1. Septuagint, 1 Esdras, 1.19 (10th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.19. And the people of Israel who were present at that time kept the passover and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. |
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2. Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy, 8.2, 8.5, 9.16, 17.20, 27.5 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 8.2. כַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה מַאֲבִיד מִפְּנֵיכֶם כֵּן תֹאבֵדוּן עֵקֶב לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּן בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם׃ 8.2. וְזָכַרְתָּ אֶת־כָּל־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר הֹלִיכֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ זֶה אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה בַּמִּדְבָּר לְמַעַן עַנֹּתְךָ לְנַסֹּתְךָ לָדַעַת אֶת־אֲשֶׁר בִּלְבָבְךָ הֲתִשְׁמֹר מצותו [מִצְוֺתָיו] אִם־לֹא׃ 8.5. וְיָדַעְתָּ עִם־לְבָבֶךָ כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר יְיַסֵּר אִישׁ אֶת־בְּנוֹ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ מְיַסְּרֶךָּ׃ 9.16. וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה חֲטָאתֶם לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם עֲשִׂיתֶם לָכֶם עֵגֶל מַסֵּכָה סַרְתֶּם מַהֵר מִן־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶתְכֶם׃ 27.5. וּבָנִיתָ שָּׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים לֹא־תָנִיף עֲלֵיהֶם בַּרְזֶל׃ | 8.2. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no." 8.5. And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee." 9.16. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God; ye had made you a molten calf; ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you." 17.20. that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left; to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." 27.5. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt lift up no iron tool upon them." |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Esther, 3.6, 3.10, 4.3, 4.16, 7.10, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7, 8.9, 8.12, 8.16-8.17, 9.6, 9.10, 9.13-9.15, 9.22, 10.3, 10.11 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 4.3. וּבְכָל־מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה מְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר דְּבַר־הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ מַגִּיעַ אֵבֶל גָּדוֹל לַיְּהוּדִים וְצוֹם וּבְכִי וּמִסְפֵּד שַׂק וָאֵפֶר יֻצַּע לָרַבִּים׃ 4.16. לֵךְ כְּנוֹס אֶת־כָּל־הַיְּהוּדִים הַנִּמְצְאִים בְּשׁוּשָׁן וְצוּמוּ עָלַי וְאַל־תֹּאכְלוּ וְאַל־תִּשְׁתּוּ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים לַיְלָה וָיוֹם גַּם־אֲנִי וְנַעֲרֹתַי אָצוּם כֵּן וּבְכֵן אָבוֹא אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־כַדָּת וְכַאֲשֶׁר אָבַדְתִּי אָבָדְתִּי׃ 8.3. וַתּוֹסֶף אֶסְתֵּר וַתְּדַבֵּר לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַתִּפֹּל לִפְנֵי רַגְלָיו וַתֵּבְךְּ וַתִּתְחַנֶּן־לוֹ לְהַעֲבִיר אֶת־רָעַת הָמָן הָאֲגָגִי וְאֵת מַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר חָשַׁב עַל־הַיְּהוּדִים׃ 8.5. וַתֹּאמֶר אִם־עַל־הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב וְאִם־מָצָאתִי חֵן לְפָנָיו וְכָשֵׁר הַדָּבָר לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְטוֹבָה אֲנִי בְּעֵינָיו יִכָּתֵב לְהָשִׁיב אֶת־הַסְּפָרִים מַחֲשֶׁבֶת הָמָן בֶּן־הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי אֲשֶׁר כָּתַב לְאַבֵּד אֶת־הַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּכָל־מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ 8.7. וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרֹשׁ לְאֶסְתֵּר הַמַּלְכָּה וּלְמָרְדֳּכַי הַיְּהוּדִי הִנֵּה בֵית־הָמָן נָתַתִּי לְאֶסְתֵּר וְאֹתוֹ תָּלוּ עַל־הָעֵץ עַל אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַח יָדוֹ ביהודיים [בַּיְּהוּדִים׃] 8.9. וַיִּקָּרְאוּ סֹפְרֵי־הַמֶּלֶךְ בָּעֵת־הַהִיא בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁלִישִׁי הוּא־חֹדֶשׁ סִיוָן בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה וְעֶשְׂרִים בּוֹ וַיִּכָּתֵב כְּכָל־אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּה מָרְדֳּכַי אֶל־הַיְּהוּדִים וְאֶל הָאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנִים־וְהַפַּחוֹת וְשָׂרֵי הַמְּדִינוֹת אֲשֶׁר מֵהֹדּוּ וְעַד־כּוּשׁ שֶׁבַע וְעֶשְׂרִים וּמֵאָה מְדִינָה מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה כִּכְתָבָהּ וְעַם וָעָם כִּלְשֹׁנוֹ וְאֶל־הַיְּהוּדִים כִּכְתָבָם וְכִלְשׁוֹנָם׃ 8.12. בְּיוֹם אֶחָד בְּכָל־מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ בִּשְׁלוֹשָׁה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר הוּא־חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר׃ 8.16. לַיְּהוּדִים הָיְתָה אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשֹׂן וִיקָר׃ 8.17. וּבְכָל־מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה וּבְכָל־עִיר וָעִיר מְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר דְּבַר־הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ מַגִּיעַ שִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשׂוֹן לַיְּהוּדִים מִשְׁתֶּה וְיוֹם טוֹב וְרַבִּים מֵעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ מִתְיַהֲדִים כִּי־נָפַל פַּחַד־הַיְּהוּדִים עֲלֵיהֶם׃ 9.6. וּבְשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה הָרְגוּ הַיְּהוּדִים וְאַבֵּד חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת אִישׁ׃ 9.13. וַתֹּאמֶר אֶסְתֵּר אִם־עַל־הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב יִנָּתֵן גַּם־מָחָר לַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּשׁוּשָׁן לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּדָת הַיּוֹם וְאֵת עֲשֶׂרֶת בְּנֵי־הָמָן יִתְלוּ עַל־הָעֵץ׃ 9.14. וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהֵעָשׂוֹת כֵּן וַתִּנָּתֵן דָּת בְּשׁוּשָׁן וְאֵת עֲשֶׂרֶת בְּנֵי־הָמָן תָּלוּ׃ 9.15. וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ היהודיים [הַיְּהוּדִים] אֲשֶׁר־בְּשׁוּשָׁן גַּם בְּיוֹם אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר לְחֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר וַיַּהַרְגוּ בְשׁוּשָׁן שְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת אִישׁ וּבַבִּזָּה לֹא שָׁלְחוּ אֶת־יָדָם׃ 9.22. כַּיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר־נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאוֹיְבֵיהֶם וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה וּמִשְׁלוֹחַ מָנוֹת אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיוֹנִים׃ 10.3. כִּי מָרְדֳּכַי הַיְּהוּדִי מִשְׁנֶה לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ וְגָדוֹל לַיְּהוּדִים וְרָצוּי לְרֹב אֶחָיו דֹּרֵשׁ טוֹב לְעַמּוֹ וְדֹבֵר שָׁלוֹם לְכָל־זַרְעוֹ׃ | 4.3. And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes." 4.16. ’Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.’" 7.10. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath assuaged." 8.3. And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews." 8.5. And she said: ‘If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king’s provinces;" 8.7. Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew: ‘Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews." 8.9. Then were the king’s scribes called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, even to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, a hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language." 8.12. upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar." 8.16. The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honour." 8.17. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a good day. And many from among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews was fallen upon them." 9.6. And in Shushan the castle the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men." 9.10. the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’enemy, slew they; but on the spoil they laid not their hand." 9.13. Then said Esther: ‘If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.’" 9.14. And the king commanded it so to be done; and a decree was given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons." 9.15. And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men in Shushan; but on the spoil they laid not their hand." 9.22. the days wherein the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor." 10.3. For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren; seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his seed." |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Exodus, 15.6-15.7, 15.9, 15.12, 15.17, 27.2 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 15.6. יְמִינְךָ יְהוָה נֶאְדָּרִי בַּכֹּחַ יְמִינְךָ יְהוָה תִּרְעַץ אוֹיֵב׃ 15.7. וּבְרֹב גְּאוֹנְךָ תַּהֲרֹס קָמֶיךָ תְּשַׁלַּח חֲרֹנְךָ יֹאכְלֵמוֹ כַּקַּשׁ׃ 15.9. אָמַר אוֹיֵב אֶרְדֹּף אַשִּׂיג אֲחַלֵּק שָׁלָל תִּמְלָאֵמוֹ נַפְשִׁי אָרִיק חַרְבִּי תּוֹרִישֵׁמוֹ יָדִי׃ 15.12. נָטִיתָ יְמִינְךָ תִּבְלָעֵמוֹ אָרֶץ׃ 15.17. תְּבִאֵמוֹ וְתִטָּעֵמוֹ בְּהַר נַחֲלָתְךָ מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ פָּעַלְתָּ יְהוָה מִקְּדָשׁ אֲדֹנָי כּוֹנְנוּ יָדֶיךָ׃ 27.2. וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית לַמָּאוֹר לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר תָּמִיד׃ 27.2. וְעָשִׂיתָ קַרְנֹתָיו עַל אַרְבַּע פִּנֹּתָיו מִמֶּנּוּ תִּהְיֶיןָ קַרְנֹתָיו וְצִפִּיתָ אֹתוֹ נְחֹשֶׁת׃ | 15.6. Thy right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, Thy right hand, O LORD, dasheth in pieces the enemy." 15.7. And in the greatness of Thine excellency Thou overthrowest them that rise up against Thee; Thou sendest forth Thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble." 15.9. The enemy said: ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’" 15.12. Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand— The earth swallowed them." 15.17. Thou bringest them in, and plantest them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, The place, O LORD, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established." 27.2. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof; the horns thereof shall be of one piece with it; and thou shalt overlay it with brass." |
