins of the Rule should be traced to the sectarian community associated with the preservation and cultivation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Indeed, the Rule has long been regarded as the preeminent sectarian text and a key indicator of what constitutes the distinct terminology and ideological worldview of the sectarian community of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
\nThirteen Hebrew manuscripts preserve material stemming from the Rule. As noted, 1QS is the best-preserved. Two additional related texts were copied on the same manuscript following 1QS: the Rule of the Congregation (1QSa) and the Rule of the Blessings (1QSb). 1QS is dated by paleographic analysis to 100\u201375 BCE. Recent radiocarbon testing confirms this general time frame. The 12 additional manuscripts of the Rule exist in varying degrees of preservation.
\nAmong the other surviving fragmentary manuscripts, several attest to versions of the Rule consistent with the text found in 1QS. Others, however, are too poorly preserved to determine their textual character.
\nDiscussions of the date of the Rule must distinguish between copying and composition. The 13 preserved manuscripts were copied between the second half of the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE. The composite nature of the Rule complicates attempts to date the composition of the text. It is almost certain that distinct portions of the Rule were composed at different points in time. In some cases, as for example the Treatise on the Two Spirits, these units likely had an independent textual existence before their incorporation into the Rule. In other cases, the distinct units were created as part of ongoing attempts to craft sectarian communal rules and only later brought together in a larger Rule composition.
\nMany of the common methods used to date the composition of texts, such as internal historical allusions, are unhelpful for the Rule. Rather, this discussion is driven by the debate regarding the relative dating of the multiple manuscripts of the Rule. This issue, however, remains speculative because scholars are divided as to whether the version of the Rule in 4QSd is older or younger than the version in 1QS.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
The Rule represents one of the most significant texts for the reconstruction of Jewish thought and practice in the Second Temple period. Prior to the discovery of the Rule and the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars were forced to understand Second Temple Jewish society through the lens of ancient descriptions of Judaism or literary remains preserved in much later scribal settings. In contrast, the Rule provides us with the direct literary remains of an ancient Jewish community. It presents a Jewish community living an ascetic lifestyle in anticipation of an imminent end-time. The community focused on pious observance of the law and its meticulous study. Scholars have long noted the important parallels in thought and practice with the description of the Essenes as found in Josephus and Philo. The Rule therefore was central to the emergence of the theory identifying the sectarian community with the Essenes, and it continues to direct renewed conversations regarding the identity of the sect and its location in the wider setting of ancient Jewish sectarianism.
\nThe Rule, however, offers insight into more than a narrow sectarian community. On the one hand, it provides scholars with a much richer tapestry of ancient Jewish society. The ascetic lifestyle of the community and its belief in dualism and predestination, for example, provide glimpses into a previously unknown or underappreciated world of ancient Judaism. On the other hand, many of the theological postures and ritual practices found in the Rule can be located within broader currents in ancient Jewish society. This allows scholars to gain a more sophisticated picture of the development of ancient Judaism and the social matrix from which Christianity emerges. Any treatment of ancient Jewish and Christian messianism, for example, must consider the dual messianism advocated by the Rule (see comment on 9:11). Moreover, the textual history of the Rule provides a significant contribution to this discussion: the larger passage espousing the community\u2019s dual messianism (1QS 8:15\u20139:11) is entirely absent in 4QSe.
\nThe Rule provides further insight into the shared background of both Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. For example, 1QS 8\u20139 presents a sectarian community grappling with the dilemma of a self-imposed exile from the Temple in Jerusalem. The community advocated two substitute ritual practices to replace the atoning function of the Temple: the community as a temple (see comments on 8:5; 5\u20136, 8\u20139, 9; 9:4, 6) and prayer (see comments on 9:4\u20135; 10:6). These same two approaches become foundational for early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, respectively, as they negotiate their own responses to the loss of the Temple.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
The text and commentary below follow 1QS, but significant variants from the Cave 4 manuscripts have been incorporated into the commentary, which attempts to highlight the composite nature of the Rule and shed light on it broader social setting and literary background. The commentary similarly highlights significant points of correspondence and divergence with other sectarian texts (especially the Damascus Document) and the description of the Essenes in classical sources. Although the Rule includes very few explicit scriptural citations, the text is full of language and imagery drawn from the Hebrew Bible.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Alexander, Philip S. and Geza Vermes. Qumran Cave 4:XIX: Serekh ha-Yahad and Two Related Texts. Discoveries in the Judean Desert 26. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.
\nCharlesworth, James H. ed. The Dead Sea Scrolls in English: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations: Rule of the Community and Related Texts. T\u00fcbingen: Mohr Siebeck; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994.
\nCollins, John J. Beyond the Qumran Community: The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2010.
\nLeaney, A. R. C. The Rule of Qumran and Its Meaning: Introduction, Translation and Commentary. London: SCM, 1966.
\nLicht, Jacob. The Rule Scroll: A Scroll from the Wilderness of Judaea: 1QS, 1QSa, 1QSb: Text, Introduction and Commentary [Hebrew]. Jerusalem: Bialik, 1965.
\nMetso, Sarianna, The Serekh Texts. London: T. & T. Clark, 2007.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. The Textual Development of the Qumran Community Rule. Leiden: Brill, 1997.
\nSchiffman, Lawrence. Sectarian Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Courts, Testimony, and the Penal Code. Chico CA: Scholars Press, 1983.
\nSchofield, Alison. From Qumran to the Yahad: A New Paradigm of Textual Development for \u201cThe Community Rule.\u201d Leiden: Brill, 2009.
\nVermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. London: Penguin, 2004.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
Preamble: A Statement on the Community\u2019s Principles<\/p>\n
(1:1) For [the Maskil \u2026] to live(?) [according to the Book] of the Community [Rul]e, that they may seek (2) God with [a whole heart and soul], and do what is good and right before him as (3) he commanded through Moses and all his servants the Prophets; that they may love all (4) that he has chosen and hate all that he has rejected; that they may abstain from all evil and (5) hold fast to all good; that they may practice truth, righteousness, and justice (6) upon earth and no longer stubbornly follow a sinful heart and lustful eyes, (7) committing all manner of evil. He shall admit into the covenant of mercy all those who have freely devoted themselves to the observance of God\u2019s precepts, (8) that they may be joined to the counsel of God and may live perfectly before him in accordance with all (9) that has been revealed concerning their appointed times, and that they may love all the Sons of Light, each (10) according to his lot in God\u2019s design, and hate all the Sons of Darkness, each according to his guilt (11) in God\u2019s vengeance. All those who freely devote themselves to his truth shall bring all their knowledge, powers, (12) and possessions into the community of God, that they may purify their knowledge in the truth of God\u2019s precepts and order their powers (13) according to his ways of perfection and all their possessions according to his righteous counsel. They shall not depart (14) from any command of God concerning their times; they shall be neither early nor late for (15) any of their appointed times, they shall stray neither to the right nor to the left of any of his true precepts.<\/p>\n
Liturgy for the Initiation and Covenant Renewal Ceremony<\/p>\n
COVENANT CEREMONY FOR NEW MEMBERS<\/p>\n
(16) All those who come into the community rule shall enter into the covenant before God to obey (17) all his commandments so that they may not abandon him because of fear or terror or trial (18) during the dominion of Belial. On entering the covenant, the priests (19) and Levites shall bless the God of salvation and all his faithfulness, and all (20) those entering the covenant shall say after them, \u201cAmen, Amen!\u201d (21) Then the priests shall recite God\u2019s righteous acts manifested in his mighty deeds (22) and shall declare all his merciful grace to Israel, and the Levites shall recite (23) the iniquities of the children of Israel, all their guilty rebellions and sins during the dominion of (24) Belial. And after them, all those entering the covenant shall confess and say: \u201cWe have strayed! (25) We have [disobeyed!] We and our fathers before us have sinned and acted wickedly in walking [counter to the precepts] (26) of truth and righteousness. [And God has] judged us and our fathers also; (2:1) But he has bestowed his bountiful mercy on us from everlasting to everlasting.\u201d And the priests shall bless all (2) the men of the lot of God who walk perfectly in all his ways, saying: \u201cMay he bless you with all (3) good and preserve you from all evil! May he lighten your heart with life-giving wisdom and grant you eternal knowledge! (4) May he raise his merciful face toward you for everlasting peace!\u201d And the Levites shall curse all the men of (5) the lot of Belial, saying: \u201cBe cursed because of all your guilty wickedness! May he deliver you up (6) for terror at the hands of the vengeful avengers! May he visit you with destruction by the hand of all the wreakers (7) of revenge! Be cursed without mercy because of the darkness of your deeds! Be damned (8) in the shadowy place of everlasting fire! May God not heed when you call on him, nor pardon you by blotting out your sin! (9) May he raise his angry face toward you for vengeance! May there be no peace for you in the mouth of those who hold fast to the fathers!\u201d (10) And after the blessing and the cursing, all those entering the covenant shall say, \u201cAmen, Amen!\u201d (11) And the priests and Levites shall continue, saying: \u201cCursed be the man who enters this covenant while walking among the idols of his heart, (12) who sets up before himself his stumbling block of sin so that he may backslide! (13) Hearing the words of this covenant, he blesses himself in his heart and says, peace be with me, (14) even though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, whereas his spirit, parched (for lack of truth) and watered (with lies), shall be destroyed without (15) pardon. God\u2019s wrath and his zeal for his precepts shall consume him in everlasting destruction. All (16) the curses of the covenant shall cling to him and God will set him apart for evil. He shall be cut off from the midst of all the Sons of Light, and because he has turned aside (17) from God on account of his idols and his stumbling block of sin, his lot shall be among those who are cursed forever.\u201d (18) And after them, all those entering the covenant shall answer and say, \u201cAmen, Amen!\u201d<\/p>\n
COVENANT RENEWAL CEREMONY FOR CURRENT MEMBERS<\/p>\n
(19) Thus shall they do, year by year, for as long as the dominion of Belial endures. The priests shall enter (20) first, ranked one after another according to their spirits; then the Levites; (21) and thirdly, all the people one after another by rank in their thousands, hundreds, (22) fifties, and tens, that every Israelite may know his place in the community of God, (23) as an eternal society. No man shall move down from his place nor move up from his allotted position. (24) For according to the holy design, they shall all of them be in a community of truth and virtuous humility, of loving-kindness and good intent (25) one toward his fellow, and (they shall all of them be) sons of the everlasting fellowship.<\/p>\n
CURSE DIRECTED AT BACKSLIDING MEMBERS<\/p>\n
No man [shall be in the] community of his truth who refuses to enter (26) [the covenant of] God so that he may walk in the stubbornness of his heart, for (3:1) his soul detests the wise teaching of just laws. He shall not be counted among the upright for he has not persisted in the conversion of his life. (2) His knowledge, powers, and possessions shall not enter the council of the community, for whoever ploughs the mud of wickedness (3) returns defiled. He shall not be justified by that which his stubborn heart declares lawful, for seeking the ways of light he looks toward darkness. (4) He shall not be reckoned among the perfect; he shall neither be purified by atonement, nor cleansed by purifying waters, nor sanctified by seas (5) and rivers, nor washed clean with any ablution. Unclean, unclean shall he be. For as long as he despises the precepts of (6) God he shall receive no instruction in the community of his counsel. For it is through the spirit of the true counsel of God concerning the ways of man that (7) all his sins shall be expiated, that he may contemplate the light of life. He shall be cleansed from all (8) his sins by the spirit of holiness uniting him to his truth, and his iniquity shall be expiated by the spirit of uprightness and humility. (9) And when his flesh is sprinkled with purifying water and sanctified by cleansing water, it shall be made clean by the humble submission of his soul to all the precepts of God. Let him then order his steps perfectly (10) in all the ways commanded by God concerning the times appointed for him, straying neither to the right (11) nor to the left and transgressing none of his words, and he shall be accepted by virtue of a pleasing atonement before God and it shall be to him a covenant of the (12) everlasting community.<\/p>\n
Treatise on the Two Spirits<\/p>\n
CONFLICTING SPIRITS OF GOOD AND EVIL IN THE WORLD<\/p>\n
