2 Maccabees, 8

1. Then Judas Maccabeus, and they that were with him, went privily into the towns, and called their kinsfolks together, and took unto them all such as continued in the Jews' religion, and assembled about six thousand men.

1. Meanwhile, Judas, also called Maccabeus, and his companions, would enter secretly into the villages, call their relatives, summon those who had remained faithful to Judaism, and finally they assembled about six thousand men.

2. And they called upon the Lord, that he would look upon the people that was trodden down of all; and also pity the temple profaned of ungodly men;

2. They prayed to the Lord to turn his countenance on his people oppressed on all sides, to take pity on the Sanctuary profaned by impious men,

3. And that he would have compassion upon the city, sore defaced, and ready to be made even with the ground; and hear the blood that cried unto him,

3. to have compassion on the city - destroyed and on the point of being leveled - to listen to the cry of the blood reaching out to him;

4. And remember the wicked slaughter of harmless infants, and the blasphemies committed against his name; and that he would shew his hatred against the wicked.

4. and they asked that he not forget the unjust killing of innocent children and show his indignation against those who had insulted his Name.

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.

5. The Lord's anger turned into compassion, and as soon as Maccabeus had organized his troops, they became invincible against the pagans. Judas generally took advantage of the night for his military campaigns.

6. Therefore he came at unawares, and burnt 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.

6. So he attacked them by surprise, set cities and villages on fire, captured strategic positions, and put to flight many of the enemies.

7. But specially took he advantage of the night for such privy attempts, insomuch that the fruit of his holiness was spread every where.

7. And people everywhere talked about him and his bravery.

8. So when Philip saw that this man increased by little and little, and that things prospered with him still more and more, he wrote unto Ptolemeus, the governor of Celosyria and Phenice, to yield more aid to the king's affairs.

8. When Philip saw that Judas was making progress little by little and his victories increased from day to day, he wrote to Ptolemy, the military commissioner of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, to come and help him under the king's service.

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.

9. Ptolemy at once appointed Nicanor, son of Patroclus, one of the king's first Friends, and sent him at the head of some twenty thousand men coming from all nations, with the order to wipe out all the Jews. At his side, he put Gorgias, a general of much experience in matters of war.

10. So Nicanor undertook to make so much money of the captive Jews, as should defray the tribute of two thousand talents, which the king was to pay to the Romans.

10. Nicanor intended to raise two thousand talents by the sale of Jewish slaves in order to pay for the tribute the king owed to the Romans.

11. Wherefore immediately he sent to the cities upon the sea coast, proclaiming a sale of the captive Jews, and promising that they should have fourscore and ten bodies for one talent, not expecting the vengeance that was to follow upon him from the Almighty God.

11. So he extended an invitation to all the coastal cities to come and buy slaves for a talent, without any regard for the punishment of the Almighty that might come upon him.

12. Now when word was brought unto Judas of Nicanor's coming, and he had imparted unto those that were with him that the army was at hand,

12. When Judas learned that Nicanor had come with a great army, he told his men about this.

13. They that were fearful, and distrusted the justice of God, fled, and conveyed themselves away.

13. So the cowardly and those who had no confidence in divine justice took to flight.

14. Others sold all that they had left, and withal besought the Lord to deliver them, sold by the wicked Nicanor before they met together:

14. Still others sold everything they owned and asked God to deliver from the impious Nicanor those who had been sold even before any battle.

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.

15. They prayed that if the Lord would not save them because of their own merits, that at least out of consideration for the covenant he made with their fathers and for that great venerable Name with which he had blessed his people, he would do so.

16. So Maccabeus called his men together unto the number of six thousand, and exhorted them not to be stricken with terror of the enemy, nor to fear the great multitude of the heathen, who came wrongly against them; but to fight manfully,

16. Maccabeus gathered and reorganized his troops, numbering about six thousand, and exhorted them not to fear the enemy but to fight bravely against their unjust aggressors, despite their great number.

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:

17. He reminded them how those men had profaned the Holy Place, slaughtered the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and removed their traditional institutions.

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 them that come against us, and also all the world.

18. He said to them, "They come with confidence in their weapons and their boldness, but we trust in the almighty God, who is able to wipe out in one stroke all who invade our land and even the whole world."

19. Moreover, he recounted unto them what helps their forefathers had found, and how they were delivered, when under Sennacherib an hundred fourscore and five thousand perished.

19. He recounted to them all the occasions when God had come to help their fathers, especially when he wiped out one hundred and eighty-five thousand men under Sennacherib.

20. And he told them of the battle that they had in Babylon with the Galatians, how they came but eight thousand in all to the business, with four thousand Macedonians, and that the Macedonians being perplexed, the eight thousand destroyed an hundred and twenty thousand because of the help that they had from heaven, and so received a great booty.

