1 Then his son Yahuḏah, called Maqqaḇah, rose up in his place.
2 And all his brothers aided him, and so did all they that stood with his father, and they fought the battle for Yisra’ĕl with eagerness.
3 So he gave his people great honour, and put on a breastplate as a giant, and girded his armour about him, and he fought, protecting the army with his sword.
4 In his acts he was like a lion, and like a lion’s cub roaring for his prey.
5 For He pursued the wicked, and sought them out, and burned up those that oppressed his people.
6 Therefore the wicked shrunk for fear of him, and all the workers of wickedness were troubled, because deliverance prospered in his hand.
7 He also grieved many sovereigns, and made Ya’aqoḇ glad with his deeds, and his remembrance is baruḵ forever.
8 And he went through the cities of Yahuḏah, destroying the wicked out of them, and turning away wrath from Yisra’ĕl,
9 so that he was renowned to the utmost ends of the earth, and he received to himself those who were ready to perish.
10 Then Apollonios gathered the gentiles together, and a great army out of Shomeron to fight against Yisra’ĕl.
11 When Yahuḏah knew of this, he went out to meet him, and so he smote him, and slew him. Many also fell down slain, but the rest fled.
12 Therefore Yahuḏah took their spoils, and also the sword of Apollonios, and he fought with it all his lifetime.
13 Now when Seron, a prince of the army of Suria, heard that Yahuḏah had gathered a multitude to himself and an army of the trustworthy to go out with him to battle;
14 he said, “I will make myself a name and reign in honour; for I will go fight with Yahuḏah and those that are with him, who despise the sovereign’s command.”
15 So he prepared to go up, and a mighty army of the wicked went with him to help him, and to be avenged on the children of Yisra’ĕl.
16 And when he came near to the ascent of Bĕyth Ḥoron, Yahuḏah went out to meet him with a small army,
17 who, when they saw the army coming to meet them, said to Yahuḏah, “How shall we be able, being so few, to fight against so great a multitude and so strong, seeing we are ready to faint from fasting all this day?”
18 Yahuḏah answered them, “It is no hard matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few; and with the Elohim of the shamayim it is all the same – to deliver with a great multitude, or a small company,
19 for the overcoming of battle stands not in the multitude of an army; but strength comes from the shamayim.
20 “They come against us in great pride and wickedness to destroy us with our wives and children, and to plunder us,
21 but we fight for our lives and our Laws.
22 “Therefore 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Himself will overthrow them before our face. And as for you, do not be afraid of them.”
23 Now as soon as he had ended speaking, he rushed upon them suddenly, and so Seron and his army was overthrown before him.
24 And they pursued them from the descent of Bĕyth Ḥoron to the plain, where about eight hundred men of them were slain; and the remainder fled into the land of the Pelishtites.
25 Then the fear of Yahuḏah and his brothers began, and an exceedingly great dread, fell upon the nations round about them,
26 so that the report of him came to the sovereign, and all nations spoke of the battles of Yahuḏah.
27 Now when Sovereign Antioḵos heard these matters, he was full of wrath, therefore he sent and gathered together all the armies of his reign, even a very strong army.
28 He also opened his treasury, and gave his soldiers wages for a year, commanding them to be ready whenever he needed them.
29 Nevertheless, when he saw that the silver of his treasures was spent and that the taxes in the country were small, because of the uprising and plague, which he had brought upon the land in taking away the Laws which had been of old;
30 he feared that he would not be able to bear the expenses any longer, nor to have such gifts to give so liberally as he did before, for he had exceeded the sovereigns that were before him.
31 Therefore, being greatly perplexed in his mind, he determined to go to Paras, to take the taxes from the lands, and to gather much silver.
32 So he left Lusias, a nobleman, and one of royal blood, to oversee the affairs of the sovereign from the River Perath to the borders of Mitsrayim,
33 and to raise his son Antioḵos, until he came again.
34 And he delivered to him half of his armies and the elephants, and gave him charge of all matters that he would have done, and also concerning those that dwelt in Yahuḏah and Yerushalayim,
35 that is, that he should send an army against them to destroy and uproot the strength of Yisra’ĕl, and the remnant of Yerushalayim, and to remove their remembrance from that place,
36 and that he should place foreigners in all their places, and divide their land by lot.
37 So the sovereign took the half of the armies that remained, and departed from Antioḵeia, his royal city in the hundred and forty-seventh year; and having passed over the River Perath, he went through the high countries.
38 Then Lusias chose Ptolemaeus the son of Dorumĕnĕs, Nikanor, and Gorgias, mighty men of the sovereign’s friends,
39 and he sent forty thousand footmen with them, and seven thousand horsemen, to go into the land of Yahuḏah, and destroy it, as the sovereign commanded.
40 So they went out with all their strength, and came and encamped by Amma’us in the plains country.
41 And the merchants of the country, hearing the report of them, took very much silver and gold, with servants, and came to the camp to buy the children of Yisra’ĕl as slaves. A strength from Suria and of the land of the Pelishtites also joined themselves to them.
42 Now when Yahuḏah and his brothers saw that hardships were multiplied, and that the armies encamped themselves on their borders, for they knew how the sovereign had given command to destroy the people, and utterly annihilate them,
43 they said one to another, “Let us restore the fallen state of our people, and let us fight for our people and the Miqdash.”
44 Then there was an assembly gathered together, that they might be ready for battle, and that they might pray, and ask for favour and compassion.
45 Now Yerushalayim lay as empty as a wilderness; there was none of her children that went in or out. The Miqdash was also trodden down, and foreigners guarded the stronghold; the gentiles had their dwelling in that place and joy was taken from Ya’aqoḇ, and the flute with the harp had ceased.
46 Therefore the Yisra’ĕlites assembled themselves together, and came to Mitspah, opposite Yerushalayim; for in Mitspah was the place where they previously prayed in Yisra’ĕl.
47 Then they fasted that day, and put on sackcloth, and threw ashes on their heads, and tore their garments,
48 and laid open the Book of the Torah, wherein the gentiles had sought to paint the likeness of their images.
49 They also brought the garments of the kohĕnim, and the first-fruits, and the tithes, and they brought up the Nazirites, who had completed their days.
50 Then they cried with a loud voice toward the shamayim saying, “What shall we do with these, and to where shall we carry them away?
51 “For Your Miqdash is trodden down and profaned, and Your kohĕnim are in despair, and brought low.
52 “And see, the gentiles have assembled together against us to destroy us! What they devise against us, You know.
53 “How shall we be able to stand against them, unless You, O Elohim, are our Help?”
54 Then they sounded with trumpets, and cried with a loud voice.
55 And after this Yahuḏah appointed commanders over the people, even commanders over thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens.
56 But as for those that were building houses, or were engaged to wives, or were planting vineyards, or were fearful, those he commanded that they should return, every man to his own house, according to the Torah.
57 So the camp moved, and encamped on the south side of Amma’us.
58 And Yahuḏah said, “Arm yourselves, and be brave men, and see that you are ready before the morning to fight with these nations that are assembled together against us to destroy us and our Miqdash.
59 “For it is better for us to die in battle, than to see the destruction of our people and our Miqdash.
60 “Nevertheless, according to the desire of Elohim in the shamayim, so let Him do.