1 Maccabees 3

In Praise of Judas Maccabeus

1His son Judas, the one called Maccabeus, took his place. 2All his brothers helped him, and so did everyone who had joined his father’s cause, and with gladness they fought Israel’s war. 3He widened the glory of his people. He put on a breastplate like a giant and buckled on his weapons of war; he set battles in order and sheltered the camp with his sword. 4In what he did he was a lion, a young lion roaring over its prey. 5He hunted down the lawless and searched them out, and those who troubled his people he burned away. 6The lawless shrank back in fear of him; all who worked at lawlessness were thrown into confusion, and deliverance prospered in his hand. 7He embittered many kings and gladdened Jacob by his deeds, and his memory is a blessing forever. 8He passed through the towns of Judah and wiped the ungodly out of her, and he turned wrath away from Israel. 9His name carried to the world’s far edge, and he gathered in those who were perishing.

Apollonius and Seron Fall

10Apollonius mustered the nations, and a large force out of Samaria, to make war on Israel. 11Judas learned of it and went out to meet him. He struck him down and killed him; many fell dead, and the rest fled. 12They took the spoils; and the sword of Apollonius, Judas took for himself, and with it he went on fighting for the rest of his life. 13Seron, commander of the Syrian army, heard that Judas had collected a body of men around him, an assembly of the faithful marching out to war, 14and he said, “I will make a name for myself and win glory in the kingdom. I will fight Judas and those with him, who treat the king’s word as nothing.” 15Once again a strong army of the ungodly went up with him, to help him take vengeance on the Israelites. 16When he drew near to the ascent of Beth-horon, Judas went out to meet him with very few men. 17Seeing that army bearing down on them, they asked Judas, “How can we, so few, fight so vast and strong a multitude? And we are worn out — we have eaten nothing today.” 18Judas said, “It is no great thing for a multitude to be hemmed in by a handful, and before Heaven it makes no difference whether deliverance comes by many or by few. 19Victory in battle does not depend on the size of an army; strength comes from Heaven. 20They come against us swollen with insolence and lawlessness, to wipe us out — us, our wives, our children — and to carry off all we have. 21But we are fighting for our lives and for our customs. 22He himself will crush them before our face. Do not be afraid of them.” 23As soon as he stopped speaking, he sprang on them suddenly, and Seron and his army were crushed before him. 24They pursued him down the descent of Beth-horon as far as the plain. About eight hundred of their men fell, and the rest fled to the land of the Philistines. 25From then on Judas and his brothers were feared, and terror fell on the nations around them. 26His name reached the king, and the nations kept recounting how Judas drew up for battle.

Antiochus Leaves Lysias in Charge

27When King Antiochus heard these reports he burned with rage. He sent word and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, an exceedingly strong army. 28He threw open his treasury, paid the troops a year’s wages, and ordered them to stand ready for whatever was needed. 29But he saw that the silver in his treasuries had run out, and that the province brought in little tribute, owing to the strife and the wound he had inflicted on the land by abolishing the customs that had stood from the earliest days. 30He grew afraid that he might not have, as had happened more than once before, enough for his expenses and for the gifts he used to hand out with an open hand — and he had been more lavish than the kings before him. 31He was utterly at a loss within himself, and he decided to go to Persia, to collect the tribute of the provinces and gather much silver. 32He left Lysias, a man of rank and of royal descent, over the king’s affairs from the river Euphrates as far as the borders of Egypt, 33and to bring up Antiochus his son until he returned. 34He turned over to him half the forces, along with the elephants, and instructed him in all he wanted done, including what concerned those living in Judea and in Jerusalem: 35he was to send a force against them, to crush Israel’s strength and whatever was left of Jerusalem, and to grind their memory out of the place; 36to settle foreigners throughout their territory and to parcel out their land by lot. 37The king took the other half of the forces and set out from Antioch, his royal city, in the one hundred and forty-seventh year. He crossed the river Euphrates and made his way through the upper provinces.

The Army Comes Down to Emmaus

38Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, capable men from among the king’s Friends, 39and with them he sent forty thousand foot soldiers and seven thousand horsemen to enter Judah’s land and ruin it, as the king had ordered. 40They set out with their whole force and came and camped near Emmaus in the lowland. 41The merchants of the region heard their fame, and they took a great weight of silver and gold, and fetters as well, and came to the camp to buy the Israelites as slaves. Forces out of Syria and out of Philistine territory attached themselves to them. 42Judas and his brothers saw that the evils had multiplied and that the armies were camped within their borders, and they learned the king’s orders, which he had commanded be carried out to destroy the people and finish them off. 43They said, each to his neighbor, “Let us raise our people up from their ruin. Let us fight on behalf of our people and of the holy place.”

Israel Gathers at Mizpah

44The congregation gathered, to be ready for battle and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion. 45Jerusalem was uninhabited, like a wilderness. Not one of her own children went in or came out. The sanctuary was trampled down, and foreigners held the citadel — it was a lodging for the Gentiles. Delight had been taken from Jacob, and pipe and lyre fell silent. 46So they assembled and came to Mizpah, opposite Jerusalem, because Mizpah had once been a place of prayer for Israel. 47That day they fasted, put on sackcloth, put ashes on their heads, and tore their garments. 48They unrolled the book of the law to seek there what the Gentiles sought in the images of their idols. 49They brought out the priestly garments, with the firstfruits and the tithes. They also roused the Nazirites who had completed their days. 50They cried aloud to Heaven, saying, “What are we to do with these? Where are we to take them? 51Your holy place has been trampled down and profaned, and your priests are in mourning and humiliation. 52Look — the nations have gathered against us to wipe us out. You know what they are plotting against us. 53How are we to hold our ground against them unless you help us?” 54Then they sounded the trumpets and raised a great shout. 55After this Judas appointed leaders over the people: commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 56He told those who were building houses, or betrothing wives, or planting vineyards, and those who were afraid, to go back home, each to his own house, as the law allows. 57Then the camp moved out and pitched south of Emmaus. 58Judas said, “Arm yourselves, and show yourselves men of strength. Be ready by morning to make war on these nations who have massed against us to blot out both us and our holy place. 59Death in battle is better for us than watching the evils fall on our people and on the holy place. 60Whatever the will in Heaven may be, so he will do.”