Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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1 Gorgias took 5,000 infantry and
1,000 of his most experienced
cavalry and left camp by night,
2 with men from the fort in Jerusalem
as his guides. He had planned to
make a surprise attack on the Jewish
army,
3 but Judas learned of the
plan and moved out with his men to
attack the king's army at Emmaus
4 while Gorgias and his troops were
still away from the camp.
5 When
Gorgias and his army reached Judas'
camp that night, they found no one
there. They thought Judas and his
men were trying to escape, so they
started looking for them in the
mountains.
6 At dawn Judas appeared in the
plain with 3,000 men, not all of them
as well armed as they would have
liked.
7 They saw the huge Gentile
army of experienced troops wearing
armor and protected by cavalry.
8 But Judas said to his men, “Don't
worry about the size of their army,
and don't be frightened when they
attack.
9 Remember how our ancestors
were saved at the Red Sea when
the king of Egypt was pursuing them
with his army!
10 Now let us ask the
Lord to have mercy on us. Let us
pray that he will honor his covenant
with our ancestors and crush this
army when we attack today.
11 Then
all the Gentiles will know that Israel
has a God who rescues and saves
them.”
12 When the Gentiles saw Judas
and his men preparing for battle,
13 they moved out of their camp
to fight. Then Judas and his men
sounded their trumpets
14 and attacked.
The Gentiles broke ranks
and fled to the plain,
15 but all the
stragglers were killed. The Israelites
pursued the enemy as far as Gezer,
the plains of Idumea, and the towns
of Ashdod and Jamnia. Altogether
they killed about 3,000 of the enemy.
16 When Judas and his army came
back from the pursuit,
17
18 he said to
his men, “Don't be greedy for loot.
Gorgias and his army are nearby in
the mountains, so there is still heavy
-- --
fighting ahead of us. We must stand
firm and fight. After that, you can
safely take all the loot you want.”
19 Judas was just finishing his speech
when an enemy patrol on a scouting
mission looked down from the
mountains
20 and saw that their
army had been put to flight; they
could tell from the smoke that their
camp was burning.
21 When they
saw all this, they were terrified, and
when they also saw that Judas' army
was in the plain ready for battle,
22 they all fled to Philistia.
23 Then Judas
returned to loot the enemy
camp; he took large amounts of gold
and silver, blue and purple cloth,
and other rich plunder.
24 When the
Jews came back to their own camp,
they sang a hymn: “The Lord is worthy
of praise; his mercy endures forever.”
25 That day brought a great
victory to the people of Israel.
Victory over Lysias
(2 Maccabees 11.1–12)
26 The Gentile troops that escaped
went to Lysias and reported all that
had happened.
27 When Lysias heard
that his troops had lost the battle, he
was shocked and disappointed that
Israel had not been defeated as the
king had commanded.
28 In the following year Lysias
gathered an army of 60,000 well-trained
infantry and 5,000 cavalry,
intending to conquer the Jews.
29 They marched into Idumea and
camped at Bethzur. Judas came to
meet them with 10,000 men.
30 When
Judas saw how strong the enemy's
army was, he prayed, “We will
praise you, Savior of Israel. You
broke the attack of the giant by the
hand of your servant David and you
let Saul's son Jonathan and the
young man who carried his weapons
defeat the entire Philistine army. note
31 Now in the same way let your people
Israel defeat our enemy. Put
them to shame, in spite of all their
confidence in their infantry and cavalry.
32 Make them afraid; let their
bold strength melt away; let them
tremble at the prospect of defeat.
33 We love and worship you; so let us
kill our enemies, that we may then
sing your praises.”
34 The battle began, and in the
hand-to-hand fighting about 5,000 of
Lysias' men were killed.
35 When
Lysias saw that his army was being
defeated and when he saw the reckless
courage of Judas and his men,
who showed that they were ready to
live or die with honor, he returned to
Antioch. There he recruited some
mercenaries and planned to return
to Judea later with a much larger
army.
The Purification of the Temple
(2 Maccabees 10.1–8)
36 Judas and his brothers said,
“Now that our enemies have been
defeated, let's go to Jerusalem to purify
the Temple and rededicate it.”
37 So the whole army was assembled
and went up to Mount Zion.
38 There
they found the Temple abandoned,
the altar profaned, the gates burned
down, the courtyards grown up in a
forest of weeds, and the priests'
rooms torn down.
39 In their sorrow,
they tore their clothes, cried loudly,
threw ashes on their heads,
40 and
fell face down on the ground. When
the signal was given on the trumpets,
everyone cried out to the Lord.
41 Then Judas ordered some of his
soldiers to attack the men in the fort,
while he purified the Temple.
42 He
chose some priests who were qualified
and who were devoted to the
Law.
43 They purified the Temple and
took the stones that had been defiled
and put them in an unclean place.
44 They discussed what should be
done with the altar of burnt offerings,
which had been desecrated
45 by the Gentiles, and decided to
tear it down, so that it would not
stand there as a monument to their
shame. So they tore down the altar
46 and put the stones in a suitable
place on the Temple hill, where they
were to be kept until a prophet
should appear and decide what to do
with them.
47 Then they took uncut
-- --
stones, as the Law of Moses required,
and built a new altar like the
old one. note
48 They repaired the Temple,
inside and out, and dedicated its
courtyards.
49 They made new utensils
for worship and brought the
lampstand, the altar of incense, and
the table for the bread into the Temple.
50 They burned incense on the altar
and lit the lamps on the lampstand,
and there was light in the
Temple!
51 They placed the loaves of
bread on the table, hung the curtains,
and completed all the work.
52
53
54 The twenty-fifth day of the
ninth month, the month of Kislev, in
the year 148 note was the anniversary of
the day the Gentiles had desecrated
the altar. On that day a sacrifice was
offered on the new altar in accordance
with the Law of Moses. The
new altar was dedicated and hymns
were sung to the accompaniment of
harps, lutes, and cymbals. note
55 All the
people bowed down with their faces
to the ground and worshiped and
praised the Lord for giving them victory.
56 For eight days they celebrated
the rededication of the altar. With
great joy they brought burnt offerings
and offered fellowship offerings
and thank offerings.
57 They decorated
the front of the Temple with
gold crowns and shields, rebuilt the
gates and the priests' rooms and put
doors on them.
58 Now that the Jews
had removed the shame which the
Gentiles had brought, they held a
great celebration.
59 Then Judas, his
brothers, and the entire community
of Israel decreed that the rededication
of the altar should be celebrated
with a festival of joy and gladness at
the same time each year, beginning
on the twenty-fifth of the month of
Kislev and lasting for eight days.
60 Then they built high walls and
strong towers around Mount Zion,
so that the Gentiles could not come
in and trample and defile it again.
61 Judas placed a detachment of soldiers
there to guard the Temple. He
also fortified the town of Bethzur, so
that the people of Israel would have
a fortress facing Idumea.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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