I MACCABEES CHAPTER 1 - 4

1 MACCABEES

The first book of Maccabees is a wonderful witness to divine law, and as such is a pivotal passage in this entire work. It was composed at the end of the second century B.C.E. and relates to the opposition of the Hasmonean dynasty to the Hellenizing attempts of Alexander’s heirs. Despite its affirmation of divine law, it is somewhat anomalous in this volume of the New Jubilees Version, since it glorifies a non-Davidic regime.

This versification is based on the Septuagint Greek texts with reference to its several translations.

As post-exilic literature, the books of Maccabees showed the pinnacle of resistence to imperial hostility. They represent simple diplomacy and military intervention. As this is the most obvious response to the imperial situation, the books represent the central literature dealing with the issue. At the same time they define the moral parameters of resort to military intervention.

The issue of just warfare is well dealt with in the books, especially since we are faced with an un-authorized regime, one that is non-Davidic. The books suggest that a regime is acceptable if it affirms and conforms to divine law. Such a regime, even without divine appointment, has the authority to make violent warfare on an imperial regime, one that does not recognize divine law. However, despite the presentation of military boldness, there is a high degree of reliance on direct divine intervention. This one factor mitigates against justifying military intervention in situations other than the specific historical events referred to in the book itself. Miraculous divine intervention is one strand of validity, and where it does not exist, validity can be called into question.

1 MACCABEES 1

1 When Alexander who was son
To Philip Macedonian,
Come from Kittim’s land, had defeated
Darius, king of Persians, seated
With Medes, succeeded him as king,
Who ruled before the Grecian thing,
2 He fought many battles, and took
Fortresses, put to death and shook
The kings of the earth. 3 He went to
The ends of the earth, it is true,
And plundered many peoples. When
Earth was subdued before his men,
He was exalted, his heart proud.
4 He gathered a strong force and loud,
And ruled over countries, and nations,
And gave to princes lowly stations.
5 After this he was ill and knew
Death was near. 6 So he called the few
His most honoured officers, who
Had been brought up with him from youth,
And shared out his kingdom in truth
With them while he was still alive.
He reigned twelve years, brave to survive,
And then great Alexander died,
And probably dissatisfied.

Good leadership abilities are found
In Alexander, I am blessed and bound.
But You, Beloved, have no faith in the wit
Of the exalted with proud heart to fit.
Your view of Alexander is that he
Failed in very basic humanity.
He’s famous now as one of the world’s greats,
And in a century will have as mates
Hitler and Stalin who with time will be
Admired as much as Alexander’s key.
As soon as the close relatives of those
Destroyed by these and such blood-thirsty foes
Are dead, the reputation of the vile
Is fit to meet the genteelest in smile.

The rule of Alexander is well known
And mention of his exploits also shown
In Your Word, My Beloved, to let men see
That pride and ambition’s a slavery.
He went to the ends of the earth to seek
The quenching of his thirst to kill the meek
And found no rest for soul or body yet.
He failed to keep Your statutes and to get
Long life from them. Beloved, I see the way
His emulators crush and eat the day
And fall with nothing of worth when they come
To end of life and stop to hear the sum.
Beloved, I see the battles and the death
That lays hold on the human heart and breath.

8 His officers began to rule,
Each in his own allotted pool.
9 They all wore crowns after his death,
As did their sons to fortieth,
And they caused many evil things
Upon the earth while they were kings.
10 Out of them came a wicked root,
Antiochus Epiphanes,
Son of Antiochus to boot,
A king hostage in Rome at ease.
The Greeks had been in power for years,
One hundred thirty-seven years,
When he began to reign to jeers.
11 In those days lawless men came out
From Israel, and caused men to doubt,
And said “Let us go make a treaty
With the Gentiles, it has been sleety
And quite unlucky for us since
We parted from the Grecian prince.”

There always seem to be some folk who claim
To be Your people, but they all the same
Run after the great who love the false gods
That try to rule the earth with iron rods.
And such would make a treaty with unjust
Who hope to steal the poor widow’s last crust,
And call the act freedom for humankind,
Whose eyes for advertisements make them blind.
Beloved, though the economy may be
Unsound since the day Alexander’s free
Rein was dropped to the earth, I do not care
To seek my daily bread and wealth from air
Breathed by the humble and the poor of earth.
I find Your commandments of greater worth.

12 And this suggestion pleased them all,
13 And some went eagerly to call
The king who gave them their permission
To follow Gentile ways’ commission.
14 So they built a gymnasium
Within holy Jerusalem,
According to Gentile custom,
15 And stretched their foreskins down to hide
Abandoned covenant aside.
They joined the Gentiles wickedly.
16 When Antiochus came to see
His kingdom was established, he
Determined to set Egypt free
And rule both kingdoms finally.

Whether the language means they tried to stretch
Their foreskins or they left alone to fetch
The circumcision for another time,
The thing is a rebellion and a crime.
I would not make an issue of the thing
Since it is not mentioned with special ring
In the commandments that You came to preach
On Sinai, but it is a thing to reach
Since Abraham was justified when he
Obeyed Your word to hold and to a T.
The reason for the action was the fact
That they were running naked in the act
In the Grecian gymnasium to seek
Conformity to heathen claw and beak.

17 So he invaded Egypt by
A strong force, and to terrify
With chariot and elephant
And horsemen and ships to the front.
18 Then he met Ptolemy, the king
Of Egypt, and in battle ring,
Made Ptolemy turn round in flight
Before him, falling left and right
The many wounded. 19 And they captured
The forts of Egypt, and enraptured
They plundered all the land. 20 When done
Subduing Egypt, Antiochus,
Returning proud and loud and raucous,
Arrived again and having won
In the one hundred forty-third
Year of the Grecian reign referred.
He went against Israel and came
With force up to Jerusalem.
21 He arrogantly entered in
The sanctuary and with sin
Took golden altar, the lampstand
And all its vessels in command.
22 He also took the shewbread table
The cups for drink offerings as able,
The bowls, the golden censers, too,
The curtain, crowns, the golden hue
Of decoration at the front,
He stripped the temple to be blunt.
23 He took the silver and the gold,
The valued vessels, and the old
And hidden treasures that he found.
24 He took them all and then was bound
To his own land. He murdered much
And spoke with arrogance and such.

