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So Solomon kept those eight days.
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"The same things also were reported in the writings and commentaries of Nehemiah, and how he, founding a library, gathered together the acts of the kings and the prophets and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.
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In like manner also Judas gathered together all those things that were lost by reason of the war we had, and they remain with us.
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Therefore if ye have need thereof, send someone to fetch them for you.
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"Whereas we then are about to celebrate the purification, we have written unto you; and ye shall do well if ye keep the same days.
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We hope also that the God, who delivered all His people, and gave them all a heritage and the kingdom and the priesthood and the sanctuary,
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as He promised in the law, will shortly have mercy upon us and gather us together out of every land under heaven into the holy place; for He hath delivered us out of great troubles, and hath purified the place."
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Now concerning Judas Maccabeus and his brethren, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar,
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and the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and Eupator his son,
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and the manifest signs that came from heaven unto those who behaved themselves manfully to their honor for Judaism, so that, being but a few, they overcame the whole country, and chased barbarous multitudes,
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and recovered again the temple renowned all the world over, and freed the city, and upheld the laws which were going down, the Lord being gracious unto them with all favor