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5. Hebrew Bible, Joel, 4.2, 4.12 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 4.2. וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶת־כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם וְהוֹרַדְתִּים אֶל־עֵמֶק יְהוֹשָׁפָט וְנִשְׁפַּטְתִּי עִמָּם שָׁם עַל־עַמִּי וְנַחֲלָתִי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר פִּזְּרוּ בַגּוֹיִם וְאֶת־אַרְצִי חִלֵּקוּ׃ 4.2. וִיהוּדָה לְעוֹלָם תֵּשֵׁב וִירוּשָׁלִַם לְדוֹר וָדוֹר׃ 4.12. יֵעוֹרוּ וְיַעֲלוּ הַגּוֹיִם אֶל־עֵמֶק יְהוֹשָׁפָט כִּי שָׁם אֵשֵׁב לִשְׁפֹּט אֶת־כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם מִסָּבִיב׃ | 4.2. I will gather all nations, And will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there For My people and for My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations, And divided My land." 4.12. Let the nations be stirred up, and come up To the valley of Jehoshaphat; For there will I sit to judge All the nations round about." |
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6. Hebrew Bible, Proverbs, 6.34, 11.4 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 6.34. כִּי־קִנְאָה חֲמַת־גָּבֶר וְלֹא־יַחְמוֹל בְּיוֹם נָקָם׃ 11.4. לֹא־יוֹעִיל הוֹן בְּיוֹם עֶבְרָה וּצְדָקָה תַּצִּיל מִמָּוֶת׃ | 6.34. For jealousy is the rage of a man, And he will not spare in the day of vengeance." 11.4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath; But righteousness delivereth from death." |
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7. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 96.13, 110.5 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 96.13. לִפְנֵי יְהוָה כִּי בָא כִּי בָא לִשְׁפֹּט הָאָרֶץ יִשְׁפֹּט־תֵּבֵל בְּצֶדֶק וְעַמִּים בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ׃ 110.5. אֲדֹנָי עַל־יְמִינְךָ מָחַץ בְּיוֹם־אַפּוֹ מְלָכִים׃ | 96.13. Before the LORD, for He is come; For He is come to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples in His faithfulness." 110.5. The Lord at thy right hand Doth crush kings in the day of His wrath." |
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8. Hebrew Bible, Zephaniah, 3.8 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 3.8. לָכֵן חַכּוּ־לִי נְאֻם־יְהוָה לְיוֹם קוּמִי לְעַד כִּי מִשְׁפָּטִי לֶאֱסֹף גּוֹיִם לְקָבְצִי מַמְלָכוֹת לִשְׁפֹּךְ עֲלֵיהֶם זַעְמִי כֹּל חֲרוֹן אַפִּי כִּי בְּאֵשׁ קִנְאָתִי תֵּאָכֵל כָּל־הָאָרֶץ׃ | 3.8. Therefore wait ye for Me, saith the LORD, Until the day that I rise up to the prey; For My determination is to gather the nations, That I may assemble the kingdoms, To pour upon them Mine indignation, Even all My fierce anger; For all the earth shall be devoured With the fire of My jealousy." |
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9. Hebrew Bible, 1 Kings, 2.28 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 2.28. וְהַשְּׁמֻעָה בָּאָה עַד־יוֹאָב כִּי יוֹאָב נָטָה אַחֲרֵי אֲדֹנִיָּה וְאַחֲרֵי אַבְשָׁלוֹם לֹא נָטָה וַיָּנָס יוֹאָב אֶל־אֹהֶל יְהוָה וַיַּחֲזֵק בְּקַרְנוֹת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ׃ | 2.28. And the tidings came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the Tent of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar." |
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10. Hebrew Bible, 2 Kings, 19.3 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 19.3. וְיָסְפָה פְּלֵיטַת בֵּית־יְהוּדָה הַנִּשְׁאָרָה שֹׁרֶשׁ לְמָטָּה וְעָשָׂה פְרִי לְמָעְלָה׃ 19.3. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו כֹּה אָמַר חִזְקִיָּהוּ יוֹם־צָרָה וְתוֹכֵחָה וּנְאָצָה הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה כִּי בָאוּ בָנִים עַד־מַשְׁבֵּר וְכֹחַ אַיִן לְלֵדָה׃ | 19.3. And they said unto him: ‘Thus saith Hezekiah: This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth." |
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11. Hebrew Bible, 2 Samuel, 20.10 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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12. Hebrew Bible, Amos, 3.15 (8th cent. BCE - 6th cent. BCE)
| 3.15. וְהִכֵּיתִי בֵית־הַחֹרֶף עַל־בֵּית הַקָּיִץ וְאָבְדוּ בָּתֵּי הַשֵּׁן וְסָפוּ בָּתִּים רַבִּים נְאֻם־יְהוָה׃ | 3.15. And I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house; And the houses of ivory shall perish, And the great houses shall have an end, Saith the LORD." |
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13. Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, 10.3, 14.12-14.13, 34.6, 34.8, 40.12, 66.16, 66.24 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 10.3. וּמַה־תַּעֲשׂוּ לְיוֹם פְּקֻדָּה וּלְשׁוֹאָה מִמֶּרְחָק תָּבוֹא עַל־מִי תָּנוּסוּ לְעֶזְרָה וְאָנָה תַעַזְבוּ כְּבוֹדְכֶם׃ 10.3. צַהֲלִי קוֹלֵךְ בַּת־גַּלִּים הַקְשִׁיבִי לַיְשָׁה עֲנִיָּה עֲנָתוֹת׃ 14.12. אֵיךְ נָפַלְתָּ מִשָּׁמַיִם הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר נִגְדַּעְתָּ לָאָרֶץ חוֹלֵשׁ עַל־גּוֹיִם׃ 14.13. וְאַתָּה אָמַרְתָּ בִלְבָבְךָ הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶעֱלֶה מִמַּעַל לְכוֹכְבֵי־אֵל אָרִים כִּסְאִי וְאֵשֵׁב בְּהַר־מוֹעֵד בְּיַרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹן׃ 34.6. חֶרֶב לַיהוָה מָלְאָה דָם הֻדַּשְׁנָה מֵחֵלֶב מִדַּם כָּרִים וְעַתּוּדִים מֵחֵלֶב כִּלְיוֹת אֵילִים כִּי זֶבַח לַיהוָה בְּבָצְרָה וְטֶבַח גָּדוֹל בְּאֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם׃ 34.8. כִּי יוֹם נָקָם לַיהוָה שְׁנַת שִׁלּוּמִים לְרִיב צִיּוֹן׃ 40.12. מִי־מָדַד בְּשָׁעֳלוֹ מַיִם וְשָׁמַיִם בַּזֶּרֶת תִּכֵּן וְכָל בַּשָּׁלִשׁ עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ וְשָׁקַל בַּפֶּלֶס הָרִים וּגְבָעוֹת בְּמֹאזְנָיִם׃ 66.16. כִּי בָאֵשׁ יְהוָה נִשְׁפָּט וּבְחַרְבּוֹ אֶת־כָּל־בָּשָׂר וְרַבּוּ חַלְלֵי יְהוָה׃ 66.24. וְיָצְאוּ וְרָאוּ בְּפִגְרֵי הָאֲנָשִׁים הַפֹּשְׁעִים בִּי כִּי תוֹלַעְתָּם לֹא תָמוּת וְאִשָּׁם לֹא תִכְבֶּה וְהָיוּ דֵרָאוֹן לְכָל־בָּשָׂר׃ | 10.3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, And in the ruin which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?" 14.12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, That didst cast lots over the nations!" 14.13. And thou saidst in thy heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, Above the stars of God Will I exalt my throne, And I will sit upon the mount of meeting, In the uttermost parts of the north;" 34.6. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is made fat with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams; For the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom." 34.8. For the LORD hath a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the controversy of Zion." 40.12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, And meted out heaven with the span, And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, And weighed the mountains in scales, And the hills in a balance?" 66.16. For by fire will the LORD contend, And by His sword with all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many." 66.24. And they shall go forth, and look Upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against Me; For their worm shall not die, Neither shall their fire be quenched; And they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. " |
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14. Hebrew Bible, Jeremiah, 11.20, 17.10, 25.31 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 25.31. בָּא שָׁאוֹן עַד־קְצֵה הָאָרֶץ כִּי רִיב לַיהוָה בַּגּוֹיִם נִשְׁפָּט הוּא לְכָל־בָּשָׂר הָרְשָׁעִים נְתָנָם לַחֶרֶב נְאֻם־יְהוָה׃ | 11.20. But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, That triest the reins and the heart, Let me see Thy vengeance on them; For unto Thee have I revealed my cause." 17.10. I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings." 25.31. A noise is come even to the end of the earth; For the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, He doth plead with all flesh; As for the wicked, He hath given them to the sword, Saith the LORD." |
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15. Aeschylus, Persians, 470, 481, 744-751, 820, 422 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 422. φυγῇ δʼ ἀκόσμῳ πᾶσα ναῦς ἠρέσσετο | |
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16. Hebrew Bible, Ezra, 5.1 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 5.1. וְאַף שְׁמָהָתְהֹם שְׁאֵלְנָא לְּהֹם לְהוֹדָעוּתָךְ דִּי נִכְתֻּב שֻׁם־גֻּבְרַיָּא דִּי בְרָאשֵׁיהֹם׃ 5.1. וְהִתְנַבִּי חַגַּי נביאה [נְבִיָּא] וּזְכַרְיָה בַר־עִדּוֹא נביאיא [נְבִיַּיָּא] עַל־יְהוּדָיֵא דִּי בִיהוּד וּבִירוּשְׁלֶם בְּשֻׁם אֱלָהּ יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲלֵיהוֹן׃ | 5.1. Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel prophesied they unto them." |
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17. Hebrew Bible, Zechariah, 14.2-14.3 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 14.2. בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה עַל־מְצִלּוֹת הַסּוּס קֹדֶשׁ לַיהוָה וְהָיָה הַסִּירוֹת בְּבֵית יְהוָה כַּמִּזְרָקִים לִפְנֵי הַמִּזְבֵּחַ׃ 14.2. וְאָסַפְתִּי אֶת־כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלִַם לַמִּלְחָמָה וְנִלְכְּדָה הָעִיר וְנָשַׁסּוּ הַבָּתִּים וְהַנָּשִׁים תשגלנה [תִּשָּׁכַבְנָה] וְיָצָא חֲצִי הָעִיר בַּגּוֹלָה וְיֶתֶר הָעָם לֹא יִכָּרֵת מִן־הָעִיר׃ 14.3. וְיָצָא יְהוָה וְנִלְחַם בַּגּוֹיִם הָהֵם כְּיוֹם הִלָּחֲמו בְּיוֹם קְרָב׃ | 14.2. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, And the women ravished; And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, But the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city." 14.3. Then shall the LORD go forth, And fight against those nations, As when He fighteth in the day of battle." |
