2 Maccabees 8

₁Judas Maccabaeus and his friends went secretly from village to village until they had gathered a force of about 6,000 Jewish men who had remained faithful to their religion. ₂They begged the Lord to help his people, now trampled under foot by all nations, to take pity on the Temple, now defiled by pagans, ₃and to have mercy on Jerusalem, now destroyed and almost levelled to the ground. ₄They also asked the Lord to show his hatred of evil by taking revenge on those who were murdering his people, mercilessly slaughtering innocent children, and saying evil things against the Lord.

₅When Judas had finally organized his forces, the Gentiles were unable to stand against him, because the Lord's anger against Israel had now turned to mercy. _6-7Judas would make sudden attacks on towns and villages and burn them. He captured strategic positions and routed many enemy troops, finding that he was most successful at night. People everywhere spoke of his bravery.

₈When Philip, governor of Jerusalem, realized that Judas was gaining ground little by little and that his victories were becoming more and more frequent, he wrote a letter to Ptolemy, governor of Greater Syria, requesting his help in defending the royal interests. ₉Ptolemy immediately appointed Nicanor son of Patroclus, who was also in the closest circle of the King's Friends, and sent him with more than 20,000 troops of various nationalities to wipe out the entire Jewish race. Ptolemy also appointed Gorgias, a general of wide military experience, to go with him. ₁₀King Antiochus owed the Romans 68 tonnes of silver; Nicanor planned to pay off the debt by selling Jewish prisoners of war as slaves. ₁₁So he at once sent word to the towns along the coast, informing them that he would be selling Jews for less than a kilogramme of silver each. But he did not know of the judgement that Almighty God had in store for him.

₁₂Judas learnt that Nicanor was advancing with his army towards Judea, so he informed his men. ₁₃Some were cowardly and did not believe in the justice of God, and they ran away as fast as they could. ₁₄But others sold all their remaining possessions so that the Lord would consider them worthy to be saved from the godless Nicanor, who had sold them as slaves even before the battle had taken place. ₁₅They prayed that if God was not willing to do this for their sake alone, he might be willing to rescue them because of the covenants he had made with their ancestors, and because he, the great and wonderful God, had called them to be his people. ₁₆Judas brought together all 6,000 of his men and encouraged them not to be frightened or to flee in panic at the sight of the large number of Gentile troops who were marching against them without cause. Instead they should fight bravely, ₁₇never forgetting the crimes the Gentiles had committed against the Temple, and how they had made Jerusalem suffer terribly and had done away with Jewish traditions. ₁₈“They rely on their weapons and their daring,” Judas said, “but we trust in Almighty God, who is able to destroy not only these troops, but, if necessary, the entire world, with a mere nod of his head.”

₁₉Then Judas went on to remind them of the ways God had helped their ancestors: during the time of Sennacherib 185,000 of the enemy had been destroyed; ₂₀and once in Babylonia 8,000 Jews came to the aid of 4,000 Macedonians, defeating 120,000 Galatians and taking a great deal of loot, all because of God's help.

₂₁Judas' words encouraged his men and made them willing to die for their religion and their country. He then divided his army into four divisions ₂₂of about 1,500 men each, with himself and his brothers Simon, Joseph, and Jonathan each in charge of a division. ₂₃After ordering Eleazar to read aloud from the holy book, he gave his men the battle-cry: “God will help us,” and personally led the attack against Nicanor.

₂₄Almighty God fought on their side, and they killed more than 9,000 of the enemy. They wounded many others and put the entire army to flight. ₂₅They seized the money from the people who had come to buy them as slaves. Then they pursued the enemy a long way, until they had to return, ₂₆because it was almost time for the Sabbath to begin. ₂₇When they had collected the enemy's weapons and looted the dead, they celebrated the Sabbath, praising the Lord and giving thanks to him, because he had brought them safely to that day and had given them the first sign of his mercy. ₂₈When the Sabbath was over, they gave some of the loot to the victims of persecution and to the widows and orphans; then they divided the rest among their own families. ₂₉Afterwards they joined together in prayer to the merciful Lord, asking him to look favourably upon his servants.

₃₀The Jews later fought against the forces of Timothy and Bacchides and killed more than 20,000 of them. They captured some very high fortresses and took a lot of loot, which they divided equally among themselves and the widows, orphans, old men, and the victims of persecution. ₃₁They carefully collected all the enemy's weapons and stored them in strategic places, but the rest of the loot was taken to Jerusalem. ₃₂They executed the commanding officer of Timothy's forces, a godless man who had caused the Jews much suffering. ₃₃While celebrating their victory in the city of their ancestors, they burnt alive those men who had set fire to the Temple gates. The dead included Callisthenes, who had hidden in a small house; and so he received the punishment he deserved for his evil deeds.

₃₄In this way, the evil Nicanor, who had brought a thousand merchants to buy the Jews, ₃₅was defeated with the help of the Lord by the very people he despised so much. He threw off his splendid uniform and fled all alone like a runaway slave, until he reached Antioch. He had succeeded only in destroying his entire army. ₃₆This man, who had tried to pay a debt to Rome by selling the people of Jerusalem, showed that the Jews could not be defeated. God was their mighty defender, because they obeyed the laws he had given them.