(13) The Maskil shall instruct all the Sons of Light and shall teach them the nature of all the children of men (14) according to the kind of spirit which they possess, the signs identifying their works during their lifetime, their visitation for chastisement, and (15) the time of their reward. From the God of knowledge comes all that is and shall be. Before ever they existed he established their whole design (16), and when, as ordained for them, they come into being, it is in accord with his glorious design that they accomplish their task without change. (17) The laws of all things are in his hand and he provides them with all their needs. He has created man to govern (18) the world, and he has appointed for him two spirits in which to walk until the time of his visitation: the spirits of (19) truth and deceit. Those born of truth spring from a fountain of light, but those born of deceit spring from a source of darkness. (20) All the children of righteousness are ruled by the Prince of Light and walk in the ways of light, but all the children of deceit are ruled by the Angel (21) of Darkness and walk in the ways of darkness. The Angel of Darkness leads (22) all the children of righteousness astray, and until his end, all their sin, iniquities, wickedness, and all their unlawful deeds are caused by his dominion (23) in accordance with the mysteries of God. Every one of their chastisements, and every one of the seasons of their distress, shall be brought about by the rule of his persecution; (24) for all his allotted spirits seek the overthrow of the Sons of Light. But the God of Israel and his Angel of Truth will succor all (25) the Sons of Light. For it is he who created the spirits of light and darkness and founded every action (26) upon them and established every deed [upon] their [ways]. And he loves the one (4:1) everlastingly and delights in its works forever; but the counsel of the other he loathes and forever hates its ways. (2) These are their ways in the world for the enlightenment of the heart of man, and so that all the paths of true righteousness may be made straight before him, and so that the fear of the laws of (3) God may be instilled in his heart: a spirit of humility, patience, abundant mercy, unending goodness, understanding, and intelligence; (a spirit of) mighty wisdom which trusts in all (4) the deeds of God and leans on his great loving-kindness; a spirit of discernment in every purpose, of zeal for just laws, of holy intent (5) with steadfastness of heart, of great charity toward all the Sons of Truth, of admirable purity which detests all unclean idols, of humble conduct sprung from (6) an understanding of all things, and of faithful concealment of the mysteries of truth. These are the counsels of the spirit to the Sons of Truth in this world. And as for the visitation of all who walk in this spirit, it shall be healing, (7) great peace in a long life, and fruitfulness, together with every everlasting blessing and eternal joy in life without end, a crown of glory (8) and a garment of majesty in unending light. (9) But the ways of the spirit of deceit are these: greed, and slackness in the search for righteousness, wickedness and lies, haughtiness and pride, falseness and deceit, cruelty (10) and abundant evil, ill-temper and much folly and brazen insolence, abominable deeds (committed) in a spirit of lust, and ways of lewdness in the service of uncleanness, (11) a blaspheming tongue, blindness of eye and dullness of ear, stiffness of neck and heaviness of heart, so that man walks in all the ways of darkness and guile. And the visitation of (12) all who walk in this spirit shall be a multitude of plagues by the hand of all the destroying angels, everlasting damnation by the avenging wrath of the fury of God, eternal torment and (13) endless disgrace together with shameful extinction in the fire of the dark regions. The times of all their generations shall be spent in sorrowful mourning and in bitter misery and in calamities of darkness until (14) they are destroyed without remnant or survivor.<\/p>\n
COMPETING SPIRITS OF GOOD AND EVIL IN HUMANS<\/p>\n
(15) The nature of all the children of men is ruled by these (two spirits), and during their life all the hosts of men have a portion of their divisions and walk in (both) their ways. And the whole reward for (16) their deeds shall be, for everlasting ages, according to whether each man\u2019s portion in their two divisions is great or small. For God has established the spirits in equal measure until the final age, (17) and has set everlasting hatred between their divisions. Truth abhors the works of deceit, and deceit hates all the ways of truth. And fierce is (18) their struggle in all their arguments for they do not walk together. But in the mysteries of his understanding, and in his glorious wisdom, God has ordained an end for deceit, and at the time of (19) the visitation he will destroy it forever. Then truth, which has wallowed in the ways of wickedness during the dominion of deceit until (20) the appointed time of judgment, shall arise in the world forever. God will then purify every deed of man with his truth; he will refine for himself the human frame by rooting out all spirit of deceit from the bounds of (21) his flesh. He will cleanse him of all wicked deeds with the spirit of holiness; like purifying waters he will shed upon him the spirit of truth (to cleanse him) of all abomination and deceit. And he shall be plunged into (22) the spirit of purification, that he may instruct the upright in the knowledge of the Most High and teach the wisdom of the sons of heaven to the perfect of way. For God has chosen them for an everlasting covenant (23) and all the glory of Adam shall be theirs. There shall be no more lies and all the works of deceit shall be put to shame. Until now the spirits of truth and deceit struggle in the hearts of men (24) and they walk in both wisdom and folly. According to his portion of truth so does a man hate deceit, and according to his inheritance in the realm of deceit so is he wicked and so hates (25) truth. For God has established the two spirits in equal measure until the determined end, and until the renewal, and he knows the reward of their deeds from all (26) eternity. He has allotted them to the children of men that they may know good [and evil, and] that the destiny of all the living may be according to the spirit within [them at the time] of the visitation.<\/p>\n
Rules for Life in the Community<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n
(5:1) And this is the rule for the men of the community who have freely pledged themselves to be converted from all evil and to cling to all his commandments according to his will. They shall separate from the congregation of the (2) men of deceit and shall unite, with respect to the law and possessions, under the authority of the Sons of Zadok, the priests who keep the covenant, and of the multitude of the men of the (3) community who hold fast to the covenant. Every decision concerning doctrine, property, and justice shall be determined by them. They shall practice truth and humility in common, (4) and justice and uprightness and charity and modesty in all their ways. No man shall walk in the stubbornness of his heart so that he strays after his heart and (5) eyes and evil inclination, but he shall circumcise in the community the foreskin of evil inclination and of stiffness of neck that they may lay a foundation of truth for Israel, for the community of the everlasting covenant. (6) They shall atone for all those in Aaron who have freely pledged themselves to holiness, and for those in Israel who have freely pledged themselves to the house of truth, and for those who join them to live in community and to take part in the trial and judgment and (7) condemnation of all those who transgress the precepts.<\/p>\n
OATH FOR NEW MEMBERS<\/p>\n
On joining the community, this shall be their code of behavior with respect to all these precepts. Whoever approaches the council of the community (8) shall enter the covenant of God in the presence of all who have freely pledged themselves. He shall undertake by a binding oath to return with all (9) his heart and soul to every commandment of the law of Moses in accordance with all that has been revealed of it to the Sons of Zadok, the priests, keepers of the covenant and seekers of his will, and to the multitude of the men of their covenant (10) who together have freely pledged themselves to his truth and to walking in the way of his delight. And he shall undertake by the covenant to separate from all the men of deceit who walk (11) in the way of wickedness. For they are not reckoned in his covenant. They have neither inquired nor sought after him concerning his laws that they might know the hidden things (12) in which they have sinfully erred; and matters revealed they have treated with insolence. Therefore wrath shall rise up to condemn, and vengeance shall be executed by the curses of the covenant, and great chastisements (13) of eternal destruction shall be visited on them, leaving no remnant. He shall not enter the water to partake of the purity of the men of holiness, for they shall not be cleansed (14) unless they turn from their wickedness: for all who transgress his word are unclean. Likewise, no man shall consort with him in regard to his work or property lest he be burdened with (15) the guilt of his sin. He shall indeed keep away from him in all things: as it is written, \u201cKeep away from all that is false.\u201d No member of (16) the community shall follow them in matters of doctrine and justice, or eat or drink anything of theirs, or take anything from them (17) except for a price; as it is written, \u201cCease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?\u201d For (18) all those not reckoned in his covenant are to be set apart, together with all that is theirs. None of the men of holiness shall lean upon works of vanity: for they are all (19) vanity who know not his covenant, and he will blot from the world all them that despise his word. All their deeds are defilement (20) before him, and all their property unclean.<\/p>\n
DIVERSE RULES FOR LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY<\/p>\n
But when a man enters the covenant to walk according to all these precepts that he may be joined to the holy congregation, they shall examine (21) his spirit in community with respect to his understanding and practice of the law, under the authority of the Sons of Aaron who have freely pledged themselves in the community to restore (22) his covenant and to heed all the precepts commanded by him, and of the multitude of Israel who have freely pledged themselves in the community to return to his covenant. (23) They shall inscribe them in order, one after another, according to their understanding and their deeds, that every one may obey his companion, the man of lesser rank obeying his superior. And they shall (24) examine their spirit and deeds yearly, so that each man may be advanced in accordance with his understanding and perfection of way, or moved down in accordance with his distortions. They shall rebuke (25) one another in truth, humility, and charity. Let no man address his companion with anger, or ill-temper, (26) or obdu[racy, or with envy prompted by] the spirit of wickedness. Let him not hate him [because of his uncircumcised] heart, but let him rebuke him on the very same day lest (6:1) he incur guilt because of him. And furthermore, let no man accuse his companion before the congregation without having admonished him in the presence of witnesses.
\nThese are the ways (2) in which all of them shall walk, each man with his companion, in their dwelling places. The man of lesser rank shall obey the greater in matters of work and money. They shall eat in common (3) and bless in common and deliberate in common. Wherever there are ten men of the council of the community there shall not lack (4) a priest among them. And they shall all sit before him according to their rank and shall be asked their counsel in all things in that order. And when the table has been prepared for eating, and the new wine for (5) drinking, the priest shall be the first to stretch out his hand (6) to bless the firstfruits of the bread and new wine. And where the ten are, there shall never lack a man among them who shall study the law day and night, (7) continually, concerning the right conduct of a man with his companion. And the congregation shall watch in community for a third of every night of the year, to read the book and to study the law (8) and to bless together.
\nThis is the rule for an assembly of the congregation. Each man shall sit in his place: the priests shall sit first, and the elders second, and all the rest (9) of the people according to their rank. And thus shall they be questioned concerning the law, and concerning any counsel or matter coming before the congregation, each man bringing his knowledge (10) to the council of the community. No man shall interrupt a companion before his speech has ended, nor speak before a man of higher rank; (11) each man shall speak in his turn. And in an assembly of the congregation no man shall speak without the consent of the congregation, nor indeed of (12) the Overseer of the congregation. Should any man wish to speak to the congregation, yet not be in a position to question the council of (13) the community, let him rise to his feet and say: \u201cI have something to say to the congregation.\u201d If they command him to speak, he shall speak.<\/p>\n
PROBATIONARY PROCEDURES FOR NEW MEMBERS<\/p>\n
Every man, born of Israel, who freely pledges himself (14) to join the council of the community shall be examined by the Guardian at the head of the congregation concerning his understanding and his deeds. If he is fitted to the discipline, he shall admit him (15) into the covenant that he may be converted to the truth and depart from all deceit; and he shall instruct him in all the rules of the community. And later, when he comes to stand before the congregation, (16) they shall all deliberate his case, and according to the decision of the council of the congregation he shall either enter or depart. After he has entered the council of the community he shall not touch the purity of (17) the congregation until one full year is completed, and until he has been examined concerning his spirit and deeds; nor shall he have any share of the property of the congregation. (18) Then when he has completed one year within the community, the congregation shall deliberate his case with regard to his understanding and observance of the law. And if it be his destiny, (19) according to the judgment of the priests and the multitude of the men of their covenant, to enter the company of the community, his property and earnings shall be handed over to the (20) Overseer of the congregation who shall register it to his account and shall not spend it for the congregation. He shall not touch the drink of the congregation (21) until he has completed a second year among the men of the community. But when the second year has passed, he shall be examined, and if it be his (22) destiny, according to the judgment of the congregation, to enter the community, then he shall be inscribed among his brethren in the order of his rank for the law, and for justice, and for the pure meal; his property shall be merged and he shall offer his counsel (23) and judgment to the community.<\/p>\n
List of Punishments for Sectarian Offenses (Penal Code)<\/p>\n
(24) These are the rules by which they shall judge at a community inquiry according to the cases.<\/p>\n
If one of them has lied deliberately (25) in matters of property, he shall be excluded from the purity of the congregation for one year and shall do penance with respect to one quarter of his food.