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18. Herodotus, Histories, 4.202, 4.205, 7.22, 7.24, 7.33-7.37 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 4.202. When they were delivered to her by the Persians, Pheretime took the most guilty of the Barcaeans and set them impaled around the top of the wall; the breasts of their women she cut off and planted around the wall in like manner. ,As for the rest of the Barcaeans, she told the Persians to take them as their booty, except those who were of the house of Battus and not accessory to the murder: to these she turned over the city. 4.205. But Pheretime did not end well, either. For as soon as she had revenged herself on the Barcaeans and returned to Egypt, she met an awful death. For while still alive she teemed with maggots: thus does over-brutal human revenge invite retribution from the gods. That of Pheretime, daughter of Battus, against the Barcaeans was revenge of this nature and this brutality. 7.22. Since those who had earlier attempted to sail around Athos had suffered shipwreck, for about three years preparations had been underway there. Triremes were anchored off Elaeus in the Chersonese; with these for their headquarters, all sorts of men in the army were compelled by whippings to dig a canal, coming by turns to the work; the inhabitants about Athos also dug. ,Bubares son of Megabazus and Artachaees son of Artaeus, both Persians, were the overseers of the workmen. Athos is a great and famous mountain, running out into the sea and inhabited by men. At the mountain's landward end it is in the form of a peninsula, and there is an isthmus about twelve stadia wide; here is a place of level ground or little hills, from the sea by Acanthus to the sea opposite Torone. ,On this isthmus which is at the end of Athos, there stands a Greek town, Sane; there are others situated seaward of Sane and landward of Athos, and the Persian now intended to make them into island and not mainland towns; they are Dion, Olophyxus, Acrothoum, Thyssus, and Cleonae. 7.24. As far as I can judge by conjecture, Xerxes gave the command for this digging out of pride, wishing to display his power and leave a memorial; with no trouble they could have drawn their ships across the isthmus, yet he ordered them to dig a canal from sea to sea, wide enough to float two triremes rowed abreast. The same men who were assigned the digging were also assigned to join the banks of the river Strymon by a bridge. 7.33. After this he prepared to march to Abydos; meanwhile his men were bridging the Hellespont from Asia to Europe. On the Chersonese, which is on the Hellespont, between the city of Sestus and Madytus there is a broad headland running out into the sea opposite Abydos. It was here that not long afterwards the Athenians, when Xanthippus son of Ariphron was their general, took Artayctes, a Persian and the governor of Sestus, and crucified him alive; he had been in the habit of bringing women right into the temple of Protesilaus at Elaeus and doing impious deeds there. 7.34. The men who had been given this assignment made bridges starting from Abydos across to that headland; the Phoenicians one of flaxen cables, and the Egyptians a papyrus one. From Abydos to the opposite shore it is a distance of seven stadia. But no sooner had the strait been bridged than a great storm swept down, breaking and scattering everything. 7.35. When Xerxes heard of this, he was very angry and commanded that the Hellespont be whipped with three hundred lashes, and a pair of fetters be thrown into the sea. I have even heard that he sent branders with them to brand the Hellespont. ,He commanded them while they whipped to utter words outlandish and presumptuous, “Bitter water, our master thus punishes you, because you did him wrong though he had done you none. Xerxes the king will pass over you, whether you want it or not; in accordance with justice no one offers you sacrifice, for you are a turbid and briny river.” ,He commanded that the sea receive these punishments and that the overseers of the bridge over the Hellespont be beheaded. 7.36. So this was done by those who were appointed to the thankless honor, and new engineers set about making the bridges. They made the bridges as follows: in order to lighten the strain of the cables, they placed fifty-oared ships and triremes alongside each other, three hundred and sixty to bear the bridge nearest the Euxine sea, and three hundred and fourteen to bear the other; all lay obliquely to the line of the Pontus and parallel with the current of the Hellespont. ,After putting the ships together they let down very great anchors, both from the end of the ships on the Pontus side to hold fast against the winds blowing from within that sea, and from the other end, towards the west and the Aegean, to hold against the west and south winds. They left a narrow opening to sail through in the line of fifty-oared ships and triremes, that so whoever wanted to could sail by small craft to the Pontus or out of it. ,After doing this, they stretched the cables from the land, twisting them taut with wooden windlasses; they did not as before keep the two kinds apart, but assigned for each bridge two cables of flax and four of papyrus. ,All these had the same thickness and fine appearance, but the flaxen were heavier in proportion, for a cubit of them weighed a talent. ,When the strait was thus bridged, they sawed logs of wood to a length equal to the breadth of the floating supports, and laid them in order on the taut cables; after placing them together they then made them fast. After doing this, they carried brushwood onto the bridge; when this was all laid in order they heaped earth on it and stamped it down; then they made a fence on either side, so that the beasts of burden and horses not be frightened by the sight of the sea below them. 7.37. When the bridges and the work at Athos were ready, and both the dikes at the canal's entrances, built to prevent the surf from silting up the entrances of the dug passage, and the canal itself were reported to be now completely finished, the army then wintered. At the beginning of spring the army made ready and set forth from Sardis to march to Abydos. ,As it was setting out, the sun left his place in the heaven and was invisible, although the sky was without clouds and very clear, and the day turned into night. When Xerxes saw and took note of that, he was concerned and asked the Magi what the vision might signify. ,They declared to him that the god was showing the Greeks the abandonment of their cities; for the sun (they said) was the prophet of the Greeks, as the moon was their own. Xerxes rejoiced exceedingly to hear that and continued on his march. |
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19. Anon., Jubilees, 1.1 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.1. THIS is the history of the division of the days of the law and of the testimony, of the events of the years, of their (year) weeks, of their jubilees throughout all the years of the world, as the Lord spake to Moses on Mount Sinai when he went up to receive the tables of the law and of the commandment, according to the voice of God as He said unto him, "Go up to the top of the Mount." br) And it came to pass in the first year of the A.M. (A.M. = Anno Mundi) exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the third month, on the sixteenth day of the month, that God spake to Moses, saying: |
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20. Anon., Testament of Moses, 9.6-9.7 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. CE)
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21. Hebrew Bible, Daniel, 12.2-12.3 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 12.2. וְרַבִּים מִיְּשֵׁנֵי אַדְמַת־עָפָר יָקִיצוּ אֵלֶּה לְחַיֵּי עוֹלָם וְאֵלֶּה לַחֲרָפוֹת לְדִרְאוֹן עוֹלָם׃ 12.3. וְהַמַּשְׂכִּלִים יַזְהִרוּ כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ וּמַצְדִּיקֵי הָרַבִּים כַּכּוֹכָבִים לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד׃ | 12.2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence." 12.3. And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn the many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." |
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22. Polybius, Histories, 10.4.6, 31.9 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 10.4.6. He had dreamt that both he and his brother had been elected to the aedileship and were going up from the forum to their house, when she met him at the door and fell on their necks and kissed them. 31.9. 1. In Syria King Antiochus, wishing to provide himself with money, decided to make an expedition against the sanctuary of Artemis in Elymaïs.,2. On reaching the spot he was foiled in his hopes, as the barbarian tribes who dwelt in the neighbourhood would not permit the outrage,,3. and on his retreat he died at Tabae in Persia, smitten with madness, as some people say,,4. owing to certain manifestations of divine displeasure when he was attempting this outrage on the above sanctuary. IV. Affairs of Italy The Rival Ptolemie |
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23. Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 1.5, 1.11, 1.21-1.24, 1.50-1.51, 1.53, 2.1-2.5, 3.37, 4.2, 4.42-4.56, 6.1, 6.5, 6.8, 6.43-6.46, 7.34, 7.47, 14.5, 14.34, 14.41 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.5. After this he fell sick and perceived that he was dying. 1.11. In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying, "Let us go and make a covet with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us. 1.21. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. 1.22. He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. 1.23. He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found. 1.24. Taking them all, he departed to his own land. He committed deeds of murder,and spoke with great arrogance. 1.50. And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die. 1.51. In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. And he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city. 1.53. they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. 2.1. In those days Mattathias the son of John, son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, moved from Jerusalem and settled in Modein. 2.2. He had five sons, John surnamed Gaddi 2.3. Simon called Thassi 2.4. Judas called Maccabeus 2.5. Eleazar called Avaran, and Jonathan called Apphus. 3.37. Then the king took the remaining half of his troops and departed from Antioch his capital in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the Euphrates river and went through the upper provinces. 4.2. to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides. 4.42. He chose blameless priests devoted to the law 4.43. and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. 4.44. They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned. 4.45. And they thought it best to tear it down, lest it bring reproach upon them, for the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar 4.46. and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until there should come a prophet to tell what to do with them. 4.47. Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one. 4.48. They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts. 4.49. They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple. 4.50. Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple. 4.51. They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken. 4.52. Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year 4.53. they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. 4.54. