2 Maccabees 1:2-12

2 May God do good to you, and may he remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants.
3 May he give you all a heart to worship him and to do his will with a strong heart and a willing spirit.
4 May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, and may he bring peace.
5 May he hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may he not forsake you in time of evil.
6 We are now praying for you here.
7 In the reign of Demetrius, in the one hundred sixty-ninth year, [a] we Jews wrote to you, in the critical distress that came upon us in those years after Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and the kingdom
8 and burned the gate and shed innocent blood. We prayed to the Lord and were heard, and we offered sacrifice and grain offering, and we lit the lamps and set out the loaves.
9 And now see that you keep the festival of booths in the month of Chislev, in the one hundred eighty-eighth year. [b]
10 The people of Jerusalem and of Judea and the senate and Judas, To Aristobulus, who is of the family of the anointed priests, teacher of King Ptolemy, and to the Jews in Egypt, Greetings and good health.
11 Having been saved by God out of grave dangers we thank him greatly for taking our side against the king, [c]
12 for he drove out those who fought against the holy city.

Footnotes 3

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.