1 Maccabees 3:38–4:35

Preparations for Battle

³⁸Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes and Nicanor and Gorgias, able men among the Friends of the king,^{* 39}and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, as the king had commanded. ⁴⁰So they set out with their entire force, and when they arrived they encamped near Emmaus in the plain.^{* 41}When the traders of the region heard what was said to them, they took silver and gold in immense amounts and fetters^k and went to the camp to get the Israelites for slaves. And forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines^l joined with them.^*

⁴²Now Judas and his brothers saw that misfortunes had increased and that the forces were encamped in their territory. They also learned what the king had commanded to do to the people to cause their final destruction. ⁴³But they said to one another, “Let us restore the ruins of our people and fight for our people and the sanctuary.” ⁴⁴So the congregation assembled to be ready for battle and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.

⁴⁵Jerusalem was uninhabited like a wilderness;

not one of her children went in or out.

The sanctuary was trampled down,

and strangers held the citadel;

it was a lodging place for the nations.

Joy was taken from Jacob;

the flute and the harp ceased to play.^*

⁴⁶Then they gathered together and went to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Israel formerly had a place of prayer in Mizpah.^{* 47}They fasted that day, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on their heads, and tore their clothes.^{* 48}And they opened the book of the law to inquire into those matters about which the nations consulted the likenesses of their gods. ⁴⁹They also brought the vestments of the priesthood and the first fruits and the tithes, and they stirred up the nazirites who had completed their days,^{* 50}and they cried aloud to heaven, saying,

“What shall we do with these?

Where shall we take them?

⁵¹Your sanctuary is trampled down and profaned,

and your priests mourn in humiliation.^*

⁵²Here the nations are assembled against us to destroy us;

you know what they plot against us.

⁵³How will we be able to withstand them,

if you do not help us?”

⁵⁴Then they sounded the trumpets and gave a loud shout.^{* 55}After this Judas appointed leaders of the people in charge of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens.^{* 56}Those who were building houses or were about to be married or were planting a vineyard or were fainthearted, he told to go home, according to the law.^{* 57}Then the army marched out and encamped to the south of Emmaus.

⁵⁸And Judas said, “Arm yourselves and be courageous. Be ready early in the morning to fight with these nations who have assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.^{* 59}It is better for us to die in battle than to see the misfortunes of our nation and of the sanctuary. ⁶⁰But as his will in heaven may be, so shall he do.”

The Battle at Emmaus

⁴Now Gorgias took five thousand infantry and one thousand picked cavalry, and this division moved out by night ²to fall upon the camp of the Jews and attack them suddenly. Men from the citadel were his guides.^{* 3}But Judas heard of it, and he and his warriors moved out to attack the king’s force in Emmaus ⁴while the division was still absent from the camp. ⁵When Gorgias entered the camp of Judas by night, he found no one there, so he looked for them in the hills, because he said, “These men are running away from us.”

⁶At daybreak Judas appeared in the plain with three thousand men, but they did not have armor and swords such as they desired.^{* 7}And they saw the camp of the nations, strong and fortified, with cavalry all around it, and these men were trained in war. ⁸But Judas said to those who were with him, “Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge.^{* 9}Remember how our ancestors were saved at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh with his forces pursued them.^{* 10}And now, let us cry to heaven to see whether he will favor us and remember his covenant with our ancestors and crush this army before us today.^{* 11}Then all the nations will know that there is one who redeems and saves Israel.”

¹²When the foreigners looked up and saw them coming against them, ¹³they went out from their camp to battle. Then the men with Judas blew their trumpets^{* 14}and engaged in battle. The nations were crushed and fled into the plain, ¹⁵and all those in the rear fell by the sword. They pursued them to Gazara and to the plains of Idumea and to Azotus and Jamnia, and three thousand of them fell.^{* 16}Then Judas and his force turned back from pursuing them, ¹⁷and he said to the people, “Do not be greedy for plunder, for there is a battle before us; ¹⁸Gorgias and his force are near us in the hills. But stand now against our enemies and fight them and afterward seize the plunder boldly.”

¹⁹Just as Judas was finishing this speech, a detachment appeared coming out of the hills. ²⁰They saw that their army^m had been put to flight and that the Jewsⁿ were burning the camp, for the smoke that was seen showed what had happened. ²¹When they perceived this, they were greatly frightened, and when they also saw the army of Judas drawn up in the plain for battle, ²²they all fled into the land of the Philistines.^{o* 23}Then Judas returned to plunder the camp, and they seized a great amount of gold and silver, and cloth dyed blue and sea purple, and great riches.^{* 24}On their return they sang hymns and praises to heaven: “For he is good, for his mercy endures forever.”^{* 25}Thus Israel had a great deliverance that day.

First Campaign of Lysias

²⁶Those of the foreigners who escaped went and reported to Lysias all that had happened.^{* 27}When he heard it, he was perplexed and discouraged, for things had not happened to Israel as he had intended, nor had they turned out as the king had ordered. ²⁸But the next year he mustered sixty thousand picked infantry and five thousand cavalry to subdue them.^{* 29}They came into Idumea and encamped at Beth-zur, and Judas met them with ten thousand men.^*

³⁰When he saw that their army was strong, he prayed, saying, “Blessed are you, O Savior of Israel, who crushed the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of your servant David and gave the camp of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan son of Saul and of the man who carried his armor.^{* 31}Hem in this army by the hand of your people Israel, and let them be ashamed of their troops and their cavalry.^{* 32}Fill them with cowardice; melt the boldness of their strength; let them tremble in their destruction. ³³Strike them down with the sword of those who love you, and let all who know your name praise you with hymns.”

³⁴Then both sides attacked, and there fell of the army of Lysias five thousand men; they fell before them.^{p* 35}When Lysias saw the rout of his troops and observed the boldness that inspired those of Judas and how ready they were either to live or to die nobly, he withdrew to Antioch and enlisted mercenaries in order to invade Judea again with an even larger army.