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. 4.55. All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. 4.56. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. 6.1. King Antiochus was going through the upper provinces when he heard that Elymais in Persia was a city famed for its wealth in silver and gold. 6.5. Then some one came to him in Persia and reported that the armies which had gone into the land of Judah had been routed; 6.8. When the king heard this news, he was astounded and badly shaken. He took to his bed and became sick from grief, because things had not turned out for him as he had planned. 6.43. And Eleazar, called Avaran, saw that one of the beasts was equipped with royal armor. It was taller than all the others, and he supposed that the king was upon it. 6.44. So he gave his life to save his people and to win for himself an everlasting name. 6.45. He courageously ran into the midst of the phalanx to reach it; he killed men right and left, and they parted before him on both sides. 6.46. He got under the elephant, stabbed it from beneath, and killed it; but it fell to the ground upon him and he died. 7.34. But he mocked them and derided them and defiled them and spoke arrogantly 7.47. Then the Jews seized the spoils and the plunder, and they cut off Nicanors head and the right hand which he so arrogantly stretched out, and brought them and displayed them just outside Jerusalem. 14.5. To crown all his honors he took Joppa for a harbor,and opened a way to the isles of the sea. 14.34. He also fortified Joppa, which is by the sea, and Gazara, which is on the borders of Azotus, where the enemy formerly dwelt. He settled Jews there, and provided in those cities whatever was necessary for their restoration. 14.41. And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise |
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24. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 1.7, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.21, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24, 2.25, 2.26, 2.27, 2.28, 2.29, 2.30, 2.31, 2.32, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14, 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, 3.21, 3.22, 3.23, 3.24, 3.25, 3.26, 3.27, 3.28, 3.29, 3.30, 3.31, 3.32, 3.33, 3.34, 3.35, 3.36, 3.37, 3.38, 3.39, 3.40, 4.1, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 4.19, 4.20, 4.21, 4.22, 4.23, 4.24, 4.25, 4.26, 4.27, 4.28, 4.29, 4.30, 4.31, 4.32, 4.33, 4.34, 4.35, 4.36, 4.37, 4.38, 4.39, 4.40, 4.41, 4.42, 4.43, 4.44, 4.45, 4.46, 4.47, 4.48, 4.49, 4.50, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.11-6.11, 5.12, 5.13, 5.14, 5.15, 5.16, 5.17, 5.18, 5.19, 5.20, 5.21, 5.22, 5.23, 5.24, 5.25, 5.26, 5.27, 6, 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, 6.6, 6.8, 6.9, 6.12, 6.13, 6.14, 6.15, 6.16, 6.17, 6.18, 6.18-7.42, 6.27, 6.28, 6.30, 6.31, 7, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.8, 7.9, 7.10, 7.12, 7.14, 7.15, 7.16, 7.17, 7.19, 7.23, 7.24, 7.27, 7.28, 7.29, 7.31, 7.32, 7.33, 7.34, 7.35, 7.36, 7.39, 7.41, 7.42, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, 8.12, 8.13, 8.14, 8.15, 8.16, 8.17, 8.18, 8.19, 8.20, 8.21, 8.22, 8.23, 8.24, 8.25, 8.26, 8.27, 8.28, 8.29, 8.30, 8.31, 8.32, 8.33, 8.34, 8.35, 8.36, 9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.8, 9.9, 9.10, 9.11, 9.12, 9.13, 9.14, 9.15, 9.16, 9.17, 9.18, 9.19, 9.20, 9.21, 9.22, 9.23, 9.24, 9.25, 9.26, 9.27, 9.28, 9.29, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.16, 10.17, 10.19, 10.29, 10.30, 10.31, 10.35, 10.38, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.7, 11.8, 11.9, 11.11, 11.13, 11.15, 12.1, 12.8, 12.11, 12.15, 12.16, 12.20, 12.22, 12.23, 12.28, 12.36, 12.40, 12.43, 12.44, 12.45, 13.4, 13.5, 13.6, 13.7, 13.8, 13.10, 13.13, 13.14, 13.15, 13.16, 13.17, 13.23, 13.26, 14, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6, 14.7, 14.8, 14.9, 14.10, 14.11, 14.12, 14.13, 14.14, 14.15, 14.16, 14.17, 14.18, 14.19, 14.20, 14.21, 14.22, 14.23, 14.24, 14.25, 14.26, 14.27, 14.28, 14.29, 14.30, 14.31, 14.32, 14.33, 14.34, 14.35, 14.36, 14.37, 14.38, 14.39, 14.40, 14.41, 14.42, 14.43, 14.44, 14.45, 14.46, 15, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, 15.6, 15.7, 15.8, 15.9, 15.10, 15.11, 15.12, 15.13, 15.14, 15.15, 15.16, 15.17, 15.18, 15.19, 15.20, 15.21, 15.22, 15.23, 15.24, 15.25, 15.26, 15.27, 15.28, 15.29, 15.30, 15.31, 15.32, 15.33, 15.34, 15.35, 15.36, 15.37 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.10. Those in Jerusalem and those in Judea and the senate and Judas,To Aristobulus, who is of the family of the anointed priests, teacher of Ptolemy the king, and to the Jews in Egypt,Greeting, and good health.' |
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25. Septuagint, Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), 7.17 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 7.17. Humble yourself greatly,for the punishment of the ungodly is fire and worms. |
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26. Septuagint, Judith, 4.3, 6.19, 8.8, 8.11-8.27, 9.2, 15.10, 16.4, 16.13, 16.15, 16.17 (2nd cent. BCE - 0th cent. CE)
| 4.3. For they had only recently returned from the captivity, and all the people of Judea were newly gathered together, and the sacred vessels and the altar and the temple had been consecrated after their profanation. 6.19. O Lord God of heaven, behold their arrogance, and have pity on the humiliation of our people, and look this day upon the faces of those who are consecrated to thee. 8.8. No one spoke ill of her, for she feared God with great devotion. 8.11. They came to her, and she said to them, "Listen to me, rulers of the people of Bethulia! What you have said to the people today is not right; you have even sworn and pronounced this oath between God and you, promising to surrender the city to our enemies unless the Lord turns and helps us within so many days. 8.12. Who are you, that have put God to the test this day, and are setting yourselves up in the place of God among the sons of men? 8.13. You are putting the Lord Almighty to the test -- but you will never know anything! 8.14. You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart, nor find out what a man is thinking; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought? No, my brethren, do not provoke the Lord our God to anger. 8.15. For if he does not choose to help us within these five days, he has power to protect us within any time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the presence of our enemies. 8.16. Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like man, to be threatened, nor like a human being, to be won over by pleading. 8.17. Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him. 8.18. For never in our generation, nor in these present days, has there been any tribe or family or people or city of ours which worshiped gods made with hands, as was done in days gone by -- 8.19. and that was why our fathers were handed over to the sword, and to be plundered, and so they suffered a great catastrophe before our enemies. 8.20. But we know no other god but him, and therefore we hope that he will not disdain us or any of our nation. 8.21. For if we are captured all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he will exact of us the penalty for its desecration. 8.22. And the slaughter of our brethren and the captivity of the land and the desolation of our inheritance -- all this he will bring upon our heads among the Gentiles, wherever we serve as slaves; and we shall be an offense and a reproach in the eyes of those who acquire us. 8.23. For our slavery will not bring us into favor, but the Lord our God will turn it to dishonor. 8.24. Now therefore, brethren, let us set an example to our brethren, for their lives depend upon us, and the sanctuary and the temple and the altar rest upon us. 8.25. In spite of everything let us give thanks to the Lord our God, who is putting us to the test as he did our forefathers. 8.26. Remember what he did with Abraham, and how he tested Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia in Syria, while he was keeping the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. 8.27. For he has not tried us with fire, as he did them, to search their hearts, nor has he taken revenge upon us; but the Lord scourges those who draw near to him, in order to admonish them. 9.2. O Lord God of my father Simeon, to whom thou gavest a sword to take revenge on the strangers who had loosed the girdle of a virgin to defile her, and uncovered her thigh to put her to shame, and polluted her womb to disgrace her; for thou hast said, `It shall not be done' -- yet they did it. 15.10. You have done all this singlehanded; you have done great good to Israel, and God is well pleased with it. May the Almighty Lord bless you for ever!" And all the people said, "So be it! 16.4. The Assyrian came down from the mountains of the north; he came with myriads of his warriors; their multitude blocked up the valleys, their cavalry covered the hills. 16.13. I will sing to my God a new song: O Lord, thou are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, invincible. 16.15. For the mountains shall be shaken to their foundations with the waters; at thy presence the rocks shall melt like wax, but to those who fear thee thou wilt continue to show mercy. 16.17. Woe to the nations that rise up against my people! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment; fire and worms he will give to their flesh; they shall weep in pain for ever. |
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27. Septuagint, 4 Maccabees, 5.6, 9.9, 9.24, 9.32, 10.11, 10.16, 10.21, 11.3, 11.23, 12.12, 18.5 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 5.6. Before I begin to torture you, old man, I would advise you to save yourself by eating pork 9.9. but you, because of your bloodthirstiness toward us, will deservedly undergo from the divine justice eternal torment by fire. 9.24. Fight the sacred and noble battle for religion. Thereby the just Providence of our ancestors may become merciful to our nation and take vengeance on the accursed tyrant. 9.32. but you suffer torture by the threats that come from impiety. You will not escape, most abominable tyrant, the judgments of the divine wrath. 10.11. but you, because of your impiety and bloodthirstiness, will undergo unceasing torments. 10.16. Contrive tortures, tyrant, so that you may learn from them that I am a brother to those who have just been tortured. 10.21. God will visit you swiftly, for you are cutting out a tongue that has been melodious with divine hymns. 11.3. I have come of my own accord, so that by murdering me you will incur punishment from the heavenly justice for even more crimes. 11.23. and I myself will bring a great avenger upon you, you inventor of tortures and enemy of those who are truly devout. 12.12. Because of this, justice has laid up for you intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time will never let you go. 18.5. The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death. Since in no way whatever was he able to compel the Israelites to become pagans and to abandon their ancestral customs, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians. |
