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,
13
those who were fearful and distrusted the justice of God fled, and conveyed themselves away.
14
Others sold all that they had left, and thereupon besought the Lord to deliver them, being sold by the wicked Nicanor before they met together,
15
and if not for their own sakes, yet for the covenants He had made with their fathers and for His holy and glorious name's sake by which they were called.
16
So Maccabeus called his men together unto the number of six thousand, and exhorted them not to be stricken with terror by the enemy, nor to fear the great multitude of the heathen who came wrongly against them, but to fight manfully,
17
and to set before their eyes the injury that they had unjustly done to the holy place, and the cruel handling of the city, whereof they made a mockery, and also the taking away of the government of their forefathers.
18
For they, said he, trust in their weapons and boldness; but our confidence is in the Almighty, who at a beck can cast down both those who come against us and also all the world.
19
Moreover, he recounted unto them what help their forefathers had found and how they were delivered, when under Sennacherib a hundred fourscore and five thousand perished.