The man is known to follow in the ways
Of his forefather as it were, commander
And heathen model, the king Alexander.
For Antiochus is no man to praise.
It’s better I believe the temple should
Be in the stony chamber and the wood
Of the heart rather than made of such stuff
That must entice the willing and the gruff.
Beloved, I lay my hidden temple well
Within the heart unshown to Israel,
Within the soul unknown by Antiochus
Whose always made a mess both loud and raucous.
I find my temple beyond hand of crime,
Its gold and silver love, mercy, and rhyme.

25 The Israelite folk everywhere
Were deeply sorrowed, in despair.
26 The rulers and the elders groaned,
Both maidens and the young men moaned,
The beauty of the women faded.
27 Every bridegroom also looked jaded,
The bride sat mourning in her closet.
28 Even the land shook in deposit
For its inhabitants, and name,
All Jacob’s house was filled with shame.
29 Two years later the king sent to
The towns of Judah taxes due,
A chief collector stole along
Jerusalem with armies strong.

Beloved, see this, whenever a man steals
The first thing that he takes to silver heels
Is right to tax. The tax increase these days
Is called a tax cut, since they’ve seen it pays
To talk in advertising lingo joining
The line of market that goes on purloining.
The tax increase these days is called tax break
Because they break the backs of those at stake.
Beloved, I follow money’s shaven sound
Without much interest, since upon the ground
There’s food enough to make table abound
And onions and garlic smell all around
The place where I move, sleep and can be found
To work with hoe and shovel and with rake.

30 He spoke in peace words of deceit
And they believed him till they beat
And struck the city by surprise,
Destroyed the folk before their eyes,
A heavy blow on Israel,
They struck severely, many fell.
31 He plundered all the city, burned
With fire, and tore its houses down,
He tore its houses down and turned
And broke the walls around the town.
32 Both women and children they seized,
And all the cattle that they pleased.
33 The city of David they built
With a strong wall and towers and gilt
34 And stationed there a sinful folk
And lawless people to provoke.
These strengthened their position and
35 They stored up arms and food and manned
The spoiling of Jerusalem,
And stored the spoils there for income,
A tribulation and a snare.
36 It was an evil ambush there
Against the temple, adversary
To Israel ubiquitary.
37 On each side of the sanctuary
They shed blood innocent, unwary,
Even defiled the sanctuary.
38 Because of them each resident
Of the holy city all went,
And she became a dwelling-place
Of strangers, and even her face
Became strange to her offspring, and
Her children all forsook her land.

The truth is Alexander’s horde did not
Invent the station and the horrid lot
Of civil servants, they were known before
At least in every Persian sort of store.
Epiphanes may well set up for life
The civil servants that pleased both his wife
And himself with their tax collecting skills.
But civil servants never cured the ills
Of any city, state or countryside.
Instead with civil servants to deride
The rulers have more time to preen their pride.
Beloved, save me from civil servants now,
The bane of every government somehow,
No matter whether kingdom or the row.

39 Her sanctuary became void,
Desolate as desert employed,
Her feasts were turned to mourning, and
Her Sabbaths reproach in the land,
And all her honour to contempt.
40 Her dishonor now not exempt
Grew as great as had been her glory,
Her height into a mournful story.

Three things abound when heathen faith comes out
To sport and pretend that it’s not a lout.
The first to go is Sabbath rest, indeed
No king accepts such affront to his creed.
The second thing’s the right to kill a hog
And eat it to despite the Decalogue.
The third thing is to keep the penis ready
To show in the playground to Jill and Freddy.
These are the three great practices that set
The heathen altar up to all gods met
And deny Your laws and Your name until
You intervene to put them on the pill.
Beloved, I shake my head both wise and slow
And remind You once more I told You so.

41 Then the king wrote to his whole land
That all should be one people’s band,
42 And each should give his customs up.
43 All the Gentiles took up the cup
Commanded by the king, many
Even from Israel then gladly
Adopted his religion, they
Sacrificed to idols, the day
Of the Sabbath profaned. 44 The king
Sent letters by messengers’ wing
To Jerusalem and the cities
Of Judah, to follow the witties
That were foreign to the land and
45 Forbidding holocausts in hand
And sacrifices and drink offerings
In the sanctuary in profferings,
To profane Sabbaths and the feasts,
46 To defile the temple and priests,
47 To build altars, and sacred courts
And shrines for idols in cohorts,
To sacrifice swine and unclean
Beasts, 48 and to leave their sons unseen,
Uncircumcised. They were to make
Themselves abominable for sake
Of everything unclean, profane,
49 So that they should forget the gain
Of law and change all ordinance.
50 “And whoever does not make dance,
Obeying the command of king
Shall die.” 51 And in such words the thing
He wrote to his whole kingdom, and
He set inspectors over hand
Of all the people with command
To the cities of Judah to
Offer sacrifices as due,
City by city. 52 Many of
The people, every one above
Who forsook the law, joined them, and
They did evil things in the land,
53 They drove Israel into hiding
In every place of refuge biding.

Permission to ignore Your law is bent
As freedom and true righteousness when meant
To destroy the good will Your command raises
Between children and parents for their praises.
Who reject Your commandment always come
To do evil upon the land and hum
The din of idol music everywhere
Until the righteous must hide in despair.
Beloved, here perched upon the granite slope
That raises above lake and forest rope
With every kind of joy and every hope,
I see the glories silently attend
The hours and minutes where they rightly wend
Above the flowers of snow or blooms attend.

54 Now on the fifteenth of Chislev,
In one hundred forty-fifth year,
They set up sacrilege aggrieve
On altar of burnt offering’s bier.
They also built altars around
In Judah’s cities on the ground,
55 And burned incense at the house doors
And in the streets. 56 The books of mores
And law which they found they tore to
Pieces and burned with fire’s due.
57 Where the book of the covenant
Was found in any house or tent,
Or if any one kept the law,
The decree of the king by claw
Condemned him to death. 58 They kept using
Violence to Israel’s abusing,
Against those month after month found
In the cities in every round.

Your Word was burned then in the grossest hate
By very ones who should have not been late
To follow everything that You relate.
The evil of the times returns and comes
To follow in the cycle of their rums.
There always are such sitting on their bums.
Today Your Word is rarely burned with zeal
Outside the pale of Saudis at the keel,
But rather with the fancy flux of books
And movies that attract instead our looks.
Distraction from Your Words is like as not
To be a better way in wicked plot
To reduce what You say to humankind
From nourishment and sweetness to sour rind.

