8. The people cultivated their land in peace;the land yielded its produce,the trees of the field their fruit.
9. Old men sat in the squares,all talking about the good times,while the young men put on the glorious raiment of war.
10. He supplied the cities with foodand equipped them with means of defense,till his glorious name reached the ends of the earth.
11. He brought peace to the land,and Israel was filled with great joy.
12. Every one sat under his vine and fig tree,with no one to disturb them.
13. No attacker was left in the land;the kings in those days were crushed.
14. He strengthened all the lowly among his peopleand was zealous for the law;he destroyed the lawless and the wicked.
15. The sanctuary he made splendidand multiplied its furnishings.
16. When people in Rome and even in Sparta heard that Jonathan had died, they were deeply grieved.
17. But when they heard that his brother Simon had become high priest in his place and was master of the territory and its cities,
18. they sent him inscribed tablets of bronze to renew with him the friendship and alliance that they had established with his brothers Judas and Jonathan.
19. These were read before the assembly in Jerusalem.