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1Judas, who was called Maccabeus, took the place of his father, Mattathias.
2His brothers and all who had joined his father helped him, and they gladly fought for Israel.
3Judas brought great honor to his people.
Like a giant he put on his body armor.
He armed himself with weapons of war
and protected his camps with his sword.
4He was like a lion in his actions,
like a lion’s cub roaring for prey.
5He hunted down the wicked and pursued them,
and he set on fire those who harmed his people.
6The wicked fled in fear,
and all the ungodly were frightened.
The cause of liberation prospered under his planning;
7he bitterly angered many kings.
He brought Israel joy by his deeds;
his memory will be blessed forever.
8He went throughout the towns of Judea and destroyed the wicked,[#3:8 Greek the towns of Judah.]
turning away punishment from Israel.
9He was famous even to the ends of the earth,
and he helped those facing death.
10Apollonius gathered a large army of Gentiles and Samaritans to attack Israel.
11When Judas heard this, he went out to meet him, and he defeated and killed him. Many were wounded and fell, and the survivors fled.
12Judas plundered their belongings, including the sword of Apollonius, which he used the rest of his life.
13When Seron, commander of the Syrian forces, heard that Judas had formed a large army of faithful men,
14he said, “I will make a reputation for myself and become famous in my kingdom by crushing Judas and his followers, who have scorned the king’s command.”
15So Seron organized his troops, a large number of wicked men who sought vengeance on the Israelites.
16They marched as far as Beth-horon, where Judas went out to meet him with only a few men.
17When the Israelites saw the advancing army, they said to Judas, “How can so few of us fight against an army that is so large and strong? And we are weak, for we have eaten nothing today.”
18Judas replied, “It is easy for many to be overpowered by a few, for it makes no difference in God’s sight whether we are saved by few or many.[#3:18 Greek in the sight of heaven.]
19Success in battle depends not on the size of the army but on strength that comes from God.[#3:19 Greek from heaven.]
20This arrogant and wicked army has come to destroy us, our wives, and our children and to take our belongings.
21But we will fight for our lives and our laws,
22and the Lord himself will crush them as we watch. So don’t be afraid of them.”[#3:22 Greek he.]
23As soon as Judas had finished speaking, he and his troops suddenly charged Seron and his army and overpowered them.
24They pursued them from Beth-horon down to the plain; there they killed eight hundred soldiers, and the rest fled into Philistia.
25Then the Gentiles in the area feared Judas and his brothers.
26Even the king heard of his reputation, and all the Gentiles talked about his battles.
27When King Antiochus Epiphanes heard these reports, he became angry. He formed a very strong army from the forces of his entire kingdom.
28Opening his treasury, he paid his troops a year’s wages and told them to be ready for anything.
29In this way he exhausted the money in his treasury. Antiochus realized that his tax revenues were small because he had antagonized and impoverished the people when he abolished the ancient laws.
30He feared that he would not have enough money for all his expenses and for the gifts he liked to give. (He gave more lavishly than any of the kings who had preceded him.)
31He was very perplexed about this, so he decided to go to Persia to collect a large tax fund from those regions.
32So King Antiochus left Lysias, a nobleman of the royal family, to oversee the affairs of the kingdom—from the Euphrates River to the border of Egypt.
33Lysias was also supposed to take care of the king’s son Antiochus until he returned.
34The king gave Lysias half his soldiers and all his elephants and gave him orders concerning the people of Judea and Jerusalem.
35Lysias was instructed to attack them in order to crush the strength of Israel and to wipe out the people left in Jerusalem. He was to erase even the memory of them from that place.
36He was instructed to settle foreigners in their territory and redistribute the land to them.
37Then the king took the other half of the army and left Antioch, his capital city, in the one hundred forty-seventh year of Greek rule. He crossed the Euphrates River and went through the upper provinces.[#3:37 The 147th year of Greek rule was 165 b.c.]
38Lysias chose Ptolemy Macron son of Dorymenes along with Nicanor and Gorgias, all capable men who were among the king’s favored leaders,
39and sent them with forty thousand foot soldiers and seven thousand horsemen to destroy the land of Judea, as the king had ordered.[#3:39 Greek of Judah.]
40So the powerful army marched out and set up camp in the plain near Emmaus.
41When the merchants of the surrounding area heard about it, they brought chains and large amounts of silver and gold to the camp to buy as slaves any Israelites who might be captured. Then forces from Syria and Philistia joined the army in its camp.
42Judas and his brothers saw that the situation was desperate, for the army had camped in their territory. They also knew that the king had given orders to completely destroy the Israelites.
43They said to each other, “Let us fight for our people and for our Temple; let us rescue them from ruin.”
44Then they assembled the people for battle and prayed for God’s mercy and compassion.
45Jerusalem was abandoned like a wilderness;
none of her children entered or exited the city.
The Temple was trampled down.
Foreigners occupied the citadel,
and Gentiles made their homes there.
There was no joy for Israel;
the flute and harp were silent.
46The Israelites assembled at Mizpah near Jerusalem, since it was a traditional place of prayer for them.
47That day they fasted and dressed in sackcloth. They also put ashes on their heads and tore their clothes in grief.
48And in contrast to the Gentiles, who search for answers from the idols of their gods, the Israelites opened the Book of the Law to find guidance.
49They brought out the priestly garments, the gifts that represented the first portion of the harvest, and the tithes, and they summoned the Nazirites, who had completed their vows.
50They cried loudly to heaven, “What can we do with these Nazirites? Where can we take them to fulfill the law of Moses?
51For your Temple is torn down and defiled. Your priests mourn in humiliation.
52The Gentiles have gathered together to destroy us. You know what their intentions are.
53How can we stand against them if you do not help us?”
54Then they sounded the trumpets and loudly cried out.
55After this, Judas appointed officers over the people to command groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten.
56(He told those who were building houses and those soon to be married, as well as those who were planting vineyards and those who were afraid, that they should go home, just as the law of Moses instructed.)
57Then the army moved out and set up a new camp on the south side of Emmaus.
58Judas said, “Prepare yourselves and be brave. Be ready early in the morning to fight these Gentiles, for they want to destroy us and our Temple.
59It is better for us to die in battle than to see the ruin of our nation and our Temple.
60May God’s will be done.”[#3:60 Greek Whatever is the will of heaven.]