2 Machabees 8

¹But Judas Machabeus and they that were with him, went in secretly into the towns: and calling together their kinsmen and taking unto them those that continued in Judaism, they brought out to them six thousand men.

²And they invocated our Lord, that he would have respect unto his people that was trodden of all, and would have mercy on the temple, that was contaminated of the impious:

³he would have pity also upon the destruction of the city, which was forthwith to be made flat with the ground, and would hear the voice of the blood crying to him:

⁴he would remember also the most unjust deaths of innocent children, & the blasphemies done to his name, and would take indignation for them.

⁵But Machabeus having gathered a multitude, became intolerable to the heathen: for the wrath of our Lord was turned into mercy.

⁶And coming upon the castles and cities unlooked for, he burnt them: and taking commodious places, he made not few slaughters of the enemies:

⁷and especially in the nights he was carried to such excursions, and the fame of his manliness was spread abroad every-where.

⁸But Philip seeing the man to come forward by little & little, & that things for the more part succeeded with him prosperously, wrote to Ptolomee the governor of Coelesyria & Phoenicia, to give aid to the king's affairs.

⁹And he with speed sent Nicanor the son of Patroclus, of the principals of his friends, giving him of the nations mingled together, no less than twenty thousand armed men, to destroy utterly all the stock of the Jews, adjoining also unto him Gorgias a man of war, and in martial affairs of very great experience.

¹⁰And Nicanor appointed, that he would supply unto the king the tribute that was to be given to the Romans, two thousand talents out of the captivity of the Jews:

¹¹and forthwith he sent to the cities by the sea side, calling men together to the buying of the Jewish slaves, promising that he would sell ninety slaves for a talent, not looking to the vengeance, which was to follow him from the Almighty.

¹²But Judas when he understood it, shewed to those Jews that were with him, the coming of Nicanor.

¹³Of whom certain fearing, and not crediting the justice of God, fled away:

¹⁴and others if they had any thing left sold it, & withal besought our Lord, that he would deliver them from the impious Nicanor who had sold them before he came near them:

¹⁵and if not for them, yet for the testament that was with their fathers, & for the invocation of his holy & magnifical name upon them.

¹⁶But Machabeus calling together seven thousand, that were with him, desired that they would not be reconciled to the enemies, nor fear the multitude of the enemies coming against them unjustly, but would fight manfully:

¹⁷having before their eyes the contumely, that was unjustly done by them to the holy place, & moreover the injury also of the city being made a laughing stock, besides also the ordinances of the ancesters broken.

¹⁸For they indeed trust to their weapons, said he, and to their boldness also: but we trust in the Almighty Lord, who can utterly destroy both them coming against us, and the whole world with one beck.

¹⁹And he admonished them also of the aids of God, that were given to their fathers: & that under Sennacherib an hundred four score five thousand perished.

²⁰And of the battle, that they had against the Galatians in Babylonia, how all they, when it came to the point, the Macedonians their fellows staggering, being only six thousand slew an hundred twenty thousand, by reason of the aid given them from heaven, and for these things obtained very many benefits.

²¹With these words they were made constant, & ready to die for the laws, and their country.

²²He appointed therefore his brethren captains over both orders, Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathas, under every one putting a thousand and five hundreth.

²³Beside this also the holy Book being read unto them by Esdras,

²⁴and a sign of God's help being given, in the forward the duke himself joined battle with Nicanor. And the Almighty being made their helper, they slew above nine thousand men: and the greater part of Nicanor's army being made weak with wounds, they forced to fly.

²⁵And taking away their money that came to buy them, they pursued them on every hand,

²⁶but they returned being taken short with the time: for it was the day before the Sabbath: for the which cause they continued not pursuing them.

²⁷But gathering together the armour and spoils of them, they kept the Sabbath: blessing our Lord that delivered them this day, distilling the beginning of mercy upon them.

²⁸But after the Sabbath they divided the spoils to the feeble and to orphans, & to widows: and the rest themselves had with their fellows.

²⁹These things therefore being done, and obsecration being made in common of all, they desired our merciful Lord, that he would be reconciled to his servants unto the end.

³⁰And of them that were with Timothee and Bacchides fighting against them, they slew above twenty thousand, and won the high holds: and they divided many preys, making equal portion to the feeble, pupils, and widows, yea and to the elder men.

³¹And when they had diligently gathered together their armour, they laid all together in convenient places, and the residue of the spoils they carried to Jerusalem:

³²and Philarches that was with Timothee, they slew, a wicked man, which in many things had afflicted the Jews.

³³And when they kept the feast of victory in Jerusalem, him that had burnt the holy gates, that is, Callisthenes, when he was fled into a certain house, they burnt, a worthy reward being repayed him for his impieties:

³⁴But the most impious Nicanor, who had brought a thousand merchants to the sale of the Jews,

³⁵being humbled through the help of our Lord by them, whom he esteemed nobody, laying aside his garment of glory, flying by the midland, came alone to Antioch, having gotten great infelicity by the destruction of his army.

³⁶And he that had promised that he would render tribute to the Romans of the captivity of Jerusalem, now professed that the Jews had God their protector, and that for him they could not be wounded, because they followed the laws appointed by him.