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chapter 8
1
But
Judas Machabeus, and they that were with him, went privately into the towns:
and calling together their kinsmen and friends, and taking unto them such as
continued in the Jews' religion, they assembled six thousand men.
2 And they called upon the Lord that he would look upon
his people that was trodden down by all, and would have pity on the temple,
that was defiled by the wicked:
3 That he would have pity also upon the city that was
destroyed, that was ready to be made even with the ground, and would hear the
voice of the blood that cried to him:
4 That he would remember also the most unjust deaths of
innocent children, and the blasphemies offered to his name, and would shew his
indignation on this occasion.
5 Now when Machabeus had gathered a multitude, he could
not be withstood by the heathens: for the wrath of the Lord was turned into
mercy.
6 So coming unawares upon the towns and cities, he set
them on fire, and taking possession of the most commodious places, he made no
small slaughter of the enemies ·
7 And especially in the nights he went upon these
expeditions, and the fame of his valour was spread abroad every where.
8 Then Philip, seeing that the man gained ground by
little and little, and that things for the most part succeeded prosperously
with him, wrote to Ptolemee the governor of Celesyria and Phenicia, to send aid
to the king's affairs.
9 And he with all speed sent Nicanor the son of
Patroclus, one of his special friends, giving him no fewer than twenty thousand
armed men of different nations, to root out the whole race of the Jews, joining
also with him Gorgias, a good soldier, and of great experience in matters of
war.
10 And Nicanor purposed to raise for the king the
tribute of two thousand talents, that was to be given to the Romans, by making
so much money of the captive Jews:
11 Wherefore he sent immediately to the cities upon the
sea coast, to invite men together to buy up the Jewish slaves, promising that
they should have ninety slaves for one talent, not reflecting on the vengeance,
which was to follow him from the Almighty.
12 Now when Judas found that Nicanor was coming, he
imparted to the Jews that were with him, that the enemy was at hand.
13 And some of them being afraid, and distrusting the
justice of God, fled away:
14 Others sold all that they had left, and withal
besought the Lord, that he would deliver them from the wicked Nicanor, who had
sold them before he came near them:
15 And if not for their sakes, yet for the covenant
that he had made with their fathers, and for the sake of his holy and glorious
name that was invoked upon them.
16 But Machabeus calling together seven thousand that
were with him, exhorted them not to be reconciled to the enemies, nor to fear
the multitude of the enemies who came wrongfully against them, but to fight
manfully:
17 Setting before their eyes the injury they had
unjustly done the holy place, and also the injury they had done to the city,
which had been shamefully abused, besides their destroying the ordinances of
the fathers.
18 For, said he, they trust in their weapons, and in
their boldness: but we trust in the Almighty Lord, who at a beck can utterly
destroy both them that come against us, and the whole world.
19 Moreover he put them in mind also of the helps their
fathers had received from God: and how under Sennacherib a hundred and
eighty-five thousand had been destroyed.
20 And of the battle that they had fought against the
Galatians in Babylonia, how they, being in all but six thousand, when it came
to the point, and Macedonians their companions were a stand, slew a hundred and
twenty thousand, because of the help they had from heaven, and for this they
received many favours.
21 With these words they were greatly encouraged, and
disposed even to die for the laws and their country.
22 So he appointed his brethren cap over each division
of his army, Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathan, giving to one fifteen hundred men.
23 And after the holy Book had been read to them by
Esdras, and he had given them for a watchword, The help of God: himself leading
the first band, he joined battle with Nicanor:
24 And the Almighty being their helper, they slew above
nine thousand men: and having wounded and disabled the greater part of
Nicanor's army, they obliged them to fly.
25 And they took the money of them that came to buy
them, and they pursued them on every side.
26 But they came back for want of time: for it was the
day before the sabbath: and therefore they did not continue the pursuit.
27 But when they had gathered together their arms and
their spoils, they kept the sabbath: blessing the Lord who had delivered them
that day, distilling the beginning of mercy upon them.
28 Then after the sabbath they divided the spoils to
the feeble and the orphans, and the widows: and the rest they took for
themselves and their servants.
29 When this was done, and they had all made a common
supplication, they besought the merciful Lord to be reconciled to his servants
unto the end.
30 Moreover they slew above twenty thousand of them
that were with Timotheus and Bacchides who fought them, and they made
themselves masters of the high strong holds: and they divided amongst them many
spoils, giving equal portions to the feeble, the fatherless and the widows, yea
and the aged also.
31 And when they had carefully gathered together their
arms, they laid them all up in convenient places, and the residue of their
spoils they carried to Jerusalem :
32 They slew also Philarches who was with Timotheus, a
wicked man, who had many ways afflicted the Jews.
33 And when they kept the feast of the victory at
Jerusalem, they burnt Callisthenes, that had set fire to the holy gates, who
had taken refuge in a certain house, rendering to him a worthy reward for his
impieties:
34 But as for that most wicked man Nicanor, who had
brought a thousand merchants to the sale of the Jews,
35 Being through the help of the Lord brought down by
them, of whom he had made no account, laying; aside his garment of glory,
fleeing through the midland country, he came alone to Antioch, being rendered
very unhappy by the destruction of his army.
36 And he that had promised to levy the tribute for the
Romans by the means of the captives of Jerusalem, now professed that the Jews
had God for their protector, and therefore they could not be hurt, because they
followed the laws appointed by him.
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