Читать книгу Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature: An Anthology онлайн

43 страница из 46

And Judah answered his father, and said: ‘Behold, my lord my father, I will do according to all which thou hast commanded me.’

And he commanded, and they brought unto him the vial of oil; and he poured it upon his head, and he anointed him leader and war Messiah. And all the people shouted with a great shout, and blew the trumpet, and they said: ‘Long live the leader,’ and: ‘Long live the anointed.’

And it came to pass, when Mattathias the priest finished charging his sons, that he expired and died, and was gathered unto his people. And Judah his son, who was called Maccabee because of his strength, arose in his stead from among his sons, to be leader and anointed. And his brethren and all his father’s house and all the congregation of the pious helped him. And he buried his father with great honor. And after that Judah put on a coat of mail as a mighty man; and he girded his armor upon his loins; and he went down to the uncircumcised, who were encamped round the mountain, which they came to take. And he smote among them eight thousand and two hundred of their mighty men. And he judged Israel with his sword; and he purged out the violent from them, and he destroyed them. And he trod down to the earth the strangers that were in all the borders of Israel. And the wicked were discomfited through their dread of him, and the wrong-doers were dismayed through their fear of him. And it was that, when he shouted, his voice was as the voice of the roaring of a lion on the day he roars to tear the prey. And all Israel rejoiced in his deeds, and exulted in his work. And all the world was terrified because of his fame. Then were kings, greater and mightier than he, dismayed; and trembling seized hold upon the chiefs of the earth and the kings thereof. And his name went forth among the nations to the end of all the earth; and the tales of the wonders of his war and the terrors of his mighty deeds reached to the end of the earth. And when he was gathered unto his people, all the seed of Israel praised him, and honored him. And they spoke, saying: ‘May the spirit of the Lord cause him to rest, and may he dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty, under the tree of life.’