1   Then Iudas Maccabeus, & they that were with him, went priuily into the townes, and called their kinsfolks and friends together, & tooke vnto them all such as continued in the Iewes religion, & assembled sixe thousand men.

2   So they called vpon the Lord, that he would haue an eye vnto his people, which was vexed of euery man, and haue pitie vpon the Temple that was defiled by wicked men,

3   And that he woulde haue compassion vpon the citie that was destroyed, and almost brought to the grounde, and that he woulde heare the voyce of the blood that cryed vnto him,

4   And that hee woulde remember the wicked slaughter of the innocent children, & the blasphemies committed against his name, & that he would shew his hatred against the wicked.

5   Nowe when Maccabeus had gathered this multitude, he could not be withstand by þe; heathen: for the wrath of the Lord was turned into mercy.

6   Therefore he came at vnwares, and burnt vp the townes and cities: yet he tooke the most commodious places, and slew many of the enemies.

7   But specially he vsed the nights to make such assaults, in so much that the bruite of his manlines was spread euery where.

8   ¶2; So when Philippe sawe that this man increased by litle and litle, and that things prospered with him for the most part, hee wrote vnto Ptolemeus the gouernour of Coelosyria and Phenice, to helpe him in the kings busines.

9   Then sent hee speedily Nicanor the sonne of Patroclus, a speciall friend of his, & gaue him of all nations of the heathen no lesse then twenty thousand men, to roote out the whole generation of the Iewes, & ioyned with him Gorgias a captaine, which in matters of warre had great experience.

10   Nicanor ordeined also a tribute for the king of two thousand talents, which the Romans should haue, to be taken of þe; Iewes þt; were taken prisoners.

11   Therefore immediately he sent to the cities on the sea coast, prouoking them to bye Iewes to bee their seruantes, promising to sell foure score and ten for one talent: but he considered not the v&ebar;ge&abar;ce of almighty God, þt; should come vp&obar; him.

12   When Iudas then knewe of Nicanors comming, hee tolde them that were with him, of the comming of the armie.

13   Nowe were there some of them fearefull, which trusted not vnto the righteousnesse of God, but fled away, and abode not in that place.

14   But the other solde all that they had left, and besought the Lorde together, to deliuer them from that wicked Nicanor, which had sold them, or euer he came neere them.

15   And though he woulde not doe it for their sakes, yet for the couenant made with their fathers, and because they called vpon his holy and glorious Name.

16   And so Maccabeus called his men together, about sixe thousande, exhorting them not to be afrayde of their enemies, neither to feare the great multitude of the G&ebar;tiles, which came against them vnrighteously, but to fight manly,

17   Setting before their eyes the iniury that they had vniustly done to the holy place, & the crueltie done to the citie by derision, and the destruction of the orders established by their fathers.

18   For they, sayd he, trust in their weapons and boldenesse: but our confidence is in the almightie God, which at a becke can both destroy them that come against vs, and all the world.

19   Moreouer he admonished them of the helpe that God shewed vnto their fathers, as when there perished an hundreth and fourescore, & fiue thousand vnder ^note Sennacherib,

20   And of the battell that they had in Babylon against the Galatians, how they came in all to the battell eight thousand, with foure thousand Macedonians: and when the Macedonians were astonished, the eyght thousande slewe an hundreth and twentie thousande through the helpe that was giuen them from heauen, whereby they had receiued many benefites.

21   Thus when hee had made them bolde with these wordes, & ready to die for the Lawes and the countrey, he deuided his armie into foure partes,

22   And made his owne brethren captaines ouer the armie, to wit, Simon, and Ioseph and Ionathan, giuing ech one fifteene hundreth men.

23   And when ^note Eleazarus had read the holie booke, and giuen them a token of the helpe of God, Iudas which lead the forewarde, ioyned with Nicanor,

24   And because the almighty helped them, they slewe aboue nine thousand men, and wounded and maymed the most part of Nicanors hoste, and so put all to flight,

25   And tooke the money from those that came to bye them, and pursued them farre: but lacking time they returned.

26   For it was the day before the Sabbath, and therefore they would no longer pursue them.

27   So they tooke their weapons, & spoyled the enemies, and kept the Sabbath, giuing thankes and praysing the Lorde wonderfully, which had deliuered them that day, and powred vpon them the beginning of his mercie.

28   And after the Sabbath, ^note they distributed the

spoyles to the sicke, and to the fatherlesse, and to the widowes, and deuided the residue among them selues and their children.

29   When this was done, and they all had made a general prayer, they besought the mercifull Lorde to be reconciled at the length with his seruants.

30   Afterwarde with one consent they fell vpon Timotheus and Bacchides, and slewe aboue twenty thousand, and wanne hie and strong holdes, and deuided great spoyles, and gaue an equall portion to the sicke, and to the fatherles, and to the widowes, and to aged persons also.

31   Moreouer they gathered their weapons together, and laide them vp diligently in conuenient places, and brought the remnant of the spoyles to Ierusalem.

32   They slewe also Philarches a most wicked person, which was with Timotheus, and had vexed the Iewes many wayes.

33   And when they kept the feast of victorie in their countrey, they burnt Calistenes that had set fire vpon the holy gates, which was fled into a litle house: so he receiued a rewarde meete for his wickednesse.

34   And that most wicked Nicanor, which had brought a thousand marchants to buy the Iewes,

35   He was through þe; helpe of the Lord brought downe of them whom he thought as nothing, in so much that he put off his glorious rayment, & fled ouerthwart the countrey like a fugitiue seruant, & came alone to Antiochia, with great dishonour through the destruction of his hoste.

36   Thus hee that promised to pay tribute to the Romanes, by meanes of the prisoners of Ierusalem, brought newes, that the Iewes had a ^note defender, & for this cause none coulde hurt the Iewes, because they followed the Lawes appoynted by him.

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