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28. Septuagint, 3 Maccabees, 1.8, 2.17, 2.25-2.30, 3.3, 3.21, 3.25, 3.27, 4.5, 4.17, 4.21, 5.6, 5.18, 5.25, 5.31, 5.42, 5.47, 6.18, 6.20, 6.22, 7.3-7.6, 7.10-7.15, 7.20, 7.23 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.8. Since the Jews had sent some of their council and elders to greet him, to bring him gifts of welcome, and to congratulate him on what had happened, he was all the more eager to visit them as soon as possible. 2.17. Do not punish us for the defilement committed by these men, or call us to account for this profanation, lest the transgressors boast in their wrath or exult in the arrogance of their tongue, saying 2.25. When he arrived in Egypt, he increased in his deeds of malice, abetted by the previously mentioned drinking companions and comrades, who were strangers to everything just. 2.26. He was not content with his uncounted licentious deeds, but he also continued with such audacity that he framed evil reports in the various localities; and many of his friends, intently observing the king's purpose, themselves also followed his will. 2.27. He proposed to inflict public disgrace upon the Jewish community, and he set up a stone on the tower in the courtyard with this inscription: 2.28. None of those who do not sacrifice shall enter their sanctuaries, and all Jews shall be subjected to a registration involving poll tax and to the status of slaves. Those who object to this are to be taken by force and put to death; 2.29. those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status. 3.3. The Jews, however, continued to maintain good will and unswerving loyalty toward the dynasty; 3.3. The letter was written in the above form. 3.21. Among other things, we made known to all our amnesty toward their compatriots here, both because of their alliance with us and the myriad affairs liberally entrusted to them from the beginning; and we ventured to make a change, by deciding both to deem them worthy of Alexandrian citizenship and to make them participants in our regular religious rites. 3.25. Therefore we have given orders that, as soon as this letter shall arrive, you are to send to us those who live among you, together with their wives and children, with insulting and harsh treatment, and bound securely with iron fetters, to suffer the sure and shameful death that befits enemies. 3.27. But whoever shelters any of the Jews, old people or children or even infants, will be tortured to death with the most hateful torments, together with his family. 4.5. For a multitude of gray-headed old men, sluggish and bent with age, was being led away, forced to march at a swift pace by the violence with which they were driven in such a shameful manner. 4.17. But after the previously mentioned interval of time the scribes declared to the king that they were no longer able to take the census of the Jews because of their innumerable multitude 4.21. But this was an act of the invincible providence of him who was aiding the Jews from heaven. 5.6. For to the Gentiles it appeared that the Jews were left without any aid 5.18. After the party had been going on for some time, the king summoned Hermon and with sharp threats demanded to know why the Jews had been allowed to remain alive through the present day. 5.25. But the Jews, at their last gasp, since the time had run out, stretched their hands toward heaven and with most tearful supplication and mournful dirges implored the supreme God to help them again at once. 5.31. Were your parents or children present, I would have prepared them to be a rich feast for the savage beasts instead of the Jews, who give me no ground for complaint and have exhibited to an extraordinary degree a full and firm loyalty to my ancestors. 5.42. Upon this the king, a Phalaris in everything and filled with madness, took no account of the changes of mind which had come about within him for the protection of the Jews, and he firmly swore an irrevocable oath that he would send them to death without delay, mangled by the knees and feet of the beasts 5.47. So he, when he had filled his impious mind with a deep rage, rushed out in full force along with the beasts, wishing to witness, with invulnerable heart and with his own eyes, the grievous and pitiful destruction of the aforementioned people. 6.18. Then the most glorious, almighty, and true God revealed his holy face and opened the heavenly gates, from which two glorious angels of fearful aspect descended, visible to all but the Jews. 6.22. Then the king's anger was turned to pity and tears because of the things that he had devised beforehand. 7.3. Certain of our friends, frequently urging us with malicious intent, persuaded us to gather together the Jews of the kingdom in a body and to punish them with barbarous penalties as traitors; 7.4. for they declared that our government would never be firmly established until this was accomplished, because of the ill-will which these people had toward all nations. 7.5. They also led them out with harsh treatment as slaves, or rather as traitors, and, girding themselves with a cruelty more savage than that of Scythian custom, they tried without any inquiry or examination to put them to death. 7.6. But we very severely threatened them for these acts, and in accordance with the clemency which we have toward all men we barely spared their lives. Since we have come to realize that the God of heaven surely defends the Jews, always taking their part as a father does for his children 7.11. For they declared that those who for the belly's sake had transgressed the divine commandments would never be favorably disposed toward the king's government. 7.12. The king then, admitting and approving the truth of what they said, granted them a general license so that freely and without royal authority or supervision they might destroy those everywhere in his kingdom who had transgressed the law of God. 7.13. When they had applauded him in fitting manner, their priests and the whole multitude shouted the Hallelujah and joyfully departed. 7.14. And so on their way they punished and put to a public and shameful death any whom they met of their fellow-countrymen who had become defiled. 7.15. In that day they put to death more than three hundred men; and they kept the day as a joyful festival, since they had destroyed the profaners. 7.23. Blessed be the Deliverer of Israel through all times! Amen. |
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29. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, None (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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30. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, On Lysias, 7 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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31. Philo of Alexandria, On The Eternity of The World, 19 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 19. and a very long time before him Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews, had said in his sacred volumes that the world was both created and indestructible, and the number of the books is five. The first of which he entitled Genesis, in which he begins in the following manner: "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; and the earth was invisible and without form." Then proceeding onwards he relates in the following verses, that days and nights, and seasons, and years, and the sun and moon, which showed the nature of the measurement of time, were created, which, having received an immortal portion in common with the whole heaven, continue for ever indestructible. |
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32. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Moses, 1.1, 1.7 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.1. I have conceived the idea of writing the life of Moses, who, according to the account of some persons, was the lawgiver of the Jews, but according to others only an interpreter of the sacred laws, the greatest and most perfect man that ever lived, having a desire to make his character fully known to those who ought not to remain in ignorance respecting him 1.7. And his father and mother were among the most excellent persons of their time, and though they were of the same time, still they were induced to unite themselves together more from an uimity of feeling than because they were related in blood; and Moses is the seventh generation in succession from the original settler in the country who was the founder of the whole race of the Jews. |
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33. Philo of Alexandria, Against Flaccus, 190-191, 189 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 189. for he, turning round them and clinging to his executioners, who were hindered in their aims which they took at him with their swords, and who thus struck him with oblique blows, was the cause of his own sufferings being more severe; for he was in consequence mutilated and cut about the hands, and feet, and head, and breast, and sides, so that he was mangled like a victim, and thus he fell, justice righteously inflicting on his own body wounds equal in number to the murders of the Jews whom he had unlawfully put to death. |
