1 Maccabees 7:40–50

⁴⁰And Judas encamped in Adasa with three thousand men. Then Judas prayed and said, ⁴¹“When the messengers from the king spoke blasphemy, thy angel went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians.^{a 42}So also crush this army before us today; let the rest learn that Nicanor^b has spoken wickedly against the sanctuary, and judge him according to this wickedness.” ⁴³So the armies met in battle on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. The army of Nicanor was crushed, and he himself was the first to fall in the battle. ⁴⁴When his army saw that Nicanor had fallen, they threw down their arms and fled. ⁴⁵The Jews^c pursued them a day’s journey, from Adasa as far as Gazara, and as they followed kept sounding the battle call on the trumpets. ⁴⁶And men came out of all the villages of Judea round about, and they out-flanked the enemy^d and drove them back to their pursuers,^e so that they all fell by the sword; not even one of them was left. ⁴⁷Then the Jews^f seized the spoils and the plunder, and they cut off Nicanor’s head and the right hand which he so arrogantly stretched out, and brought them and displayed them just outside Jerusalem. ⁴⁸The people rejoiced greatly and celebrated that day as a day of great gladness. ⁴⁹And they decreed that this day should be celebrated each year on the thirteenth day of Adar. ⁵⁰So the land of Judah had rest for a few days.