Now Judas Maccabeus, and they that were with him, went privily into the towns, and called their kinsfolks together, and took unto them such as had continued in the Jews' religion; and they gathered together about six thousand men.

And they besought the Lord to look upon His people that was trodden down of all and to pity the temple profaned by the ungodly, until the hour came, then they seized and returned, for they observed the Sabbath, and therefore did not pursue them far.

And to have mercy upon the city which was with all haste going to be laid flat, and to hearken unto the blood that cried unto Him,

And to remember the wicked destruction of the innocent infants, and the blasphemies committed against His name; and to show His hatred of the evil openly.

So when Maccabeus had gathered in an army, the heathen could not stand before him, for the wrath of the Lord was turned into mercy.

Therefore he came at unawares, and burnt up towns and cities, and got into his hand the most commodious places, and overcame and put to flight the enemies in many battles.

But specially took he advantage of the night for such assaults; and the report of his valor went everywhere.

So when Philip saw that this man increased by little and little, and that things prospered with him still more and more, he wrote unto Ptolemy, the captain of the forces of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to yield him aid in the king's affairs.

Then Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of the king's chief friends, was sent forth, having under him no less than twenty thousand of all nations, to root out the whole generation of the Jews; and with him he joined Gorgias, a general skilled in matters of war.

And Nicanor ordained that of the money he should receive for the sale of the captive Jews, he would pay the two thousand talents, which the king owed to the Romans.

Wherefore he sent immediately to the cities upon the sea coast, proclaiming an invitation for the purchase of the Jews as slaves, promising to sell ninety of them for a talent, not dreaming of the vengeance that Almighty God would bring upon him.

Now when word came to Judas of Nicanor’s coming, he told those that were with him the approach of the army.

But those that were fearful, and distrusted the justice of God, fled every one from where they were.

Others sold all that they had left, and besought the Lord that He would deliver them from the ungodly Nicanor, who had sold them before ever he came near them;

And if not for their own sakes, yet for the covenants He had made with their fathers, and for their great and glorious name's sake, whereby they were called.

So Maccabeus called his company together, unto the number of six thousand, and exhorted them not to be stricken with terror of the enemy, nor to fear the great multitude of the heathen, who came wrongfully against them; but to fight courageously;

Having always before their eyes the injury that these men had done to the holy place, and the cruel handling of the city, whereof they had made a mockery, and furthermore the breaking of the laws of their forefathers.

For said he, these men trust in their weapons and in their boldness; but we trust in the Almighty God, who is able with a nod to overthrow both them that come upon us, and also the whole world.

Moreover, he recounted unto them what helps their ancestors had received, and how a hundred fourscore and five thousand were destroyed in the time of Sennacherib.

And the battle that they had in Babylon with the Galatians, how they came hand to hand, being but eight thousand, together with four thousand Macedonians; and how, when the Macedonians were perplexed, these eight thousand destroyed one hundred and twenty thousand by the help that came unto them from heaven, and received thereby great riches.

Thus, when he had made them bold with these words, and ready to die for the laws and the country, he divided his army into four parts;

And set his brethren, Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathan, each of them in command of a division, and committed unto every one of them one thousand and five hundred men.

Also he commanded Eleazar to read the holy book unto them, and gave them this for a watchword, The help of God; and taking himself the first band, he charged Nicanor.

And through the help of the Almighty, they slew above nine thousand of the enemy, and wounded and maimed the most of Nicanor’s host, and forced them all to flee.

And from those that came to buy them as slaves, they gained their money, whom they pursued for a space not short.

And gathering together the weapons of the enemies, and spoiling them of their spoils, they kept the Sabbath, praising the Lord exceedingly, and confessing Him, who had saved them that day, and renewed His mercy upon them.

The Sabbath being over, they gave part of the spoils to the maimed, and to the widows, and orphans; and the remnant they divided among themselves and their children.

When they had done this, they made a common supplication, and besought the merciful Lord to be reconciled with His servants.

Moreover, of the forces of Timotheus and Bacchides, they slew above twenty thousand, and got possession of mighty strongholds, and divided very much spoils, making the lame, orphans, widows, and also the aged, in like proportion with themselves.

And when they had gathered their weapons together, they laid them up in convenient places, and the residue of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem.

They slew also Philarches, who was with Timotheus a wicked person, and had done the Jews many harms.

Furthermore, at the place where they had celebrated the slaughter of their enemies, they burned Callisthenes, and others, who had fled into a little house; who had set fire upon the holy gates, and so received a reward worthy of their wickedness.

As for Nicanor himself, who had brought a thousand merchants to buy the Jews, when he saw them so manfully handled by the Lord's help, he cast away his garments and fled through the midst of the country alone like a runaway slave, until he came to Antioch, greatly lamenting the destruction of his host.

And he who had taken upon him to make recompense to the Romans, by the spoils of the captives in Jerusalem, confessed that the Jews had God to fight for them, and that therefore they could not be hurt, but for that they followed the laws which He ordained.