1 Maccabees 14:16-23

Common English Bible

Diplomacy with Rome and Sparta

¹⁶The people in Rome, and those who were as far away as Sparta, learned that Jonathan had died, and they were all very sad. ¹⁷They also heard that Simon his brother had become high priest in his place and that he was ruling over the country and its towns. ¹⁸So they wrote to him on bronze tablets to renew with him the friendly alliance that they had established with his brothers Judas and Jonathan. ¹⁹The tablets were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.

²⁰This is a copy of the letter that the Spartans sent:

The rulers of the Spartans, with the city. To the high priest Simon, the elders, the priests, and the rest of the Jewish people, our brothers and sisters. Greetings!

²¹The envoys who were sent to our people have told us about your glory and honor, and we rejoiced when they came. ²²We made this record in our public decrees concerning what they said: “Numenius, Antiochus’ son, and Antipater, Jason’s son, Jewish representatives, have come to renew their friendship with us. ²³Our people were pleased to receive them with respect and to maintain a copy of their words in the public archives so that Spartans may have a record of them. They have also sent a copy of this to Simon, the high priest.

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