20. He also reminded them of what had happened in Babylonia, in the battle against the Galatians. On that day, eight thousand Jews fought side by side with four thousand Macedonians, and as the Macedonians were hard pressed, their Jewish allies alone killed twenty thousand of the enemies' troops with heaven's help and seized a great booty.

21. Thus when he had made them bold with these words, and ready to die for the law and the country, he divided his army into four parts;

21. Judas encouraged them with these words, and made them ready to die for their laws and country; then, he divided the army into four groups.

22. And joined with himself his own brethren, leaders of each band, to wit Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathan, giving each one fifteen hundred men.

22. He assigned his brothers Simon, Joseph and Jonathan to each lead one division with fifteen hundred men in each.

23. Also he appointed Eleazar to read the holy book: and when he had given them this watchword, The help of God; himself leading the first band,

23. He ordered that the Sacred Book be read, and he gave them their watchword "Help from God"; then, he himself led the first battalion, and fell on Nicanor.

24. And by the help of the Almighty they slew above nine thousand of their enemies, and wounded and maimed the most part of Nicanor's host, and so put all to flight;

24. With the help of the Almighty they slaughtered nine thousand enemies, wounded and crippled many, and put the rest to flight.

25. And took their money that came to buy them, and pursued them far: but lacking time they returned:

25. They seized the money of those who had come to buy the Jews, and pursued them for a good while. But it was nearly evening,

26. For it was the day before the sabbath, and therefore they would no longer pursue them.

26. so they had to return because it was the vigil of the sabbath. That is why they stopped pursuing their enemies.

27. So when they had gathered their armour together, and spoiled their enemies, they occupied themselves about the sabbath, yielding exceeding praise and thanks to the Lord, who had preserved them unto that day, which was the beginning of mercy distilling upon them.

27. They gathered the weapons and the plunder of their enemies, and celebrated the sabbath on that day with praise and thanksgiving to God who had just saved them and had begun to show them his mercy.

28. And after the sabbath, when they had given part of the spoils to the maimed, and the widows, and orphans, the residue they divided among themselves and their servants.

28. After the sabbath, they divided part of the booty among those who had been tortured, the widows and the orphans; and they divided the rest among themselves and their men.

29. When this was done, and they had made a common supplication, they besought the merciful Lord to be reconciled with his servants for ever.

29. Having done this, they asked the Merciful Lord during a public prayer to be fully reconciled with his servants.

30. Moreover of those that were with Timotheus and Bacchides, who fought against them, they slew above twenty thousand, and very easily got high and strong holds, and divided among themselves many spoils more, and made the maimed, orphans, widows, yea, and the aged also, equal in spoils with themselves.

30. Then, in an encounter with the army of Timotheus and Bacchides, they killed more than twenty thousand men, and took control of the fortified cities. They divided the abundant plunder into equal shares among themselves, those who had been tortured, the orphans, the widows and the aged.

31. And when they had gathered their armour together, they laid them up all carefully in convenient places, and the remnant of the spoils they brought to Jerusalem.

31. They carefully stored in safe places the weapons they had taken from the enemies, and brought the rest of the booty to Jerusalem.

32. They slew also Philarches, that wicked person, who was with Timotheus, and had annoyed the Jews many ways.

32. They killed the chief guard of Timotheus, an extremely wretched man who had done so much evil against the Jews.

33. Furthermore at such time as they kept the feast for the victory in their country they burnt Callisthenes, that had set fire upon the holy gates, who had fled into a little house; and so he received a reward meet for his wickedness.

33. Then, as they celebrated their victory in Jerusalem, they burned alive those who had burned the temple gates, including Callisthenes who had taken refuge in one small house. So these men paid the price deserved for their impiety.

34. As for that most ungracious Nicanor, who had brought a thousand merchants to buy the Jews,

34. The thrice-as-wretched Nicanor, who had brought thousands of merchants to buy the Jews,

35. He was through the help of the Lord brought down by them, of whom he made least account; and putting off his glorious apparel, and discharging his company, he came like a fugitive servant through the midland unto Antioch having very great dishonour, for that his host was destroyed.

35. found himself humbled with God's help by those same men he had despised before. Having discarded his splendid robe he fled across the country as a fugitive, and reached Antioch, very much relieved that he had not perished with his army.

36. Thus he, that took upon him to make good to the Romans their tribute by means of captives in Jerusalem, told abroad, that the Jews had God to fight for them, and therefore they could not be hurt, because they followed the laws that he gave them.

36. He who had intended to pay the tribute owed to the Romans by selling the Jews, now affirmed that the Jews were invincible and invulnerable, and that Someone fought for them, provided they were obeying the laws prescribed by him.