\nWhoever has answered (26) his companion with obstinacy, or has addressed him impatiently, going so far as to take no account of the dignity of his fellow by disobeying the order of a brother inscribed before him, (27) he has taken the law into his own hand; therefore he shall do penance for one year [and shall be excluded].
\nIf any man has uttered the [most] venerable name [\u2026] (7:1) in cursing, or as a result of shock or for any other reason whatever, while reading a book or blessing, he shall be dismissed (2) and shall return to the council of the community no more.
\nIf he has spoken in anger against one of the priests inscribed in the book, he shall do penance for one year (3) and shall be excluded for his soul\u2019s sake from the purity of the congregation. But if he has spoken unwittingly, he shall do penance for six months.
\nWhoever has deliberately lied (4) shall do penance for six months.
\nWhoever has deliberately insulted his companion unjustly shall do penance for one year (5) and shall be excluded.
\nWhoever has deliberately deceived his companion by word or by deed shall do penance for six months. If (6) he has failed to care for his companion, he shall do penance for three months. But if he has failed to care for the property of the community, thereby causing its loss, he shall restore it (7) in full. (8) And if he be unable to restore it, he shall do penance for sixty days.
\nWhoever has borne malice against his companion unjustly shall do penance for six months\/one year; (9) and likewise, whoever has taken revenge in any matter whatever.
\nWhoever has spoken foolishly: three months.
\nWhoever has interrupted his companion while speaking: (10) ten days.
\nWhoever has lain down to sleep during an assembly of the congregation: thirty days.
\nAnd likewise, whoever has left an assembly of the congregation (11) without reason as many as three times during one assembly shall do penance for ten days. But if they were standing (12) while he departed, he shall do penance for thirty days.
\nWhoever has gone naked before his companion, without having been obliged to do so, he shall do penance for six months. (13)
\nWhoever has spat in an assembly of the congregation shall do penance for thirty days.
\nWhoever brings out his penis from beneath his clothing\u2014that is, his clothing (14) is so full of holes that his nakedness is exposed\u2014he shall do penance for thirty days.
\nWhoever has guffawed foolishly shall do penance for thirty days. (15)
\nWhoever has drawn out his left hand to gesticulate with it shall do penance for ten days.
\nWhoever has gone about slandering his companion (16) shall be excluded from the purity of the congregation for one year and shall do penance.
\nBut whoever has slandered the congregation shall be expelled from among them (17) and shall return no more.
\nWhoever has complained against the authority of the community shall be expelled and shall not return.
\nBut if he has complained against his companion (18) unjustly, he shall do penance for six months.
\nShould a man return whose spirit has so trembled before the authority of the community that he has betrayed the truth (19) and walked in the stubbornness of his heart, he shall do penance for two years. During the first year he shall not touch the purity of the congregation, (20) and during the second year he shall not touch the drink of the congregation and shall sit below all the men of the community. Then at the completion of (21) his two years, the congregation shall consider his case, and if he is admitted he shall be inscribed in his rank and may then question concerning the law. (22)
\nIf, after being in the council of the community for ten full years, (23) the spirit of any man has failed, so that he has betrayed the community and departed from (24) the congregation to walk in the stubbornness of his heart, he shall return no more to the council of the community. Moreover, if any member of the community has shared (25) with him his food or property which \u2026 of the congregation, his sentence shall be the same; he shall be ex[pelled].<\/p>\n
Rules for a Distinct Community<\/p>\n
THE CHARACTER OF THE COMMUNITY<\/p>\n
(8:1) In the council of the community there shall be twelve men and three priests, perfectly versed in all that is revealed of the (2) law, whose works shall be truth, righteousness, justice, loving-kindness, and humility. (3) They shall preserve the faith in the land with steadfastness and a contrite spirit and shall atone for sin by the practice of justice (4) and by suffering the sorrows of affliction. They shall walk with all men according to the standard of truth and the rule of the time.
\nWhen these are in Israel, (5) the council of the community shall be established in truth. It shall be an everlasting plantation, a house of holiness for Israel, an assembly of supreme holiness (6) for Aaron. They shall be true witnesses to justice, and shall be the elect of (God\u2019s) will who shall atone for the land and pay (7) to the wicked their reward. It shall be that tried wall, that precious cornerstone, (8) whose foundations shall neither rock nor sway in their place. It shall be a most holy dwelling for (9) Aaron, with everlasting knowledge of the covenant of justice, and shall offer up sweet fragrance. It shall be a house of perfection and truth in Israel (10) that they may establish a covenant according to the everlasting precepts. And they shall be an agreeable offering, atoning for the land and determining the judgment of wickedness, and there shall be no more iniquity. When they have been confirmed for two years in perfection of way (11) in the foundation of the community, they shall be set apart as holy within the council of the men of the community. (12) And the Interpreter shall not conceal from them, out of fear of the spirit of apostasy, any of those things hidden from Israel that have been discovered by him.
\nAnd when these become members of the community in Israel (13) according to all these rules, they shall separate from the habitation of unjust men and shall go into the wilderness to prepare there the way of him; (14) as it is written, \u201cPrepare in the wilderness the way of \u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022 make straight in the desert a path for our God.\u201d (15) This (path) is the study of the law which he commanded by the hand of Moses, that they may do according to all that has been revealed from age to age, (16) and as the Prophets have revealed by his holy spirit.
\nAnd no man among the members of the covenant of (17) the community who deliberately, on any point whatever, turns aside from any commandment, shall touch the purity of the men of holiness (18) or know anything of their counsel until his deeds are purified from all injustice and he walks in perfection of way. And then he shall be admitted (19), according to the judgment of the congregation, to the council and shall be inscribed in his rank. This rule shall apply to whoever enters the community.
\n(20) And these are the rules that the men of perfect holiness shall follow with one another. (21) Every man who enters the council of holiness, of those who walk in the way of perfection as commanded by God, (22) and who deliberately or dishonestly transgresses one word of the law of Moses, on any point whatever, shall be expelled from the council of the community (23) and shall return no more; no man of holiness shall be associated in his property or counsel in (24) any matter at all. But if he has acted inadvertently, he shall be excluded from the purity and the council and they shall consult the rule (as follows). (25) \u201cFor two years he shall take no part in judgment or ask for counsel\u201d; but if, during that time, his way becomes perfect (26) in the session, in study, and in the council, in accordance with the judgment of the congregation, provided that he commit no further inadvertent sin during two full (27) years. (9:1) For one sin of inadvertence (alone) he shall do penance for two years. But as for him who has sinned deliberately, he shall never return; only the man who has sinned inadvertently (2) shall be tried for two years, that his way and counsel may be made perfect according to the judgment of the congregation. And afterward, he shall be inscribed in his rank in the community of holiness.
\n(3) When these become members of the community in Israel according to all these rules, they shall establish the spirit of holiness according to everlasting truth. (4) They shall atone for guilty rebellion and for sins of unfaithfulness, that they may obtain loving-kindness for the land without the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice. And offering (5) of the lips rightly offered shall be as an acceptable fragrance of righteousness, and perfection of way as a delectable free-will offering. At that time, the men of the community shall set apart (6) a house of holiness for Aaron in order that it may be united to the most holy things and a house of community for Israel, for those who walk in perfection. (7) The Sons of Aaron alone shall command in matters of justice and property, and every rule concerning the men of the community shall be determined according to their word. (8) As for the property of the men of holiness who walk in perfection, it shall not be merged with that of the men of injustice who (9) have not purified their life by separating themselves from iniquity and walking in the way of perfection. They shall depart from none of the counsels of the law to walk (10) in all the stubbornness of their hearts, but shall be ruled by the first precepts in which the men of the community were first instructed (11) until there shall come the prophet and the messiahs of Aaron and Israel.<\/p>\n
RULES FOR THE MASKIL<\/p>\n
(12) These are the precepts in which the Maskil shall walk in his commerce with all the living, according to the rule proper to every season and according to the weight of every man. (13) He shall do the will of God according to all that has been revealed from age to age. He shall measure out all knowledge discovered throughout the ages, (14) together with the precept of the age. He shall separate and weigh the sons of righteousness according to their spirit. He shall hold firmly to the elect of the time according to (15) his will, as he has commanded. He shall judge every man according to his spirit. He shall admit him in accordance with the cleanness of his hands, and in accordance with his understanding (16) he may draw near. And he shall love and hate likewise. He shall not rebuke the men of the pit (17) nor dispute with them. He shall conceal the teaching of the law from men of injustice, but shall impart true knowledge and righteous judgment to those who have chosen (18) the way. He shall guide them all in knowledge according to the spirit of each and according to the rule of the age, and shall thus instruct them in the mysteries of marvelous truth, so that in the midst of (19) the men of the community they may walk perfectly together in all that has been revealed to them. This is the time for the preparation of the way (20) into the wilderness, and he shall teach them to do all that is found at that time and to separate from all those who have not turned aside (21) from all injustice. These are the rules of conduct for the Maskil in those times with respect to his loving and hating everlasting hatred (22) toward the men of the pit in a spirit of secrecy. He shall leave to them wealth and earnings like a slave to his lord and like a poor man to (23) his master. He shall be a man zealous for the law and its time until the day of vengeance. He shall perform the will (of God) in all his deeds, (24) and in all his dominion as he has commanded. He shall delight in all that befalls him and nothing shall please him save God\u2019s will. (25) He shall delight in all the words of his mouth and shall desire nothing except his command. He shall watch always [for] the judgment of God, (26) and shall bless his maker [for all his goodness] and declare [his mercies] in all that befalls.<\/p>\n
Concluding Hymn<\/p>\n
He shall bless him [with the offering] of the lips (10:1) at the times ordained by him:<\/p>\n
at the beginning of the dominion of light,
\nand at its end when it retires to its appointed place;
\nat the beginning of (2) the watches of darkness when he unlocks their storehouse and spreads them out,
\nand also at their end when they retire before the light;
\nwhen the (3) heavenly lights shine out from the dwelling-place of holiness,
\nand also when they retire to the place of glory;
\nat the entry of the seasons on the days of the new moon,
\nand also at their end (4) when they succeed to one another.
\nTheir renewal is a great day for the holy of holies,
\nand a sign for the unlocking of everlasting mercies
\n(5) at the beginning of seasons in all times to come.
\nAt the beginning of the months of the seasons
\nand on the holy days appointed for remembrance,
\nin their seasons (6) I will bless him
\nwith the offering of the lips
\naccording to the statute engraved forever:
\nat the beginning of the years
\nand at the turning-point of their seasons
\nwhen their appointed law is fulfilled,
\n(7) on the day decreed by him
\nthat they should pass from one to the other:
\nthe season of early harvest to the summer time,
\nthe season of sowing to the season of grass,
\nthe seasons of years to their seven-year periods.
\n(8) And at the beginning of their seven-year periods
\nuntil the time appointed for liberty.
\nAll my life the engraved statute shall be on my tongue
\nas the fruit of praise
\nand the portion of my lips.
\n(9) I will sing with knowledge and all my music
\nshall be for the glory of God.
