1 Now with 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 guiding them Maqqaḇah and his army recovered the Hĕyḵal and the city.
2 And they pulled down the altars and also the chapels which the gentiles had built in the open street.
3 And having cleansed the Hĕyḵal they made another altar, and striking flint they made fire out of it and offered a slaughtering after two years, and offered incense and lamps and showbread.
4 When that was done, they bowed down and pleaded to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 that they would no longer come upon such troubles; but if they sinned any more against Him, that He Himself would discipline them with kindness, and that they would not be delivered over to the blasphemous and foreign nations.
5 Now on the same day that the foreigners profaned the Hĕyḵal; on that very same day it was cleansed again, even the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which is Kislĕw.
6 And they observed the eight days with gladness, as in the Feast of Sukkoth, remembering that not long before they had held the Feast of Sukkoth, as when they wandered in the mountains and caves like beasts.
7 Therefore they carried branches and leafy twigs and also palms, and sang psalms to He that had given them good success in cleansing His Place.
8 They also made a law by common decree, that every year those days should be observed by the whole nation of the Yahuḏim.
9 And this was the end of Antioḵos, called Epiphanĕs.
10 Now we shall declare the acts of Antioḵos Eupator, who was the son of this wicked man, assembling briefly the calamities of the battles.
11 So when he had attained the crown, he appointed a certain Lusias over the affairs of his reign, and appointed him his chief governor of Koĕlĕ Suria and Phoinikĕ.
12 For Ptolemaeus, who was called Makron, choosing rather to do righteousness to the Yahuḏim for the wrong that had been done to them, sought to continue peace with them.
13 So being accused by the sovereign’s friends before Eupator, and called a traitor at every command that Philometor had given to him, because he had left Cyprus and departed to Antioḵos Epiphanĕs. And seeing that he was in a dishonourable position, he was so discouraged that he poisoned himself and died.
14 But when Gorgias was governor of the towers, he hired soldiers and maintained battle continually with the Yahuḏim.
15 And also the Eḏomites, having taken into their hands the most advantageous towers, kept the Yahuḏim occupied and accepting those that were banished from Yerushalayim, they prepared to engage in battle.
16 Then those that were with Maqqaḇah pleaded and sought Elohim that He would be their Helper; and so they ran with force upon the strongholds of the Eḏomites.
17 And attacking them mightily, they gained the towers and held off all that fought on the wall and slew all that fell into their hands, and killed no fewer than twenty thousand.
18 And because some, who were no less than nine thousand, had fled together into two very strong fortresses, having all the provisions necessary to sustain the siege,
19 Maqqaḇah left Shim’on and Yosĕph and also Zakkai and those that were with him, who were enough to besiege them, and he departed to those places which needed his help more.
20 Now those that were with Shim’on, being led by covetousness, were persuaded with silver by some of those that were in the fortress, and took seventy thousand draḵmas and let some of them escape.
21 But when Maqqaḇah was told what was done, he called the governors of the people together and accused those men, that they had sold their brothers for silver and released their enemies to fight against them.
22 So he slew those that were found traitors and immediately took the two fortresses.
23 And having good skill with all weapons he took in hand, he slew more than twenty thousand in the two towers.
24 Now when Timotheos, whom the Yahuḏim had overcome before, had gathered a great multitude of foreign armies, and not a few horses from Asia, came intending to take the Yahuḏim by force.
25 But when he drew near, those that were with Maqqaḇah turned to pray to Elohim, and threw dust on their heads and girded their loins with sackcloth,
26 and fell down at the foot of the altar and pleaded for Him to be kind to them and to be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries, as the Law declares.
27 So after the prayer they took their weapons and went further on from the city; and when they drew near to their enemies, they remained secluded.
28 Now early when the sun had risen, they both engaged in battle; the one group having their strength together with also their refuge in 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 for a promise of their win and deliverance, the other side making rage the leader of their battle.
29 But when the battle grew fierce, five radiant men from the shamayim on horses appeared to the enemy, with bridles of gold. And two of them led the Yahuḏim,
30 and took Maqqaḇah between them, and covered him on every side with weapons, guarding him and shooting arrows and lightning against the enemy, so that being confused with blindness and troubled, they were killed.
31 And there were twenty thousand five hundred footmen slain, and six hundred horsemen.
32 As for Timotheos himself, he fled into a stronghold, called Gezer, where Ḵaereas was governor.
33 But those that were with Maqqaḇah laid siege against the fortress courageously for four days.
34 And those that were within, trusting in the strength of the place, blasphemed exceedingly, and spoke wicked words.
35 Nevertheless, early on the fifth day, twenty young men of Maqqaḇah’s army filled with wrath because of the blasphemies, assaulted the wall bravely and with great courage killed all those they encountered.
36 Others also going up after them, while they were occupied with those that were within, burned the towers, and lighting fires burned the blasphemers alive. And others broke open the gates, and having let in the rest of the army, took the city
37 and killed Timotheos who was hiding in some pit, with Ḵaereas his brother and Apollophanĕs.
38 When this was done, they praised 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 with psalms and thanksgiving who had done such greatness for Yisra’ĕl, and given them the victory.