1And Judas, called Maccabeus, his son, rose up in his place.
2All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him, and they fought the war of Israel with gladness.
3He won great glory for his people; he put on a breastplate like a giant and girded on his weapons of war. He waged wars, protecting the camp with his sword.
4He was like a lion in his deeds, and like a lion’s cub roaring for prey.
5He pursued the lawless, searching them out, and he burned up those who troubled his people.
6The lawless cowered in fear of him, and all the evildoers were thrown into confusion; and deliverance prospered in his hand.
7He embittered many kings, but made Jacob glad by his deeds; his memory will be a blessing forever.
8He went through the cities of Judah and utterly destroyed the ungodly from the land, and he turned away wrath from Israel.
9His name reached to the end of the earth, and he gathered those who were perishing.
10Then Apollonius gathered Gentiles and a large force from Samaria to make war against Israel.
11When Judas learned of it, he went out to meet him, and he struck and killed him. Many fell wounded, and the rest fled.
12And they took their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and he fought with it for the rest of his days.
13But Seron, the commander of the army of Syria, heard that Judas had gathered a company and a congregation of faithful men with him, who went out to war.
14And he said, “I will make a name for myself and be glorified in the kingdom. I will fight Judas and those with him who scorn the king’s command.”
15And a strong contingent of ungodly men went up with him to help him take vengeance on the sons of Israel.
16When he drew near to the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with a small company.
17But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas, “How can we, few as we are, fight against such a great multitude? Besides, we are faint today, for we have not eaten.”
18But Judas said, “It is an easy thing for many to be delivered into the hands of a few. And with Heaven it makes no difference to save by many or by few.”
19For victory in war does not depend on the size of the army, but strength comes from Heaven.
20They come against us in a flood of insolence and lawlessness to destroy us and our wives and our children, and to plunder us.
21But we are fighting for our lives and our laws.
22He himself will crush them before us; so do not be afraid of them.
23When he finished speaking, he rushed upon them suddenly, and Seron and his army were crushed before him.
24They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain, and about eight hundred of their men fell. The rest fled into the land of the Philistines.
25So the fear of Judas and his brothers and terror of them began to fall upon the nations all around.
26His name reached the king, and every nation told of the battles of Judas.
27When King Antiochus heard these reports, he became furiously angry. He sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.
28He opened his treasury and gave his forces a year’s pay, and he commanded them to be ready for any need.
29But he saw that the money in his treasuries was failing and that the tribute from the country was small, because of the dissension and calamity he had brought upon the land by abolishing the laws that had existed from the earliest days.
30He grew worried that he would not have enough, as on previous occasions, for his expenses and for the gifts that he had formerly given with a lavish hand,
31And he was greatly perplexed in his soul, and he resolved to go to Persia to collect the tributes of the provinces and to gather much silver.
32And he left Lysias, a distinguished man of the royal family, in charge of the king’s affairs from the Euphrates River to the borders of Egypt,
33and to raise his son Antiochus until he returned.
34He entrusted to him half of the forces and the elephants, and he commanded him concerning all that he wished, and concerning all the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem:
35to send a force against them to root out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem, and to remove its memory from the place;
36and to settle foreigners in all their territories, and to distribute their land by lot.
37Then the king took the remaining half of the forces and departed from Antioch, his royal city, in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the Euphrates River and went through the upper provinces.
38And Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, Nicanor, and Gorgias, powerful men from among the King’s Friends.
39And he sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, according to the king’s command.
40They set out with their whole force and came and encamped near Emmaus in the plain.
41When the merchants of the region heard news of them, they took a very large amount of silver and gold, and fetters, and came to the camp to buy the sons of Israel as slaves. And they were joined by forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines.
42And Judas and his brothers saw that the evils had multiplied and that the forces were encamping within their borders. They also knew the king’s commands that he had ordered to be done to the people for their destruction and annihilation.
43And they said to one another, “Let us repair the ruin of our people and of the sanctuary.”
44And the assembly gathered to be ready for war, and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.
45And Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness; none of her children went in or out. The sanctuary was trampled, and foreigners were in the citadel, a lodging place for the Gentiles. Joy was taken from Jacob, and the flute and lyre ceased.
46And they gathered and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Mizpah was formerly a place of prayer for Israel.
47They fasted on that day, put on sackcloth and ashes on their heads, and tore their garments.
48And they unrolled the scroll of the Law, on which the Gentiles had been searching for likenesses of their idols.
49They brought the priestly garments, the firstfruits, and the tithes; and they had the Nazirites, who had completed the days of their vow, stand forth.
50And they cried out to heaven, saying, “What shall we do with these things, and where shall we take them?
51Your sanctuary has been trampled and profaned, and your priests are in mourning and humiliation.
52And behold, the Gentiles have gathered against us to destroy us. You know what they are planning against us.
53How will we be able to stand before them, unless you help us?”
54Then they sounded the trumpets and cried out with a loud voice.
55After this, Judas appointed leaders for the people: commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
56And he commanded those who were building houses, betrothing wives, planting vineyards, and those who were fearful, that each should return to his own house, according to the Law.
57Then the army set out and encamped south of Emmaus.
58And Judas said, “Gird yourselves and be valiant warriors, and be ready in the morning to fight against these Gentiles who have gathered against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.
59For it is better for us to die in battle than to look upon the evils of our nation and our sanctuary.
60But as the will in heaven may be, so he will do.”
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