15. Therefore, if you desire these things, send those who may carry them to you.
16. And so, since we will be celebrating the purification, we wrote to you. Therefore, you will do well, if you keep these days.
17. But we hope that God, who has freed his people and has rendered to all the inheritance, and the kingdom, and the priesthood, and sanctification,
18. just as he promised in the law, will quickly have mercy on us and will gather us together from under heaven into the holy place.
19. For he has rescued us from great perils, and he has purged the place.
20. The truth about Judas Maccabeus, and his brothers, and the purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar,
21. and also about the battles, which pertain to Antiochus the illustrious, and his son, Eupator,
22. and about the illuminations, which came from heaven to those who acted on behalf of the Jews with fortitude, was such that they, though few, vindicated the entire region and put to flight a multitude of the barbarous,
23. and recovered the most famous temple in the whole world, and freed the city, and restored the laws that were abolished. For the Lord, with all tranquility, was acting favorably toward them.
24. And similar things as have been comprised in five books by Jason the Cyrenean, we have attempted to abridge into one volume.
25. For, considering the multitude of the books, and the difficulty that those who are willing to undertake the narrations of histories find, due to the multitude of events,
26. we have taken care, so that, indeed, those who are willing to read may have delights of the mind, and so that, in truth, the studious may more easily be able to commit it to memory, and also so that all readers may find it useful.
27. And indeed, we ourselves, who have taken up the task of abridging this work, have no easy labor. For, in truth, more correctly, we have assumed an activity full of vigilance and sweat.
28. Just as those who prepare a feast also seek to be attentive to the will of others, for the sake of the gratitude of many, we willingly undertake the labor.
29. Indeed, leaving to the authors the truths about particular details, we instead have been devoted to this form, striving to be brief.
30. For, just as the architect of a new house will have concern for the entire structure, and, in truth, he who takes care to paint it will seek out what is fitting to adorn it, so also should such things be considered by us.