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1Now Maccabeus and those who were with him, by the protection of the Lord, recovered the Temple and Jerusalem.
2They tore down the altars the Gentiles had set up in the public square and destroyed their pagan shrines.
3After they had purified the Temple, they made another altar. Striking new fire from flint, they offered the first sacrifice in two years. They burned incense, lit the lamps, and set out the Bread of the Presence.
4When they had done all these things, they fell face down on the ground and asked the Lord to keep them safe from any further disasters. They also asked that he punish them more gently if they did sin again and that he not hand them over to barbarians and blasphemous people.
5The purification of the Temple occurred on the anniversary of the day it had been polluted by foreigners—that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.[#10:5 The 25th day of the Hebrew month Kislev occurs in December.]
6They celebrated with joy for eight days, as is the custom for the Festival of Shelters. They remembered how they had recently kept the Festival of Shelters when they were living in caves in the mountains like wild animals.
7So they carried garlanded wands, green branches, and palm branches and sang hymns to the one who had given them success in purifying his Holy Place.
8They voted to pass a public decree that the entire Jewish nation should observe these days every year.
9We have finished recounting the death of Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes.
10We will now relate the events that took place during the reign of Antiochus Eupator, the son of that wicked man. We will give a brief summary of the evils brought about by his wars.
11When Eupator became king, he appointed a man named Lysias to administer the affairs of his kingdom. Before this, Lysias had succeeded Ptolemy Macron as governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia.
12Ptolemy was determined to act justly toward the Jews and to deal with them peacefully, especially because of the wrongs that had been done to them.
13But the king’s favored leaders came and accused Ptolemy Macron because of his policy toward the Jews. On every side he was called a traitor because he had also left Cyprus, where King Ptolemy Philometor had put him in charge, and had defected to Antiochus Epiphanes. Since Ptolemy Macron had no support, he committed suicide by taking poison.
14When Gorgias replaced Lysias as governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, he hired mercenaries and continually fought the Jews.[#10:14 Greek When Gorgias became governor of the region.]
15At the same time, the Idumeans, who controlled important fortified strongholds, were also harassing the Jews. They welcomed renegade Jews from Jerusalem and did everything to keep the war going.
16After seeking God’s help through prayer, Maccabeus and his troops launched an assault against the Idumean strongholds.
17They attacked vigorously and captured them, driving back those who fought on the walls and slaughtering everyone they encountered. They killed at least twenty thousand men.
18At least nine thousand men took refuge in two very strong towers with plenty of food and weapons to withstand a siege.
19So Maccabeus left Simon and Joseph, along with Zacchaeus and his troops, to command an army that was large enough to besiege them. Then he left to take care of more urgent matters.
20But some of Simon’s men were greedy, and they accepted a bribe of seventy thousand silver coins to let the men in the tower escape.[#10:20 Greek 70,000 drachmas.]
21When Maccabeus was told what had happened, he gathered the leaders of the people and accused them of selling out their fellow Jews for money by letting their enemies escape.
22Then he put those traitors to death and quickly captured the two towers.
23He was successful in battle and in everything else he did, and he killed more than twenty thousand men in the two fortresses.
24Timothy, who had already been defeated once by the Jews, gathered a large army of mercenaries and assembled many horsemen from Asia. He approached Judea, intending to take it by force.
25But Maccabeus and his men prayed to God as Timothy drew near. To show their humility, they sprinkled dust on their heads and wore sackcloth.
26They lay face down at the foot of the altar and asked God to be merciful to them and to be an enemy to their enemies, an opponent to their opponents, as the law of Moses says.[#10:26 See Exod 23:22.]
27After they had prayed, they took up their weapons and marched from the town until they came near their enemies.
28As soon as the sun came up, the two forces attacked each other. One army had not only courage but also confidence in the Lord as its guarantee for victory and success; the other army made rage its leader in the battle.
29When they were in the heat of battle, the enemy saw five men from heaven riding on brilliant horses with golden bridles. These heavenly horsemen were leading the Jews.
30Two of them stood on either side of Maccabeus, shielding him with their armor and keeping him safe. They shot arrows and thunderbolts at the enemy, making them blind and confused and throwing them into chaos.
31The Jews killed 20,500 troops and 600 horsemen.
32Timothy fled to Gazara, a heavily guarded stronghold where Chaereas was governor.
33Maccabeus and his army eagerly laid siege to the fortress for four days.
34Those who were inside, trusting in the strength of the place, kept shouting blasphemies and profanities.
35On the morning of the fifth day, twenty young men who were with Maccabeus became furious because of the blasphemy. They bravely stormed the wall and fiercely cut down the enemy.
36Then others followed them and set fire to the towers, burning the blasphemers alive. Still others broke open the gates and let in the rest of the army so they could capture the town.
37They killed Timothy, who was found hiding in a cistern, his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes.
38After their victory, they sang hymns of thanksgiving, praising the Lord who had shown great kindness to Israel and given them the victory.