FIRST MACCABEES 4.19-5.8

...return from the victory with boldness." ¹⁹ While he was still speaking these words with them, they saw a battalion appearing from the mountain. ²⁰ And they realized that [the enemy] had been delivered into defeat and that fire had been set to the camp; for the smoke that rose up was a sign of what had happened. ²¹ When they saw this, they were terrified; especially when they looked upon the battalion of Judas, which stood ready in battle formation for war. ²² They fled in haste, retreating into the land of the Philistines. ²³ Then Judas returned to the site of the battle to take the spoils and the loot from the fallen bodies. They took from that camp gold and silver, precious garments, royal purple Original: "karmer, kaputak, tsovou tsiranis" — referring to expensive dyes, particularly the "sea-purple" derived from Murex snails, and great wealth. ²⁴ And as they returned from there, they began to bless and give thanks to the Lord in heaven, saying: "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever." ²⁵ And there was a great salvation for Israel on that day. ²⁶ And those of the foreigners who survived came and told Lysias The Syrian regional governor and commander everything that had happened. ²⁷ When Lysias heard this, he was grieved and humbled, falling upon his face; for things had not turned out for Israel as he had intended, nor had the king's command been fulfilled. ²⁸ In the coming of the following year, he gathered an army, assembling about six thousand infantry and five thousand armed cavalry three thousand men There is a discrepancy in historical manuscripts; some suggest 60,000 infantry to reach and plunder the land of Judea. ²⁹ They came and drew up their battle lines in the regions of Beth-zur. And Judas met them with eleven thousand men. ³⁰ And when they saw the thick and powerful battalion, they began to pray, blessing God and saying: "Lord God, you are the one who crushed the power of the attacker by the hand of your servant David, and delivered the camp of the foreigners into the hands of Jonathan, the son of Saul. ³¹ Now, crush the power of this army by the hand of Israel; let their strength be extinguished along with their horses and their troops. ³² Strike them with cowardice, and melt away the strength of their pride; let them be moved to their own destruction. ³³ Cast them down by the sword of those who love You; and let all who know Your name praise You with hymns." ³⁴ And they struck one another head-on; and at that time, five thousand of Lysias's cavalry fell before them. ³⁵ And when Lysias saw the defeat of his own battalion and the victory of the bravery of Judas’s battalion—and how they were ready either to live or to die for the sake of the noble name of victory—he departed and went to the regions of Antioch. There he began to gather a new army, preparing to march back into the regions of Judea.

³⁶ Then Judas began to speak with his brothers and the people, saying: "Behold, our enemies are crushed beneath our feet; come, let us go up to cleanse the holy places, and let us cleanse the Temple to perform a dedication Armenian: "navakatis" — the inauguration or rededication ceremony, known today as Hanukkah in it." ³⁷ All the assembly gathered together and they went up to Mount Zion. ³⁸ They saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar defiled, the gates burned, and bushes growing in the courts as in a forest or on a mountain; the chambers were ruined, and the curtains were torn. ³⁹ They struck their breasts, they tore their garments, they put ashes on their heads, ⁴⁰ and they fell prostrate on the ground. They sounded the trumpets and cried out to heaven. ⁴¹ At that time, Judas gave an order to his soldiers to besiege those in the Citadel The Akra, a fortress in Jerusalem held by a Syrian garrison so that he might cleanse the sanctuary. ⁴² And he chose blameless priests, observers of the law, ⁴³ and he cleansed the sanctuary. And they took