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34. Philo of Alexandria, On The Embassy To Gaius, 316, 346, 350, 373, 216 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 216. And the state of all the nations which lie beyond the Euphrates added to his alarm; for he was aware that Babylon and many others of the satrapies of the east were occupied by the Jews, knowing this not merely by report but likewise by personal experience; for every year sacred messengers are sent to convey large amounts of gold and silver to the temple, which has been collected from all the subordinate governments, travelling over rugged, and difficult, and almost impassable roads, which they look upon as level and easy inasmuch as they serve to conduct them to piety. |
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35. Philo of Alexandria, That Every Good Person Is Free, 75 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 75. Moreover Palestine and Syria too are not barren of exemplary wisdom and virtue, which countries no slight portion of that most populous nation of the Jews inhabits. There is a portion of those people called Essenes, in number something more than four thousand in my opinion, who derive their name from their piety, though not according to any accurate form of the Grecian dialect, because they are above all men devoted to the service of God, not sacrificing living animals, but studying rather to preserve their own minds in a state of holiness and purity. |
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36. Anon., 2 Baruch, 6.7-6.9, 80.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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37. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 2.284-2.292, 2.330, 2.344, 12.357-12.359, 12.384-12.385, 14.8, 17.169, 18.306, 19.4-19.6, 19.155-19.156 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.284. 3. But when the king derided Moses; he made him in earnest see the signs that were done at Mount Sinai. Yet was the king very angry with him and called him an ill man, who had formerly run away from his Egyptian slavery, and came now back with deceitful tricks, and wonders, and magical arts, to astonish him. 2.285. And when he had said this, he commanded the priests to let him see the same wonderful sights; as knowing that the Egyptians were skillful in this kind of learning, and that he was not the only person who knew them, and pretended them to be divine; as also he told him, that when he brought such wonderful sights before him, he would only be believed by the unlearned. Now when the priests threw down their rods, they became serpents. 2.286. But Moses was not daunted at it; and said, “O king, I do not myself despise the wisdom of the Egyptians, but I say that what I do is so much superior to what these do by magic arts and tricks, as divine power exceeds the power of man: but I will demonstrate that what I do is not done by craft, or counterfeiting what is not really true, but that they appear by the providence and power of God.” 2.287. And when he had said this, he cast his rod down upon the ground, and commanded it to turn itself into a serpent. It obeyed him, and went all round, and devoured the rods of the Egyptians, which seemed to be dragons, until it had consumed them all. It then returned to its own form, and Moses took it into his hand again. 2.288. 4. However, the king was no more moved when was done than before; and being very angry, he said that he should gain nothing by this his cunning and shrewdness against the Egyptians;—and he commanded him that was the chief taskmaster over the Hebrews, to give them no relaxation from their labors, but to compel them to submit to greater oppressions than before; 2.289. and though he allowed them chaff before for making their bricks, he would allow it them no longer, but he made them to work hard at brick-making in the day-time, and to gather chaff in the night. Now when their labor was thus doubled upon them, they laid the blame upon Moses, because their labor and their misery were on his account become more severe to them. 2.291. So he went to the king, and persuaded him to let the Hebrews go to Mount Sinai, and there to sacrifice to God, because God had enjoined them so to do. He persuaded him also not to counterwork the designs of God, but to esteem his favor above all things, and to permit them to depart, lest, before he be aware, he lay an obstruction in the way of the divine commands, and so occasion his own suffering such punishments as it was probable any one that counterworked the divine commands should undergo 2.292. ince the severest afflictions arise from every object to those that provoke the divine wrath against them; for such as these have neither the earth nor the air for their friends; nor are the fruits of the womb according to nature, but every thing is unfriendly and adverse towards them. He said further, that the Egyptians should know this by sad experience; and that besides, the Hebrew people should go out of their country without their consent. 2.344. Nor was there any thing which used to be sent by God upon men, as indications of his wrath, which did not happen at this time, for a dark and dismal night oppressed them. And thus did all these men perish, so that there was not one man left to be a messenger of this calamity to the rest of the Egyptians. 12.357. When this concern about these affairs was added to the former, he was confounded, and by the anxiety he was in fell into a distemper, which, as it lasted a great while, and as his pains increased upon him, so he at length perceived he should die in a little time; so he called his friends to him, and told them that his distemper was severe upon him; and confessed withal, that this calamity was sent upon him for the miseries he had brought upon the Jewish nation, while he plundered their temple, and condemned their God; and when he had said this, he gave up the ghost. 12.358. Whence one may wonder at Polybius of Megalopolis, who, though otherwise a good man, yet saith that “Antiochus died because he had a purpose to plunder the temple of Diana in Persia;” for the purposing to do a thing, but not actually doing it, is not worthy of punishment. 12.359. But if Polybius could think that Antiochus thus lost his life on that account, it is much more probable that this king died on account of his sacrilegious plundering of the temple at Jerusalem. But we will not contend about this matter with those who may think that the cause assigned by this Polybius of Megalopolis is nearer the truth than that assigned by us. 12.384. for Lysias advised the king to slay Menelaus, if he would have the Jews be quiet, and cause him no further disturbance, for that this man was the origin of all the mischief the Jews had done them, by persuading his father to compel the Jews to leave the religion of their fathers. 12.385. So the king sent Menelaus to Berea, a city of Syria, and there had him put to death, when he had been high priest ten years. He had been a wicked and an impious man; and, in order to get the government to himself, had compelled his nation to transgress their own laws. After the death of Menelaus, Alcimus, who was also called Jacimus, was made high priest. 14.8. 3. But there was a certain friend of Hyrcanus, an Idumean, called Antipater, who was very rich, and in his nature an active and a seditious man; who was at enmity with Aristobulus, and had differences with him on account of his good-will to Hyrcanus. 14.8. 1. Scaurus made now an expedition against Petrea, in Arabia, and set on fire all the places round about it, because of the great difficulty of access to it. And as his army was pinched by famine, Antipater furnished him with corn out of Judea, and with whatever else he wanted, and this at the command of Hyrcanus. 17.169. for it brought upon him a vehement appetite to eating, which he could not avoid to supply with one sort of food or other. His entrails were also ex-ulcerated, and the chief violence of his pain lay on his colon; an aqueous and transparent liquor also had settled itself about his feet, and a like matter afflicted him at the bottom of his belly. Nay, further, his privy-member was putrefied, and produced worms; and when he sat upright, he had a difficulty of breathing, which was very loathsome, on account of the stench of his breath, and the quickness of its returns; he had also convulsions in all parts of his body, which increased his strength to an insufferable degree. 18.306. for God would not forget the dangers Petronius had undertaken on account of the Jews, and of his own honor. But when he had taken Caius away, out of his indignation of what he had so insolently attempted in assuming to himself divine worship, both Rome and all that dominion conspired with Petronius, especially those that were of the senatorian order, to give Caius his due reward, because he had been unmercifully severe to them; 19.4. He also asserted his own divinity, and insisted on greater honors to be paid him by his subjects than are due to mankind. He also frequented that temple of Jupiter which they style the Capitol, which is with them the most holy of all their temples, and had boldness enough to call himself the brother of Jupiter. 19.4. Upon which Cherea took courage, and spake to him without fear of the dangers that were before him, and discoursed largely of the sore calamities under which the city and the government then labored, and said, “We may indeed pretend in words that Caius is the person unto whom the cause of such miseries ought to be imputed; 19.5. And other pranks he did like a madman; as when he laid a bridge from the city Dicearchia, which belongs to Campania, to Misenum, another city upon the sea-side 19.5. for Caius was terrible to all the great men, as appearing ready to act a mad part towards each of them in particular, and towards all of: them in general; 19.6. from one promontory to another, of the length of thirty furlongs, as measured over the sea. And this was done because he esteemed it to be a most tedious thing to row over it in a small ship, and thought withal that it became him to make that bridge, since he was lord of the sea, and might oblige it to give marks of obedience as well as the earth; so he enclosed the whole bay within his bridge, and drove his chariot over it; and thought that, as he was a god, it was fit for him to travel over such roads as this was. 19.6. and some affirm that he thereby confirmed Minuclanus in the prosecution of what had been agreed among them; for as Cherea entered into the court, the report runs, that a voice came from among the multitude to encourage him, which bid him finish what he was about, and take the opportunity that Providence afforded; 19.155. “tyrants do indeed please themselves and look big for a while, upon having the power to act unjustly; but do not however go happily out of the world, because they are hated by the virtuous; 19.156. and that Caius, together with all his unhappiness, was become a conspirator against himself, before these other men who attacked him did so; and by becoming intolerable, in setting aside the wise provision the laws had made, taught his dearest friends to treat him as an enemy; insomuch that although in common discourse these conspirators were those that slew Caius, yet that, in reality, he lies now dead as perishing by his own self.” |