59 And on the twenty-fifth day of
The month they offered up above
A sacrifice upon the altar
Which was upon burnt offering’s altar.
60 According to the decree, they
Put to death the women whose way
Was to have children circumcised,
61 And their families and those apprised
Who circumcised them, and they hung
The infants from their mothers’ necks.
62 But many in Israel stood firm
And were resolved in heart and tongue
Not to eat unclean food’s complex.
63 They chose to die rather than squirm
Defiled by food or to profane
The holy covenant and Name,
And they did die. 64 And very great
Wrath came down upon Israel’s pate.

The Christian doctrine of the Greeks appears
Here for the first time in coloured arrears.
Though Paul says not a word about the way
Babies should be treated on the eighth day,
But rather toots the Hellenistic bent
Of proselyte without the stone knife lent,
The Greekish churchmen join the Roman crowd
In saying circumcision’s not allowed.
The nature of that heart and that command
If evident if folk would understand
It’s but continuing to follow on
The way Antiochus Epiphanes
Treated the mothers from sunset till dawn
To bring Your followers down to their knees.

1 MACCABEES 2

1 In those days Mattathias son
Of John, the son of Simeon,
A priest of sons of Joarib,
Moved from Jerusalem to crib
In Modein. 2 He had five sons, John
Surnamed Gaddi, 3 and one Simon
Called Thassi, 4 Judas Maccabeus,
5 Eleazar called Avaran, stay us
With Jonathan at last called Apphus.

Five sons make up the house of righteous ones,
My great grandfather had five in his loving care,
And there were five under the mantle there
When Muhammad challenged the stars and suns.
Each righteous man has his own task to do.
One is a diplomat and signs the treaty
To make the world sunny and not so sleety.
Another fights the fight and dies for You.
Some quaff the nectar, others by the side
Of the Euphrates have no drink but thirst
And watch the children suck the dry bag dry.
But all beneath the mantle where they bide
Despite the cordial fate, despite the worst
Receive at last reward beneath the sky.

6 He saw blasphemies being done
In Judah and Jerusalem,
7 And said, “Alas! Why was the sun
Risen on my birth to contemn
Destruction of my folk and more
Upon the holy city’s store,
For me to live there while it’s thrust
In the hand of the foe like dust,
The sanctuary given up
Into the rim of foreign cup?
8 “Her temple’s like a man without
Honour, 9 “her glorious vessels rout
Into captivity. Her babes
Have been killed in her streets like grabes,
Her young men by the sword of foe.
10 “What nation now comes up to show
Heir of her temples and has not
Grabbed all the booty of her lot?
11 “All her bedecking’s thrown away,
Lost freedom, she’s in a slave’s way.
12 “Indeed, our sanctuary and
Our ornament and glory’s stand
Have been wasted by Gentiles’ hand.
13 “Why should we live longer and stand?”

The sanctuary of today is set
In heavenly places, but in Psalms I’ve met
Your habitation, my Beloved, to get
The holy unction on both my ears wet.
And yet I see the desecration now
That once darkened the bravely shining brow
Of Mattathias when he heard the din
Of heathen sacrifice in his folk’s sin.
I too see every church filled with the smoke
And strobe lights of the devils there to croak.
I hear the synagogue set out in pain
To mimic rock concert as though insane.
I find the desecration of the mosque
Is welcomed like sweets sold at corner kiosk.

14 And Mattathias and his sons tore
Their clothes, put on sackcloth they wore,
And sorrowed much upon the floor.
15 The king’s men who imposed the way
Of the apostasy to stay
Came to the city of Modein
To make them sacrifice in vain.
16 Many of Israel came to them,
And Mattathias and his gem
Of sons were gathered at his hem.
17 The king’s men said to Mattathias
In this wise, though the man was pious,
“You are an honoured leader here
In this city, and have your gear
Of sons and brothers for support.
18 “So lead the way up to the fort
According to the king’s commands,
Just like the Gentiles and the bands
Of men in Judah and those left
There in Jerusalem as deft
Have done. And then you and your sons
Will be accounted on your buns
As favourites of the king’s tons,
Honoured with silver and with gold,
And many gifts, having been sold.”

Nobody offers me a gift and prize
To enter in the meeting of the wise,
The senate or the church, they just despise
My ways of doing things under the guise
Of poverty in humble cabin set
Beside the well, under the hill well met.
If I am offered worldly fame and gold
For worshiping the image of the bold
And beatable within the heathen fold
That contemplates the church and synagogue
From the mosque porch beneath the smoke and smog,
I trow I’ll take it all at once and be
A princely figure on the rocky spree,
Head of a profitable company!

19 But Mattathias answered saying
In a loud voice where he was braying,
“Even if all the nations that
Live under the rule on the mat
Of the king to obey his voice,
Following his orders by choice,
Giving up each one the faith of
His ancestors handed in love,
20 “Still I and my sons and my brothers
Will keep the covenant of mothers
And fathers handed down to us.
21 “We’ll not desert the law to curse.
22 “We will not obey the king’s words
By turning from our faith to turds
On the right hand or on the left.”

Ah, what a noble courage from the breast
Appears in these great words finely expressed!
The rhetoric alone left me impressed!
Maybe I too could be carried away
By high feelings of piety in sway
To Your faith, My Beloved, and to obey.
But since no one here stops me from the truth,
Nor even cares if I have from my youth
Kept covenant with You to mark my week
With Saturdays in rest and have the cheek
Not to kill or to steal, my resolve may
Diminish without obstructions to play.
So foolish is the human heart I see,
We must be opposed once to disagree.

23 When he had finished what he said,
A Jew came forward without dread
Of all there watching and he laid
An offering on the altar stayed
In Modein by the king’s charade.
24 When Mattathias saw it, he
Flamed up with zeal and jealousy.
He vented righteous wrath as he
Ran and killed him at altar’s knee.
25 He also killed the king’s sent man
Who enforced sacrificial plan,
And tore down the altar in span.
26 And so he burned for the law’s zeal,
As Phinehas did at the heel
Of Zimri the son of Salu.
27 So Mattathias shouted to
The city with a loud voice, saying
“Let every one who’s zealous praying
For the law and keeps covenant
Join me now where I have been sent!”
28 And he and his sons fled abroad
To the hills and left all the squad
Of what they had on the town’s sod.

