Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Then Judas, called Maccabeus, his son, rose up in his place.
2| All his brothers helped him, and all who had joined his father, and they fought the war of Israel with gladness.
3| He extended the glory of his people; he put on a breastplate like a giant, and girded on his weapons of war; he waged wars, sheltering the camp with his sword.
4| He was like a lion in his deeds, and like a lion's cub roaring for prey.
5| He pursued the lawless, hunting them out, and those who troubled his people he set on fire.
6| The lawless cowered before him in dread, and every doer of iniquity fell into turmoil, and deliverance thrived by his hand.
7| He embittered many kings, and gladdened Jacob by his deeds, and his memory is a blessing forever.
8| He went through the cities of Judah, and destroyed the ungodly out of it, and turned wrath away from Israel.
9| He was renowned to the ends of the earth, and he gathered in those who were perishing.
10| Then Apollonius gathered the nations, and a great force from Samaria, to make war against Israel.
11| Judas learned of it, and went out to meet him, and struck him down and killed him; many fell wounded, and the rest fled.
12| They took their weapons, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius, and he fought with it all his days.
13| Now Seron, the commander of the army of Syria, heard that Judas had gathered a gathering and an assembly of the faithful with him, and men going out to war.
14| And he said, I will make myself a name, and win glory in the kingdom, and I will make war on Judas and those with him, who hold the king's word in contempt.
15| So he set out, and a strong camp of the ungodly went up with him to help him, to carry out vengeance on the sons of Israel.
16| He drew near as far as the ascent of Beth-horon, and Judas went out to meet him with but a few men.
17| But when they saw the camp coming to meet them, they said to Judas, How can we, so few, fight against so great a multitude? And we are faint, having eaten nothing today.
18| And Judas said, It is a simple thing for a multitude to be trapped in the grip of a handful; and in the sight of Heaven there is no distinction between rescue by many or by few.
19| For victory in war does not lie in the size of an army, but strength comes from Heaven.
20| They come against us full of insolence and lawlessness, to destroy us and our wives and our children, to plunder us.
21| But we are fighting for our lives and for our laws.
22| And he himself will crush them before our face; as for you, do not be afraid of them.
23| When he had finished speaking, he leapt upon them suddenly, and Seron and his camp were crushed before him.
24| They pursued them down the descent of Beth-horon as far as the plain; about eight hundred of their men fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.
25| Then the fear of Judas and his brothers began, and dread fell upon the nations around them.
26| His name reached even to the king, and every nation talked of the battles of Judas.
27| When king Antiochus heard these reports, he was enraged with anger, and he sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army.
28| He opened his treasury, and gave a year's pay to his forces, and commanded them to be ready for every need for a year.
29| Then he saw that the silver in the treasuries had run out, and that the tribute of the country was scant because of the discord and disaster he had brought upon the land, in trying to abolish the laws that had existed from the earliest days.
30| And he feared that he might not have enough, as before, for his expenses and for the gifts which he used to give with a generous hand,
31| and he was greatly at a loss in his soul; and he resolved to go to Persia, to collect the tributes of the provinces, and to gather much silver.
32| So he left Lysias, an honored man of royal lineage, in charge of the king's affairs, from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt,
33| and to raise his son Antiochus until he should return.
34| He handed over to him half of the forces and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wished, and about all who lived in Judea and Jerusalem,
35| to send a force against them, to crush and tear out Israel's might and what remained of Jerusalem, and to erase all memory of them from that place,
36| and to settle foreigners in all their territory, and to divide their land by lot.
37| And the king took the remaining half of the forces, and set out from Antioch, the city of his kingdom, in the hundred and forty-seventh year; and he crossed the Euphrates river, and went through the upper provinces.
38| Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, men of power among the king's friends.
39| And he sent with them forty thousand men and seven thousand cavalry, to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, according to the word of the king.
40| They set out with all their force and came, and encamped near Emmaus in the plain country.
41| And the merchants of the region heard their name, and took a great quantity of silver and gold, and slaves, and came to the camp to buy the sons of Israel as slaves; and troops from Syria and from the country of the foreigners joined them.
42| Judas and his brothers saw that the evils had multiplied, and that the forces were encamping in their territory; and they learned the orders the king had given, to destroy the people utterly.
43| And each said to his neighbor, Let us raise up the ruin of our people and fight for our people and the holy things.
44| And the assembly gathered to be ready for war, and to pray and to ask for mercy and compassion.
45| And Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness; none of her own children went in or out; the sanctuary was trampled down, and the sons of foreigners were in the citadel, a lodging place for the nations; joy was taken away from Jacob, and the flute and the harp ceased.
46| So they gathered and came to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Mizpah had formerly been a place of prayer for Israel.
47| They fasted through that day, wrapped themselves in sackcloth, poured ashes on their heads, and rent their clothes.
48| And they spread open the book of the law, to search out the things concerning which the nations inquired of the likenesses of their idols.
49| They brought the garments of the priesthood, and the first-fruits, and the tithes; and they roused the Nazirites who had completed their days,
50| and they cried out to heaven in a loud voice, asking, What are we to do with these, and where are we to bring them?
51| For your holy things have been trampled down and profaned, and your priests are in mourning and humiliation.
52| And behold, the nations have gathered against us to destroy us; you know what they are plotting against us.
53| How will we manage to stand our ground against them, unless you come to our aid?
54| And they sounded the trumpets, and cried out with a great voice.
55| After this Judas appointed leaders of the people, commanders of thousands and of hundreds and of fifties and of tens.
56| And he told those who were building houses, or newly betrothed, or planting vineyards, or fearful, that each man should go back to his own home, as the law provided.
57| Then the camp set out, and they encamped south of Emmaus.
58| And Judas said, Gird yourselves, and be men of strength; be ready by morning to fight against these nations gathered against us to destroy us and our holy things.
59| For it is far preferable to fall in the fight than to stand by watching the calamities befall our nation and the holy things.
60| But as the will in heaven may be, so he will do.