2 Maccabees 12:1-9

Common English Bible

Judas’ victories

12 Having reached these agreements, Lysias returned to the king while the Jews went back to farming. ² But some of the regional governors—Timothy and Apollonius (Gennaeus’ son), Hieronymous and Demophon, as well as Nicanor the commander from Cyprus—wouldn’t permit them to live in peace. ³ Some men from Joppa committed a horrible act. After calling together the Jews living among them with their wives and children, they invited them to go sailing in boats that they provided. They acted as if they had no hostility against them at all. ⁴ This was a decision made by the city as a whole. The Jews accepted the invitation because they desired to live together with them peaceably, and the Jews had no suspicions. But they took them out to sea and drowned them—no fewer than two hundred people. ⁵ When Judas received news of the cruelty that had happened to his fellow Jews, he gave orders to his troops. ⁶ After calling out to God the righteous judge, he moved against the murderers of their brothers, setting fire to the harbor by night, burning the boats, and killing those who took refuge there. ⁷ Because a large area of the city was secured against his attack, he departed, intending to return and root out the entire citizen community of Joppa. ⁸ He learned that the people of Jamnia were also planning to finish off the Jews living among them in the same way. ⁹ So Judas mounted a night attack against Jamnia and set its harbor and fleet on fire, so that the gleams of light shone in Jerusalem twenty-eight miles^[a] away.