\nThe strings of my harp shall sound
\nfor his holy order
\nand I will tune the pipe of my lips
\nas the measure of his judgment.
\n(10) With the coming of day and night
\nI will enter the covenant of God,
\nand when evening and morning depart
\nI will recite his decrees.
\nI will place in them (11) my bounds without return.
\nI will declare his judgment concerning my sins,
\nand my transgressions shall be before my eyes
\nas an engraved statute.
\nI will say to God, \u201cMy Righteousness\u201d
\n(12) and \u201cAuthor of My Goodness\u201d to the Most High,
\n\u201cFountain of Knowledge\u201d and \u201cSource of Holiness,\u201d
\n\u201cSummit of Glory\u201d and \u201cAlmighty Eternal Majesty.\u201d
\nI will choose that which (13) he teaches me
\nand will delight in his judgment of me.
\nBefore I move my hands and feet
\nI will bless his name.
\nI will praise him before I go out or enter,
\n(14) or sit or rise,
\nand while I lie on the couch of my bed.
\nI will bless him with the offering
\nof that which proceeds from my lips
\nfrom the midst of the ranks of men, (15)
\nand before I lift my hands to eat
\nof the pleasant fruits of the earth.
\nI will bless him for his exceeding wonderful deeds
\nat the beginning of fear and dread
\nand in the abode of distress and desolation.
\n(16) I will speak of his power
\nand will lean on his mercies all day long.
\nI know that in his hand is judgment of (17) all the living,
\nand that all his deeds are truth.
\nI will praise him when distress is unleashed
\nand will magnify him also because of his salvation.
\nI will pay to no man the reward of evil;
\n(18) I will pursue him with goodness.
\nFor judgment of all the living is with God
\nand it is he who will render to man his reward.
\nI will not envy in a spirit of (19) wickedness,
\nmy soul shall not desire the riches of violence.
\nI will not grapple with the men of the pit
\nuntil the day of vengeance,
\nbut my wrath shall (20) not turn from the men of falsehood
\nand I will not rejoice until judgment is made.
\nI will bear no rancor
\nagainst them that turn from transgression, but will have no pity
\n(21) on all who depart from the way.
\nI will offer no comfort to the smitten
\nuntil their way becomes perfect.
\nI will not keep Belial within my heart,
\nand in my mouth shall be heard
\nno (22) folly or sinful deceit,
\nno cunning or lies shall be found on my lips.
\nThe fruit of holiness shall be on my tongue
\nand no abominations (23) shall be found upon it.
\nI will open my mouth in songs of thanksgiving,
\nand my tongue shall always proclaim
\nthe righteousness of God and the sin of men
\nuntil the end of (24) their transgression.
\nI will cause vanities
\nto cease from my lips,
\nuncleanness and crookedness
\nfrom the knowledge of my heart.
\nI will impart\/conceal knowledge (25) with discretion
\nand will prudently hedge it within a firm boundary
\nto preserve faith and strong judgment
\nin accordance with the justice of God.
\nI will measure (26) the law by the measuring-cord of the times,
\nand \u2026 righteousness
\nand loving kindness toward the oppressed,
\nand to strengthen the hands of the anxi[ous of heart],
\nand discernment (11:1) to the erring spirit,
\nteaching understanding to them that murmur
\nthat they may answer meekly
\nbefore the haughty of spirit
\nand humbly before men of (2) injustice
\nwho point the finger and speak of iniquity
\nand acquire wealth.<\/p>\n
As for me,
\nmy judgment is with God.
\nIn his hand are the perfection of my way
\nand the uprightness of my heart.
\n(3) He will wipe out my transgression
\nthrough his righteousness.
\nFor his light has sprung
\nfrom the source of his knowledge;
\nmy eyes have beheld his marvelous deeds,
\nand the light of my heart, the mystery (4) to come.
\nHe that is everlasting
\nis the support of my right hand;
\nthe way of my steps is over a firm rock
\nwhich nothing shall shake;
\nfor the truth of God is (5) the rock of my steps
\nand his might is the support of my right hand.
\nFrom the source of his righteousness
\nis my judgment,
\nand from his marvelous mysteries
\nis the light in my heart.
\n(6) My eyes have gazed
\non that which is eternal,
\non wisdom concealed from men,
\non knowledge and wise design
\n(hidden) from the sons of men;
\non a fountain of righteousness
\nand on a storehouse (7) of power,
\non a spring of glory
\n(hidden) from the assembly of flesh.
\nGod has given them to his chosen ones
\nas an everlasting possession,
\nand has caused them to inherit
\nthe lot of (8) the holy ones.
\nHe has joined their assembly
\nto the sons of heaven
\nto be a council of the community,
\na foundation of the building of holiness,
\neternal plantation throughout all (9) ages to come.<\/p>\n
As for me,
\nI belong to wicked mankind,
\nto the company of unjust flesh.
\nMy iniquities, rebellions, and sins,
\ntogether with the perversity of my heart,
\n(10) belong to the company of worms
\nand to those who walk in darkness.
\nFor mankind has no way,
\nand man is unable to establish his steps
\nsince justification is with God
\nand out of his hand (11) is perfection of way.
\nAll things come to pass by his knowledge;
\nHe establishes all things by his design
\nand without him nothing is done.<\/p>\n
As for me,
\nif (12) I stumble, the mercies of God
\nshall be my eternal salvation.
\nI stagger because of the sin of flesh,
\nmy judgment shall be
\nby the righteousness of God which endures forever.
\n(13) When my distress is unleashed
\nHe will deliver my soul from the pit
\nand will direct my steps to the way.
\nHe will draw me near by his compassion,
\nand by his mercy will he bring (14) my judgment.
\nHe will judge me in the righteousness of his truth
\nand in the greatness of his goodness
\nHe will pardon all my sins.
\nThrough his righteousness he will cleanse me
\nof the uncleanness of (15) man
\nand of the sins of the children of men,
\nthat I may confess to God his righteousness,
\nand his majesty to the Most High.<\/p>\n
Blessed are you, my God,
\nwho opens (16) the heart of your servant to knowledge.
\nEstablish all his deeds in righteousness,
\nand as it pleases you to do for the elect of mankind,
\ngrant that the son of your handmaid
\nmay stand (17) before you forever.
\nFor without you no way is perfect,
\nand without your will nothing is done.
\nIt is you who has taught (18) all knowledge
\nand all things come to pass by your will.
\nThere is none beside you to dispute your counsel
\nor to understand (19) all your holy design,
\nor to behold the depth of your mysteries
\nand to contemplate all your wonders
\nwith the power of (20) your might.
\nWho can endure your glory,
\nand what is the son of man
\nin the midst of your wonderful deeds?
\n(21) How shall one born of woman
\ndwell before you?
\nKneaded from the dust,
\nhis abode is the nourishment of worms.
\nhe is but a discharge, (22) but nipped-off clay,
\nand his desire is toward dust.
\nWhat shall hand-molded clay reply?
\nWhat counsel shall it understand?<\/p>\n
Damascus Document<\/p>\n
Joseph L. Angel<\/p>\n
Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Damascus Document (also known as the Zadokite Fragments) has been recognized by scholars as a foundational work of the Qumran community. This lengthy composition divides into two principal sections known as \u201cthe Admonition\u201d and \u201cthe Laws.\u201d
\nThe Admonition is a Deuteronomy-like speech designed to encourage adherence to the teachings and halakhot (laws) of the elect community. Weaving together a fine tapestry of biblical allusions, a teacher instructs his followers to separate from the wicked, recounts the origins of a penitential remnant of Israel 390 years after Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s destruction of Jerusalem, and offers lessons from biblical history. Just as God has punished the wickedness of his people in the past, he will punish the stubborn majority of Israel that continues to blindly disobey his commands. Only the community, or \u201cthose who entered into the new covenant in the land of Damascus\u201d (CD 6:19), will be saved through the grace of God. Those unfaithful to the new covenant will be punished.
\nThe Admonition serves as a hortatory introduction to the Laws, which constitute the core and largest part of the work. The rulings listed in this section are to be followed \u201cduring the entire period [of visitation]\u201d (4QDa 11 18\u201319), namely, until the dawn of the Messianic Age, which, in the view of the Qumran community, was imminent. The subject matter of the Laws may be divided into two main categories: general religious halakhot and regulations specific to life in the community. Among the rulings in the first category are those pertaining to the disqualification of various types of priests from service, diagnosis of skin diseases, agriculture, ritual defilement and purification, business ethics, marriage, oaths and vows, judicial procedures, observance of the Sabbath, purity of the Temple, treatment of blasphemers and Gentiles, and dietary strictures. The second category includes legislation on the meetings, organization, and leadership of the community, a penal code establishing punishment for various offenses, such as murmuring against the fathers or mothers of the congregation, and a ritual for the expulsion of unfaithful members held at the annual ceremony for the renewal of the covenant in the third month.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
The Damascus Document is unique among the Dead Sea Scrolls in that the majority of the preserved text derives from two medieval Hebrew manuscripts discovered in the Cairo Genizah in 1896, more than 50 years prior to the Qumran discoveries (hence the abbreviation CD, for Cairo Damascus Document). The two manuscripts, known as manuscript A and manuscript B, date to the 10th and 12th centuries ce, respectively. Manuscript A consists of 16 pages and covers large portions of the Admonition (pages 1\u20138) and the Laws (pages 9\u201316). Manuscript B preserves only two pages (numbered 19\u201320 by the original editor) that partially overlap with pages 7\u20138 of manuscript A and constitute the ending of the Admonition.
\nFrom the moment of the initial publication of the medieval manuscripts by Solomon Schechter in 1910, scholars debated the provenance of the document and the identity of the community it addresses. This debate was terminated with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls a few decades later. Scholars immediately realized that the vocabulary, ideology, and communal organization reflected in the Genizah manuscripts paralleled those observed in the sectarian Scrolls collection. Moreover, personalities such as the \u201cTeacher of Righteousness\u201d and the \u201cSpouter of Lies,\u201d previously known only from manuscripts A and B, appeared also in the sectarian biblical commentaries found at Qumran. Most importantly, a total of ten fragmentary copies of the Damascus Document were discovered in Caves 4, 5, and 6. This solidified the ancient origins of the composition, as well as its connection with the Qumran movement.
\nThe Qumran manuscripts, principally those from Cave 4, preserve substantial overlaps with the Cairo Genizah copies, as well as previously unknown parts of the text, including the beginning and end of the work and a significant amount of legal material. Overlaps with the medieval manuscripts display that the latter are fairly reliable copies, even though they were penned over a millennium after the original date of composition. It is conceivable that these manuscripts were produced by Karaite scribes copying from an ancient scroll that could have surfaced from an earlier manuscript discovery.
\nOn the basis of paleography, the oldest Qumran copy (4Q266 = 4QDa) dates to the first half of the 1st century BCE. The final form of the text refers to the death of the Teacher of Righteousness, an event that many scholars locate at the end of the 2nd century BCE. These chronological parameters indicate that the Damascus Document, at least in its latest compositional stage, was composed late in the second or early in the 1st century BCE. However, it is clearly a composite work, and several incorporated sections likely date to a time prior to the establishment of the community.
\nThe distinctive vocabulary, ideology, and communal organization espoused by the Damascus Document indicate that it is a literary product of the Qumran community. However, the existence of various independent formal patterns and literary units indicates that a Qumran author\/editor worked with preexisting material. According to a popular line of interpretation, the Damascus Document includes an older literary layer that may be attributed to a parent group of the Qumran community and a newer layer written by the Qumranites themselves. However, there is currently no consensus with regard to the specific division of textual units, and it is difficult to identify the life settings in which many of them were composed.