The law says not to kill. Now what I think
Is that these people on the zealous brink
Of war are very much like those who say
They support ten commandments in the way
And publish their names in conspiracy,
But fail in faith of one God and not three,
Neglecting Sabbath day for their Sunday.
If Mattathias really kept the law,
He’d think twice about using forceful claw
To kill the king’s man. Provocation great
Of course inspired him to his deed of fate.
It’s always easy to remember when
Some priest or favoured people of the men
Committed holy outrage in the fen.

29 Then many who sought righteousness
And justice went to wilderness
To stay there, 30 they, their sons, their wives,
And their cattle as it contrives,
Because of the iniquity
Oppressing them so heavily.
31 And it was told to the king’s men,
And to the armies in the den
Of David’s town, Jerusalem,
That men had gone in stratagem
Against the orders of the king
And hidden by the desert spring.
32 Many pursued them, overtook
Them, they encamped near by their nook,
Ready to fight them on the day
Of the Sabbath to hold their sway.
33 And they said to them, “That’s enough!
Surrender to the king, be tough
And do what he says and you’ll live.”
34 But they said, “We will not forgive,
Come out, nor will we do the thing
That has been ordered by the king
To break the Sabbath day on wing.”
35 So their foes came to the attack.

These people were not those who killed the man
Sent by the king to speak to them in plan.
These are the ones who also came and ran
Away from evil plots and murder’s fan.
They stood to take decision they would die
Rather than live in a world on the sly,
And keep Your law down to the very end.
The righteous thus were killed to the last friend.
Beloved, I wonder if on all the earth
There lives a man or woman of great worth.
Who live are those who compromise the faith,
First of all by betraying into wraith
The life of any man they choose to bring
Against the altar for a song to sing.

36 But they did not give answer back
Or throw a stone or block the way
To their hiding places that day,
37 But they said, “Let’s all die right now
In innocence, before the row
Both heaven and earth will testify
That we came unjustly to die.”
38 So they fought them on Sabbath day,
And they were killed with wives to stay
And children and cattle in count
Of a thousand people’s amount.
39 When Mattathias and his friends
Heard about that they grieved no ends.
40 And they said to each other then,
“If we all as our brother men
Do and refuse to fight Gentile
For our lives and law without guile,
They’ll soon wipe us from off the earth.”
41 So they took decision of worth,
“Let’s fight all those who attack us
On the Sabbath day with a fuss
And not die as our brothers died
In the places they went to hide.”

Who started out with killing the king’s man
Were only consistent within the plan
To forget Sabbath day and its clear ban.
The justification is innocent:
We have to do the thing and so prevent
The destruction of faithful from the earth.
No thought that the prevention in its worth
Destroyed at once the faithful for all time.
Beloved, the times were bad, philosophy
And thinking clear where not good company.
Give me excuse instead to keep Your law
Despite the wicked movement in the craw,
And innocent or not in head and heart,
Let me at least put hand to do Your part.

42 Hasideans gathered with them,
Great fighting men of Israel’s hem,
Each giving himself for the law.
43 And everybody who then saw
Reason to leave society,
Joined them and increased company.
44 They became an armed band and slew
Sinners in their wrath and the crew
Of lawless men, and those escaped
Fled to the Gentiles whom they aped
For safety. 45 And Mattathias
And his friends went about in gas
And threw down the altars in pass,
46 They forcibly circumcised all
The uncircumcised boys in thrall
That they found in Israel’s land’s stall.
47 They hunted down proud men and so
They succeeded in their own show.
48 They rescued the law from the hand
Of Gentile and the kings in band,
Let no sinner gain upper hand.

A band of terrorists is what they were,
These sons of Mattathias on the spur.
And like the terrorists they do awaken
A bit of awe even in just hearts shaken.
I really would not mind to see some boys
In Europe or America like toys
Taken in hand and circumcised for joys
And forced into the ranks of honest men.
Too often Paul’s words have been misapplied
To prove that Your law has been set aside.
Beloved, I smile at raging robbers’ den
And wish a few of such might live again.
Beloved, I wince to see the presidents
In arms against the circumcised of sense.

49 The time of Mattathias’ death
Came near and he said with last breath
To his sons, “Arrogance and chiding
Have increased and come out of hiding,
It’s a time of destruction and
Raging anger about the land.
50 “So, my sons, show zeal for the law,
And give up your lives in the awe
Of the ancestral covenant.
51 “Remember our ancestors’ deed,
The things they used to do with cant,
And so receive honour with speed
And an eternal fame in slant.
52 “Was not Abraham faithful found
When tested, and it was the ground
Of counting him in righteousness?
53 “Joseph in time of his distress
Kept the commandment, and became
The ruler of Egypt for fame.
54 “Phinehas our father, because
He was deeply zealous for laws,
Received the covenant of gain,
Eternal priesthood and not vain.”

Phinehas was one of the violent,
Who struck even when Moses was all spent
And failed to raise a hand to stay the plot
Of Baal Peor to set up idol’s lot.
He too forgot the law that one should not
Kill, but took up the lance against the two
Who worshipped degradation in plain view.
Perhaps the commandments are in a line,
The order giving precedence in spine,
So that to preserve the first ones in row
It’s justified to let the later go.
So he could kill to save from idol show
Or from the desecration of the day
Of Sabbath broken by the heathen sway.

55 “Joshua, because he fulfilled
The commandment, became instilled
As a judge in Israel’s domain.
56 “Caleb, because he testified
In the assembly and not vied,
Received in land inheritance.
57 “David, for mercy in his glance,
Inherited the kingdom’s throne
For ever and not it alone.
58 “Elijah because of great zeal
For the law was taken by heel
Up into heaven and in seal.
59 “Hannaniah, Azariah,
And Mishael believed in awe
And were saved from the flaming craw.
60 Daniel because of innocence
Was saved from lions’ mouths and dents.
61 “And so observe, from generation
To generation, that no ration
Of those who put their trust in Him
Will lack in strength or become dim.

If the word is true that the faithful stand
In strength because they keep divine command,
Then is that miracle enough indeed
To save the crew without the swordly deed?
The Anabaptist row would seem to take
A dual position, not to eat cake
And have it too, both raise the guns and fire,
And in non-violence turn and retire.
Beloved, it is a telling story that
The pacifist of that group that once sat
In such diversity is still around
To give the trump of life a loud, clear sound,
While those who mustered arms against the sinners
Were never in the end among the winners.

