The Koine Bible

But Judas, also called Maccabeus, and those with him, secretly going into the villages, were calling the kinsmen and those who had remained in Judaism, and, taking them in, they gathered together to six thousand.

and they were calling upon the Lord to look upon the people being trampled down by all, and to have pity also on the temple, the one having been profaned by the impious men

but to have mercy on the city also, as it was being destroyed and about to become level with the ground, and to hear the bloods of those crying out to him against them

and to remember also the lawless destruction of the innocent infants and concerning the blasphemies that had been spoken against his name, and to hate wickedness

And when the Maccabee had come to be in a confederation, he was already becoming irresistible to the nations, the wrath of the Lord having turned to mercy.

And coming unexpectedly upon cities and villages, he burned them, and seizing the advantageous places, he routed not a few of the enemies

especially by night, for such attacks, he took helpers, and the report of his manliness was spread everywhere

But Philip, seeing the man coming little by little to advancement, and more often prospering in his successes, wrote to Ptolemy, the στρατηγός of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, to come to the aid of the affairs of the king.

And he, having quickly appointed Nicanor, the son of Patroclus, one of the first friends, sent him, having subdued the nations of Pamphylia, no fewer than twenty thousand in all, to root out the race of Judea; and he associated with him Gorgias also, a man who was a general and had experience in matters of war.

And Nicanor undertook to pay the tribute to the king of the Romans, being two thousand talents, from the plunder of the Jews’ captivity.

And immediately he sent to the coastal cities, inviting them to a purchase of Jewish bodies, promising to hand over ninety bodies for a talent, not expecting the punishment from the Almighty that was about to follow upon him.

And it fell to Judas concerning Nicanor’s attack, and he communicated to those with him the presence of the camp

Those who were cowardly and distrustful were escaping themselves from the judgment of God and were putting themselves out of place

And those who remained sold everything, and together they were also begging the Lord to rescue those who had been sold before meeting the impious Nicanor.

and if not on account of them, but on account of the covenants with their fathers, and because of the invocation over them of his august and majestic name

And Maccabeus, having gathered those around him, about six thousand in number, was exhorting them not to be terrified by the enemies nor to fear the multitude of the nations unjustly coming against them, but to fight nobly

keeping before their eyes the outrage unlawfully carried out by them against the holy place, and the mockery of the city that had been mocked, and further the destruction of the ancestral polity

For those indeed have confidence in arms and also in boldness, he said, but we have confidence in the almighty God, who is able to cast down both those who come against us and the whole world with a single nod.

and recounting to them also the help that had come upon their ancestors and how under Sennacherib one hundred eighty-five thousand perished

and the engagement that took place in Babylon against the Galatians, when all had come to the need, eight thousand together with four thousand Macedonians, the Macedonians being in want, the eight thousand destroyed the twelve myriads because of the help coming to them from heaven, and they received much benefit

After presenting them as confident in these matters and ready to die for the laws and the fatherland, he made the army into four divisions.

and having appointed also his brothers as leaders of each division, Simon and Joseph and Jonathan, and having assigned to each one one thousand besides five hundred

And Eleazar also, having read along the holy book and given the signal of God’s help, leading the first division himself, joined battle with Nicanor

And when the Almighty had become their ally, they slaughtered more than nine thousand of the enemies, and they made the greater part of Nicanor’s army wounded and crippled in the limbs, and they compelled all to flee.

And they took the money of those who had come for their purchase; and, having pursued them for a sufficient time, they turned back, being shut in by the hour.

For it was the day before the sabbath, on account of which reason they did not long continue in pursuit of them

And having taken up their weapons and stripped the spoils from the enemies, about the sabbath they became exceedingly blessing and giving thanks to the Lord, who had preserved them for this day, having appointed for them a beginning of mercy

And after the sabbath, having distributed to the maltreated and to the widows and orphans portions from the spoils, they themselves and the children divided up the rest

And when they had accomplished these things and made a common supplication, they kept asking the merciful Lord to be reconciled fully to his servants.

And having contended with those around Timotheus and Bacchides, they killed more than twenty thousand of them, and they became very strong masters of high fortresses, and they divided much more spoils equally among themselves and among the maltreated and orphans and widows, and even also having done so for the elders.

And having carefully gathered up the weapons, they deposited everything in the strategic places, but they brought the rest of the spoils to Jerusalem.

But the leader of the tribe of those with Timotheus they killed, a most impious man and one who had grievously troubled the Jews many times.

But while celebrating victory in the homeland, they burned those who had set fire to the sacred gates, and Callisthenes, having fled into one small house, also received the fitting reward for his impiety.

But the thrice-wretched Nicanor, the one who had led the thousand merchants to the sale of the Jews,

Humbled by those around him, who were thought to be the least, by the help of the Lord he had laid aside the glorious clothing, having made himself a fugitive through the inland route like a deserter, he came to Antioch, having prospered beyond all by the destruction of the army.

And the one who had undertaken tribute for the Romans from the captivity in Jerusalem reported that the Jews had the champion on their side, and that in this way the Jews were invulnerable, because they followed the laws appointed by him.