\nThe Damascus Document contains many apparent inconsistencies with other key works produced by the Qumran movement, most notably Rule of the Community, which is generally accepted as the most important document describing the structure and organization of the community. For example, much of the Damascus Document\u2019s legislation is directed at a community that includes men, women, and children, and it is assumed that community members own private property. By contrast, Rule of the Community addresses only men and embraces a system of communal property. There is also a fundamental disagreement between the two works with regard to the procedures for initiating new members. Moreover, the Damascus Document includes legislation that appears to assume limited participation in the sacrificial service of the Jerusalem Temple, whereas Rule of the Community and other Qumran texts view the Temple as defiled and its service as replaced by the perfectly righteous and pure lifestyle lived by community members.
\nTheoretically, such discrepancies may be explained in different ways. They may represent a development in sectarian attitudes and practice over time. Alternatively, according to a popular line of interpretation, the Damascus Document and Rule of the Community address different branches of the same movement. The former text appears to be geared toward groups who were scattered in camps throughout the land of Israel and less segregated from the outside world. The latter text, on the other hand, may be directed toward the isolated sectarian center at Qumran. Indeed, the Damascus Document itself may refer to these two branches of the community when it distinguishes between those who \u201clive (in) camps according to the rule of the land \u2026 and take wives \u2026 and beget children\u201d (CD 19:2\u20133) and those who live in \u201cperfect holiness\u201d (e.g., CD 20:2). This distinction is often correlated to Josephus\u2019s differentiation between marrying and celibate Essenes (J.W. 2.160\u201361) and is taken as evidence of the identification of the Qumranites with part of the Essene movement.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
The Damascus Document is one of the most important Second Temple period texts available for study today. Its extensive portrait of the legal and theological thinking of the Dead Sea sect and related groups provides a firm basis for understanding the sect\u2019s image of itself and of its fellow Jews, as well as its relation to the heritage of Scripture that preceded it and the Jewish world surrounding it.<\/p>\n
LAW<\/p>\n
As an early repository of written Jewish legal materials, the Damascus Document is a key source for the background and prehistory of Rabbinic halakhah. While certain legal conclusions run parallel to Pharisaic-Rabbinic rulings (see, e.g., comment on CD 10:14\u201316), the material is mostly non-Pharisaic. Indeed, like many of the legal texts from Qumran, the Damascus Document voices opposition to contemporary Pharisaic practices (see, e.g., comment on 4QDa 6 ii 3\u20134; cf. comments on CD 1:18 and 5:7\u20138). As such, it illuminates various aspects of the polemical sectarian backdrop of the Pharisaic-Rabbinic legal system, especially this system\u2019s central concern with the laws of ritual purity.
\nIn substance, the laws of the Damascus Document are often in accordance with other legal works discovered at Qumran, especially the Temple Scroll and 4QMMT (Some Precepts of the Torah). The common legal tradition underlying these texts is characterized by a heightened strictness (in comparison with Pharisaic-Rabbinic law) in matters of ritual purity and sacrifice and is thus often termed \u201cpriestly.\u201d Indeed, these works broaden the purity laws of the Torah, with the result that protection against ritual defilement of the Temple is increased and priestly holiness is extended beyond the genetic confines of the priesthood. In this latter regard, the Damascus Document and other scrolls in a sense prefigure one of the major programs of Rabbinic Judaism, which extends priestly holiness beyond the hereditary claim and transfers it to all of Israel.
\nOne of the fundamental issues in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism was how to incorporate extrabiblical teachings into the legal system and how to justify them theologically. In the Damascus Document, as in other sectarian scrolls, this was accomplished through a distinction between \u201crevealed\u201d (nigleh) and \u201chidden\u201d (nistar) laws. \u201cRevealed\u201d laws are those clearly mentioned by Scripture and known to all the people of Israel, who nonetheless violate them. \u201cHidden\u201d laws, on the other hand, are not explicit in Scripture and known only to the members of the sect. These laws were seen as derived by divinely inspired biblical exegesis. Through such interpretations, many examples of which appear in the Damascus Document, the sect was able to expand Jewish law beyond its biblical origins. This system may be contrasted with that of the Temple Scroll, which couches postbiblical legal teachings as pseudepigraphal divine revelation, as well as with the unwritten \u201ctraditions of the fathers\u201d of the Pharisees and the later Rabbinic notion of the revelation of an oral Torah at Sinai.
\nOne of the most significant characteristics of the laws of the Damascus Document is that they are often stated apodictically and divided into sections classified by subject. At times, these sections are introduced by titles such as \u201cconcerning the Sa[bba]th\u201d (CD 10:14) or \u201c[conce]rning the oath of a woman\u201d (CD 16:10). The Damascus Document thus provides proof of the early existence of a form of legal organization that would become popular centuries later with the compilation of the Mishnah and eventually dominate Rabbinic Judaism.<\/p>\n
THEOLOGY<\/p>\n
While the Damascus Document never presents an explicit formulation of theological principles like that found in Rule of the Community (see 1QS 3:13\u20134:26), it clearly shares important aspects of the dualistic and deterministic worldview found in other Qumran writings. Contemporary Jewish society is viewed as divided into two parts: the elect community, termed the \u201cSons of Light\u201d in the opening passage (4QDa 1 a\u2013b 1), and disobedient outsiders destined for punishment. The current ascendancy of the latter is seen as a result of God having relinquished control of the world to Belial, the demonic leader of the forces of darkness, for a set period, \u201cthe time of wickedness\u201d (see, e.g., CD 12:2). The exact period of the rule of evil on earth has been predetermined by God (CD 2:8\u201310) and will end with the imminent arrival of \u201cthe messiah of Aaron and Israel\u201d (CD 19:10\u201311; 12:23\u201313:1; 14:19; cf. 20:1). This ambiguous phrase has elicited much debate among scholars. It may refer to a single figure embodying both priestly and royal powers, or, more likely, to two separate figures, comparable to the dual messianic expectation found explicitly in 1QS 9:11 and implied by 4QTestimonia (4Q175) and likely also by CD 7:18\u201321.
\nAt the same time, the text\u2019s historical perspective, which sees the community, in contradistinction with the contemporary Jewish masses, as a chosen \u201croot of planting\u201d (CD 1:7) obedient to God\u2019s laws, is close to that of non-Qumranite works such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees. In fact, the Damascus Document quotes Jubilees as an authoritative scriptural source and alludes to older traditions of biblical exegesis and to various legends that were part of early Second Temple Judaism. These facts serve to identify the Qumran community as but one branch of a larger apocalyptically oriented Jewish reform movement, with roots in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, which was deeply disturbed by what it viewed as the large-scale Jewish abrogation of the Sinaitic covenant.
\nThe Damascus Document has some notable theological links with early Christianity and the New Testament. First, much of the Admonition consists of contemporizing interpretations of various biblical texts according to which scriptural prophecies are made to refer to the historical experiences of the sect and the life of the sect\u2019s early leader, the Righteous Teacher. In a similar manner, early Christians interpreted the Hebrew Bible as referring to their own sectarian history and the events surrounding the life and death of Jesus. Second, reminiscent of the treatment of Jesus in some New Testament writings, the Damascus Document charts the rise and death of the community\u2019s beloved teacher and expects the arrival of \u201cone who will teach righteousness in the end of days,\u201d apparently the typological eschatological counterpart of the historical Righteous Teacher (see comment on CD 6:11). Finally, the communities behind both the Damascus Document and the New Testament saw themselves as renewing and fulfilling the true meaning of the original covenant between God and Israel, which had been corrupted by nonsectarian Jews. Thus, the Damascus Document provides important evidence of a Jewish sectarian community with striking similarities to early Christianity several generations prior to the birth of Jesus.<\/p>\n
HISTORY<\/p>\n
Scholars have relied heavily upon the Damascus Document as a source for the reconstruction of the history of the Dead Sea sect and related movements. The first page of CD describes the origins of a penitential movement 390 years after being given into \u201cthe hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon\u201d (CD 1:6). This group is described as groping blindly for 20 years until God \u201craised up for them (the) Righteous Teacher to guide them\u201d (CD 1:11). Assuming that the author had an accurate date for Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s destruction of Jerusalem (586 BCE), the rise of the Righteous Teacher is dated to 176 BCE. This absolute chronological anchor allows for various suggestions as to the identity of the mysterious figures and groups mentioned in the text based on the history provided by external sources such as Josephus and 1 and 2 Maccabees.
\nHowever, such use of the Damascus Document has been challenged on the grounds that its language draws so heavily upon the Hebrew Bible that it is difficult to distinguish between biblical typology and actual historical events. For example, the allusion to 390 years likely relies on the use of that number in Ezek. 4:5, where it refers to the duration of punishment for the sins of Israel. The number is thus schematic and should not be taken as chronologically exact.
\nA similar problem arises with regard to the interpretation of the text\u2019s prominent references to \u201cDamascus.\u201d The Damascus Document reports that the chosen community departed from Judah to \u201cthe land of Damascus\u201d and there \u201centered into the new covenant\u201d (e.g., CD 6:5, 19). Some scholars argue that the \u201cland of Damascus\u201d is to be understood as a literal reference to the city in Syria and its environs. Others have interpreted it as a cipher for Babylon. In either case, this would lead to the conclusion that the group had its origins in exile, outside the land of Israel. However, it is also possible that the phrase \u201cland of Damascus\u201d was used in connection with Amos 5:26\u201327, which refers to an \u201cexile beyond Damascus.\u201d As such, many scholars understand Damascus as a symbolic allusion to Qumran, the sect\u2019s place of exile in the Judean desert. Indeed, such a symbolic interpretation appears to be supported by the exegesis of Amos 5:26\u201327 in CD 7:14\u201318. If so, the sect originated as a pious reform movement in the land of Israel.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
The following presentation of the Damascus Document is intended to give the reader an idea of the original scope and arrangement of the composition. As such, it includes translations of both the medieval Genizah manuscripts (CD) and much of the material from the Qumran fragments (4QDa\u2013h, 5Q12, 6Q15). Unless otherwise noted, where CD overlaps with the Qumran fragments, the text of CD is followed and the Qumran material is not presented. However, significant variants in the Qumran manuscripts are noted in the commentary. Both CD manuscripts (A and B) are presented in full. Overlaps and significant variants are noted in the commentary.
\nThanks to the textual remains of two of the Qumran manuscripts (4QDa and 4QDe), it is now confirmed that the legal material preserved in CD 15\u201316 preceded that found in CD 9\u201314. The text will thus be presented in this sequence (even though the traditional page numbers are still utilized).
\nFortunately, the original introduction and conclusion of the composition have been preserved among the Qumran fragments. However, it is not always possible to determine the order of the rest of the Qumran material with certainty. The vast majority of this material derives from the Laws section of the Damascus Document. The placement of texts below follows the order proposed by Charlotte Hempel.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Baumgarten, Joseph. Qumran Cave 4.XIII: The Damascus Document (4Q266\u2013273). Discoveries in the Judean Desert 18. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996.
\nBaumgarten, Joseph, and Daniel Schwartz. \u201cDamascus Document (CD).\u201d In The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations: Damascus Document, War Scrolls and Related Documents, ed. J. Charlesworth, 4\u201357. Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project 2. T\u00fcbingen: Mohr; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995.
\nDavies, Philip. The Damascus Covenant: An Interpretation of the \u201cDamascus Document.\u201d Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement 25. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1983.
\nHempel, Charlotte. The Damascus Texts. Companion to the Qumran Scrolls 1. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. The Laws of the Damascus Document: Sources, Tradition, and Redaction. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
\nMurphy-O\u2019Connor, Jerome. \u201cThe Damascus Document Revisited.\u201d RB 92 (1985): 223\u201346.
\nRabin, Chaim. The Zadokite Documents. 2nd revised edition. London: Clarendon, 1958.
