2 Maccabees 12:1–45

¹ So when this agreement had been made, Lysias departed to the king, and the Jews went about their farming. (WEB) ² But some of the governors of districts, Timotheus and Apollonius the son of Gennaeus, and also Hieronymus and Demophon, and beside them Nicanor the governor of Cyprus, would not allow them to enjoy tranquillity and live in peace. (WEB) ³ Men of Joppa perpetrated this great impiety: they invited the Jews who lived among them to go with their wives and children into the boats which they had provided, as though they had no ill will toward them. (WEB) ⁴ When the Jews, relying on the public vote of the city, accepted the invitation, as men desiring to live in peace and suspecting nothing, they took them out to sea and drowned not less than two hundred of them. (WEB) ⁵ When Judas heard of the cruelty done to his fellow countrymen, giving command to the men that were with him (WEB) ⁶ and calling upon God the righteous Judge, he came against the murderers of his kindred, and set the harbor on fire at night, burned the boats, and put to the sword those who had fled there. (WEB) ⁷ But when the town gates were closed, he withdrew, intending to come again to root out the whole community of the men of Joppa. (WEB) ⁸ But learning that the men of Jamnia intended to do the same thing to the Jews who lived among them, (WEB) ⁹ he attacked the Jamnites at night, and set fire to the harbor together with the fleet, so that the glare of the light was seen at Jerusalem, two hundred forty furlongs distant. (WEB) ¹⁰ Now when they had drawn off nine furlongs from there, as they marched against Timotheus, an army of Arabians attacked him, no fewer than five thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry. (WEB) ¹¹ And when a hard battle had been fought, and Judas and his company, by the help of God, had good success, the nomads being overcome implored Judas to grant them friendship, promising to give him livestock, and to help his people in all other ways. (WEB) ¹² So Judas, thinking that they would indeed be profitable in many things, agreed to live in peace with them; and receiving pledges of friendship they departed to their tents. (WEB) ¹³ He also attacked a certain city, strong and fenced with earthworks and walls, and inhabited by a mixed multitude of various nations. It was named Caspin. (WEB) ¹⁴ Those who were within, trusting in the strength of the walls and their store of provisions, behaved themselves rudely toward Judas and those who were with him, railing, and furthermore blaspheming and speaking impious words. (WEB) ¹⁵ But Judas and his company, calling upon the great Sovereign of the world, who without rams and cunning engines of war hurled down Jericho in the times of Joshua, rushed wil… (WEB)