1 Maccabees 13:35-46
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35 Unto whom king Demetrius answered and wrote after this manner:
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36 King Demetrius unto Simon the high priest, and friend of kings, as also unto the elders and nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting:
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37 The golden crown, and the scarlet robe, which ye sent unto us, we have received: and we are ready to make a stedfast peace with you, yea, and to write unto our officers, to confirm the immunities which we have granted.
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38 And whatsoever covenants we have made with you shall stand; and the strong holds, which ye have builded, shall be your own.
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39 As for any oversight or fault committed unto this day, we forgive it, and the crown tax also, which ye owe us: and if there were any other tribute paid in Jerusalem, it shall no more be paid.
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40 And look who are meet among you to be in our court, let then be enrolled, and let there be peace betwixt us.
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41 Thus the yoke of the heathen was taken away from Israel in the hundred and seventieth year.
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42 Then the people of Israel began to write in their instruments and contracts, In the first year of Simon the high priest, the governor and leader of the Jews.
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43 In those days Simon camped against Gaza and besieged it round about; he made also an engine of war, and set it by the city, and battered a certain tower, and took it.
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44 And they that were in the engine leaped into the city; whereupon there was a great uproar in the city:
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45 Insomuch as the people of the city rent their clothes, and climbed upon the walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, beseeching Simon to grant them peace.
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46 And they said, Deal not with us according to our wickedness, but according to thy mercy.