\nSchiffman, Lawrence. The Halakhah at Qumran. Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 16. Leiden: Brill, 1975.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. Sectarian Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Courts, Testimony, and the Penal Code. Brown Judaic Studies 33. Chico CA: Scholars Press, 1983.
\nShemesh, Aharon. Halakhah in the Making: The Development of Jewish Law from Qumran to the Rabbis. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
4QDa 1 a\u2013b 1\u20137<\/p>\n
1[The elaboration of the laws by the Master for the S]ons of Light to keep apart from the way[s of wickedness] 2[ ] until the completion of the fixed time for visitation upon [the spirit of iniquity] 3[ ] God [will destroy] all her works, bringing rui[n] 4upon [the errant in spirit] those who move boundaries, and he will wreak ruin [upon those who work] 5wickedness. [And now hearken unto] me, and I will make known to you the 6awful [ ] wonders will I relate to yo[u which are hidden] 7from mortal man (during) the [numbered d]ays that he lives, all [ ]<\/p>\n
4QDa 2 i 1\u20136 (+ 4QDc 1 5\u20138)<\/p>\n
1before it 2befalls them [ ] for they can neither [come b]efo[r]e or after their appointed times. 3[ and] he ordained a period of wrath for a people that knows him not, 4And he established [times] of favor for those that seek his commandments and for those that walk on the path of integrity. 5And he uncovered their ey[es] to hidden things and they opened their ears and heard profundities, and they understood 6all that is to be before it comes upon them.<\/p>\n
CD 1<\/p>\n
1And now hearken, all who know righteousness, and discern the works of 2God, for he has a dispute with all flesh and will make judgment against all who scoff at him. 3For in their treachery in leaving him, he hid his face from Israel and from his sanctuary, 4and gave them up to the sword. But recalling the covenant with the first ones, he left a remnant of 5Israel and did not give them up to destruction. And at the end of (his) wrath, 6390 years after giving them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 7he turned his attention to them and caused to grow out of Israel and Aaron a root of planting, to inherit 8his land and grow fat in the goodness of his soil. And they discerned their iniquity and knew that 9they were guilty people; and they were as blind as those who grope for a way 10for 20 years. But God discerned their works, (namely) that they sought him wholeheartedly, 11and he raised up for them (the) Righteous Teacher to guide them in the way of his heart. And he informed 12the latter generations that which he did in the last generation among the congregation of traitors, 13who are those who depart from the way; that is the time of which it was written, \u201cAs a wayward cow, 14so did Israel stray\u201d\u2014when the Man of Mockery arose who sprinkled upon Israel 15waters of falsehood and led them astray in a chaos without a way, bringing low the eternal heights and departing 16from the paths of righteousness and moving the border marked out by the first ones in their inheritance so as 17to apply to them the curses of his covenant, surrendering them to the avenging sword of the covenant\u2019s vengeance. 18For they sought smooth things and chose delusions and sought out 19loopholes and chose the fair neck and justified the evil person and condemned the righteous person 20and caused the covenant to be broken and the statute to be violated; and they ganged up on those of righteous soul, and all those who walk 21perfectly their own soul(s) despised, and they persecuted them with the sword and were joyful over dissension amidst the people. And the anger of<\/p>\n
CD 2<\/p>\n
1God was kindled against their congregation so as to lay waste all their multitude and (make) their works as impurity before him.
\n2And now hearken to me, all who enter the covenant, and I will reveal to your ear the ways of 3the evil ones. God loves knowledge. Wisdom and prudence he has set up before him, 4craft and knowledge shall serve him. Long forbearance (is) with him and manifold forgiveness, 5so as to atone for those who repent (of) rebellious sin. But (with him too are) might, power, and great wrath with fiery flames 6in the han[d] of all the angels of destruction for those who willfully depart from the way and despise the statute, leaving them neither remnant 7nor survivors. For God did not choose them primordially; before they were established he knew 8their works. And he despised the generations (in which) they [st]ood and hid his face from the land 9from \u2026 until their completion. And he knew the years they would stand and the number(s) and detail(s) of their times, during all 10the existence of eternity and being before they came to be in their respective times during all the years of eternity. 11But during all those (years), (God) raised up for himself those called by name so as to leave a remnant for the land and fill 12the face of the world with their seed. And he informed them through those anointed in his holy spirit and who view 13his truth of the details of their names. But those whom he hated he caused to stray.
\n14And now, O sons, hearken to me and I will uncover your eyes so you may see and understand the works of 15God and choose that which he wants and despise that which he hates: to walk perfectly 16in all his ways and not to stray in the thoughts of a guilty inclination and licentious eyes. For many 17have failed due to them; mighty warriors have stumbled due to them, from the earliest times and until today. (Thus, for example,) walking after the wantonness of 18their heart(s), the Watchers of heaven fell. They were held by it (the wantonness of heart), for they did not keep God\u2019s ordinances; 19and so too their sons, who were as high as the lofty cedars and whose corpses were as mountains. For 20all flesh which was on dry land fell, for they died and were as if they had not been, for they had done 21their (own) will and had not kept the ordinances of their Maker, until his wrath was kindled against them.<\/p>\n
CD 3<\/p>\n
1Through it the sons of Noah and their families strayed; through it they are cut off. 2Abraham did not walk in it and he was acce[pted as a lo]ver, for he kept God\u2019s ordinances and did not choose 3(that which) his (own) spirit desired. And he transmitted (his way) to Isaac and Jacob; and they observed (them) and were registered as lovers 4of God and parties to (his) covenant forever. The sons of Jacob strayed through them and were punished according to 5their error. And their sons in Egypt walked in the wantonness of their heart(s), plotting against 6the ordinances of God, each man doing what was right in his own eyes. And they ate the blood and their males 7were cut off in the desert (after they were told) in Kadesh \u201cGo up and possess\u201d \u2026 their spirit and they did not listen 8to the voice of him who made them (and) taught them ordinances. Rather, they murmured in their tents and God\u2019s anger was kindled 9against their congregation and their sons perished through it and their kings were cut off through it, and through it their heroes 10perished, and their land became desolate due to it. The first ones who entered the covenant became guilty through it; and they were given up 11to the sword, having departed from God\u2019s covenant and chosen their (own) will, straying after the wantonness 12of their heart, each doing his (own) will.
\nBut out of those who held fast to God\u2019s ordinances, 13who remained of them, God established his covenant with Israel forever, revealing 14to them hidden things in which all Israel had strayed: his holy Sabbaths, the glorious appointed times, 15his righteous testimonies, his true ways, and the desires of his will, which a person shall 16do and live by them. (These) he opened before them and they dug a well of abundant water. 17But those who scorn them will not live. Rather, they wallowed in human sin and the ways of impurity, 18and said, \u201cFor it is ours.\u201d But God in his wonderful mysteries atoned for their iniquity and forgave their sin 19and built them a sure house in Israel, such as never stood from the earliest times until 20now. Those who hold fast to it are to have eternal life and all human glory (is) theirs. As 21God swore to them through the hand of Ezekiel the prophet, saying, \u201cThe priests and the Levites and the sons of<\/p>\n
CD 4<\/p>\n
1Zadok, who kept the watch of my sanctuary when the children of Israel strayed 2from me, they shall present to me fat and blood.\u201d \u201cThe priests\u201d are the penitents of Israel 3who depart(ed) from the land of Judah, (\u201cthe Levites\u201d are those) who accompany them, and \u201cthe sons of Zadok\u201d are the chosen ones of 4Israel, those called by name, who stand in the end of days. Here are the detail(s) 5of their names in their generations and the time(s) of their standing and the number(s) of their troubles and the years of 6their residence and the detail(s) of their works \u2026 those for whom God atoned 7and they justified the righteous and condemned the wicked. And all those who come after them 8to do according to the precise meaning of the Torah which was taught to the first ones until the completion of 9the time of these years\u2014just as the covenant which God established with the first ones to atone 10for their iniquities, so, too, will God atone for them. But with the completion of the time according to the number of these years 11one may no longer join the house of Judah. Rather, each must stand on 12his watchtower: \u201cThe fence is built, the boundary extends far.\u201d
\nBut during all those years, 13Belial will run unbridled amidst Israel, as God spoke through the hand of the prophet Isaiah son of 14Amoz, saying, \u201cFear and a pit and a snare are upon you, O inhabitant(s) of the land.\u201d This refers 15to the three nets of Belial, of which Levi son of Jacob said 16that he (Belial) entrapped Israel with them, making them seem as if they were three types of 17righteousness. The first is unchastity, the second wealth, and the third 18defilement of the sanctuary. One who escapes from this is caught by that and one who is saved from that is caught 19by this.\u2026 \u201cThe builders of the barrier,\u201d who walked after tzav\u2014the tzav is the spitter, 20of whom it is said, \u201cthey shall surely spit\u201d\u2014are caught by two (snares). By unchastity, (namely,) taking 21two wives in their lives, while the foundation of creation is \u201cmale and female he created them.\u201d<\/p>\n
CD 5<\/p>\n
1And those who entered (Noah\u2019s) ark went two by two into the ark. And of the prince it is written, 2\u201cLet him not multiply wives for himself.\u201d And David did not read the sealed book of the Torah that 3was in the Ark (of the Covenant), for it was not opened in Israel since the day of the death of Eleazar 4and Joshua and the elders. For (their successors) worshiped the Ashtoreth, and that which had been revealed was hidden 5until Zadok arose, so David\u2019s works were accepted, with the exception of Uriah\u2019s blood, 6and God forgave him for them. And they also continuously polluted the sanctuary by not 7separating according to the Torah, and they habitually lay with a woman who sees blood of flowing; and they marry 8each one his brother\u2019s daughter or sister\u2019s daughter. But Moses said, \u201cTo 9your mother\u2019s sister you may not draw near, for she is your mother\u2019s near relation.\u201d Now the precept of incest is written 10from the point of view of males, but the same (law) applies to women, so if a brother\u2019s daughter uncovers the nakedness of a brother of 11her father, she is a (forbidden) close relationship. They also polluted their holy spirits, and with a tongue of 12blasphemies they opened (their) mouth against the statutes of God\u2019s covenant, saying, \u201cThey are not right,\u201d and abomination 13they are speaking against them. They are all lighters of fire and burners of brands, webs of 14a spider (are) their webs and eggs of vipers (are) their eggs. One who comes close to them 15will not be exculpated. As (at) the mountain, his house will be held guilty, unless he was under duress. For in former days God took note 16of their w[o]rks and his wrath was kindled against their perverse deeds. For it is not a people of discernment. 17They are a nation without counsel, for they have no discernment. For formerly 18Moses and Aaron stood by the hand of the Prince of Lights and Belial raised up Johne and 19his brother in his plotting, when Israel was first saved \u2026
\n20And at the time of the destruction of the land, the trespassers arose and led Israel astray; 21and the land became desolate, for they spoke deviantly against the ordinances of God (given) through Moses, and also<\/p>\n
CD 6<\/p>\n
1against the anointed holy ones. And they prophesied falsely, so as to cause Israel to turn away from 2God. And God recalled the covenant with the first ones, and he raised up from Aaron discerning ones and from Israel 3wise ones; and he allowed them to hear. And they dug the well (of which it is written), \u201cthe well was dug by the princes and excavated by 4the nobles of the people, with a ruler.\u201d The \u201cwell\u201d is the Torah and those who \u201cdig\u201d it are 5the penitents of Israel who depart from the land of Judah and dwell in the land of Damascus. 6God called them all \u201cprinces,\u201d for they sought him and their honor was not 7rejected by anyone\u2019s mouth. And the \u201cruler\u201d is the interpreter of the Torah, of whom 8Isaiah said, \u201cHe takes out a tool for his work.\u201d And the \u201cnobles of the people\u201d are 9those who come to excavate the well with the statutes that were ordained by the ruler 10to walk in them in the entire time of evil, and (who) will obtain no others until the rise of 11one who will teach righteousness in the end of days.
