15
if not for their own sake, then for the sake of the covenants made with their ancestors, and because he had called them by his holy and glorious name.
16
But Maccabeus gathered his forces together, to the number six thousand, and exhorted them not to be frightened by the enemy and not to fear the great multitude of Gentiles who were wickedly coming against them, but to fight nobly,
17
keeping before their eyes the lawless outrage that the Gentiles had committed against the holy place, and the torture of the derided city, and besides, the overthrow of their ancestral way of life.
18
"For they trust to arms and acts of daring," he said, "but we trust in the Almighty God, who is able with a single nod to strike down those who are coming against us, and even, if necessary, the whole world."
19
Moreover, he told them of the occasions when help came to their ancestors; how, in the time of Sennacherib, when one hundred eighty-five thousand perished,
20
and the time of the battle against the Galatians that took place in Babylonia, when eight thousand Jews fought along with four thousand Macedonians; yet when the Macedonians were hard pressed, the eight thousand, by the help that came to them from heaven, destroyed one hundred twenty thousand Galatians and took a great amount of booty.
21
With these words he filled them with courage and made them ready to die for their laws and their country; then he divided his army into four parts.
22
He appointed his brothers also, Simon and Joseph and Jonathan, each to command a division, putting fifteen hundred men under each.
23
Besides, he appointed Eleazar to read aloud from the holy book, and gave the watchword, "The help of God"; then, leading the first division himself, he joined battle with Nicanor.
24
With the Almighty as their ally, they killed more than nine thousand of the enemy, and wounded and disabled most of Nicanor's army, and forced them all to flee.
25
They captured the money of those who had come to buy them as slaves. After pursuing them for some distance, they were obliged to return because the hour was late.