8. People worked their farmland in peace.The ground was fertile,and the trees of the plainswere fruitful.
9. Old men sat along the sides of the streets and talked about good things.The young put onimpressive military uniforms.
10. Simon supplied the towns with foodand with the means for defense.His fame spread to the ends of the earth.
11. He established peacethroughout the land,and Israel had great joy.
12. All the people sat under their own vines and fig trees.No one made them afraid.
13. No one was left in the land to fight them,because foreign kings had been crushed in those days.
14. He gave help to all the humble ones among his people.He sought lawful ways.He did away with evil peopleand those who sinned against the Law.
15. He made the sanctuary glorious,and added to its holy equipment.
16. The people in Rome, and those who were as far away as Sparta, learned that Jonathan had died, and they were all very sad.
17. They also heard that Simon his brother had become high priest in his place and that he was ruling over the country and its towns.
18. So they wrote to him on bronze tablets to renew with him the friendly alliance that they had established with his brothers Judas and Jonathan.
19. The tablets were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.
20. This 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!
21. The envoys who were sent to our people have told us about your glory and honor, and we rejoiced when they came.
22. We 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.