2 Maccabees 8

^aThen ^bJudas Maccabeus, and they that were with him, went privily into the towns, and called their kinsfolks together, and took unto them all such as continued in the Jews’ religion, and assembled about six thousand men. ²And they called upon the Lord, that he would look upon the people that was trodden down of all; and also pity ^cthe temple profaned of ungodly men; ³and that he would have compassion upon ^cthe city, sore defaced, and ready to be made even with the ground; ^dand hear ^ethe blood that cried unto him, ⁴and remember the wicked slaughter ^fof harmless infants, and the blasphemies committed against his name; and that he would shew his hatred against the wicked. ⁵Now when Maccabeus had his company about him, he could not be withstood by the heathen: for ^gthe wrath of the Lord was turned into mercy. ⁶Therefore he came at unawares, and burnt up towns and cities, and got into his hands ^ggthe most commodious places, and overcame and put to flight no small number of his enemies. ⁷But specially took he advantage of the night for such privy attempts, insomuch that the ^hbruit of his manliness was spread every where.

⁸So when ^hhPhilip saw that this man increased by little and little, and that things prospered with him still ⁱmore and more, he wrote unto ^jPtolemeus, ^kthe governor of ^lCoelosyria and Phenice, to yield more aid to the king’s affairs. ⁹Then forthwith choosing ^mNicanor the son of Patroclus, one of his special friends, he sent him with no fewer than twenty thousand of all nations under him, to root out the whole generation of the Jews; and with him he joined also ^mGorgias a captain, who in matters of war had great experience. ¹⁰So Nicanor undertook ⁿto make so much money of the captive Jews, as should ^odefray the tribute of two thousand talents, which the king was to pay to ^pthe Romans. ¹¹Wherefore immediately he sent to the cities upon the sea coast, ⁿproclaiming a sale of the ^qcaptive Jews, and promising that they should have fourscore and ten ^qbodies for one talent, not expecting the vengeance that was to ^rfollow upon him from the ^sAlmighty God. ^12tNow when word was brought unto Judas of Nicanor’s coming, and he had imparted unto those that were with him that the army was at hand, ^13uthey that were fearful, and distrusted the justice of God, fled, and conveyed themselves away. ¹⁴Others sold all that they had left, and withal besought the Lord to deliver them, being ^wsold by the wicked Nicanor before they met together: ¹⁵and if not for their own sakes, yet for the covenants he had made with their fathers, and ^xfor his holy and glorious name’s sake, ^yby which they were called.

¹⁶So Maccabeus called his men together unto the number of six thousand, and ^zexhorted them not to be stricken with terror of the enemy, nor to fear the great multitude of the heathen, who came wrongfully against them; but to fight manfully, ¹⁷and to set before their eyes ^athe injury that they had unjustly done to ^bthe holy place, and ^athe ^ccruel handling of the city, whereof they made a mockery, and also the taking away of the government of their forefathers: ¹⁸for they, said he, trust in their weapons and boldness; but ^dour confidence is in the ^eAlmighty God, who at a beck can cast down both them that come against us, and also all the world. ¹⁹Moreover he recounted unto them what ^fhelps their forefathers had found, and ^ghow they were delivered, when under Sennacherib an hundred fourscore and five thousand perished. ²⁰And he told them of the ^hbattle that they had in Babylon with the ⁱGalatians, how they came but eight thousand in all to ⁱⁱthe business, with four thousand Macedonians, and that the Macedonians being perplexed, the eight thousand destroyed an hundred and twenty thousand because of the help that they had from heaven, and so received a great booty. ²¹Thus when he had made them bold with these words, and ready to die for the laws and the country, he divided his army into four parts; ²²and joined with himself his own brethren, ^jleaders of each band, to wit, ^kSimon, and ^kJoseph, and Jonathan, giving each ^lone fifteen hundred men. ²³Also he appointed ^mEleazar to read the holy book: and ^mmwhen he had given them this watchword, The help of God; himself leading the first ⁿband, ^ohe joined battle with Nicanor. ²⁴And by the help of the ^eAlmighty they slew above nine thousand of their enemies, and wounded and ^pmaimed the most part of Nicanor’s host, and so put all to flight; ²⁵and took ^qtheir money that came to buy them, and pursued them far: but lacking time they ^rreturned: ²⁶for it was the day before the sabbath, and therefore they would no longer pursue them. ²⁷So when they had gathered their armour together, and ^sspoiled their enemies, they occupied themselves about the sabbath, ^syielding exceeding praise and thanks to the Lord, who had preserved them unto that day, which was the beginning of mercy ^tdistilling upon them. ²⁸And after the sabbath, when they had given part of the spoils to the maimed, and ^uthe widows, and orphans, the residue they divided among themselves and their servants. ²⁹When this was done, and they had made a common supplication, they besought ^vthe merciful Lord ^wto be reconciled with his servants for ever.

³⁰Moreover of those that were with ^xTimotheus and ^yBacchides, who fought against them, they slew above twenty thousand, and very easily got high and strong holds, and divided amongst themselves many spoils more, and made the maimed, ^uorphans, widows, yea, and the aged also, equal in spoils with themselves. ³¹And ^zwhen they had gathered their armour together, they laid them up all carefully in ^ggconvenient places, and the remnant of the spoils they brought to Jerusalem. ³²They slew also Philarches, that wicked person, who was with ^xTimotheus, and had annoyed the Jews many ways. ³³Furthermore at such time as they kept the feast for the victory in their country, they burnt Callisthenes, that had set fire upon the holy ^agates, who was fled into a little house; and so he received a reward meet for his wickedness. ³⁴As for that ^bmost ungracious Nicanor, who had brought a thousand merchants ^cto buy the Jews, ³⁵he was ^dthrough the help of the Lord brought down by them, of whom he made least account; and putting off his glorious apparel, and discharging his company, he came like a fugitive servant through the midland unto ^eAntioch, having very great dishonour, for that his host was destroyed. ³⁶Thus he, ^fthat took upon him to make good to the Romans their tribute by means of the captives in Jerusalem, told abroad, that the Jews had God to fight for them, and therefore they could not be hurt, because they followed the laws that he gave them.

IX.