Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Gorgias took five thousand men and a thousand picked cavalry, and the camp set out by night,
2| to fall upon the camp of the Jews and strike them suddenly; and the men of the citadel were his guides.
3| But Judas heard of it, and he himself and the mighty men set out to strike the king's force that was at Emmaus,
4| while the forces were still scattered away from the camp.
5| Gorgias came to Judas's camp by night and found no one; so he went hunting for them among the hills, saying, "These men are running away from us."
6| But at daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men; yet they did not have shields and swords as they wished.
7| And they saw the camp of the nations, strong and armored, with cavalry surrounding it, and these were men trained in war.
8| And Judas said to the men with him, "Do not fear their numbers, and do not be afraid of their onslaught.
9| Remember how our ancestors were rescued at the Red Sea, back when Pharaoh's army chased after them.
10| And now let us call out to heaven, to see whether he will show us favor, keeping in mind his covenant made with our ancestors, and shatter this army camp before our eyes today.
11| Then all the nations will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel."
12| And the foreigners raised their eyes and watched them advancing toward them,
13| and they went out from the camp to battle, and the men with Judas sounded the trumpet.
14| And they engaged, and the nations were crushed and fled to the plain.
15| And all the last of them fell by the sword, and they pursued them as far as Gazara and as far as the plains of Judea and Azotus and Jamnia, and about three thousand of them fell.
16| Then Judas and the army turned back from pursuing after them,
17| and he said to the people, "Do not desire the spoils, for there is a battle facing us,
18| and Gorgias and his army are on the mountain near us. Instead, stand now against our enemies and fight them, and afterward take the spoils freely."
19| While Judas was still saying this, a detachment appeared peering out from the mountain.
20| And Gorgias saw that his men had been routed, and that the enemy were setting the camp on fire; for the smoke that was seen made plain what had happened.
21| And when they perceived this, they were greatly terrified; and when they also saw Judas's army in the plain ready for battle,
22| they all fled into the land of the foreigners.
23| And Judas turned back to the plunder of the camp, and they took much gold and silver, and blue and purple cloth, and sea-purple, and great wealth.
24| And returning, they sang hymns and blessed heaven, "For his mercy is good forever."
25| And a great deliverance came to Israel on that day.
26| Now as many of the foreigners as escaped came and reported to Lysias all that had happened.
27| And when he heard it he was utterly dismayed and disheartened, because things had not turned out for Israel as he wished, and things had not come out as the king had commanded him.
28| And in the following year he mustered sixty thousand picked men and five thousand cavalry, to make war on them.
29| And they came into Idumea and camped at Bethsura, and Judas confronted them, bringing ten thousand men.
30| And when he saw the mighty camp, he prayed and said, "Blessed are you, savior of Israel, who crushed the onslaught of the mighty one by the hand of your servant David, and gave over the camp of the foreigners into the hands of Jonathan son of Saul and the one who carried his weapons.
31| Shut up this camp in the hand of your people Israel, and let them be put to shame over their army and their cavalry.
32| Give them cowardice, and melt away the boldness of their strength, and let them be shaken by their own destruction.
33| Strike them down by the sword of those who love you, and let all who see your name praise you with hymns."
34| And they engaged one another, and about five thousand men fell from Lysias's camp, falling before them.
35| And when Lysias saw the rout of his own force, and the boldness that had come upon Judas's men, and how they stood prepared either to survive or to die with honor, he withdrew to Antioch; and he enlisted mercenaries, so that, having become far more numerous, he might come again into Judea.
36| Then Judas and his brothers said, "Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and rededicate it."
37| So the whole camp assembled, and they went up to Mount Zion.
38| And they saw the sanctuary lying in ruin, the altar defiled, the gateways scorched to the ground, and growth sprouting in the courts as if in a thicket or on some hillside, with the priests' chambers pulled down.
39| And they tore their garments, and made great lamentation, and put ashes on their heads.
40| And they fell on their faces to the ground, and sounded the trumpets of the alarm signals, and cried out to heaven.
41| Then Judas assigned men to fight against those in the citadel, until he should cleanse the sanctuary.
42| And he chose blameless priests devoted to the law;
43| and they cleansed the sanctuary, and carried away the stones of defilement to an unclean place.
44| And they deliberated concerning the altar of burnt offering that had been profaned, what they should do with it.
45| And a good plan occurred to them, to tear it down, lest it become a reproach to them, because the nations had defiled it; so they tore down the altar.
46| And they stored the stones on the mountain of the house, in a suitable place, until a prophet should come to give an answer concerning them.
47| And they gathered unhewn stones, as the law required, and raised a fresh altar resembling the one before it.
48| And they built the sanctuary and the interior of the house, and consecrated the courts.
49| And they made new holy vessels, and carried into the temple the lampstand, the offering-altar together with the incense-altar, and the table.
50| And they burned incense on the altar, and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple.
51| And they set loaves on the table, and hung up the curtains, and completed all the works they had undertaken.
52| And they rose early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month—this is the month Chislev—in the hundred and forty-eighth year.
53| And they presented sacrifice, as the law directed, upon the newly built altar of burnt offering,
54| at the very time and on the very day on which the nations had profaned it, on that day it was rededicated, with songs and lyres and harps and cymbals.
55| And all the people fell upon their faces, and worshiped and blessed heaven, who had prospered them.
56| And they observed the altar's rededication across eight days, presenting burnt offerings joyfully, and offering a sacrifice of deliverance and thanksgiving.
57| And they decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields, restored the gates and the priests' chambers, and fitted these with doors.
58| And there was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the nations was turned away.
59| And Judas and his brothers, along with the entire assembly of Israel, decreed that the anniversary of the altar's rededication should be observed each year on its set date, for eight days beginning the twenty-fifth of Chislev, with joy and celebration.
60| And at that time they built up Mount Zion with high walls all around and strong towers, lest the nations should come again and trample it down, as they had done before.
61| And they stationed there a force to guard it, and they fortified it to guard Bethsura, so that the people might have a stronghold facing Idumea.