2
And they called upon the Lord, that He would look upon the people who were trodden down by all, and also pity the temple profaned by ungodly men,
3
and that He would have compassion upon the city sorely defaced and ready to be made even with the ground, and hear the blood that cried unto Him,
4
and remember the wicked slaughter of harmless infants and the blasphemies committed against His name, and that He would show His hatred against the wicked.
5
Now when Maccabeus had his company about him, he could not be withstood by the heathen; for the wrath of the Lord was turned into mercy.
6
Therefore he came at them unawares, and burned up towns and cities and got into his hands the most commodious places, and overcame and put to flight no small number of his enemies.
7
But especially took he advantage of the night for such secret attempts, insomuch that the report of his manliness was spread everywhere.
8
So when Philip saw that this man increased little by little, and that things prospered with him still more and more, he wrote unto Ptolemy, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to yield more aid to the king's affairs.
9
Then forthwith, choosing Nicanor the son of Patroclus, one of his special friends, he sent him with no fewer than twenty thousand of all nations under him to root out the whole generation of the Jews; and with him he joined also Gorgias, a captain who in matters of war had great experience.
10
So Nicanor undertook to make so much money from the captive Jews, that it should defray the tribute of two thousand talents, which the king was to pay to the Romans.
11
Therefore immediately he sent to the cities upon the seacoast, proclaiming a sale of the captive Jews and promising that they would have fourscore and ten bodies for one talent, not expecting the vengeance that was to follow upon him from the Almighty God.
12
Now when word was brought unto Judas of Nicanor's coming, and he had imparted unto those who were with him that the army was at hand,