2 Maccabees 14:21–36

²¹And the leaders^z set a day on which to meet by themselves. A chariot came forward from each army; seats of honor were set in place; ²²Judas posted armed men in readiness at key places to prevent sudden treachery on the part of the enemy; they held the proper conference.

²³Nicanor stayed on in Jerusalem and did nothing out of the way, but dismissed the flocks of people that had gathered. ²⁴And he kept Judas always in his presence; he was warmly attached to the man. ²⁵And he urged him to marry and have children; so he married, settled down, and shared the common life.

²⁶But when Alcimus noticed their good will for one another, he took the covenant that had been made and went to Demetrius. He told him that Nicanor was disloyal to the government, for he had appointed that conspirator against the kingdom, Judas, to be his successor. ²⁷The king became excited and, provoked by the false accusations of that depraved man, wrote to Nicanor, stating that he was displeased with the covenant and commanding him to send Maccabeus to Antioch as a prisoner without delay.

²⁸When this message came to Nicanor, he was troubled and grieved that he had to annul their agreement when the man had done no wrong. ²⁹Since it was not possible to oppose the king, he watched for an opportunity to accomplish this by a stratagem. ³⁰But Maccabeus, noticing that Nicanor was more austere in his dealings with him and was meeting him more rudely than had been his custom, concluded that this austerity did not spring from the best motives. So he gathered not a few of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor.

³¹When the latter became aware that he had been cleverly outwitted by the man, he went to the great^a and holy temple while the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and commanded them to hand the man over. ³²And when they declared on oath that they did not know where the man was whom he sought, ³³he stretched out his right hand toward the sanctuary, and swore this oath: “If you do not hand Judas over to me as a prisoner, I will level this precinct of God to the ground and tear down the altar, and I will build here a splendid temple to Dionysus.”

³⁴Having said this, he went away. Then the priests stretched forth their hands toward heaven and called upon the constant Defender of our nation, in these words: ³⁵“O Lord of all, who hast need of nothing, thou wast pleased that there be a temple for thy habitation among us; ³⁶so now, O holy One, Lord of all holiness, keep undefiled for ever this house that has been so recently purified.”