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Since, therefore, we are about to celebrate the purification, we write to you. Will you therefore please keep the days?
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It is God who has saved all his people, and has returned the inheritance to all, and the kingship and priesthood and consecration,
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as he promised through the law. For we have hope in God that he will soon have mercy upon us and will gather us from everywhere under heaven into his holy place, for he has rescued us from great evils and has purified the place.
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The story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar,
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and further the wars against Antiochus Epiphanes and his son Eupator,
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and the appearances which came from heaven to those who strove zealously on behalf of Judaism, so that though few in number they seized the whole land and pursued the barbarian hordes,
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and recovered the temple famous throughout the world and freed the city and restored the laws that were about to be abolished, while the Lord with great kindness became gracious to them --
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all this, which has been set forth by Jason of Cyrene in five volumes, we shall attempt to condense into a single book.
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For considering the flood of numbers involved and the difficulty there is for those who wish to enter upon the narratives of history because of the mass of material,
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we have aimed to please those who wish to read, to make it easy for those who are inclined to memorize, and to profit all readers.
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For us who have undertaken the toil of abbreviating, it is no light matter but calls for sweat and loss of sleep,