1 Maccabees 3

Then Judas, who was called Maccabeus, his son, rose up in his place.

All his brothers supported him, along with all who had joined his father, and they fought the battle of Israel with gladness.

He spread glory to his people. He put on his breastplate like a giant, girded on his weapons of war, and shielded his camp, waging battles with his sword.

He was like a lion in his deeds, like a young lion roaring over its prey.

He pursued the lawless, hunting them down, and those who troubled his people he burned with fire.

The lawless shrank back in fear of him; all workers of iniquity were thrown into confusion, and deliverance prospered in his hand.

He embittered many kings but made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed forever.

He went through the cities of Judah and destroyed the ungodly from them, and turned away wrath from Israel.

He was renowned to the ends of the earth, and he gathered those who were perishing.

Then Apollonius gathered the nations together with a large and powerful force from Samaria to wage war against Israel.

Judas learned of it and marched out to meet him. He struck him down and killed him; many fell wounded, and the rest fled.

They took their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius and fought with it all the rest of his days.

When Seron, commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had gathered a company of the faithful and an assembly around him,

he said: 'I will make a name for myself and win glory in the kingdom. I will fight Judas and those with him who despise the king's command.'

He prepared himself, and a strong force of ungodly men went up with him as allies, to take vengeance on the sons of Israel.

They advanced as far as the ascent of Beth-horon, and Judas went out to meet him with only a few men.

But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to Judas: 'How can we, so few, fight against so great and strong a multitude? And we are faint from fasting today.'

But Judas said: 'It is easy for many to be hemmed in by few, and in the sight of the God of heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by few.'

For victory in battle does not depend on the size of the army, but strength comes from Heaven.

They come against us with an insolent and arrogant multitude to destroy us and our wives and children, and to plunder us.

But we fight for our lives and our laws.

The Lord himself will crush them before our face. As for you — do not fear them!

As soon as he finished speaking, he rushed upon them suddenly, and Seron and his army were crushed before him.

They pursued him down the descent of Beth-horon to the plain. Eight hundred of his men fell, and the rest fled into the land of the Philistines.

The dread of Judas and his brothers fell upon all the surrounding nations, and fear of them spread everywhere.

His name reached the king, and all nations were talking about the battles of Judas.

When King Antiochus heard these reports, he was enraged, and he sent and gathered the army of his entire kingdom — an exceedingly powerful force.

He opened his treasury, gave his forces a year's pay, and ordered them to be ready for anything.

But he saw that the money in his treasuries was running out, and that the revenues from the region were small because of the dissension and devastation he had caused in the land by abolishing the laws that had been in effect from the earliest days.

He feared he would not have enough, as he had before, for expenses and the gifts he had distributed with a lavish hand — for he had been more extravagant than all the kings before him.

He was greatly distressed in his mind and resolved to go to Persia to collect the tributes of those regions and gather a large sum of silver.

He left Lysias, a nobleman of royal lineage, in charge of the king's affairs from the Euphrates River to the border of Egypt.

He also entrusted the upbringing of his son Antiochus until he returned.

He handed over to him half the army and the elephants, and gave him orders concerning everything he wanted done — and concerning the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem:

he was to send an army against them to crush and uproot the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem, and to wipe out their memory from the place.

He was to settle foreigners in all their territories and distribute their land by lot.

The king took the remaining half of the army and set out from Antioch, his royal city, in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the Euphrates River and marched through the upper provinces.

Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, Nicanor, and Gorgias — powerful men among the Friends of the King.

He sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to invade the land of Judah and destroy it according to the king's command.

They set out with their entire force and came and encamped near Emmaus in the lowland.

When the merchants of the region heard their fame, they took a great quantity of silver and gold, along with fetters, and came to the camp to buy the Israelites as slaves. Forces from Syria and the land of the foreigners also joined them.

When Judas and his brothers saw that evils had multiplied and that the army was encamping on their borders, and when they learned the king's orders to bring utter destruction and annihilation upon the people,

they said to one another: 'Let us raise up the ruin of our people! Let us fight for our people and our holy things!'

The assembly gathered together to prepare for battle and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.

Jerusalem was uninhabited, like a wilderness. None of her children went in or out. The sanctuary was trampled underfoot, foreigners held the citadel — it was a dwelling place of Gentiles. Joy had been taken from Jacob, and the flute and the harp had fallen silent.

They assembled and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, for Mizpah had been a place of prayer for Israel in former times.

They fasted that day, put on sackcloth, cast ashes on their heads, and tore their garments.

They opened the books of the Law — those same books which the nations had searched through to paint upon them the images of their idols.

They brought the priestly garments, the firstfruits, and the tithes, and they presented the Nazirites who had completed their vows.

They cried out with a loud voice toward heaven: 'What shall we do with these? Where shall we take them?'

Your holy things are trampled and profaned, and your priests are in mourning and humiliation.

Behold, the nations have gathered against us to destroy us. You know what they plan against us.

How shall we stand before them unless You help us?

Then they sounded the trumpets and cried out with a loud voice.

After this, Judas appointed leaders of the people — commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

He told those who were building houses, or betrothing wives, or planting vineyards, or who were fearful, to return each to his own home, according to the Law.

Then they moved camp and pitched south of Emmaus.

Judas said: 'Arm yourselves! Be valiant! Be ready at dawn to fight these nations that have assembled against us to destroy us and our holy things.'

For it is better for us to die in battle than to look upon the evils befalling our nation and our sanctuary.

But whatever be the will of Heaven — so let it be done.