1 Maccabees 7:8-20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
8 So the king chose Bacchides, one of the King’s Friends, who ruled the province of West-of-Euphrates, a great man in the kingdom, and faithful to the king. 9 He sent him and the renegade Alcimus, to whom he granted the high priesthood, with orders to take revenge on the Israelites. 10 They set out and, on arriving in the land of Judah with a great army, sent messengers who spoke deceitfully to Judas and his brothers in peaceful terms. 11 But these paid no attention to their words, seeing that they had come with a great army.
12 A group of scribes, however, gathered about Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for a just agreement. 13 (A)The Hasideans were the first among the Israelites to seek peace with them, 14 for they said, “A priest of the line of Aaron has come with the army, and he will not do us any wrong.” 15 He spoke with them peacefully and swore to them, “We will not seek to injure you or your friends.” 16 So they trusted him. But he arrested sixty of them and killed them in one day, according to the words that he wrote:[a]
17 “The flesh of your faithful,
and their blood they have spilled all around about Jerusalem,
and no one was left to bury them.”(B)
18 Then fear and dread of them came upon all the people, who said: “There is no truth or justice among them; they violated the agreement and the oath that they swore.”
19 Bacchides withdrew from Jerusalem and camped in Beth-zaith.[b] He had many of the men who deserted to him arrested and some of the people. He killed them and threw them into a great cistern. 20 He handed the province over to Alcimus, leaving troops to help him, while he himself returned to the king.
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