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TP TURKISH FLEET DEFEATED, A.M. 5301. 317

1019. And the Turks went out in ships from Algier in those days to spoil the countries of their enemies, and they went unto Gibraltar, and the Lord gave it into their hand; and they took all its spoil, and returned unto Algier with gladness. And when the Turks heard that the ships of the Spaniards had no strength to withstand against them, they said, "This is the time to laugh; God hath delivered them into our hand*.' And

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they appointed a captain†, and returned to Spain. with fifteen galleys, and knew not that the time of their visitation was come, and the Lord had them in derision‡. And the report was heard in Spain; and they also put soldiers and weapons of war in galleys, and went out against them.

1020. And it came to pass, on the second day of the month of October, in the year three hundred and one, after the smaller date, that the Turks drew nigh and set the battle in array, fifteen ships against sixteen. And it came to pass, as they were warring, that four of the Turkish ships fled, and turned their necks, and the rest were slain with the edge of the sword. And there fell of them one thousand men in that slaughter. And of the uncircumcised were about three hundred slain by the edge of the sword, besides the wounded, † Num. xiv. 4. § 2 Chr. xxix. 6.

* 1 Sam. xiv. 10.

Ps. xi. 4.

318

SOLYMAN REBUILDS JERUSALEM.

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who were a great multitude. And the rest took the ships of Algier and the spoil, and returned to their own country, and gave thanks unto their God.

1021. In that year the Lord stirred up the spirit of Solyman*, the king of Greece and Persia, and he thought to set up the walls of Jerusalem, the holy city, which is in the land of Judah. And he sent officers†, and they builded her walls, and they set up her gates as at the first, and her towers as at the beginning. And his fame went out over the whole world, for he did great things§. And also the upper pool|| they conducted through the city, lest the people should happen to thirst for water. May God remember it unto him for good.

1022. In those days, when the emperor abode at Ratisbon, he thrust out altogether¶ the Jews from the kingdom of Naples, and remembered not his covenant. And they sent to Ratisbon to beseech him, and to request their life from before him, but he had no compassion upon them. And our brethren, the house of Israel, went as exiles hither and thither, as sheep which have no shepherd* O that the Lord would hehold it, and have compassion for his great name's sake! Some of them

* Ezra li. 5; 2 Chr. xxxvi. 22. + Gen. xli. 34; Esth. ii. 3. Comp. Is. i. 26. § Joel. ii. 20; Ps. cxxvi. 2, 3.

|| Is. vii. 3; xxxvi. 2.

¶ Exod. xi. 1.

** Num. xxvii. 17.

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ABARBANEL IN FERRARA, A.D. 1541. 319

went to Turkey, and some of them were drowned in the sea, and some of them were taken captive by Ragosiano*, the captain of the navy, who led

them unto Marseille. And it was told unto the king of France, who had compassion upon them, and took them out of the hand of the enemy that oppressetht, free, without ransomt. And he sent them unto the east, for the Lord had granted them compassion before his sight; yea, and he shall be blessed§.' And the noble Don Samuel Abarbanel and his house, came unto Ferrara, and abode there; and this came to pass in the year one thousand five hundred and forty-one.

1023. And the ships of the emperor went to the land of Ishmael, to bring the Spaniards whom they had left there in the month of May, which is the third month. And they went on shore at Pakos, a city of Barbary, to draw water¶. But the Arabs fell upon them suddenly, and slew of them two hundred men with the edge of the sword; and the rest fled before them, and swam on the surface of the water unto the ships, and their life was unto them for a prey. And they journeyed thence by command of the king of Tunis,

Comp. Exod. xxi. 2.

.הראגוסיאו *

.פאקוס ||

† Numb. x. 9.

§ Gen. xxvii. 33.

Gen. xxiv. 13.

320

LUTHER'S WISDOM.

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and went unto Kalibiah*, which is a small city, whose walls are fortified. And they cast up a trench against it, and battered its walls, and took it. And all its males they slew with the edge of the sword, and took all its prey, the women and the children. And the Spaniards returned to their own country. And the city they delivered into the hand of the king of Tunis; but there was not left in the midst thereof one that pisseth against the wall. [1P]

1024. And Martin Luther was wise; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out and set in order many works and wordst for their faith and their doctrines; and he made the laws of the pope to stink among the inhabitants of Germany, and they did not set up any more molten images, and gave no more praise unto the saints as before; and the hearts of some were confounded, for one said, "I am the pope's ;" and another called himself by the name of Luther, and by his name he was surnamed‡. And the priests were the cause, for they were turned aside after lucres, and went after the imagination of their own hearts||, and had corrupted their way upon the earth¶.

1025. And it came to pass, when the emperor

קאליביאה •

Is. xliv. 5.

|| Jer. iii. 16.

+ Eccl. xii. 9.

§ 1 Sam. viii. 3.

¶ Gen. vi. 12.

קטו

A GENERAL COUNCIL PROMISED.

321

was at Ratisbon, that there gathered themselves unto him most of the nobles of Germany, and spake unto him, saying, "How long shall we halt between two opinions; if the pope be God, let us follow him; and if Martin, let us follow him*. And now let us reason togethert, that we may know what to do, and that there may be no guilt upon us." And he sware unto them, saying, "After three years' time, I will bring hither the pope and his cardinals and his wise men, and we shall see what will become of their dreams." And

thing was pleasing in their sight, and they éved him, and went out from him in peace. 1027. And the woywode who had made a covenant with Solyman, died, and his wife was left behind him with her little son; and Ferdinand the brother of the emperor went against them in that year with a strong hand; and against Buda also, Ferdinand, the emperor's brother, made war. And they sent unto Solyman, saying, "The hewer is come upon us‡ with a high hand; and we and our land also are servants unto thee continually§; the right of the kingdom is thine||. And when Solyman heard it, he armed his trained servants, and went out against him, and the

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