\nAnd all who were brought into the covenant (are) 12not to enter the sanctuary to light his altar in vain, (but rather are) to be \u201cclosers of 13the door\u201d of whom God said, \u201cWho of you will close my door and not light my altar 14in vain?\u201d\u2014unless they take care to perform according to the exact (requirements of) the Torah during the time of evil and to separate (themselves) 15from the sons of the pit and to refrain from the wicked wealth (which is) impure due to oath(s) and dedication(s) 16and to (being) the wealth of the sanctuary, (for) they (the sons of the pit) steal from the poor of his people, preying upon wid[ow]s 17and murdering orphans\u2014and to distinguish between the impure and the pure and make known (the difference) between 18the holy and the profane, and to observe the Sabbath day in its exact detail, and the appointed times 19and the day of the fast as it was found by those who entered into the new covenant in the land of Damascus, 20to offer up the holy things in accordance with their detailed requirements, to love each man his brother 21as himself, to support the poor, destitute, and proselyte, and to seek each man the peace of<\/p>\n
CD 7<\/p>\n
1his brother.
\nAnd let no one trespass with regard to his near kin; (rather, let him) stay away from unchastity 2in accordance with the precept; let each one rebuke his brother in accordance with the ordinance and not keep a grudge 3from one day to the next. And let him separate himself from all impurities, according to their precept; and let no one defile 4his holy spirit as God distinguished for them. All those who walk 5in these in perfect holiness (and) are governed according to all (these things), God\u2019s covenant is an assurance to them 6to bring them life for 1,000 generation(s). But if they live (in) camps, according to the rule of the land, and take 7wives and beget sons, then they shall walk according to the Torah and the precept 8established according to the rule of the Torah, as he said, \u201cBetween a man and his wife and between a father 9and his son.\u201d
\nBut (as for) all those who despise: when God visits the land to repay to the wicked their due, 10when that happens of which is written in the words of Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, 11who said: \u201cThere shall come days upon you and upon your people and upon your fathers\u2019 house, such as did (not) 12come since the day Ephraim departed over Judah.\u201d (This refers to) when the two houses of Israel split, 13Ephraim lorded over Judah, and all the backsliders were turned over to the sword. But those who held firmly (to the covenant) 14escaped to the land of the north, as he said, \u201cAnd I will expel your king\u2019s booth 15and the kywn of your images from my tent (to) Damascus.\u201d The books of the Torah are the \u201cbooth of 16the king,\u201d as he said, \u201cI will raise up the fallen booth of David.\u201d The \u201cking\u201d 17is the assembly, and the \u201ckywn of the images\u201d are the books of the prophets 18whose words Israel despised. And the \u201cstar\u201d is the interpreter of the Torah 19who came to Damascus, as it is written: \u201cA star stepped forth out of Jacob and a staff arose 20out of Israel.\u201d \u201cThe staff\u201d is the prince of all the congregation, and when he arises, \u201che will destroy 21all the sons of Seth.\u201d These escaped at the time of the first visitation.<\/p>\n
CD 8<\/p>\n
1But the backsliders were handed over to the sword. And such is the judgment of all who entered his covenant, who 2will not hold firmly to these (statutes): they will be visited unto destruction by the hand of Belial. That will be the day 3when God will visit (upon them) \u201cthe arrogance of the princes of Judah,\u201d for you \u201cwill pour out upon them rage\u201d; 4for they yearned for healing, but a blemish adhered (to them). All (are) rebels because they did not depart from the way of 5traitors, but rather wallowed in the ways of prostitutes and wicked wealth, avenging and bearing grudges 6each one against his brother, and each hating his neighbor; and each ignored the relation of his flesh. 7And they drew near (one to another) for incest, and they strove mightily for wealth and profit and each man did what was right in his own eyes. 8And each chose according to the wantonness of his heart, and did not remove himself from (the) people. And they arrogantly became unruly, 9walking in the way of the wicked ones, of whom God said: \u201cThe poison of serpents (is) their wine 10and the head of asps (is) cruel.\u201d \u201cThe serpents\u201d are the kings of the peoples and \u201ctheir wine\u201d is 11their ways, and \u201cthe head of the asps\u201d is the head of the kings of Greece, who will come to do 12vengeance among them. But none of this was understood by the \u201cbuilders of the barrier\u201d and the \u201cwhitewash-daubers,\u201d for 13one who weighs the wind and the Spouter of the Lie preached to them, against whose entire congregation God\u2019s anger was kindled. 14And as for what Moses said, \u201cNot by your righteousness and your uprightness of heart do you come to dispossess 15these nations, but rather from his love for your fathers and his keeping of the oath.\u201d 16So is also the judgment for the penitents of Israel, who departed from the way of the people: by God\u2019s love for 17the first ones, who witnessed after him, he loved those who came after them. For theirs 18(is) the covenant (with) the fathers. And by his hate for the \u201cbuilders of the barrier,\u201d his anger was kindled. And thus (is) this judgment 19against anyone who despises God\u2019s ordinances and abandons them and turns away in the wantonness of their heart. 20This is the word that Jeremiah said to Baruch son of Neriah, and Elisha 21to Gehazi his servant.
\nAll the men who entered the new covenant in the land of Damascus \u2026<\/p>\n
CD 19<\/p>\n
1(are) assurances to them, to bring them to life for thousands of generations, as (it is written): \u201cHe preserves the covenant and mercy 2to those who love (him) and the observers of his ordinances to the 1,000th generation.\u201d But if they live (in) camps according to the rule of 3the land that is as it was previously and take wives according to the custom of the Torah and beget children, 4they shall walk according to the Torah. And according to the precept established according to the rule of the Torah, 5as he said, \u201cBetween a man and his wife and between a father and his son.\u201d But all those who despise the ordinances 6and statutes, the evil ones will be repaid their due when God visits the land, 7when that happens of which it is written by Zechariah the prophet, \u201cAwake, O sword, upon 8my shepherd and upon the man (who is) close to me\u2014God says\u2014strike the shepherd so the sheep will be scattered 9and I will turn my hand to the little ones.\u201d But those who guard it (the precept) are the poor of the sheep. 10These will escape at the time of the visitation. But those who remain will be handed over to the sword when the messiah 11of Aaron and Israel comes. (And this will be) as it happened at the first time of visitation; as it is said 12through Ezekiel, \u201cTo make a mark upon the foreheads of those who sigh and groan.\u201d 13But those who remained were turned over to the avenging sword of the covenant\u2019s vengeance. And thus (is) the judgment for all who enter 14his covenant (and) who will not hold firmly to these statutes: They will be visited unto destruction by the hand of Belial. 15That is the day when God will visit, as he said, \u201cThe princes of Judah were like those who move 16border(s). I will pour out rage upon them like water.\u201d For although they entered into a covenant of repentance, 17they did not depart from the way of traitors but wallowed in the ways of unchastity and wicked wealth, 18avenging and bearing grudges each man against his brother, and each hating his neighbor; and each ignored 19the relation of his flesh. And they drew near (one to another) for incest, and they strove mightily for wealth and profit and each did 20what was right in his (own) eyes. And each chose according to the wantonness of his heart and did not remove himself from the people 21and their sin. And they arrogantly became unruly, walking in the ways of the wicked ones, of whom 22God said, \u201cThe poison of serpents (is) their wine and the head of asps (is) cruel.\u201d \u201cThe serpents\u201d 23(are) the kings of the peoples and \u201ctheir wine\u201d is their ways and \u201cthe head of asps\u201d is the head of 24the kings of Greece who shall come upon them to do vengeance. But none of this was understood by the \u201cbuilders of 25the barrier\u201d and the \u201cwhitewash-daubers,\u201d for one who walks (with) the wind and weighs storms and preaches to man 26falsehood; against his entire congregation God\u2019s anger was kindled. And as for what Moses said 27to Israel, \u201cNot by your righteousness and your uprightness of heart do you come to dispossess these nations, 28but rather from his love for your fathers and his keeping of the oath.\u201d So (is) 29the judgment for the penitents of Israel, (who) departed from the way of the people by God\u2019s love for the first ones 30who witnessed to the people after God. And he loved those who came after them; for theirs 31(is) the covenant (with) the fathers. And God hates and despises the \u201cbuilders of the barrier\u201d and his anger was kindled against them and against all 32who follow after them. And thus (is) this judgment against anyone who despises God\u2019s ordinances 33and abandons them and turns away in the wantonness of their heart. Thus all the men who entered the new covenant 34in the land of Damascus and returned and betrayed and departed from the well of living water 35will not be accounted among the council of the people; and when (the latter) are written, they will not be written from the day<\/p>\n
CD 20<\/p>\n
1the unique Teacher was gathered in until there arises the messiah from Aaron and from Israel.
\nAnd this (is) the judgment 2for all those who entered the congregation of the men of perfect holiness but recoiled from doing the regulations of the upright: 3he is the one \u201cwho is melted in the midst of a furnace.\u201d When his works become apparent, he shall be expelled from the congregation 4as one whose lot did not fall among those taught by God. According to his trespass, the men of knowledge shall reprove him, 5until the day when he returns to stand along with the men of perfect holiness. 6But when his works become apparent according to the interpretation of the Torah in which walk 7the men of perfect holiness, let no man share with him in wealth or in labor, 8for all the holy ones of the Most High have cursed him.
\nAnd thus (is) this judgment concerning anyone who rejects, the first 9and the last, who put abominations upon their heart and walk in the wantonness of 10their heart. They have no portion in the house of the Torah. With the judgment of their neighbors who turned away 11with the men of mockery they shall be judged, for they spoke deviantly of the statutes of righteousness and despised 12the covenant and the oath that they had taken in the land of Damascus; that is, the new covenant. 13And neither they nor their families will have any portion in the house of the Tora[h].