62 “Do not fear the words of a sinner,
For his splendour will turn beginner
Into dung and to worms as thinner.
63 “Today he’ll be exalted, but
Tomorrow he’ll be out of gut,
Because he’s returned to the dust,
And his plans will perish as must.
64 “My children, be courageous and
Grow strong in the law and in band,
For by it you will gain the fame.
65 “Now indeed, I know that the flame
Simeon your brother gives advice
In wisdom, always listen twice
To what he says and he’ll be nice.
66 “Judas Maccabeus has been
A mighty warrior without sin
From his youth, so he shall command
The army for you, fight in band
The battle and make a good stand.
67 “Gather about you those who keep
The law and avenge the wrong steep
Done to your people, for which weep.
68 “Pay back the heathens and in full,
And keep the commandments and pull.”
69 Then he blessed them, and as no knave
He went down to ancestral grave.
70 He died in the one hundred and
Forty-sixth year and met the land
Buried in the tomb of his dads
At Modein. And all Israel’s cads
Mourned for him greatly out of hand.

There is a lot to be paid back, I swear,
When I look out on what the heathen dare
To perpetrate, not only in their war,
But in the advertisements of their store.
I’ve a thing or two on my own count,
Beloved, I’d like You to address in mount
Avenging for the ugly word and deed
Depriving me of harvest and of seed.
And yet, Beloved, my bread has aye been sure,
And even drinking water has been pure
Without my buying water on the shelf
All bottled and all swatted down by elf.
I’ll settle for accounts made even now
Or on the Day of Judgement anyhow.

1 MACCABEES 3

1 Then Judas his son, who was called
Maccabeus, he was installed
In his place in command enthralled.
2 All his brothers and all who’d joined
His father helped him tenderloined
Fighting gladly for Israel.
3 He magnified above as well
The fame of his folk, mightily
He put on his breastplate and he
Assumed the battle armour and
Fought battles protecting by hand
The armies by his sword’s command.
4 Like a lion in his deeds, like
A lion’s cub roaring to strike,
5 He sought and pursued lawless ones,
He burned those troubling his folk’s buns.
6 Lawless men fled in very fear,
The wicked were troubled to tear,
Salvation prospered at his hand.

Judas Maccabeus was a great man
Sent by Your hand, Beloved, and by Your plan
To save Your folk as in the wondered days
Of David and Saul in their frightful ways,
Without regard for sacred human life
As long as the sword fondled bloody strife
And slew the enemy of You and Yours
And rid the world of Amelekite stores.
Beloved, the Hellenites take place in time
Of Amorite and Amelekite crime,
And show that centuries of bloodshed do
Not rid the world of any wicked crew
But that another rises in their fate
To become wicked, sinful and as great.

7 He grieved many kings, but he made
Jacob glad by his deeds displayed,
His memory’s blessed eternal grade.
8 He went through Judah’s cities, he
Destroyed from all the ungodly,
And so turned wrath from Israel’s fee.
9 He was famous to the earth’s ends,
He gathered up languishing friends.
10 Then Apollonius in store
Called up the Gentiles at the door,
A great army from Samaria
To fight against Israel in claw.
11 When Judas learned of it, he went
Out to meet him, and as though sent
He defeated and killed him too.
Wounded and fell many in crew,
And the rest fled in residue.
12 Then they seized the booty and took
Judas Apollonius’ sword’s hood,
And wielded it in battle strife
Until the end of his own life.

The sword of old Goliath in the trench
Was famous in sight of both wight and wench,
And hung within the tabernacle’s shroud
To be the pilgrimage of pious crowd.
The sword of Apollonius as rare
Has not the fame of the ancient one’s prayer,
But is as great, I trow, because the hand
That won it also lifted Your command.
The sword I raise is just the spoken word,
The voice lifted in cantillation heard
By few, but sifting through the holy sound
Of Decalogue upon the holy ground
That spreads in stone and saxifrage to greet
The morning sun with neither snow nor sleet.

13 Now when Seron, commander of
The Syrian army hand in glove,
Heard that Judas had such a troop
Of faithful men who did not droop
But joined him in the battle call,
14 He said “I’ll make my fame as tall
And gather honour in my stall.
I’ll attack Judas and his mates
Despising the king’s ordinates.”
15 And so a mighty army made
Up of ungodly men arrayed
Went up with him to give him aid
And take vengeance on Israel paid.
16 When he came near Beth-horon’s slopes,
Judas went out in his high hopes
To meet him with a tiny band.
17 But when they saw the army stand
To meet them, they said to Judas,
“How can we, and so few of us,
Fight such a great crowd on the bus,
And we are weak and have not eaten
Anything now so we’ll be beaten?”

Sometimes the battle’s fought best with the paunch
Empty of food before the outward launch.
But everyone delights in a last meal
Before the raising of the hand and heel.
I make complaint today, Beloved, that I
Will come into Your chamber when I vie
With turnip and with radish and am well
Furnished with bread and kale to buy and sell.
Can any human being find excuse
For doing what he should have done for use?
Can any band of doers foot the bill,
And run when they ascend the well-paved hill?
I doubt not, but the everlasting plaint
Is O Lord see now how I’m feeling faint.

18 Judas replied, “It’s a light thing
For many to meet destroying
By few, for in the sight of heaven
There’s no difference between the leaven
And the bushels of grain to sting.
19 “It’s not the army’s size that makes
The victory in battle stakes,
But power comes down from heaven above.
20 “They come against us in the shove
Of pride and lawlessness to kill
Us and our wives and children still,
And take our wealth, 21 “but we fight for
Our lives and our laws at our door.
22 “He Himself will trample them down
Before us, but you for your frown
Do not fear them from toe to crown.”
23 When he finished his speech, he rushed
Suddenly to attack unhushed
On Seron and his army, and
They were defeated by his band.
24 They followed them down the descent
Of Beth-horon where the plain went
Eight hundred of them fell, the rest
Fled to Philistine lands in west.

Beloved, the stories of the battles won
In days past are a thing that’s long since done.
I ask you if there’s any help today
When armies come along and lead the way?
They always have a reason for the fray,
Trumped up and hashed and bittered for the press
Of why it is a just thing to be dressed
In battle where the poverty assessed
Is low enough to keep the market dry
If too many people there come to die.
Not to be attacked? Now protection’s found
In having money to spend on the ground.
Consumers are protected in the round
When armies now-a-days are always bound.

