[Sidenote:  I Macc. 14:16-18] Now when they heard at Rome and at Sparta that Jonathan was dead, they were very sorry.  But as soon as they learned that his brother Simon had been made high priest in his place and ruled the country and its cities, they wrote to him on brass tablets, to renew with him the friendship and the treaty which they had made with Judas and Jonathan his brothers.

[Sidenote:  I Macc. 14:38-47] Moreover King Demetrius confirmed to him the high priesthood according to these things, and made him one of his Friends, and bestowed great honor upon him, for he had heard that the Jews had been called friends and allies and brothers by the Romans, and that they had met the ambassadors of Simon with honor, and that the Jews and the priests were well pleased that Simon should be their governor and high priest forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet; and that he should be commander over them, and should take charge of the sanctuary, to appoint men on his own authority over their works and over the country and over the arms and over the forts, and that he should be obeyed by all, and that all documents drawn up in the country should be written in his name, and that he should be clothed in purple, and wear gold; and that it should not be lawful for any of the people or of the priests to nullify any of these things, or to resist the commands that he should issue, or to gather an assembly in the country without his permission, or to be clothed in purple or to wear a golden buckle.  But whoever should do otherwise, or act in defiance of any of these things, should be liable to punishment.  All the people agreed to ordain that Simon should act according to these regulations.  And Simon accepted and consented to be high priest and to be general and governor of the Jews and of the priests and to be protector of all.

[Sidenote:  I Macc. 14:48, 49] And they gave orders to put this writing on brass tablets and to set them up within the precinct of the sanctuary in a conspicuous place, and also to put the copies of it in the treasury in order that Simon and his sons might have them.

[Sidenote:  I Macc. 15:4-8]
So the land had rest all the days of Simon,
And he sought the good of his nation. 
His authority and his glory were well-pleasing to them all his days. 
And amid all his glory he took Joppa for a haven,
And made it a way to the isles of the sea,
And he enlarged the boundaries of his nation,
And became master of the land. 
He also brought many captives together,
And made himself master of Gazara and Bethsura, and the citadel. 
Moreover he took away from it its uncleannesses;
And there was none who resisted him. 
And they tilled their land in peace,
And the earth gave her increase,
And the trees of the plains their fruit.