away the stones that had been defiled and put them in a separate place. ⁴⁴ And they took counsel concerning the altar of burnt offerings, which had been defiled by the enemies, as to what they should do with it. ⁴⁵ They decided in this council to pull down the altar so that it would not be a source of shame or a perpetual reproach to them, since the heathens had defiled it. So they pulled down the altar ⁴⁶ and took the stones and laid them in a convenient place until a prophet should come and speak concerning them. ⁴⁷ And they took unhewn stones according to the law and built a new sanctuary. ⁴⁸ And everything inside the temple was restored; they cleansed the courts, ⁴⁹ and they made new holy vessels. They brought inside the lampstand for light, the altar of incense, and the table of the Temple. ⁵⁰ And they offered incense upon the altar, lit the lamps, and gave light to the temple. ⁵¹ They placed the showbread The "bread of the presence" always kept in the Temple upon the table and hung the curtains, completing all the tasks they had undertaken. ⁵² They rose early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month (which is the month of Chislev), in the one hundred and forty-eighth year. ⁵³ They offered sacrifice according to the law upon the new altar of burnt offerings which they had made. ⁵⁴ At the same time and on the same day that the heathens had defiled it, it was dedicated with songs of blessing, with harps, lutes, and cymbals. ⁵⁵ All the people fell on their faces, bowing down and worshipping; they blessed God in heaven who had granted them success. ^{56$ And they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, offering burnt offerings with joy, and sacrificing offerings of salvation and praise. $^{57} They decorated the front of the Temple with gold crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and set them up. ⁵⁸ And there was very great joy among the people, and the reproach of the heathens was removed from them. ⁵⁹ And Judas, along with his brothers and the entire assembly of Israel, decreed that these days of the dedication of the altar should be observed in their season from year to year, for eight days, from the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, with joy and gladness. ⁶⁰ And at that time they built high walls and strong towers all around Mount Zion, lest the heathens should come and trample them as they had done before. ⁶¹ And he stationed a garrison there to guard it, and he fortified Beth-zur to be a stronghold for the army against the regions of the Edomites.

5 And it happened that when the heathens around them heard that the altar had been rebuilt and the sanctuary restored as it was before, they became very angry. ² They planned to come and destroy the race of Jacob The Jewish people who were among them, and they began to kill and exterminate them. ³ And Judas fought constantly against the sons of Esau The Edomites who were in the regions of the Idumeans at Akrabattene; for they had surrounded and besieged Israel. He struck them with many blows, humbled them, and took their spoils. ⁴ And he remembered the wickedness of the sons of Baean, who had been a snare and a stumbling block to the people, ambushing them on their paths. ⁵ They fled from him and shut themselves up in their towers; he pursued them, laid siege to them, and set fire to their strongholds, destroying them with all their inhabitants. ^{6$ Then he marched against the sons of Ammon, and there he found a strong force and many troops, with Timothy as their leader. $^{7} He engaged them in battle, and many times the war grew fierce against them; he struck...

three thousand men.

19 Some [manuscripts]: "He was speaking this with them." 20 Oskan: "Has been delivered to defeat." In the original: "And the smoke that piled up." Some: "Which piled up... what had happened." 24 Others: "Began to give thanks, blessing." Some/Oskan: "God in heaven." Some: "His mercy." 25 Others: "And there was a great salvation." 27 Some: "For not that will." 28 Some: "He made cavalry." The original layout places it thus: "About 6 infantry. 5 cavalry arm[ed]." While others: "that infantry. 60 cavalry." 30 Some: "Blessing God and saying." Oskan: "Son of Saul." 35 Others: "And the victory of encouragement." Some: "Brave and victory." 38 Oskan: "And the altar def[iled]." Some: "Or like one by one."

43 Some: "The stones that were defiled." 45 Some: "That conscience." 52 Oskan adds: "In the month... forty-eighth." 53 Missing in the original: "Upon the altar of burnt offerings." 54 Some: "In those days in which it was defiled." 57 Oskan: "And the hanging curtains." 58 Some: "And the reproach of the he[athens] was erased." 59 Some: "And all the people of Isra[el]." In the original, between the words 'Israelites' and 'always,' there is a quotation mark. Some/Oskan only in the margin: hints at adding 'that.' Some: "Eight days on the twenty-fifth of the month." 60 Oskan: "Lest they come." 5.1 Many [manuscripts]: "And when they heard." 3 Others: "Who were in the regions of Edom." 4 Some: "The sons of Baneay."