25 So Judas and his brothers gain
A reputation for the slain,
And terror fell on the Gentiles
Around about them miles and miles.
26 His infamy came to the king,
And Gentiles gossiped of the thing,
The victories of Judas’ ring.
27 When Antiochus heard the rumour,
It put the king fair out of humour,
And he summoned the armies of
All his kingdom for push and shove.
28 He opened up his treasury
And gave his soldiers all in fee
A whole year’s annual salary,
And ordered them to be ready
In case he called them to the spree.
29 Then he saw that all the money
Was finished in the treasury,
And that the revenues in hand
Were small because in all the land
He’d caused dissension and had planned
Disaster by the way he stopped
The former laws that always propped
In former days when people hopped.
30 He was afraid the empty till
Would not suffice before the bill
Of his expenses, and for gifts
That he gave more than other shifts
Of kings before him at the kill.
31 He thought about it a long time
And decided to go for grime
To Persia and collect the tax
From those regions and raise an axe.

The ones who come to the attack waylaid
Are always by economics’ parade.
They have to find the money somehow to
Sate their hunger for killings’ derring-do.
The USA has found the better way,
Just base the national economy
On the war crimes of the war industry
And see how far that will take in the sway.
The stomach is the limit for the sale
Of wheat and beer, but there’s no limit’s whale
To selling and to buying fear. The king
Could have learned from his present peers a thing.
Pay for the arms with taxes on the run,
And then serve up the tanks as well as gun.

32 He left Lysias for the keep,
A fine man of royal line steep,
In charge of all the king’s affairs
From the Euphrates to the shares
Of Egypt. 33 Lysias had to
Also take good care of the due
Son of Antiochus until
He came marching back over hill.
34 He gave Lysias the command
Of half his troops as well as band
Of elephants, and gave him word
About all that he wanted stirred.
As for the dwellers of the land
Of Judea and all the band
Of Jerusalem, 35 Lysias should
Send an army against them good
To wipe them out and so destroy
The power of Israel and joy
Left in Jerusalem, and he
Was to banish the memory
Of them from that place, 36 and then bring
Strangers to live by vine and spring,
And so distribute all their land.
37 Then the king took the other half
Of his army as well as staff
And left Antioch pride and joy
The capital in his employ
In the year one hundred and forty
Seven, and crossed the river sporty,
The Euphrates and arrived in
The upper provinces with din.

The elephants I daresay were a lot
Come up from India to hit the spot.
It’s not likely the African for brood
Would be so ready to obey the rude.
The battle won against the elephants
Is famous in the history of dance,
But fact is I believe that such a crowd
Was more likely to win than some allowed.
Beloved, I’m glad that elephants today
Do not join in the foolish human fray.
They are too wise as beasts to take part in
The campaigns of humankind in their sin.
Beloved, I pray for elephants that stand
Today in dole, slaughtered by human hand.

38 Lysias chose Ptolemy son
Of Dorymenes, and for fun
Nicanor and Gorgias, great men
And friends of the king for a yen,
39 And off he sent them out deployed
With forty thousand infantry
And seven thousand cavalry
To go into Judah’s land vied
And spoil it at the king’s command.
40 And so they set out with their band,
And when they got there, they set camp
In the plain near Emmaus’ ramp.
41 And when the merchants of the place
Heard what was going on in race,
They brought a lot of silver and
Gold there and manacles in hand,
Ready to acquire Israelites
As slaves to sell or work by nights.
And Syrian companies came there
And Philistines to join the ware.
42 Judas and his brothers saw that
Troubles had got fatter and fat,
And armies encamped on their flat.
They also found out how the king
Had ordered final reckoning.
43 And they said to each other then,
“Let’s fix destruction of our men
And fight for our folk and the light
Of the sanctuary in sight.”
44 The congregation gathered round
Ready for battle on the ground,
And to pray and ask for mercy
And compassion upon the free.

Whenever war is threatening to blow,
The merchant races always come to know,
And gather like the vultures for the stake
To profit from the bloodshed in its wake.
War is the opportunity of all
Who manufacture and sell in the stall,
And so the greatest countries on the earth
Are those who understand war and its worth.
Beloved, if I were cynical I’d say
That You were laughing at the human fray,
And scornful of the grief that humans bare
To the white sunlight beneath rocky stare
Of halls of parliament and domes of fame
That glisten in the eager, melting flame.

45 Jerusalem was desolate
Without inhabitants or mate,
None of her children entered there
Or came out to increase her share.
The temple had been trampled down,
With foreigners in fortress’ crown,
A place where only Gentiles lived.
Joy was from Jacob moved and sieved,
The flute and harp had ceased to play.
46 So they assembled on the way
To Mizpah, near Jerusalem,
Since in times past Israel in hem
Had a prayer place in Mizpah’s gem.
47 They fasted that day, and put on
Sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on
Their heads, and tore their clothes at dawn.
48 And they opened the book of law
To inquire into things of awe
While Gentiles went to idol’s band
To inquire of the fate at hand.
49 They also brought the priestly robe
And the first fruits and the tithe’s lobe,
And they stirred up the Nazirites
To complete both their days and nights,
50 And they cried out to heaven, and said
“What shall we do with these in dread?
Where shall we take them now instead?
51 “Your sanctuary’s trampled down
And profaned, and your priests in town
Grieve in humiliation’s crown.
52 “And see, the Gentiles gather here
Against us to destroy with fear,
And You know of their plot and gear.
53 “How shall we be able to stand
If You do not help us by hand?”

The ruined temple gives no stench in air
Because the dryness of the light and bare
Breath of the winds that whisper in the place
Sorrow to see the anguish of its face.
They take an ancient priestly robe and show
It to the empty sky, the silent row
Of portals of the heavenly cast of fame
And call and call again upon Your name.
Beloved, I see the pile of tithes, first-fruits
With no storehouse to cover them with suits,
And pray You on a day and year far thence
To give the begging bowl both pounds and pence.
Beloved, see how the innocent implore
Your mercy on the stifled, sun-drenched shore.