\nAnd from the day 14the unique Teacher was gathered in until the end of all the men of war who turned away 15with the Man of the Lie there will be about 40 years. And during that time God\u2019s 16anger will be kindled against Israel, as he said, \u201cThere is no king and no prince,\u201d and no judge and no 17reprover in righteousness. \u201cBut the penitents from sin (among) Jacob\u201d kept God\u2019s covnant. \u201cThen each will speak 18to his neighbor, each (helping) his brother to be righteous, firmly placing their feet in the way of God. And God listened 19to their words and heard, and a book of records was written before him concerning those who fear God and consider 20his name,\u201d until salvation and righteousness will be revealed to those who fear God. \u201cAnd you will turn again and see (the difference) between the righteous 21and the wicked, between (the lot of) the servant of God (and that) of him who did not serve him.\u201d \u201cAnd he does mercy to thousands, to those who love him 22and keep him for 1,000 generation(s).\u201d (These verses refer to) the house of Peleg who went out of the holy city. 23And they depended upon God during the time of Israel\u2019s trespass. But (although) they considered the sanctuary impure, they returned 24to the way of the people in some few ways. Each of them shall be judged according to his spirit in the holy 25council. But all who entered the covenant who have broken through the border of the Torah, when 26the glory of God appears to Israel they will be cut off from the midst of the camp, and along with them all the wicked ones of 27Judah, in the days when it is purged. But all those who hold firmly to these precepts, to go out 28and go in according to the Torah, and listen to the voice of the Teacher and confess before God, (saying,) \u201cWe have [sin]ned, 29we have done wickedly, we and our fathers, by walking contrarily in the statutes of the covenant. 30And your judgments against us (are) true,\u201d and they are not to raise a hand against his holy statutes and his righteous 31precepts and his true testimonies; but rather, they are to be instructed in the first precepts in which 32the men of the community were judged, when they listened to the voice of (the) Righteous Teacher, and they are not to reject 33the righteous statutes when they hear them. (These men) will be joyous and happy, and their heart will take courage, and they will overcome 34all the sons of the world. And God will atone for them, and they will see his salvation, for they took refuge in his holy name.<\/p>\n
4QDe 2 i 9\u2013ii 21 (|| 6Q15 5 1\u20135)<\/p>\n
1:9[ or one] who worships or sends forth(?) [ ] the sun(?) 10[ or go] at demons or inquires of ghosts and familiar spirits [ ] 11[ ] and the spirits, or one who profanes the name [ ] \u2026 16[ her maiden]hood in the house 17[of her father or a widow] with whom another lies 18[ or one who ap]proaches his wife on the 19[Sabbath?] day [ ] or one who
\n2:5[ or one who re]fuses(?) to set aside [the holy things? ] 6[ to give] to the sons of Aaron the planting [in the fourth year ] 7[ the firs]t of whatever they possess and the tithe [of their animals from the cattle] 8and the sheep and the redempti[on of the firstlings of] unclean animals and the redemption of the first[born of man and the first shearings of] 9the sheep, and the assessment money for the redemption of their person, [and any guilt restitution that] 10cannot be returned, together with the additional fifth; or [ ] 11by their names, thereby defiling his holy spirit [ ] 12or one afflicted with skin disease or an uncle[an] flux [ or] 13one who reveals a secret of his people to the Gentiles, or curses [his people, or preaches] 14sedition against those anointed with the holy spirit and error against [the seers of his truth by rebelling] 15against the word of God, or one who slaughters an animal or a beast that is pregnan[t or one who lies with] 16a pregnant woman, causing blood to stir(?) [or approaches] the daughter [of his brother or one who lies with a male] 17as with a woman. Those who transgress [ ]
\n18God has ordained, causing his w[rath] to be kindled during the peri[od of iniquity ]
\n19And now hearken to me, all who know righteousness [and put(?)] the la[w of God in your hearts, that I may reveal] 20to you the ways of life and open [before your eyes] the paths of destruction so that 21you not be caught [in the snares of destruction], and by considering the deeds of each generation [ ]<\/p>\n
4QDa 5 ii 1\u201315; 4QDb 5 iii 1\u20138; 4QDh 2 1\u20132; 4 i 5\u2013119<\/p>\n
0Anyone dim of [eye]s or [ and anyone who is not] 1quick to un[derstand] and anyone whose [speech] is too soft(?) or speaks with a staccato [voice] 2and not dividing his words so that [his voice] may be heard, no[ne of these] shall read from the bo[ok] 3of the La[w], lest he cause error in a capital matter. [ ] congregation and [ ] 4[ ] his brethren, the priests, in the service, but he shall n[ot. Anyone] 5of the sons of Aaron who was in captivity among the Gentiles [ ] 6to profane him with their uncleanliness. He may not approach the [holy] service [ ] 7within the curtain and may not eat the [most] holy [offerings ] 8Anyone of the sons of Aaron who migrates to se[rve the Gentiles, ] 9to teach his people the foundation of the nation, and also to betray(?)[ anyone of the sons of] 10Aaron causing his name to fall from the truth(?) [walking] 11in the willfulness of his heart to eat of the sacred [ ] 12of Israel the counsel of the sons of Aaron who [ ] 13the one who eats, and he shall incur guilt for the blood [ ] 14in genealogy. And this is the order for the dwelling [of the towns of Israel the men] 15of holi[ness in] their [c]amps [and] their towns in a[ll]<\/p>\n
4QDa 6 i 1\u201312; 4QDd 7; 4QDg 1 i 20\u20131 ii 1\u20132; 4QDh 4 ii<\/p>\n
1[ a discoloration o]r a scab or b[right spot] 2[ ] it is mh. And the scab (from) a blow (by) wood [or sto]ne, or any blow when the sp[irit] enters [and takes] hold 3of the artery, (making) the blood [recede up]ward and downward. And the artery [ ] 4[ ] after the blood. [And the priest shall see the] 5living [skin] as well as [the dead. If the] dead [(skin) is not lower] than 6[that which is living], he shall quaran[tin]e him [until] the flesh grows. Then the priest will see (him) [on] 7the seventh [d]ay (to see) [if the spiri]t of life moves up and down and (if) the flesh has grown. 8It is healed from [ the s]cab. The priest (need) not see the skin of the flesh. 9But if the discoloration of the scab is lower 10[than] the sk[in ] and the priest sees in it the appearance of living flesh, 11it is [tzara\u2019at] which has taken hold of the living skin. This (is) a similar precept for [ ] 12and the priest will see (it) on the seventh day: and if there is living (flesh) added 13to [the dead], it is malignant [tz]ara\u2019at. The precept for a scall of the head or the bea[rd:] 14[ and] the priest [se]es and if the spirit has entered the head or the beard, taking hold 15of the artery and [the affliction sprea]ds under the hair turning its appearance to fine yellowish; for it is like a plant 16which [h]as a worm under it. And it (the worm) severs its root and makes its blossom wither. And (as to that) which 17is said, \u201cAnd the priest shall order and they will shave the head, but the scall they shall not shave,\u201d (this is) in order that 18the priest may count the dead and living hair and see whether any has been added from 19the living to the dead during the seven days, (in which case) he is unclean. But if no[ne] has been added from the living 20to the dead, and the artery is filled (with) [blo]od and the spirit of life goes up and down it, 21the affliction [is healed]. This is the precept of (the) [Tora]h (concerning) tzara\u2019at for the sons of Aaron to separate l[ ]<\/p>\n
4QDg 1 ii 3\u201317 (+ 4QDa 6 i 14\u201316)<\/p>\n
3And the rule concerning one who has a discharge: Any man 4with a discharge from his flesh or one who brings upon himself lustful thoughts or who 5[ ] his contact is like that of [ ] 6he shall launder his clo[th]es and [bathe in water] 7him, who touches him shall ba[the. And] the law [of a woman who has a discharge: Any woman] 8who has a discharge of blood [shall be in her men]strual impurity se[ven days she] shall remain fo[r] 9the seven days[ ]the menstruant and a[ll] 10[tou]ch her[ ] 11[ ] 12stir up [the blood of her discharge(?) ] 13the water [ ] 14[ ] 15and with the waters of purification [ ] 16the livin[g water ] 17her hand [ ]<\/p>\n
4QDa 6 ii 1\u201313<\/p>\n
1[ ] the wom[an one who] approaches 2[her has the s]in of menstrual impurity upon him. If she ag[ain] sees (blood), and it is not [at the time of] 3[her menstruation] of seven days, she shall not eat anything hallowed, nor co[me] 4into the sanctuary until sunset on the eighth day. 5And a woman who [conceiv]es and bears a male child [shall be unclean] for the seven [days], 6[as] in [the day]s of her menstru[al impurity. And on the eighth day the flesh of his] foreskin [shall be circumcised. For] 7[33 days she shall remain in her blood purification. If she bears a female child] 8[she shall be unclean two weeks as in her menst]ruation. [For 66 days she shall remain in her blood] 9[purification. And she] shall not eat [any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary], 10[for] it is a capital [of]fense [ let her give] 11[the ch]ild to a nurse (who can nurse it) in puri[ty]. 12[And] if she cannot afford [a lamb, she shall take a turtledove or a pigeon for a burnt offering] 13[and she] shall substitute [it for the lamb]<\/p>\n
4QDe 3 ii 12\u201321 (+ 4QDa 6 iii 3\u201310 and 4QDb 6)<\/p>\n
12Concerning [gleanings (of grain)] and the single grapes of the vineyard, the single grapes may be up to ten berries 13And all the gleanings up to a seah per bet seah (however), a (field) which does not yield its seed 14is not subject to a terumah [and] fallen berries, nor its single grapes up to ten b[erries]. 15As to the remnants of the olive harvest [and the frui]t of its produce, if it (the harvest) is intact, its gleaning is one out of 1630. [ ] But if the field was muddied or scorched 17by fire, if one seah per bet seah was left, it is subject to the tithe. If 18one person gleans one [seah] from it in one day the terumah from it shall be 19[one] isaron. [ ] Concerning the two loaves of terumah, it is for all homes of Israel when they eat of the bread 20[of the land to] set aside terumah once a year. One isaron shall be each (loaf) 21[before] its completion by Israel, let no one raise<\/p>\n
4QDa 6 iv 1\u20135<\/p>\n
1[ All holy offerings from] 2plantings of the vineyar[d, and] all trees with [edible fruit shall belong to the]m, 3according to their rule in the holy [soil], and in the land of sojourning, and afterward they may sel[l] 4of them to bu[y] one may [p]lant, in the fourth year he [may not eat of it] 5[for] they are sanctified in [that y]ear [ ]<\/p>\n
4QDf 2 1\u20136 (+ 4QDe 3 iii 13\u201315)<\/p>\n
1[ ] from the threshing floor he shall deduct a tenth per h[omer, which is an e]phah 2[or a bat], as [God] estab[lished], the ephah and the bat shall both be of one measure. And from [the wheat a s]ixth 3[of an ephah per homer, and a tenth of a bat for the f]ruit of trees. Let no one deviate by offering from the lambs [on]e out of a 100. 4Let [no] one eat [ from the threshing floor] and from the garden before [the prie]sts stretch forth their hand 5[to ble]ss first. [ ] house (belongs) to the man, he may sell and with [ ] and then will he be guiltless 6[ ] and the [ ]mixed(?) field.<\/p>\n
4QDf 2 7\u201313; 4QDd 8 i 3; 8 ii 1\u20136; 4QDe 3 iii 19\u201321<\/p>\n
7[ ] from the laws of the community three times 8Let no one bring [ ] with the blood of their sacrifices [ and] garment among his purities, and from all 9the gold, silver, copper, [t]in, and le[ad from which] the Gentiles made images, let no one bring it 10among [his] purities, [except] only new (materials) coming from the furnace. Let no one bring any leather, garment, or 11any utensil with which work is [done], which have been defiled by a human corpse, unless they were sprinkled according to the law 12[of purification ] in the period of wickedness with the [waters] of sprinkling by a man puri[fied from] all his defilement, who 13has waited for [sun]down. [Any youth who is no]t of age to pass among those that are mu[stered shall no]t [sprinkle]<\/p>\n
4QDe 4 1\u20138<\/p>\n
1[ ] a man will bring a woman to have her tried by the curse 2[ ] who sees, if he sees [his neighbor\u2019s] wife 3[if] she said I was raped 4[he shall not bri]ng her, unless her blood does [not] come forth 5[he shall bring her before one of] the priests and [the priest] shall dishevel 6[(the hair of) her head, and he shall impose an oath upon] the woman and cause her to drink 7[the bitter water of the curse], she shall not take from [his] hand [a]ny 8[ ] the holy [water]<\/p>\n
4QDf 3 2\u201315; 4QDb 7; 4QDd 9; 4QDe 5<\/p>\n
5[ ] and if he cannot afford to bu[y it back], and the [jubilee] year is drawing ne[ar] 6[ ] and a human being. And God will release h[im from all] his sins. [Men\u2019s clothing sh]al[l] not 7[be shared by a man and a woman] for this is an abomination. And as to what he said, \u201cFor [if you sell] 8[anything to or buy anything from] your fellow you shall not cheat one another.\u201d And this is the exact state[ment] 9[ ] according to all that he knows that he will find [ ] 10[ ] and he knows that he is betraying him concerning a human being or concerning an animal. And if 11a man [giv]es [his daughter] to another (in marriage) he shall report to him all her shortcomings lest he bring upon himself the judgment of 12the curse as he has said, \u201cThe one who leads astray the blind from the path.\u201d And also he shall not give her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
and his son Eupator, 21and the appearances which came from heaven to those who strove zealously on behalf of Judaism, so that though few in number they seized the whole land and pursued the barbarian hordes, 22and recovered the temple famous throughout the world and freed the city and restored the laws that were about … <\/p>\n