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1In the one hundred forty-ninth year of Greek rule, Judas learned that Antiochus Eupator was marching with a great army toward Judea.[#13:1 The 149th year of Greek rule was 163 b.c.]
2He had with him Lysias, his guardian and second-in-command, and each had an army of 110,000 foot soldiers, 5,300 horsemen, 22 elephants, and 300 chariots armed with deadly blades to cut down foot soldiers.
3Menelaus joined them, and with great pretense he urged Antiochus on. But he was not really looking out for the welfare of his country; he simply hoped to strengthen his political position.
4The King of kings caused Antiochus to become angry at the wicked man. So when Lysias suggested that Menelaus was the cause of all their trouble, Antiochus commanded that Menelaus be taken to Berea in Syria and executed according to their local custom.
5For in Berea there was a tower seventy-five feet high, with sides steeply sloping down to piles of ashes all around it.[#13:5 Greek 50 cubits [23 meters].]
6Anyone guilty of sacrilege or notorious for other crimes is taken to the top of the tower and thrown down into the ashes to die.
7That was the fate of sinful Menelaus, and he was not even given a decent burial.
8It was only fitting that he die in ashes because he had committed many sins against the altar of the Temple, the fire and ashes of which are holy.
9The king was consumed with savage arrogance, and he had plans, even worse than his father’s, to devastate the Jews.
10When Judas learned of these plans, he ordered the people to pray to the Lord day and night, asking him to help them now more than ever. For they feared that they would be deprived of the law of Moses, their land, and the holy Temple.
11They prayed that God would not let his people be overtaken again by blasphemous Gentiles, for they were only now recovering from past troubles.
12They all joined in this prayer and begged the Lord to be merciful. For three days they continually wept, fasted, and lay face down before the Lord, and then Judas encouraged them and ordered them to stand ready.
13After consulting with the high council, Judas decided not to wait for the king to lead his army into Judea to make himself master of the city. Judas decided instead to rely on the Lord to help them defeat the king’s army in open warfare.[#13:13 Greek with the elders.]
14So Judas committed everything to the Creator of the world and encouraged his troops to fight bravely, even to death, in defense of the laws of Moses, the Temple, the city of Jerusalem, and their country and its citizens. Judas set up camp near Modein,
15and he gave his soldiers their battle cry, “God brings us victory!” Then, with a select contingent of brave young men, he attacked the king’s camp at night and killed as many as two thousand men in the camp. He also killed the lead elephant with its driver.
16Having created great fear and confusion in the enemy camp, they left with great success
17just as dawn was breaking. This all happened because the Lord helped and protected them.
18The king, having seen the daring of the Jews, resorted to making strategic attacks against their positions.
19He advanced with his army against Beth-zur, a strong fortress of the Jews, but he was held off and defeated.
20Judas was able to send supplies to reinforce the defenders.
21And though Rhodocus, a Jewish soldier, supplied the enemy with secret information, his fellow soldiers discovered the plot, hunted him down, and took him to prison.
22Then once more the king made a treaty with the people of Beth-zur, and they exchanged pledges of peace. When the king left them, he went to fight Judas and his men, but he was beaten again.
23Then the king learned that Philip, who had been left in charge of the government by Antiochus Epiphanes, had rebelled at Antioch. The king was worried and made peace with the Jews, promising to honor their demands. When the peace treaty was finalized, the king offered sacrifices and honored the Temple by leaving generous gifts for the Holy Place.[#13:23 Greek lacks Antiochus Epiphanes; see 1 Macc 6:14-15.]
24He accepted Maccabeus with kindness and appointed Hegemonides as governor of the region stretching from Ptolemais in the north to Gerar in the south.
25Then the king visited Ptolemais, but the people of that city were very unhappy with the peace treaty. They were so angry that they wanted to cancel its terms.
26But Lysias went up to the speaker’s platform and argued in favor of the treaty the best he could. Finally, he convinced the people, and they were satisfied. Then the king returned to Antioch. This was how the king’s invasion and withdrawal turned out.