54 Then they sounded the trumpets and
Gave a loud shout. 55 And after this
Judas appointed not to miss
Leaders of the folk, some in charge
Of thousands and hundreds at large
And fifties and tens. 56 And he said
To those who were building instead
Houses, or were betrothed, or were
Planting vineyards, or not to stir
For lack of courage, to return
Each to his house, as law would earn.
57 And so the army marched away
And camped south of Emmaus’ way.
58 And Judas said, “Get on your mark
And be courageous in the dark.
Be ready early in the morn
To fight with these Gentiles of scorn
Who’ve gathered against us to lay
Destruction on us and to slay,
And to destroy our temple’s way.
59 It’s better to die in the fray
Than watch our nation disappear,
The sanctuary under sneer.
60 But as His will in heaven may be,
So He will do, and we shall see.”

When Jesus taught his followers to pray
Thy will be done, he quoted in his way
Judas Maccabeus, but did not note
That word was spoken in an antidote.
Thy will be done on earth is prefaced by
The call to arms and hopelessly defy
The strength of politicians and their guns,
The sacrifice of mothers with their sons.
Beloved, the sweetness of the hermitage,
The gentle laura’s light, illumined page
Of Psalm and Gospel, hide the desperate feat,
The fearless plunge in war without retreat,
Reliance on salvation at the shore,
Hand on the sword, and eye upon the gore.

1 MACCABEES 4

1 Now Gorgias took five thousand men
Of infantry and in the glen
A thousand hand-picked cavalry,
And this band moved at night for glee
2 Attacking the Jews suddenly.
Men from the fortress served as guides.
3 But Judas heard of it besides,
And he and his best men moved out
To attack the king’s force in rout
At Emmaus 4 while the band still
Was absent from the camp on hill.
5 When Gorgias entered Judas’ camp
That night, he found no one to vamp,
So he searched for them in the hills,
Thinking that they had fled the bills.
6 At dawn Judas came on the plain
With three thousand men out for gain,
But they did not have armour and
Swords such as they wished in their hand.
7 And they saw the camp of Gentiles,
Strong and guarded, with horsemen’s files
Around it with men trained for war.
8 But Judas told his men the score,
“Don’t fear them for their numbers great
Or be afraid when they berate
To charge. 9 Mind how our ancestors
Were saved at the Red Sea from fers
Of Pharaoh who pursued them late.
10 So let us call on heaven’s gate,
And see if He will favour us
And mind the covenant and truss
With our ancestors and destroy
This army that blocks the day’s joy.
11 Then all the Gentiles will know there
Is One who saves Israel from care.”

You have to keep reminding Gentile that
You have an eye on what they do for splat.
Otherwise they will lift a fist to sky,
First in defiance, then as years go by,
In mere denial of Your word and hand.
Such is the rumour all about the land.
You don’t exist, You do not see the toll,
You do not judge the sinner, mark the scroll
Of grief on those who suffer at the dole.
Remember Judas’ speeches and the prime
Argument for Your action. Now’s the time.
Beloved, the hand of fate’s a mythic tale,
And so is sociology’s last wail.
There is a choice to make twixt ill and hale.

12 When the Gentiles looked up and saw
Them coming toward them like a wall,
13 They went out from their camp to fight.
Then Judah’s men blew like a wight
Each on his trumpet. 14 and they flew
Into the thick of battle’s brew.
The Gentiles fell back and they fled
Into the plain, 15 and those instead
Caught in the rear fell by the sword.
They followed them to Gazara,
And to plains of Idumea,
To Azotus and Jamnia,
And three thousand of them were gored.

The strategy is blow the trumpets till
The enemy is frightened by the kill
And runs away and leaves behind the slow
To be slaughtered by all the men that go.
The trumpet sound does not strike fear in me,
Perhaps because I do not come to see
The magic powers of spirit and of force
That rise in matter and the song’s divorce.
The music can indeed be house of god,
The Psalms are Yours, the Baal din at the prod
The house of idols lighting on the sod.
They fled before the sound of where You trod,
Beloved, Your victory it was of course.

16 Then Judas and his band turned back
From following after them slack,
17 And he said to the people, “Do
Not be greedy for plunder’s view,
For there’s a battle before us,
18 “Gorgias and his band are near us
In the hills. But stand now before
Our enemies and fight them more,
And after that take the spoils’ store.”
19 Just as Judas finished this speech,
A band came from the hills in reach.
20 They saw their army put to flight,
And the Jews burned the camp outright,
Since smoke arose up in the light.
21 When they saw this they greatly feared,
And also when they saw appeared
The army of Judas arrayed
Upon the plain battle parade,
22 They all fled to the Philistines.
23 Then Judas returned to confines
Of the camp to the spoil, and they
Grabbed much gold and silver, and gay
Cloth dyed blue and sea purple, and
Great wealth left by enemy band.

Whatever side a man is on it seems
The one temptation is the sovereign gleams
Of gold and silver, and the fashion’s brooch
That struts in gowns and garments in the coach.
The cloth dyed blue and sea purple is found
No longer on the mercantilish ground,
Because the shell from which it’s made has gone
Extinct and is no longer on the lawn.
Beloved, I need no purple dress to wear,
I need no gold or silver in my hair,
I only need the woollen mantle meant
To cover me in sleep and waking bent
To whirl before Your throne with forty more,
The abdals touch the reel and all two-score.

24 On their return they sang hymns and
Praises to heaven, for He is good,
His mercy endures aye as should.
25 Thus Israel had great salvation
That day. 26 Those of the Gentiles won
Who got away went and told it
To Lysias, all in a fit.
27 When he heard it, he was perplexed
And discouraged, for he’d been vexed
Not to accomplish in Israel
What he intended, nor did well
The orders king left to spell.
28 But the next year he gathered more
Sixty thousand hand-picked in store
Of infantry, five thousand more
Of cavalry to subdue them.
29 They came to Idumea’s hem
And camped at Beth-zur, and Judas
Met them with ten thousand in fuss.
30 When he saw the army was strong,
He prayed, saying, “Blessed is Your song,
O Savior of Israel, who did
Repulse attack of warrior bid
By the power of Your slave David,
And gave the Philistine camp to
The hands of Jonathan for crew,
The son of Saul, and of the man
Who carried his armour by plan.
31 “Do so to this host by the hand
Of Your folk Israel to stand,
And let them be ashamed of men
And horses too fallen again.
32 “Fill them with cowardice, and melt
All of the bold strength they have felt
And let them shake before the welt.
33 “Strike them down with the sword of those
Who love You, and let all You chose
To know Your name praise You in rows.”