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38. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 1.596, 1.656, 2.358, 5.19, 7.453 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.596. When thou didst sit weeping by Pheroras as he was dying, then it was that he called me to him, and said, ‘My dear wife, I have been greatly mistaken as to the disposition of my brother towards me, and have hated him that is so affectionate to me, and have contrived to kill him who is in such disorder for me before I am dead. As for myself, I receive the recompense of my impiety; but do thou bring what poison was left with us by Antipater, and which thou keepest, in order to destroy him, and consume it immediately in the fire in my sight, that I may not be liable to the avenger in the invisible world.’ 1.656. 5. After this, the distemper seized upon his whole body, and greatly disordered all its parts with various symptoms; for there was a gentle fever upon him, and an intolerable itching over all the surface of his body, and continual pains in his colon, and dropsical tumors about his feet, and an inflammation of the abdomen,—and a putrefaction of his privy member, that produced worms. Besides which he had a difficulty of breathing upon him, and could not breathe but when he sat upright, and had a convulsion of all his members, insomuch that the diviners said those diseases were a punishment upon him for what he had done to the Rabbins. 2.358. While those Athenians, who, in order to preserve the liberty of Greece, did once set fire to their own city; who pursued Xerxes, that proud prince, when he sailed upon the land, and walked upon the sea, and could not be contained by the seas, but conducted such an army as was too broad for Europe; and made him run away like a fugitive in a single ship, and brake so great a part of Asia as the Lesser Salamis; are yet at this time servants to the Romans; and those injunctions which are sent from Italy become laws to the principal governing city of Greece. 5.19. And now, “O most wretched city, what misery so great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans, when they came to purify thee from thy intestine hatred! For thou couldst be no longer a place fit for God, nor couldst thou long continue in being, after thou hadst been a sepulchre for the bodies of thy own people, and hadst made the holy house itself a burying-place in this civil war of thine. Yet mayst thou again grow better, if perchance thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of that God who is the author of thy destruction.” 5.19. 2. Now, for the works that were above these foundations, these were not unworthy of such foundations; for all the cloisters were double, and the pillars to them belonging were twenty-five cubits in height, and supported the cloisters. These pillars were of one entire stone each of them, and that stone was white marble; 7.453. This his distemper grew still a great deal worse and worse continually, and his very entrails were so corroded, that they fell out of his body, and in that condition he died. Thus he became as great an instance of Divine Providence as ever was, and demonstrated that God punishes wicked men. |
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39. Josephus Flavius, Against Apion, 2.143 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.143. which makes me think that Apion is hereby justly punished for his casting such reproaches on the laws of his own country; for he was circumcised himself of necessity, on account of an ulcer in his privy member; and when he received no benefit by such circumcision, but his member became putrid, he died in great torment. |
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40. New Testament, Acts, 1.15-1.26, 5.13-5.14, 12.23 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 1.15. In these days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (and the number of names was about one hundred twenty), and said 1.16. Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus. 1.17. For he was numbered with us, and received his portion in this ministry. 1.18. Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out. 1.19. It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called 'Akeldama,' that is, 'The field of blood.' 1.20. For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation be made desolate, Let no one dwell therein,' and, 'Let another take his office.' 1.21. of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us 1.22. beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection. 1.23. They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 1.24. They prayed, and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen 1.25. to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place. 1.26. They drew lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 5.13. None of the rest dared to join them, however the people honored them. 5.14. More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. 12.23. Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn't give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms, and he died. |
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41. New Testament, Mark, 9.48 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 9.48. 'where their worm doesn't die, and the fire is not quenched.' |
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42. Plutarch, On The Glory of The Athenians, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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43. Plutarch, Sulla, 36 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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44. Lucian, How To Write History, 51 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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45. Babylonian Talmud, Gittin, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 56a. אמר ליה לא אמר ליה יהיבנא לך דמי פלגא דסעודתיך אמר ליה לא אמר ליה יהיבנא לך דמי כולה סעודתיך א"ל לא נקטיה בידיה ואוקמיה ואפקיה,אמר הואיל והוו יתבי רבנן ולא מחו ביה ש"מ קא ניחא להו איזיל איכול בהו קורצא בי מלכא אזל אמר ליה לקיסר מרדו בך יהודאי א"ל מי יימר א"ל שדר להו קורבנא חזית אי מקרבין ליה,אזל שדר בידיה עגלא תלתא בהדי דקאתי שדא ביה מומא בניב שפתים ואמרי לה בדוקין שבעין דוכתא דלדידן הוה מומא ולדידהו לאו מומא הוא,סבור רבנן לקרוביה משום שלום מלכות אמר להו רבי זכריה בן אבקולס יאמרו בעלי מומין קריבין לגבי מזבח סבור למיקטליה דלא ליזיל ולימא אמר להו רבי זכריה יאמרו מטיל מום בקדשים יהרג,אמר רבי יוחנן ענוותנותו של רבי זכריה בן אבקולס החריבה את ביתנו ושרפה את היכלנו והגליתנו מארצנו,שדר עלוייהו לנירון קיסר כי קאתי שדא גירא למזרח אתא נפל בירושלים למערב אתא נפל בירושלים לארבע רוחות השמים אתא נפל בירושלים,א"ל לינוקא פסוק לי פסוקיך אמר ליה (יחזקאל כה, יד) ונתתי את נקמתי באדום ביד עמי ישראל וגו' אמר קודשא בריך הוא בעי לחרובי ביתיה ובעי לכפורי ידיה בההוא גברא ערק ואזל ואיגייר ונפק מיניה ר"מ,שדריה עילוייהו לאספסיינוס קיסר אתא צר עלה תלת שני הוו בה הנהו תלתא עתירי נקדימון בן גוריון ובן כלבא שבוע ובן ציצית הכסת נקדימון בן גוריון שנקדה לו חמה בעבורו בן כלבא שבוע שכל הנכנס לביתו כשהוא רעב ככלב יוצא כשהוא שבע בן ציצית הכסת שהיתה ציצתו נגררת על גבי כסתות איכא דאמרי שהיתה כסתו מוטלת בין גדולי רומי,חד אמר להו אנא זיינא להו בחיטי ושערי וחד אמר להו בדחמרא ובדמלחא ומשחא וחד אמר להו בדציבי ושבחו רבנן לדציבי דרב חסדא כל אקלידי הוה מסר לשמעיה בר מדציבי דאמר רב חסדא אכלבא דחיטי בעי שיתין אכלבי דציבי הוה להו למיזן עשרים וחד שתא,הוו בהו הנהו בריוני אמרו להו רבנן ניפוק ונעביד שלמא בהדייהו לא שבקינהו אמרו להו ניפוק ונעביד קרבא בהדייהו אמרו להו רבנן לא מסתייעא מילתא קמו קלנהו להנהו אמברי דחיטי ושערי והוה כפנא,מרתא בת בייתוס עתירתא דירושלים הויא שדרתה לשלוחה ואמרה ליה זיל אייתי לי סמידא אדאזל איזדבן אתא אמר לה סמידא ליכא חיורתא איכא אמרה ליה זיל אייתי לי אדאזל איזדבן אתא ואמר לה חיורתא ליכא גושקרא איכא א"ל זיל אייתי לי אדאזל אזדבן אתא ואמר לה גושקרא ליכא קימחא דשערי איכא אמרה ליה זיל אייתי לי אדאזל איזדבן,הוה שליפא מסאנא אמרה איפוק ואחזי אי משכחנא מידי למיכל איתיב לה פרתא בכרעא ומתה,קרי עלה רבן יוחנן בן זכאי (דברים כח, נו) הרכה בך והענוגה אשר לא נסתה כף רגלה איכא דאמרי גרוגרות דר' צדוק אכלה ואיתניסא ומתה דר' צדוק יתיב ארבעין שנין בתעניתא דלא ליחרב ירושלים כי הוה אכיל מידי הוה מיתחזי מאבראי וכי הוה בריא מייתי ליה גרוגרות מייץ מייהו ושדי להו,כי הוה קא ניחא נפשה אפיקתה לכל דהבא וכספא שדיתיה בשוקא אמרה האי למאי מיבעי לי והיינו דכתיב (יחזקאל ז, יט) כספם בחוצות ישליכו,אבא סקרא ריש בריוני דירושלים בר אחתיה דרבן יוחנן בן זכאי הוה שלח ליה תא בצינעא לגבאי אתא א"ל עד אימת עבדיתו הכי וקטליתו ליה לעלמא בכפנא א"ל מאי איעביד דאי אמינא להו מידי קטלו לי א"ל חזי לי תקנתא לדידי דאיפוק אפשר דהוי הצלה פורתא,א"ל נקוט נפשך בקצירי וליתי כולי עלמא ולישיילו בך ואייתי מידי סריא ואגני גבך ולימרו דנח נפשך וליעיילו בך תלמידך ולא ליעול בך איניש אחרינא דלא לרגשן בך דקליל את דאינהו ידעי דחייא קליל ממיתא,עביד הכי נכנס בו רבי אליעזר מצד אחד ורבי יהושע מצד אחר כי מטו לפיתחא בעו למדקריה אמר להו יאמרו רבן דקרו בעו למדחפיה אמר להו יאמרו רבן דחפו פתחו ליה בבא נפק,כי מטא להתם אמר שלמא עלך מלכא שלמא עלך מלכא א"ל מיחייבת תרי קטלא חדא דלאו מלכא אנא וקא קרית לי מלכא ותו אי מלכא אנא עד האידנא אמאי לא אתית לגבאי א"ל דקאמרת לאו מלכא אנא | 56a. The host bsaid to him: No,you must leave. Bar Kamtza bsaid to him: I will give you money for half of the feast;just do not send me away. The host bsaid to him: No,you must leave. Bar Kamtza then bsaid to him: I will give you money for the entire feast;just let me stay. The host bsaid to him: No,you must leave. Finally, the host btookbar Kamtza bby his hand, stood him up, and took him out. /b,After having been cast out from the feast, bar Kamtza bsaidto himself: bSince the Sages were sittingthere band did not protestthe actions of the host, although they saw how he humiliated me, blearn from it that they were contentwith what he did. bI willtherefore bgo and inform [ ieikhul kurtza /i] against them to the king. He wentand