1   And ^note Gorgias tooke fiue thousand men, and a thousand chosen horsemen: & they remoued the campe by night,

2   that they might approch to the campe of the Iewes, and might strike them sodenly: and the children that were of the castel, were their guides.

3   And Iudas ^note heard, and arose, he and the mighties to strike the powre of the kings armie, that were in Emmaum.

4   For as yet the armie was dispersed from the campe.

5   And Gorgias came into the campe of Iudas by night, and found no man, and he sought them in the mountaynes: because he sayd: These flee from vs.

6   And when the day was come, Iudas appeared in the filde with three thousand men onlie, which had not harnes, and swords as they would:

7   and they saw the campe of the Gentils strong, and the men in brigantines, and horsemen round about them, and these were skilful to battel.

8   And Iudas sayd to the men that were with him: ^note Feare not the multitude of them, & of their assault be not afrayd.

9   Remember in what sort our fathers were saued in the redsea, when Pharao with a great armie folowed them.

10   And now let vs crie towards heauen: and our Lord wil haue mercie on vs, and wil be mindful of the testament of our fathers, & wil destroy this armie, before our face this day:

11   and al Nations shal know that there is one that redemeth and deliuereth Israel.

12   And the aliens lifted vp their eyes, and saw them coming against them.

13   And they went out of the campe into battel, and these that were with Iudas, sounded with the trumpet.

14   And they mette together: and the Gentils were discomfited, and fled into the playne.

15   but al the hinmost fel by the sword, and they pursewed them as far as Gezeron, and euen to the playnes of Idumea, and of Azotus, and of Iamnia: and there fel of them euen to three thousand men.

16   And Iudas returned, and his armie folowing him.

17   And he sayd to the people: Couet not the spoiles: because there is battel against vs,

18   and Gorgias and his armie are neere vs in the mount: but stand ye now against our enemies, and ouerthrow them, and you shal take the spoiles afterwards secure.

19   And as Iudas was speaking these wordes, loe a certaine part appeared looking forth from the montayne.

20   And Gorgias saw that his men were turned to flight, & that they burnt the campe: for the smoke that was sene declared what was done.

21   Which thinges seene they feared excedingly, beholding withal both Iudas, & the armie in the playne readie

to battel.

22   And they did al flee into the playne of the aliens:

23   and Iudas returned to the spoiles of the campe, & they tooke much gold, and siluer, and hiacynth, and purple of the sea, and great riches.

24   And turning they sung an hymne, and blessed God towards heauen, because he is good, because his mercie is for euer.

25   And great saluation was made in Israel in that day.

26   And whosoeuer escaped of the aliens, they came and told Lysias al thinges that had chanced.

27   Which when he heard being amased he faynted in mynd: that such thinges chanced not in Israel, as he would, and such as the king commanded. ^note

28   And the yeare folowing ^note Lysias gathered of chosen men three score thousand, and of horsemen fiue thousand, to ouerthrow them.

29   And they came into Iewrie, and pitched the campe in Bethoron, and Iudas mette them with ten thousand men.

30   And they saw the armie strong, and he prayed, and sayd: Blessed art thou ô sauiour of Israel, which brakest the assault of the mightie by the hand of thy seruant Dauid, and didst deliuer the campe of the aliens into the hand of Ionathas Sauls sonne, and of his esquyer.

31   shut vp this armie in the hand of thy people Israel, and let them be confounded in their armie and horsemen.

32   Geue them feare, and consume the bouldnes of their strength, and let them be shaken with their contrition,

33   cast them downe with the sword of them, that loue thee: & let al that know thy name, prayse thee in hymnes.

34   And they ioyned battel: and there fel of the armie of Lysias fiue thousand men.

35   And Lysias seing the flight of his men, and the boldnes of the Iewes, and that they are readie either to liue or to dye manfully, he went to Antioch, and chose souldiars, that being multiplied they might come agayne into Iewrie.

36   But Iudas, and his bretheren sayd: Behold our enemies are discomfited: ^note let vs goe vp now to clense the holie places, and to renew them.

37   And al the armie assembled together, and they went vp into mount Sion.

38   And they saw the sanctification desert, and the altar prophaned, and the gates burnt, and in the courts shrubbes growen vp as in a forest, or on the mountaynes, & the chambers throwen downe.

39   And they rent their garments, and lamented with a great lamentation, and layd ashes vpon their head:

40   and they fel on their face vpon the earth, and cried out with trumpets of significations, and cried towards heauen.

41   Then Iudas ordayned men, to fight against them that were in the castel, til they clensed

the holie places.

42   And he chose priests without spotte, hauing their wil in the law of God:

43   and they clensed the holie places, and tooke away ^note the stones of contamination into an vncleane place.

44   And he considered of the altar of holocausts, that was prophaned, what he should doe with it.

45   And good counsel came to their mindes, to destroy it: lest perhaps it might be a reproch to them, because the Gentils contaminated it, and they threw it downe.

46   And they layd vp the stones in the mount of the house in a place conuenient, til there should come a prophete, and geue answer concerning them.

47   And they tooke whole stones according to the law, and builded a new altar according to that which was before:

48   and they built the holie places, and the thinges that were within the temple inward: and the temple, and the courts they sanctified.

49   And they made the holie vessels new, and brought in the candlestike, and the altar of incenses, and the table into the temple.

50   And they put incense vpon the altar, and lighted the lampes, that were vpon the candlesticke, and they gaue light in the temple.

51   And they set loaues vpon the table, and hung vp the veles, and finished al the workes, that they had made.

52   And before the morning they arose the fiue and twentith day of the ninth moneth (this is the moneth of Casleu) of ^note the hundreth and eight and fourtith yeare:

53   and they offered sacrifice according to the law vpon the new altar of holocausts, which they made.

54   According to the time and according to the day, wherin the heathen contaminated it, in the same was it renewed in canticles, and harps, and lutes, and in cymbals.

55   And al the people fel on their face, and they adored toward heauen, and blessed him that prospered them.

56   And ^note they made the dedication of the altar eight dayes, and they offered holocausts with ioy, and sacrifice of saluation, and of prayse.

57   And they adorned the face of the temple with golden crownes, & litle shieldes: and they dedicated the gates, and the chambers, and hanged doores vpon them.

58   And there was made exceding great ioy in the people, and the reproch of the Gentils was turned away.

59   And Iudas decreed, and his bretheren, and al the church of Israel, that the day of the dedication of the altar be kept in the times therof from yeare to yeare for eight dayes, from the fiue and twentith day of the moneth Casleu, with ioy and gladnes.

60   And they builded at that time mount Sion, & round about high walles, and strong

towres, lest sometime the Gentils should come, & conculcate it as they did before.

61   And he placed an armie there, to keepe it, and he fensed it to keepe Bethsura, that the people might haue a munition against the face of Idumea. ^note

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