They call it hymn, but in fact it’s a Psalm
Of David that they sang after the balm
Of victory, and before Lysias’ calm
And disappointment in disasters tree.
Judas came out to beg Your help to see
The day when he was faced with company
Like oceans of armies across the shore
Of Idumea and the desert’s door.
Beloved, I do not know whether the score
Of Psalm or prayer was more effective then.
I tend to choose the Psalm when in my den.
My own prayers are a weak excuse for yen.
And so I enter in the temple wide
Where Psalms are veils for my Beloved to hide.

34 Then both sides came to the attack,
And there fell of the army’s stack
Of Lysias five thousand men,
They fell in the battle again.
35 When Lysias saw his band’s rout
And the courage of Judas stout
And those with him, how ready they
Were to live or die in the fray,
He went to Antioch to hire
More soldiers to invade the pyre
Of Judea again with more
Soldiers and cavalry in store.
36 Then said Judas and his brothers,
“Indeed, our enemies and fers
Have been destroyed, so let’s go up
To cleanse the sanctuary cup
And dedicate its use once more.”
37 So all the army gathered round
And went up to the fortress ground.
38 They saw the sanctuary’s fate
In desolation, and the great
Altar profaned, and burned the gate.
In the courtyard they saw young trees
Sprung as in a thicket breeze,
Or on mountains above the seas.
They also saw the rooms of priests
Lying in ruins, dens of beasts.
39 They tore their clothes, and grieved a while,
And sprinkled ashes without smile.
40 They fell face down upon the ground,
And sounded trumpets’ signal round,
And cried out to heaven with the sound.
41 Judas appointed men to fight
Against those in the fortress bright
Until he cleaned the sanctuary
Properly to make his heart merry.

The book of Daniel predicts time will come
To cleanse the sanctuary in its sum.
However men count out the days and years,
The cleansing is repeated in men’s fears
Again and once again and then with tears.
When Judas Maccabeus found the tent
In ruins and profaned in all it meant,
He came to cleanse it then and there, but that
Cleansing did not last for eternal mat.
Beloved, I see the centuries pass by,
And see the profanement steal on the sly,
Claiming your name as Jupiter and Jove
In land of pizzas, cheese, ham and anchovy.
I doubt not it’s been cleansed up to the sky.

42 He chose blameless priests to the law
Devoted, 43 and they cleansed in awe
The sanctuary and removed
The defiled stones to unclean grooved
Place. 44 They thought what to do about
The altar of burnt offering stout
Which had been profaned round about.
45 They thought it best to tear it down,
Lest it bring reproach on the town,
For Gentiles had defiled the crown.
So they tore down the altar, 46 and
Stored the stones in a nearby stand
On temple hill until there should
Come a prophet to tell what could
Be done with them. 47 Then they took more
Unhewn stones, as the law in store
Commands, and built a new altar
Like the former, better by far.
48 They rebuilt sanctuary too
Interior of the temple view,
And consecrated the courts new.
49 They made new holy vessels, and
Brought the lampstand, the altar grand
Of incense, and the table too
Into the temple out of view.

At least they had those things to bring and lay
Within the newly swept where they could pray.
The rumours are the lampstand is well kept
In Roman crypt and hidden from adept.
I think the rumour might well be inept.
Today I look to temples not made by
The hands of men, but altars in the sky
Where incense of the same Psalms rises high
When sung by those who still mind You are nigh.
Beloved, I join the happy song they sang
On that far day beside the Kidron’s twang,
Rejoicing that the temple ever new
And pure is here beneath my humble view,
Where You dwell in the Psalms instead of pew.

50 They burned incense on the altar
And lighted lamps to glow like star
On the lampstand, and these gave light
In the temple both day and night.
51 They placed the bread on table and
Hung up the curtains by command.
So they finished all the work they
Had planned to do upon that day.
52 Early in the morning upon
The twenty-fifth day of the drawn
Ninth month, which is Chislev by name,
In year one hundred forty-eight,
53 They rose and offered up the flame
Of sacrifice, as the law’s rate,
On the new altar of burnt offering
Which they had built there for the proffering.
54 At the very season and on
The very day Gentiles had drawn
To profane it, it was again
Dedicated with songs of men
And harps and lutes and cymbals then.
55 All the people fell on their faces
And worshiped and blessed heavenly places,
Who had prospered them in their traces.

The falling on their faces to make prayer
Is something Protestants avoid to share,
While all the faithful of the many flocks
Of other Christians find it to their pax.
Even the Jews follow in suite the pass,
And bob their heads instead of laying mass
Of forehead on the earth to favour still
Obedience to Your revealed, divine will.
I am a lazy bugger for myself,
Hardly a man at all, and more like elf,
But even I, upon a day and time
Put down my head on earth appeasing crime.
Beloved, wherever my bright head may be,
Look on the heart that with impunity
Opens to Your grace, forgiveness, mercy.

56 They celebrated dedication
Of the altar for eight days’ ration,
And offered burnt offerings with gladness,
They gave offerings and without sadness
For their salvation and their praise.
57 They wreathed the front of the house in
Golden crowns and small shields of tin,
And they restored the gates and rooms
For the priests and provided brooms
And doors to hide them from the dooms.
58 There was a great gladness among
The people, and the reproach sung
By the Gentiles was gone and hung.
59 Then Judas and his brothers and
All the crowd of Israelite band
Decided every year to take
The days of dedication’s sake
Of the altar with gladness’ joy
For eight days in all its employ
Beginning on the twenty-fifth
Day of Chislev, a month to drift.
60 And at that time they fortified
Mount Zion with high walls to hide
Strong towers round about the side,
To keep the Gentiles out so they
Would not again trample in fray.
61 He stationed there a fort to hold,
He also fortified the bold
Beth-zur, so that the folk might keep
A fortress strong toward the heap
Of Idumea and its sheep.

After all this time Hanukka is meant
To celebrate the dedication’s vent.
The one’s who celebrate it sometimes think
Why they do what they’re doing on the brink
Of Christmas, others merely know the lights
Of pagan hopes and fears press on their sights,
And see the festivals draw Gentile and
The Jew together in a sort of stand
To spend some money at the end of year
To make the inventory well appear.
Beloved, I do not criticize the ball,
Forgetfulness of centuries at all.
It is enough right now to hear Your call
And come before Your temple without fear.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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