5. Now there was, in the same place, a tower of fifty cubits, having a pile of ashes on every side. This had a lookout over a precipice.
6. From there, he ordered this sacrilegious one to be thrown down into the ashes, with all propelling him into the afterlife.
7. And by such a law, it turned out that the betrayer of the law, Menelaus, died, not having so much as a burial in the earth.
8. And indeed, this satisfied justice, for just as he had committed many offenses toward the altar of God, the fire and ashes of which are holy, so was he condemned to die in ashes.
9. But the king, with his mind being unbridled, came to reveal himself as more wicked to the Jews than his father was.
10. When Judas understood this, he instructed the people to call upon the Lord day and night, so that, just as always, now also he would help them.
11. Of course, they were afraid to be deprived of their law and their country, and of the holy temple, and also that he might allow the people, who had recently taken a breath for a little while, to be again subdued by blasphemous nations.
12. And so, having together done all these things, and having sought mercy from the Lord with weeping and fasting, lying prostrate on the ground continually for three days, Judas exhorted them to prepare themselves.
13. In truth, with the elders he decided that, before the king could move his army into Judea and obtain the city, they would go out and commit the outcome of the event to the judgment of the Lord.
14. And so, giving everything to God, the Creator of the world, and having exhorted his own to contend with fortitude and to stand up, even unto death, for the laws, the temple, the city, their country and the citizens: he positioned his army around Modin.
15. And having given his own a sign of the victory of God, he attacked the quarters of the king by night, with the strongest chosen young men, and he slew four thousand men in the camp, and the greatest of the elephants, along with those who would have been positioned on them.