1 Meqabyan (Ethiopian) 15

And in those days the men of Midian rose up against them and raised their hosts to make war against Israel; and the name of their king was Akrandes; and in the morning he gathered together a great host of Syria and Cilicia and Damascus.

And he encamped at the ford of Jordan and sent envoys to Israel, saying, Give me a tribute of denarii; and if not, I have come to subdue you and to plunder your goods and take all your possessions and lead your children captive.

And I will carry you away into a land that you do not know, and there I will make you hewers of wood and drawers of water.

And do not boast, saying, We are the people of the Lord, and there is none that can prevail against us; is it not the Lord who sent me to destroy you and to plunder your goods? He sent me to gather in all that is yours.

Did the gods of the strangers, the peoples whom I subdued, save them, those whose goods and possessions I plundered, and whom I slew, and whose sons and children I led captive?

Even so I will deal with you, if you do not pay me tribute as I have commanded you. And he crossed the Jordan to plunder their goods and their cattle and lead their wives captive.

And then the children of Israel wept bitterly to the Lord, and cried out and groaned, and found none to help them.

And therefore the Lord gave strength to three brothers, and their names were these: Mabkyus and Maccabeus and Judah, whose countenance was fair and who were mighty in all their strength.

And when they heard the children of Israel weeping and lamenting, their heart was grieved at the plight of all the children of Israel, the helpless women and the orphans and their priests and their princes, and all the house of Israel, men and women and infants; and they all wept and put ashes upon their heads, and their honourable ones clothed themselves in sackcloth.

And those good and fair brothers agreed together to go and deliver them; and they took counsel and said to one another, Let us go and give up our souls to death for the sake of these.

And they girded themselves, with their swords upon their loins and their spears in their hands, and they went prepared to make war against the watchman.

And they arrived while he was at the midday meal; and Mabkyus smote the watchman and struck off his neck with a single blow, while the food was yet in his mouth; and Judah and Maccabeus struck down with the sword those at the right hand and at the left hand of their king.

And when their king fell, they all panicked and fled; and their daggers entered into the hearts of their fellows, and their bows were shattered, and they themselves were broken.

And those good and fair brothers were saved, and nothing whatever of harm came upon them; but those wicked ones were shattered among themselves, for the Lord brought chastisement upon them.

And they fell and died, and abandoned all that was theirs as they fled across the Jordan, and all their possessions were left behind. And when the children of Israel saw that they had panicked and fled, they went with their camp and took their spoil for themselves.

And thus the Lord saved the children of Israel by the hand of Mabkyus and his brothers.

And they abode a few days while the children of Israel pleased the Lord.

But afterward the children of Israel turned back again to their wickedness, and grew weary of worshipping the Lord in purity; and again He provoked them by peoples whom they did not know, who reaped the produce of their fields and destroyed the vines of their vineyards, and took away their flocks and drove off their oxen before them, and they could not deliver them, because they were a people that transgressed the law, for they continually provoked the Lord at all times.