1   And Iudas, that was called Machabeus his sonne ^note arose in his steed:

2   and al his bretheren helped him, and al that had ioyned themselues to his father, and they fought the battel of Israel with ioy.

3   And he dilated glorie to his people, and put on him a brigantine as a giant, and girded about him his warlie armour in battels, and protected the campe with his sword.

4   He became like a lion in his actes, and as a lions whelpe roaring in hunting.

5   And he persecuted the wicked enquiring them out, and such as trubled his people, them he burnt with fyre:

6   and his enemies were repelled for feare of him, al the workers of iniquitie were trubled: and saluation was directed in his hand.

7   And he exasperated manie kinges, and reioyced Iacob in his workes, and for euer his memorie is in benediction. ^note

8   And he walked through the cities of Iuda, and destroyed the impious out of them, and turned away wrath from Israel.

9   And he was renowned euen to the vttermost part of the earth, & he gathered th&ebar; that perished. ^note

10   And Apollonius gathered together the Gentils, and from Samaria a powre much and great, to make battel against Israel. ^note

11   And Iudas vnderstood it, and wentforth to meete him: and he stroke, and killed him: and there fel manie wounded, and the rest fled away.

12   And he tooke the spoiles of

them, and the sword of Apollonius Iudas tooke away, and he fought with it al his dayes.

13   And ^note Seron capitaine of the armie of Syria heard that Iudas gathered a congregation of the faithful, and an assemblie with him,

14   and he sayd: I wil make me a name, & wil be glorified in kingdom, & wil ouerthrow Iudas, and those that are with him, that despised the word of the king.

15   And he prepared himself: and there went vp with him a campe of the impious strong helpers, to doe vengeance vpon the children of Israel.

16   And they approched euen as far as Bethoron: & Iudas went forth to meete him with few.

17   But as they saw the armie coming to meete them, they sayd to Iudas: How shal we a few be able to fight against so great a multitude and so strong, and we are wearied with fasting to day?

18   And Iudas sayd: It is an easie matter for manie to be inclosed in the hand of few: & ^note there is no difference in the sight of the God of heauen to deliuer in manie, and in few.

19   Because not in the multitude of the armie is the victorie of battel, but from heauen is the strength.

20   They come to vs in an obstinate multitude, and in pride, to destroy vs, and our wiues, and our children, and to spoile vs.

21   But we wil fight for our liues, and our lawes:

22   and our Lord himself wil destroy them before our face, but you feare them not.

23   And as he ceased to speake, he flew vpon them sodenly: and Seron was destroyed, and his host in his sight:

24   and he pursewed him in the descent of Bethoron euen to the playne, and there fel of them eight hundred men, and the rest fled into the land of the Phylisthims.

25   And the feare of Iudas and of his bretheren, and the dread fel vpon al the nations round about them.

26   And his name came to the king, and al nations told of the battels of Iudas.

27   And as king Antiochus heard these wordes he was wrath in his mind: and he sent, and gathered the armie of al his kingdom, a campe exceding strong:

28   and he opened his treasurie, and gaue wages to the armie for a yeare: and he commanded them, that they should be readie at al assayes.

29   And he saw that money fayled out of his treasures, and the tributes of the region smal because of ^note the dissension, and ^note the plague, that he had made in the land, to take away the ordinances, that were from the first dayes:

30   and he feared lest he should not haue as once and twise, for costs and gifts, which he had geuen before with a large hand: and he had abunded aboue the kinges, that had bene before him.

31   And he was excedingly astonied in

minde, & purposed to goe into Persis, and to take the tributes of the regions, and to gather together much siluer.

32   And he left Lysias a noble man of the bloud royal, ouer the kings affayres, from the riuer Euphrates euen to the riuer of Ægypt:

33   and that he should bring vp Antiochus his sonne, til he returned.

34   And he deliuered to him half the armie, and Elephants: and he gaue him in commandment concerning al thinges that he would, & concerning the inhabitants of Iurie, and Ierusalem:

35   and that he should send an armie to them, to destroy and roote out the powre of Israel, and the remnant of Ierusalem, and to take away the memorie of them out of the place:

36   and that he should appoynt inhabitants in al their costs, children strangers, & should by lot distribute their land.

37   And the king tooke the part of the armie that remayned, and went forth from Antioch the citie of his kingdom in the yeare an hundreth and seuen and fourtie: and he passed ouer the riuer Euphrates, & walked through the higher countries.

38   And Lysias chose Ptolomee the sonne of Doryminus, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, mightie men of the kings freindes.

39   And he sent with them fourtie thousand men, and seuen thousand horsemen: that they should come into the land of Iuda, and should destroy it according to the word of the king.

40   And they went forth with al their power, and came, and ioyned nere to Enimaum in the champaine countrie.

41   And the merchants of the countries heard the name of them: and they tooke siluer and gold exceding much, and seruants: and they came into the campe, to take the children of Israel for slaues, and there were added to them the armie of Syria, and of the land of the strangers.

42   And Iudas saw, and his bretheren, that the euils were multiplied, and the armies approched to their borders: and they knew the kings words, which he commanded to doe to the people vnto destruction and consummation:

43   and they sayd euerie one to his neighbour: Let vs set vp the abasing of our people, and let vs fight for our people, and our holies.

44   And an assemblie was gathered, that they should be readie vnto battel: and that they should ^note pray and desire mercie and miserations.

45   And Ierusalem was not inhabited, but was as a desert: there was none that came in and went out of her children: and the holie place was conculcated: and the children of strangers were in the castel, there was the inhabitation of the Gentils, and pleasure was taken

away from Iacob, and there failed their pipe, and harpe.

46   And they gathered together, and came into Maspha against Ierusalem: because the place of prayer in Israel was in Maspha ^note before.

47   And they fasted that day, and clothed themselues with heareclothes, and put ashes on their head: and they rent their garments:

48   and they layd open the bookes of the law, out of which the Gentils searched the similitude of their idols:

49   and they brought the ornaments of priests, and firstfruites, and tithes, and raysed vp Nazareits, that had fulfilled their dayes:

50   and they cried with a lowd voice to heauen, saying: What shal we doe with these, & whither shal we carie them?

51   And thy holies are conculcated, and they are contaminated, and thy priests are brought into mourning, and into humiliation.

52   And behold the Nations are come together against vs, to destroy vs: thou knowest what thinges they intend against vs.

53   How shal we be able to stand before their face, vnles thou ô God doe helpe vs?

54   And with trumpets they cried out with a lowd voice.

55   And after these thinges Iudas appointed captaynes of the people, tribunes, and centurions, and ^note seargents, and decurions.

56   And he sayd to them, that built houses, and despoused wiues, and planted vyneyards, and to the fearful, that euerie one should returne into his house according to the law.

57   And they remoued the campe, and pitched at the South of Emmaum.

58   And Iudas sayd: Gird vp your selues, and be mightie sonnes, and be readie agaynst the morning, that you may fight against these nations, which are assembled against vs to destroy vs, and our holies:

59   because it is better for vs to dye in battel, then to see the euils of our nation, and of the holies:

60   but ^note as it shal be the wil in heauen, so be it done.

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