bsaid to the emperor: The Jews have rebelled against you.The emperor bsaid to him: Who saysthat this is the case? Bar Kamtza bsaid to him:Go and test them; bsend them an offeringto be brought in honor of the government, and bsee whether theywill bsacrifice it. /b,The emperor bwent and sent with hima choice bthree-year-old calf. Whilebar Kamtza bwas comingwith the calf to the Temple, bhe made a blemish onthe calf’s bupper lip. And some sayhe made the blemish bonits beyelids, a place where according to us,i.e., ihalakha /i, it bis a blemish, but according to them,gentile rules for their offerings, it bis not a blemish.Therefore, when bar Kamtza brought the animal to the Temple, the priests would not sacrifice it on the altar since it was blemished, but they also could not explain this satisfactorily to the gentile authorities, who did not consider it to be blemished.,The blemish notwithstanding, bthe Sages thought to sacrificethe animal as an offering bdue tothe imperative to maintain bpeacewith the bgovernment. Rabbi Zekharya ben Avkolas said to them:If the priests do that, people bwill saythat bblemishedanimals bmay be sacrificedas offerings bon the altar.The Sages said: If we do not sacrifice it, then we must prevent bar Kamtza from reporting this to the emperor. The Sages bthought to kill him so that he would not go and speakagainst them. bRabbi Zekharya said to them:If you kill him, people bwill saythat bone who makes a blemish on sacrificialanimals bis to be killed.As a result, they did nothing, bar Kamtza’s slander was accepted by the authorities, and consequently the war between the Jews and the Romans began., bRabbi Yoḥa says: Theexcessive bhumility of Rabbi Zekharya ben Avkolas destroyed our Temple, burned our Sanctuary, and exiled us from our land. /b,The Roman authorities then bsent Nero Caesar againstthe Jews. bWhen he cameto Jerusalem, he wished to test his fate. bHe shot an arrow to the eastand the arrow bcameand bfell in Jerusalem.He then shot another arrow bto the westand bitalso bfell in Jerusalem.He shot an arrow binall bfour directions of the heavens,and each time the arrow bfell in Jerusalem. /b,Nero then conducted another test: bHe said to a child: Tell me a versethat you learned today. bHe said to himas follows: b“And I will lay My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel”(Ezekiel 25:14). Nero bsaid: The Holy One, Blessed be He, wishes to destroy His Temple, and He wishes to wipe his hands with that man,i.e., with me. The Romans are associated with Edom, the descendants of Esau. If I continue on this mission, I will eventually be punished for having served as God’s agent to bring about the destruction. So bhe fledand bbecame a convert, andultimately bRabbi Meir descended from him. /b,The Roman authorities then bsent Vespasian Caesar againstthe Jews. bHe cameand blaid siegeto Jerusalem for bthree years. There wereat that time binJerusalem bthese three wealthy people: Nakdimon ben Guryon, ben Kalba Savua, and ben Tzitzit HaKesat.The Gemara explains their names: bNakdimon ben Guryonwas called by that name bbecause the sun shined [ inakad /i] on his behalf,as it is related elsewhere (see iTa’anit19b) that the sun once continued to shine in order to prevent him from suffering a substantial loss. bBen Kalba Savuawas called this bbecause anyone who entered his house when he was hungry as a dog [ ikelev /i] would leave satiated [ isave’a /i]. Ben Tzitzit HaKesatwas referred to by that name because bhis ritual fringes [ itzitzit /i] draggedalong bon blankets [ ikeset /i],meaning that he would not walk in the street with his feet on the ground, but rather they would place blankets beneath him. bThere arethose bwho say that his seat [ ikiseh /i] was found among the nobles of Rome,meaning that he would sit among them.,These three wealthy people offered their assistance. bOneof them bsaid tothe leaders of the city: bI will feedthe residents bwith wheat and barley. And oneof them bsaid toleaders of the city: I will provide the residents bwith wine, salt, and oil. And oneof them bsaid tothe leaders of the city: I will supply the residents bwith wood.The Gemara comments: bAnd the Sages gavespecial bpraise to hewho gave the bwood,since this was an especially expensive gift. bAs Rav Ḥisda would give all of the keys [ iaklidei /i] to his servant, exceptfor the key btohis shed bforstoring bwood,which he deemed the most important of them all. bAs Rav Ḥisda said: One storehouse [ iakhleva /i] of wheat requires sixty storehouses of woodfor cooking and baking fuel. These three wealthy men bhadbetween them enough commodities bto sustainthe besieged bfor twenty-one years. /b, bThere were certain zealots amongthe people of Jerusalem. bThe Sages said to them: Let us go out and make peace withthe Romans. But the zealots bdid not allow themto do this. The zealots bsaid tothe Sages: bLet us go out and engage in battle againstthe Romans. But bthe Sages said to them: You will not be successful.It would be better for you to wait until the siege is broken. In order to force the residents of the city to engage in battle, the zealots barose and burneddown bthese storehouses [ iambarei /i] of wheat and barley, and there wasa general bfamine. /b,With regard to this famine it is related that bMarta bat Baitos wasone of the bwealthy women of Jerusalem. She sentout bher agent and said to him: Go bring me fine flour [ isemida /i]. By the time he went,the fine flour bwasalready bsold. He cameand bsaid to her: There is no fine flour,but bthere isordinary bflour. She said to him: Gothen and bbring meordinary flour. bBy the time he went,the ordinary flour bwasalso bsold. He came and said to her: There is noordinary bflour,but bthere is coarse flour [ igushkera /i]. She said to him: Gothen and bbring mecoarse flour. bBy the time he went,the coarse flour bwasalready bsold. He came and said to her: There is no coarse flour,but bthere is barley flour. She said to him: Gothen and bbring mebarley flour. But once again, bby the time he went,the barley flour bwasalso bsold. /b, bShe hadjust bremoved her shoes,but bshe said: I will go outmyself band see if I can find something to eat.She stepped on some bdung,which bstuck to her foot, and,overcome by disgust, bshe died. /b, bRabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai read concerning hera verse found in the section of the Torah listing the curses that will befall Israel: b“The tender and delicate woman among you who would not adventure to set the sole of her footupon the ground” (Deuteronomy 28:56). bThere arethose bwho saythat she did not step on dung, but rather bshe ate a fig of Rabbi Tzadok, and became disgusted and died.What are these figs? bRabbi Tzadok observed fastsfor bforty years,praying bthat Jerusalem would not be destroyed.He became so emaciated from fasting bthat when he would eat something it was visible from the outsideof his body. bAnd when he would eatafter a fast bthey would bring him figsand bhe would suck out their liquid and castthe rest baway.It was one such fig that Marta bat Baitos found and that caused her death.,It is further related that bas she was dying, she took out all ofher bgold and silverand bthrew it in the marketplace. She said: Why do I need this? And this is as it is written: “They shall cast their silver in the streetsand their gold shall be as an impure thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels” (Ezekiel 7:19).,§ The Gemara relates: bAbba Sikkara was the leader of the zealots [ ibiryonei /i] of Jerusalemand bthe son of the sister of Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai.Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai bsenta message bto him: Come to me in secret. He came,and Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai bsaid to him: Until when will you do this and kill everyone through starvation?Abba Sikkara bsaid to him: What can I do, for if I say something to them they will kill me.Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai bsaid to him: Show me a methodso bthat I willbe able to bleavethe city, and it is bpossible thatthrough this bthere will besome bsmall salvation. /b,Abba Sikkara bsaid to him:This is what you should do: bPretend to be sick, and have everyone come and askabout your welfare, so that word will spread about your ailing condition. Afterward bbring something putrid and place it near you, so thatpeople bwill say that you have diedand are decomposing. bAndthen, bhave your students enterto bring you to burial, band let no one else come in so thatthe zealots bnot notice that you arestill blight. Asthe zealots bknow that a livingperson bis lighter than a deadperson.,Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai bdid this. Rabbi Eliezer entered from one side and Rabbi Yehoshua from the other sideto take him out. bWhen they arrived at the entranceof the city on the inside, the guards, who were of the faction of the zealots, bwanted to pierce himwith their swords in order to ascertain that he was actually dead, as was the common practice. Abba Sikkara bsaid to them:The Romans bwill saythat bthey pierceeven btheir teacher.The guards then bwantedat least bto push himto see whether he was still alive, in which case he would cry out on account of the pushing. Abba Sikkara bsaid to them: They will saythat bthey pusheven btheir teacher.The guards then bopened the gateand bhe was taken out. /b, bWhenRabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai breached there,i.e., the Roman camp, bhe said: Greetings to you, the king; greetings to you, the king.Vespasian bsaid to him: You are liable for two death penalties, onebecause bI am not a king andyet byou call me king, and furthermore, if I am a king, why didn’t you come to me until now?Rabban Yoḥa ben Zakkai bsaid to him:As for bwhat you saidabout yourself: bI am not a king, /b |
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46. Anon., Letter of Aristeas, 10, 107, 11-12, 211, 22-23, 262-263, 269, 30, 307, 318, 35, 6, 83, 1
| 1. Since I have collected Material for a memorable history of my visit to Eleazar the High priest of the Jews, and because you, Philocrates, as you lose no opportunity of reminding me, have set great store upon receiving an account of the motives and object of my mission, I have attempted to draw up a clear exposition of the matter for you, for I perceive that you possess a natural love of learning |
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